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Paramahansa Yogananda called Mahavatar Babaji the "Yogi-Christ of modern India." The Haidakhan worship service describes Babaji as "Supreme Guru, Lord of mercy", "King of sages" and "Lord of the universe."

This book is about Babaji¹, a great manifestation of The Divine Who has a history of appearing in a flesh-and-blood human form throughout the course of human civilization to help humankind understand, experience and achieve its relationship to The Divine. The tradition of Babaji's manifestations is that He appears in remote places at varying intervals in time - especially when humanity is undergoing major changes and challenges that have a potential for purification and the elevation of the whole human race - and, by example and teaching, helps transform a few people who may be inspired to share the teachings and help humanity take a few more steps forward on the path toward conscious reunion with the Divine Source of this whole Creation.

His teaching is not sectarian, but is supportive of all religions that guide human beings toward a life lived in harmony with The Divine. The practitioner of any of the major religions of the world today can find inspiration and support in the life and teachings of Babaji. Babaji taught from the basis of the ancient, eternal truths, but He focused the teachings on present-day problems.

The experience of Divinity seems a rather rare thing in human lives these days. Many people believe that a relationship or communication with an aware Creator is impossible. But, unless we totally discredit the experiences and statements of thousands of saints and holy men and women of all ages and all religions, it must be acknowledged that some people have seen, heard, or otherwise experienced The Divine in some way.

There is a mythology of Babaji in the Himalayan regions that reaches back into very early human civilizations. Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi"², published in 1946, introduced the stories and experiences of Mahavatar Babaji to the West in a book which dealt mainly with people's experiences of Him between 1861 and 1920, in India. There are books written about a manifestation of Babaji as Haidakhan Baba in the period of about 1890 to 1922. And now there are books written about the manifestation of Babaji which was experienced by many thousands of people in the period from June 1970 to February 14, 1984. This book collects and shares some of the stories from the long history and focuses on the experiences people had of this latest manifestation of Babaji. People still encounter Babaji in various ways all over the world. These experiences are by no means limited to India or to that physical manifestation of Babaji which 'died' on February 14, 1984.

Babaji is a spiritual being who serves constantly as a link between the Formless Divine and the physical creation, between God and humankind. He states that He is a manifestation of Lord Shiva, one of the names India gives to The Divine - a form of God known as a renunciate, a helper, and the greatest of Teachers. There are a number of stories (some of them in this book) which attest to His ability to create forms - either astral or flesh-and-blood human - at will. On one occasion, He told a devotee who had knowledge of His having been seen and experienced in three widely-separated places in India on the same day, that He could be seen in as many as eight forms at the same time. Some people who have experienced one or more of the forms of Babaji have come to the belief that there are five forms of Shiva (see the frontispiece which gives one commonly-pictured form of the five-faced Lord Shiva) involved with Earth at any given time. One is usually to be found in Nepal in an "old" form and another in a "young" form; one is often present as Haidakhan Baba; one may be elsewhere in India; and a fifth may be in a spirit or astral form. And all of these forms come and go at will. Such is the experience and belief of many people in the Kumaon Hills.

Each of the forms, when encountered in the flesh, in dream, or in vision, has divine attributes. Always, Babaji appears to give some form of blessing or teaching. There are many experiences of people (some are related in this book) which give evidence of what we would call miraculous powers exhibited by Babaji. Even if you wish to discount or discredit such experiences, He remains an unusual and unusually powerful character who fulfills the predictions and declarations that He comes into human society to serve and to teach. He does not make an issue of His divinity. It helps in the transmission of His teachings if the disciple acknowledges that divinity, but He accepts any honest seeker of Truth who is ready and open to learning and spiritual growth.

People saw Him in many roles - as Lord Shiva, the Supreme Guru, purifier, friend, the Divine Child, the Divine Mother, Divine Father, Supreme Yogi, a healer, an Immortal. He is all of those things and we see in Him that for which we look. We also see ourselves in Him, for He mirrored each of us, so we could see where we were on our Paths and gain insight into ourselves and what we needed to work on. He is a great Teacher and Guide, working on each individual who is open to Him, while still managing to give a cohesive program to all who come to Him.

His chief concern is with the human spirit or soul - that in humankind which is closest to The Divine, which carries the spark of The Divine. He teaches that the Creator and all of the Creation is One: He sees the whole Creation as the Manifestation of The Divine. Gods, demons, humans, animals, plants, rocks - all are 'built' with the building blocks of the divine Creative Energy. The Divine at rest is formless, chaotic Energy; when It is moved to create forms, the Conscious Energy moves in accordance with Divine Law to shape sub-atomic particles, which combine to make atoms, which combine over and over to create, over aeons of time, the universes we humans eventually see. All created forms, then, are aspects of The Divine, Which experiences Itself in action through all of these forms throughout the whole period of Creation.

Babaji taught that these myriad forms which make up the Creation function best when they function in harmony with The Divine and with each other. Because the times require it and have prepared the way for this knowledge, Babaji extended Christ's message of "love thy neighbor" to a message of concern for harmony among all created forms. All forms - human and other - are so tightly interrelated that we cannot abuse one form without disrupting the rest. That interrelationship is so close that beneficial actions offered by one created being to another have beneficial results throughout the whole universe. The very vibrations of our emotions or being have effects throughout the Creation.³

To be in Babaji's presence was an opportunity to gain an understanding of this principle. His Presence transformed and uplifted the atmosphere of any room or area into which He walked, and each person in His Presence felt the enlivening of the spark of The Divine within him / herself and a quickened sense of harmony with the people and other life around them. Babaji seemed to literally vibrate a feeling of love and harmony with a force that brought those around Him into a sympathetic, harmonious level of vibration. The concept of unity and the need for harmony within the Creation has a very profound effect on human responsibility for the Earth on which we live, and for the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Babaji seeks to bring humankind back to an awareness of its unity with The Divine and with all other created forms in the uni­verse. Both His words and His actions focus on the need for harmony among all elements of Creation. He pointed to human abuses of Nature and warned of coming catastrophic reactions of Nature, which can be mitigated by focused, conscious, disciplined human action taken in harmony with the Divine Law.

Babaji comes not to espouse any particular religion (He says all religions lead to The Divine), but to show and teach a way of life. Babaji called this way of life Sanatan Dharma - the Eternal Way (or Law or Truth). He indicated that the Creation was manifested and is extended and maintained in accordance with the Sanatan Dharma; that humanity's deviations from this Law of Life create imbalances and disruptions in the harmonious operation of the Universe; and that He comes - again and again - to help restore balance and the Sanatan Dharma. He teaches people - and shows by His example - that leading lives based on Truth, Simplicity and Love can restore to the individual, to societies, and to our whole world the inner peace and balance on which alone world peace and social justice can be established.

The great spiritual Masters throughout the ages of human civilizations have all shown a valid Way to different peoples at different ages in different cultures, emphasizing what their people needed to learn at that time to advance them on the Way and bring them into closer harmony with The Divine. Each way has been tested and has led people to "God-realization" and each has developed great saints. The important thing is for a person to focus on and follow a path that is suitable and inspiring for him or her. To wander aimlessly, tasting the fruits of this and that interesting philosophy or ritual is likely only to lead one in circles, rather than to a clear goal. Discipline - of mind and body - is an essential element of Babaji's teaching; without discipline and hard work, nothing valuable is achieved.

Following a Path of discipline is no easy thing for a human being distracted by the lure of many pleasures, as we particularly are in this age. The Bhagavad-Gita, a truly inspired Indian scripture, describes one's mind and senses as a team of twelve strong horses hitched to a chariot. If the charioteer (the individual soul) cannot tame and control his team, he is off for a wild ride through life; but if he can exercise control over his team, he controls great power and speed in action. One's religion or philosophy- whatever shapes one's way of living -is the most important factor in life; but that factor is useless if it leads to no practical end or output. Babaji looked not only to one's inner spirit but to the results, the products, of people's lives. He looked for beneficial action performed in harmony with the Divine Will and all of Creation.

We human beings tend to become like those we choose as role models; we become what we focus on, or like the people with whom we most associate. Babaji, like most Teachers, urged His followers to "go to the wise and learn." The Katha Upanishad, another early and inspired Indian scriptural work, helps in the definition of "the wise" whom we should seek out.

"The good is one thing; the pleasant is another. These two, differing in their ends, both prompt to action. Blessed are they that choose the good; they that choose the pleasant miss the goal.

"Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to man. The wise, having examined both, distinguish the one from the other. The wise prefer the good to the pleasant; the foolish, driven by fleshly desires, prefer the pleasant to the good."⁴

Babaji taught by His own example and by guiding people into experiences they needed for growth. He showed people how to live in harmony with The Divine and Its Creation. He put people into situations where they could experience The Divine, however briefly. He sought practical results from His followers - even as they struggled toward purification and enlightenment. On one day, Babaji admonished: "You monkeys and bears! Only wagging your tails won't be enough! You will have to do something practical, something useful. Babaji says you must work hard and put [the teachings] into practice. First, be inspired yourselves; then inspire others with this message of karma yoga [work]."⁵ He urged His followers to spend some time in His ashrams, with their monastic schedule and style, to experience and practice a pure, focused life in harmony with The Divine and all of Nature. Then go out to serve, as "householders" living in the real world, or to create ashrams "as islands in a sea of materialism" to serve in whatever capacities our countries need.

Babaji lived and taught squarely against the Western quip of "you only live once." He taught from the position that the human soul, like its Source and Goal, is eternal and that the experience of millions of lifetimes in various forms of the soul proceeds in a continuum from life to life. Each life in human form is an opportunity and challenge to build toward perfection of the soul, which returns again and again (through reincarnation) until the soul attains perfection. The soul's goal is to return to a state of unity with the Divine Perfection from which it came and from whence it has strayed in its experiencing it­self and life's pleasures through constantly expanding senses and the concept of itself as an individual body, rather than as a manifestation of the Supreme Soul. Each lifetime can take the soul and its temporary human body closer to the goal of reunion, or we can throw away a lifetime's opportunity through ignorance or willfulness.

In His teaching and life, Babaji used miraculous powers, but indicated (as have other Masters} that they are attainable by anyone who can exercise the discipline to focus his or her mind and follow their Path to unity with The Divine. The powers come from thinking, working, living in harmony with the Creative Energy of the Universe. Babaji, for example, knew - even before they arrived or spoke to Him - who was coming to His ashram, whether they were ready for the experience of Haidakhan, whether they should stay or go. He read people's minds, healed their ailments, guided them into experiences they needed. And it has been people's experience that He comes and goes in human form, at will, through the course of human history.

His Message is not sectarian, but for all human beings of what­ever religious or philosophical leaning. Hindus, Moslems, Christians, Parsis, agnostics, animists, atheists, and others came to live and learn in His presence. His teachings and actions express the best in all religions and can challenge, enrich and expand spiritual knowledge, wisdom and experience within the framework of any of them. Krishna, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, all stated that their highest and best followers can be identified by how they live - how they put into practice the religion they profess. Jesus, when asked "Which is the first commandment of all?", answered, "...thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Babaji s teachings are focused on living in harmony with The Divine, and loving the whole of Creation as thyself, more than on worshiping The Divine by any particular ritual or belief. He would surely agree with a statement attributed to His old friend, Neemkaroli Baba, "It is better to see God in everything than to try to figure it out."

When He had given His message, through example, experience and teaching, Babaji left, in order that people might absorb the Message and learn to live in Truth, Simplicity and Love, rather than to blindly follow His charming and beautiful Presence like so many sheep.

This book is a collection of people's experiences of Babaji; it is something of a biography of Babaji based on personal stories and recollections of people in whose veracity I have reason to believe. No one person and no one book can possibly "capture" this Being in print: The Divine in Its manifest forms is beyond human capacity to understand or to relate. Still, I invite you to read this book about Babaji as I and others have experienced Him. He does not come to create a new religion or to establish a "new God"; He comes to remind and teach humankind of a harmonious way of life. Whether you experience Babaji as divine or as a stimulating, challenging, unusual human being, His life and message (which are really the same thing) have much to offer to people in this era of change and possible growth.

"I surrender to Thee, O Lord; Thou alone art my refuge; Thou alone art my mother, my father, my kin, my all; Thou art my Lord in the world and in the scriptures. Hail, hail, O King of Sages, Remover of the pain of Thy devotees! From the Haidakhan Aarati (worship service)