Kaphal fruits
Once in the month of January, Babaji was staying in the Hariakhan
cave. A few saints heard about Babaji's yogic powers and decided to have
the darshan of the po
werful saint. They
asked him various questions about Yoga and the scriptures, and then
they decided amongst themselves to ask him for a wild fruit called
Kaphal that grows only in the Himalayas during the late spring. But in
January it is not available.Babaji realized their thoughts, came out of the cave and walked a short
distance away. He returned with a branch full of Kaphal fruits and
distributed the fruits to the saints.
Gumani Becomes a True Devotee
At the foot of the Himalayas along the Gautam Ganga River lay the tiny
village of Dyola. In this village there lived an illiterate farmer who
was called Gumani. Gumani was a very pious person. His wife was
expecting a child and after the birth of the child Gumani underwent a
strange transformation. He lost all interest in the world and household
life and without telling anyone, he joined a group of travelers who were
going to the town of Hardwar. There he joined an ashram which was run
by a very saintly sanyasin. There Gumani devotedly served the visiting
religious pilgrims who came to the ashram. The sanyasin who owned the
ashram observed Gumani and was very pleased with his devotion, humility
and truthfulness. After a while some visitors came who knew Gumani while
he had been a farmer. They recognized him and told the head of the
ashram about the situation he had left behind. His wife was very sad and
had no one to plant the crops or take care of her or the child.
Though the saintly sanyasin had become very attached to Gumani and his
services, he realized the suffering his absence was causing and told him
to return immediately to his home. But now that Gumani had made the
break from his former life the thought of returning was very painful to
him. He wept and begged to be allowed to stay, but the saint was firm
and told him: "Gumani, go home and live like a hermit there. Meditate
and worship God. You will find your guru at your own place."
With great sadness, Gumani returned home and resumed farming as before
but with the difference that now his mind was constantly fixed on God.
Then one day when he was returning from his fields he saw a tall slim
man with fair complexion standing under a tree near his house. The man
was gazing steadily at him. Gumani went closer to him and saw that he
had a beautiful radiance about his face and had very peaceful eyes.
Gumani was afraid but he summoned the courage to ask: "Maharaj, who are
you? Why are you standing here?"
The man was Babaji Maharaj. He
knew that Gumani was fearful of him so he walked slowly to the shade of
another tree. Then Gumani recalled to mind the words of the saintly
sanyasin at the ashram: "You will meet your guru at your own place". So
Gumani bowed to his feet and thereafter surrendered himself completely
to Babaji.
He took Babaji into his house and began to take care
of him with the utmost love and devotion. His body mind and heart were
completely dissolved in his service to Babaji Maharaj. Gumani built a
hut for Babaji to live in so he would not be disturbed by the rest of
the family.
At that time Babaji would take nothing to eat except
the liquid whey which was prepared from the milk given abundantly by
Gumani's cows. After a while Gumani decided to give up solid food too,
and live only on whey just as his guru was doing. The villagers around
did not know who Babaji was but because his speech was a mixture of
various local languages, they thought him illiterate and somewhat crazy.
They wondered why Gumani had taken in such a crazy and illiterate
vagabond and also why he was emulating his example by taking only whey.
Gumani ignored their remarks but one day he told Babaji very meekly,
"Babaji Maharaj, my hunger remains unsatisfied by drinking only whey. I
think you too must remain hungry just like me. Why don't you eat food?"
When Babaji heard this simple speech full of devotion, he started eating
food to fulfill the desire of his devotee.
The villagers
continued to regard Babaji as illiterate, stupid and crazy but slowly as
they came into closer contact with him they began to sense his
greatness and their attitudes completely changed. They began to love him
as well and people started to gather at Gumani's house to be in the
company of Babaji. Just as he had done at the ashram, Gumani began to
take care of all his visitors. Gumani extended full hospitality to the
visitors and his wife spent a good part of each day preparing food
until, little by little, all his food stores were exhausted.
His
wife tried to restrain him from feeding all of the visitors who came to
be with Babaji but Gumani continued to give everything he had to them.
When there was nothing left in the house to eat, the wife left with her
baby to go live with her parents.
Gumani was now alone in his
house but he was happy spending all his time serving Babaji Maharaj.
Babaji too felt great love for his disciple. This continued for a year
and then Babaji left to go to Almora. Gumani was now all alone in his
house, with no wife or friends and not even any food stores or money
left. He spent his time meditating on God or walking around his barren
fields.
One day as he was walking across his fields, he saw a man
with a plow across his shoulders and was
immediately reminded of the
Avatar Krishna's brother Balaram, who had also carried a plow across his
shoulders in the same manner. For Gumani, everyone was God, and when
the man came near, he bowed to his feet with much reverence and
devotion.
The man stepped back with great surprise saying, "What
are you doing? I am a poor laborer, wandering in search of a job. Why
are you bowing to my feet?"
Gumani replied, "You are my Lord Balaram, don't try to fool me. For me you are no less than God."
The man said, "I have no house and no place to live. I am a very poor man. Believe me, I am searching for a job".So Gumani asked the man to come live in his house with him and told him
he was welcome to stay as long as he liked. Gumani felt that the man
had come to his house by the order of God, and he therefore served him
with great respect and devotion.
The rainy season was approaching
and the man saw from the house that the land around had not yet been
tilled or planted. He told Gumani he did not like to sit idle and would
like to till his land for him. Gumani accepted his offer as God's desire
and allowed him to do as he wished. Then the man plowed the land and
sowed grain upon the fields. After completing the sowing, he disappeared
from Gumani's house.
When harvest time arrived it was found that
the grain collected was more than fifty times what had been collected
in past years. The entire house was filled with rice and there was rice
in the granary as well. Seeing the plentiful crop, Gumani realized that
the man who had sown his fields was none other than Babaji Maharaj
himself, who had chosen to repay him for the grain Gumani had offered in
serving Babaji's devotees.
When Gumani's wife heard about the
remarkable crop of rice in her fields she was very surprised and
returned home to Gumani's house with her son.
Gumani marked the
years as they passed waiting for Babaji to return but after five years
he decided that he should instead go looking for Babaji Maharaj. So he
left immediately for Almora determined to live with him and serve him
for the rest of his life. When after five years of separation Gumani was
once again reunited with his master he burst into tears and dropped to
the ground at his feet. Babaji told him he was just leaving to visit the
Badrinath temple high on a peak in the Himalayas, and he invited Gumani
to go with him. Gumani was very happy to be invited along on such an
auspicious religious pilgrimage and readily agreed to go.
Word
got out of the pilgrimage and two men showed up and asked to go along.
Babaji neither agreed nor refused to take them but kept his silence.
When it was time to go, the men followed along behind them nevertheless.
As the road got steeper it turned into a narrow trail until after a
while they were treading along a ledge with a sheer rock wall on one
side, and a deep precipice on the other. Babaji was walking rapidly
ahead with Gumani and the two men further back behind him. Suddenly a
huge lion came into view blocking the three men's path. The lion had
it's tail raised up in a most furious manner. The men told Gumani they
should make a hasty retreat but without waiting to see if he was with
them, they turned around and ran back the way they had come.
Gumani remained there, wanting to continue on after his master. Soon the
lion grew calm, laid down and paid no more attention to him. He quietly
stepped around it without hesitation or fear and caught up to Babaji.
They continued on the steep path until they finally reached the
Badrinath temple at the top where they worshipped, and then turned
around and returned back to Almora.
Babaji now told Gumani to
return to his village and look after his family and to continue on with
his meditation and worship. Although Gumani did not want to leave his
beloved guru, he followed his order and returned back to his home and
family. There he performed his worldly duties and his meditations as he
had been obstructed. After one year he left his body in peace.
By
the grace of Babaji Maharaj, the illiterate and simple Gumani had
become a true devotee of God and his story and reputation spread
throughout the region. The hut that Gumani had built for Babaji to stay
in is still preserved today in his native village
From - In the
Throne Room of the Mountain Gods. Galen Rowell A man who was well versed
in religious scriptures once came to Babaji Maharaj and wanted to know
what was meant by the "cosmic body of God." Babaji rarely spoke and
characteristically kept his silence and continued to sit quietly. But
after a while he said: "Close your eyes and worship God for some time,
and then open your eyes."
The man did as he was instructed. He
closed his eyes and meditated on God for a while and then opened his
eyes. As he looked around, everywhere he looked he saw Babaji Maharaj
and everything he saw became Babaji Maharaj. Then Babaji said quietly:
"No one can really define God by reading the scriptures."
Strange Lights Appear at Siddhashram
Besides staying in the Hariakhan area, Babaji also spent some time near
the town of Almora. While he was staying there he asked some disciples
where he might find a source of cold pure water. The devotees led him
into a jungle area where there was a spring flowing slowly, drop by drop
providing a small supply of cold water. Babaji pushed his finger into
the area where the water was seeping and the water started gushing out
in a steady stream. Because of the beauty of the place and the source of
pure spring water, Babaji wanted to set up an ashram there. Some nearby
villagers gave him some land and people started gathering at the new
ashram which Babaji Maharaj called Siddhashram. The devotees would
gather during the day to be with Babaji and at night return to their
village homes. One night a devotee named Siromani Pathak stayed all
night sleeping with Babaji in the hut that had been built for him. In
the middle of the night, Babaji woke the devotee up and told him to look
in the direction of the spring. When he did Siromani Pathak saw what
appeared to be four bright flames of light hovering near the stream of
water. The whole area was lit up by the light emanating from the flames.
The flames lasted for some time and then disappeared. When Siromani
asked Babaji about the lights he was told that because the place was
very sacred, various gods came to the spot and were visible in the form
of lights. Other people said that they too had sometimes seen strange
lights in the presence of Babaji and they felt that they were very high
saints coming to pay their respects.
Once Maharaja Sindhiya, the
king of Gwalior invited Babaji to come to his palace so that he and his
wife might have his darshan. Babaji agreed and the king and his
ministers met with him at the house of a local pandit. Then Babaji went
to the queens palace and gave her darshan separately from the king.
After Babaji left, the king wanted to talk to his queen about their
encounter with the high saint. It came out in conversation that the
queen had guessed Babaji to be around eighty years old but the king said
he had appeared to him to be a youth of around eleven years. It was a
common occurrence that Babaji would appear differently to different
people.
Miraculous Appearance at Katgharia Dedication
For a while, Babaji Maharaj lived in a jungle called Kalichaur. The
jungle was called this because there was a life size statue of the
mother goddess Kali there carved in black stone. The jungle was full of
wild and dangerous animals like snakes, tigers and wild elephants.
Babaji lived in the jungle but would sometimes walk along the river
banks or cross to the other side of the river to a village called
Katgharia.
Wherever he went the news went out that he was
present and people would gather around him. His very presence filled the
area with his purity and supernatural powers. People would forget their
cares, pains, and miseries and become happy like children in his
presence. Whenever the people congregated in this manner around him,
they would spontaneously organize spiritual functions such as sacred
singing (bhajan), feeding of the poor, or the burning of a sacrificial
fire (yajna). Sometimes thousands of people would show up in Katgharia
from neighboring villages to enjoy the spiritual festivities and return
to their homes full of joy and happiness.
Early Photo of Babaji
at Katgharia Ashram Once an English commissioner was passing through
Katgharia and observed the huge crowd that had gathered around the
saintly figure of Babaji. He saw the spiritual glow emanating from the
face of Babaji and he felt peace and happiness welling up within
himself. He got down from his horse and went near to get a better look
at him. Babaji directed his gaze at the man and for a while the man
stood transfixed as if hypnotized.
Later the man asked who
Babaji was and he was told he was a very high saint who possessed
supernatural powers. The commissioner was so impressed that he decided
to donate a large plot of land in Babaji's name. The devotees built a
temple and a small residence on the land. Many years later, after Babaji
was no longer seen in the area, Sri Mahendra Brahmachari decided to
build a large ashram dedicated to Babaji's memory. It was he who had
taken it upon himself to collect Babaji's stories from all over the
Indian countryside. Finally in 1958, the ashram construction was
complete and a huge gathering had been invited to celebrate the opening.
People had gathered from India as well as western countries and
activities such as sacred music and fire ritual were being conducted.
Food was distributed to everyone who attended. As the fire ritual
(yajna) was in progress and people were singing or eating suddenly a
divine light manifested itself and a celestial form was seen hovering a
few feet above the ground. The form of Hariakhan Babaji Maharaj clad in
the familiar shirt and Himalayan cap was recognized. A wave of joy went
through the crowd and people began to dance ecstatically. Some lost
consciousness through sheer emotion of the moment.
A few years
after this incident, the Kadamba tree where Babaji used to sit sprouted a
small Pipal tree and then a Banyan tree. Now three auspicious trees are
growing from the same trunk. It is said that those particular trees
represent the three major forces (gunas) of the universe. The tree is
now worshipped with great devotion.
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