Babaji's Great Disciple Lahiri Mahasaya
One of the earliest appearances of Babaji was documented by one of his most important disciples, the great saint and yogi, Sri Shayama Charan Lahiri Mahasaya. Lahiri Mahasaya was born in 1828 and while growing up he was taught several languages including Sanskrit. As a young man he closely studied the vedas and eagerly listened to discussions of learned brahmins. Lahiri was full of good qualities and well liked by everyone around him. By the age of 33 he had married and gotten a government post and received news that was to change his life. He was told to report to the city of Rhanikhet which sits at the foot of one of the highest Himalayan peaks, Nanda Devi. Once there he was immediately taken with the beauty of the Himalayan foothills and spent his evenings hiking high up into the mountain fastnesses. One day while he was hiking he heard his name being called and followed the voice high up to a clearing surrounded by small caves. There he saw Babaji Maharaj who addressed him familiarly by name and welcomed him after his long absence. Although Lahiri didn't know who he was he felt drawn to his presence. Babaji explained that in Lahiri's former life, he had been his guru and that Lahiri had been his advanced disciple, meditating for decades under his guidance in one of the caves that surrounded the mountainous ledge. With a touch to his forehead, Babaji awakened his memory of that past life they had spend together. Then Babaji induced in him the highest or Nirvikalpa state of Samadhi in which the individual wave merges with the Universal ocean of consciousness and attains the state of Cosmic Consciousness. Lahiri remained in unbroken samadhi for seven days and then Babaji brought him back to his human awareness and explained to him that Lahiri Mahasaya had taken his present birth for a purpose and that he was to be instrumental in spreading the Yogic teachings of union with God to the greater world beyond the borders of India.
Lahiri Mahasaya was given the task of setting the example of the ideal Yogi householder, maintaining job and family and living in the world, yet remaining peacefully poised in the bliss of inner awareness. The perfume of his spiritual greatness attracted dozens of followers. Lahiri spontaneously developed many siddhis or yogic powers and these further enhanced the faith and devotion of his many disciples. According to Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya was to be instrumental in bringing East and West together. This he did through the agency of his direct disciple Sri Priya Yukteswar Giri who in his turn was the Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, well known in the West as the author of Autobiography of a Yogi. The disciple, Sri Yukteswar, wrote a treatise showing the parallels between the Christian (Western) and Hindu (Eastern) religions. At the urging of Sri Yukteswar, Paramahansa Yogananda in his turn moved to the West to California and introduced much of America to the Eastern Yogic science of union with God, independent of any specific religion. Thus was the practicality of the West blended together with the spirituality of the East. All this was foretold by Babaji in his initial meeting with Lahiri Mahasaya in 1861.
One of the earliest appearances of Babaji was documented by one of his most important disciples, the great saint and yogi, Sri Shayama Charan Lahiri Mahasaya. Lahiri Mahasaya was born in 1828 and while growing up he was taught several languages including Sanskrit. As a young man he closely studied the vedas and eagerly listened to discussions of learned brahmins. Lahiri was full of good qualities and well liked by everyone around him. By the age of 33 he had married and gotten a government post and received news that was to change his life. He was told to report to the city of Rhanikhet which sits at the foot of one of the highest Himalayan peaks, Nanda Devi. Once there he was immediately taken with the beauty of the Himalayan foothills and spent his evenings hiking high up into the mountain fastnesses. One day while he was hiking he heard his name being called and followed the voice high up to a clearing surrounded by small caves. There he saw Babaji Maharaj who addressed him familiarly by name and welcomed him after his long absence. Although Lahiri didn't know who he was he felt drawn to his presence. Babaji explained that in Lahiri's former life, he had been his guru and that Lahiri had been his advanced disciple, meditating for decades under his guidance in one of the caves that surrounded the mountainous ledge. With a touch to his forehead, Babaji awakened his memory of that past life they had spend together. Then Babaji induced in him the highest or Nirvikalpa state of Samadhi in which the individual wave merges with the Universal ocean of consciousness and attains the state of Cosmic Consciousness. Lahiri remained in unbroken samadhi for seven days and then Babaji brought him back to his human awareness and explained to him that Lahiri Mahasaya had taken his present birth for a purpose and that he was to be instrumental in spreading the Yogic teachings of union with God to the greater world beyond the borders of India.
Lahiri Mahasaya was given the task of setting the example of the ideal Yogi householder, maintaining job and family and living in the world, yet remaining peacefully poised in the bliss of inner awareness. The perfume of his spiritual greatness attracted dozens of followers. Lahiri spontaneously developed many siddhis or yogic powers and these further enhanced the faith and devotion of his many disciples. According to Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya was to be instrumental in bringing East and West together. This he did through the agency of his direct disciple Sri Priya Yukteswar Giri who in his turn was the Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, well known in the West as the author of Autobiography of a Yogi. The disciple, Sri Yukteswar, wrote a treatise showing the parallels between the Christian (Western) and Hindu (Eastern) religions. At the urging of Sri Yukteswar, Paramahansa Yogananda in his turn moved to the West to California and introduced much of America to the Eastern Yogic science of union with God, independent of any specific religion. Thus was the practicality of the West blended together with the spirituality of the East. All this was foretold by Babaji in his initial meeting with Lahiri Mahasaya in 1861.
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