Neeb Karori Baba : An Avadhuta of the Highest Order

Sanjeev Kumar Nath

Religious traditions and institutions can be riddled with hypocrisy and nonsense, and today the number of people who pose as great spiritual figures but are just wealthy, power-hungry cheats is not few.

Many of these modern babajis and gurujis may know nothing about God or about true spirituality, but are forever hobnobbing with powerful political leaders and are ever present on TV and the Internet, receiving funds from millions of gullible devotees.

Then there are some New Age gurus who preach a hotchpotch of everything from Zen to Sufi to Hinduism. The extraordinarily bountiful supply of self-proclaimed messiahs today can be quite bewildering for the serious seeker who wishes to contact a genuine guru or a real sadhu.

Neeb Karori Baba : An Avadhuta of the Highest Order — Neeb Karori Baba

One true spiritual giant that walked the earth in his mortal frame not too long ago, and still continues to fascinate, inspire and help spiritual aspirants was Neeb Karori Baba (or Neem Karoli Baba, as most of his western devotees call him) of North India. In considering the life of a person like Neeb Karori Baba, we also need to acknowledge the co-existence of a multiplicity of spiritual traditions in Hinduism.

There are many gods in Hinduism, yet there is also the very powerful concept of the oneness of Reality or Brahman or Atman or God. The concept of incarnation is particularly fascinating in Hinduism because there is no closure to the possibility of incarnation. There have been many incarnations in the past, and there can be many incarnations in the future.

And then, along with the many incarnations and the many manifestations of the divine, there is the idea of the underlying oneness of those incarnations and manifestations. Coming into contact with a genuine incarnation or manifestation of the divine can be a life-changing experience for many.

Many believe that Neeb Karori Baba was an extraordinary avadhuta—a jivanmukta sadhu who is not bound to samsara any more, and whose actions on earth are described as “leela”, a play that he engages in, not attached to anything or anyone whatsoever, but full of compassion for all and full of the power of the Divine. Many simply take him to be an incarnation of Hanuman.

The ticketless sadhu on the train: The rather strange name actually refers to the village of Neeb Karori in Uttar Pradesh where he had stayed for some time. It seems that he was first called Neeb Karori wala Baba in Hindi, meaning the Baba of Neeb Karori, but later the wala got dropped, so that the place name “Neeb Karori” became his name.

There is an anecdote that explains how he came to be called Neeb Karori Baba. It is said that once he was travelling by train, but without a ticket, like most Indian sadhus. The railway official checking the tickets of the passengers came to him and asked him for his ticket. On finding that he had no ticket, the official made him get off the train.

After he got down from the train, however, the train refused to move further. The driver could not make the train resume its journey again, try as he might. Then some people suggested to the ticket collector that may be the train did not move because he had insulted the sadhu. Then the official and the driver apologised to Maharaj-ji, and he agreed to travel again in that train, but with the condition that a station be constructed at that place.

Thus, the railway station of Nibkarori (That’s the way the name of the station is spelt) came into being, and Baba also came to be called Neeb Karori Baba. However, in his wanderings in the hills and the plains, he was given different names by different people.

Most of his devotees called him Maharaj-ji. In India, particularly North India, there is an old tradition of calling wandering mendicants, sadhus who possess no material wealth or worldly power, “Maharaj-ji”, “revered emperor”. Another term with which sadhus or renunciates are addressed, particularly in South India, is “Swami” meaning “Lord”. A sadhu is supposed to be completely independent, and in control of his own mind, thus, a “lord” over himself.

Ordinary people going about their daily activities of earning and accumulating wealth are dependent on many things : money, wealth, power, fame, position; while the sadhu doesn’t care for any of these. Hence the wealthy, successful man of the world is the weaker one, the dependent one, while the renunciate is free, and in that freedom lies his power.

The wandering sadhu : Many of the things that are known about Maharaj-ji, or things that people think they know about him, are from different anecdotes about him. However, a few facts about his life are fairly well known. He was born in a Brahmin landlord family of Akbarpur village in Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh around 1900, and was known as Lakshmi Narayan Sharma.

His father was Durga Prasad Sharma and his mother Kausalya Devi. He lost his mother in childhood, probably when he was 8 or 9 years old. His father got him married to a Brahmin girl, Rambeti from a wealthy Brahmin family at an early age, probably when he was only 11, but soon after that he left home as a wandering sadhu.

He remained untraced for over a decade, and it is believed that during this period he wandered around as a young sadhu, practised various spiritual disciplines, staying at Babania in Gujarat and other places including the village of Neeb Karori in Uttar Pradesh. Many years later, possibly when he was around 23 or 24 years of age, someone who knew him saw him at Neeb Karori, and informed his father.

His father went to him and brought him home and asked him to live as a householder. Although he did live as an ordinary householder, fathering two sons and a daughter, his anchorage in ecstatic devotion to Sri Ram was not disturbed. Then years later, he again left home as a wandering sadhu, and became famous as a holy man who could perform extraordinary miracles.

The householder and the sadhu : Occasionally, he would visit his Akbarpur home, and meet his children and wife, but he would again leave them on his wanderings. One of his grandsons recalls that on those occasions when he went home, he would stay for a few days, but when he decided to leave, he would usually pick a quarrel with someone and generally complain about many things.

The grandson said that the quarrel and the complaints were actually his way of making him unwanted. People would think that such a quarrelsome person is better away from home, and suddenly, he would give then the slip. And then he would again be with his devotees in some Ashram or temple. Possibly none of his western devotees knew that he was a householder, and just about seven or eight Indian devotees knew about that facet of his life.

The devotees did not consider his occasional disappearances as anything unnatural as it was his way to keep moving from place to place. Actually, he performed his duties as a householder, too, without being attached to anyone or anything. He managed to be in his family on all important occasions, and it was almost as if he inhabited two different living spaces—that of the sadhu surrounded by devotees, and that of the householder taking care of his family.

His son Aneg Singh Sharma recalls that once his mother (Maharaj-ji’s wife) complained about his long absences, and said that sometimes the kids fell sick, and she needed him to take care of them. Maharaj-ji said that he would always be there to take care of them if they fell sick, and he kept his word until the last days.

If anyone was unwell at home, Maharaj-ji would appear there in a matter of hours, and the sick person would get well. Occasionally, his sons would visit him wherever he was. However, he never stayed too long in any place.

No mass instruction : One difference between an enlightened being like Maharaj-ji and many who pose as great spiritual gurus today is that an enlightened being never gives general lessons (except stressing universally acknowledged concepts like the supreme importance of truth and love) while the modern-day “master” talks to large groups of corporate leaders or workers and even thousands of people, giving them some kind of universal spiritual panacea (and for a price, of course: often you have to pay to be a part of the audience).

Maharaj-ji never addressed meetings, never gave general advice applicable to all, but spoke individually to those who came to him, solving their problems, suggesting solutions, performing miracles (which would often unfold as ordinary happenings). It was always a one-to-one interaction.

And of course, nothing was charged as fees, even for the miracles! In fact, one of the sure ways of telling a modern fraudster from a true Mahatma is the fraudster’s addressing mammoth crowds and reaching out to millions—raising funds in the process—as against a true Mahatma’s practice of giving specific advice to individual seekers.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Maharshi did not give mass instruction, but gently directed individual seekers onto the specific path that was right for them. Maharaj-ji never delivered any lecture. He did not preach. Many of his early devotees heard about him from others. There was no organization to spread his “teaching” and he did not have any “teaching”.

Madman of God, exuding peace and bliss: Although he didn’t give mass instruction, in his conversations with people, he would briefly emphasize the importance of devotion, and his favourite deities were Sri Ram and Hanuman. He established quite a few temples dedicated to Hanuman and Sri Ram. Ashrams grew around him. He lived the life of a wandering devotee, a madman of God, one can say, seemingly whimsical in his behaviour at times.

During his lifetime he dissuaded people from writing about him, but after his death, some of his ardent devotees collected a huge number of anecdotes about him, and these have been published as books.

Today most people come to know about Maharaj-ji by reading these anecdotes or watching videos and TV programmes about him. Many feel drawn to him after coming to know that the likes of Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerberg and Julia Roberts are his devotees.

Because of his habit of never staying at one place, different people came to know him and call him by different names, but one thing is certain : there was a strange aura of spirituality around him, and people felt greatly attracted towards him. It is said that he was immersed in sahaja samadhi, a state of oneness with Brahman, but generally without any outward show of ecstasy. Outwardly he just looked like an ordinary sadhu, frequently wrapped up in a blanket.

When people came to him for blessings, they felt wonderfully happy in his presence. He seemed to exude peace and happiness. This quality of being able to overwhelm others with peace and bliss is said to be the singular quality of a siddha, one who is not a spiritual aspirant but a spiritual giant, one who is not on the journey of self-discovery, but one who has attained the Self or God.

Many modern “masters”, by the way, can overwhelm you with their cleverness, but not with peace and bliss. They don’t even know that God-realization or Self-realization is not for the clever, but the innocent : “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”.

The bed in the palace and the railway platform : Maharaj-ji’s son Aneg Singh Sharma tells a story about how difficult it was to understand Maharaj-ji’s ways. Once, when Maharaj-ji was staying at Allahabad, the Queen of Kashi came to see him, and prayed for his blessings because the Central Government had not released her privy purse.

Maharaj-ji blessed her and said that there was no cause for worry; the Government would soon release her privy purse. Then the Queen further requested Maharaj-ji to honour her by visiting her and staying at her palace. Maharaj-ji didn’t seem to want to go, but when the Queen insisted, he said he would go. Maharaj-ji’s son Aneg was with him at that moment, so Maharaj-ji took him with him when travelling to the Queen’s palace in her big car.

The Queen had appointed one special room with air-conditioning and posh furniture for Maharaj-ji. His son said that first when Maharaj-ji stepped on the softly cushioned bed that was prepared for him, he started jumping on it like a little child. He seemed full of glee. (Incidentally, the news of the release of the Queen’s privy purse reached her even as Maharaj-ji was at her palace.)

After taking their meals in the palace, father and son went to bed, but in the middle of the night Maharaj-ji woke his son up and said that they were leaving. The sleepy boy couldn’t understand what was happening but he knew that once Maharaj-ji said he would go, nothing on earth could stop him. So, he sleepily followed his father, and just as they reached the gate of the palace, a rickshaw-puller appeared on the road. His son said that this was how it always was—when Maharaj-ji wanted to travel, he would not have to wait for arranging conveyance.

Maharaj-ji gave certain instructions to the rickshaw puller, and riding through narrow city streets, they reached a house of one of Maharaj-ji’s devotees. These people had gone to sleep as it was quite late in the night, but they were overjoyed to see Maharaj-ji as the head of the family was unwell, and they sought Maharaj-ji’s blessings. Maharaj-ji held the sick person’s hand, placed his hand on his head, and said that he would be alright; there was nothing to worry.

Then the people in the house got busy to feed Maharaj-ji. They wanted to cook for him, but he scolded them for wanting to cook so late in the night. He said they should just give him whatever was left in the kitchen. They said nothing was left from their dinner, but Maharaj-ji still asked them to check. They checked, and found a roti. Maharaj-ji asked them to serve that roti to him with some sugar on it. Then he ate just a little of it, and returned the rest to them as prasad.

Then Maharaj-ji departed with his son. Right at their gate, another rickshaw had pulled up, and the father and son duo got into it. This time Maharaj-ji asked the rickshaw puller to take them to the railway station. In a platform there, Maharaj-ji let his son sleep on a bench and he himself slept on the ground near him. Aneg was just wondering at the difference : the soft bed in the Queen’s air-conditioned room and the hard railway bench! But Maharaj-ji’s son also said that he never questioned Maharaj-ji about why he behaved in a certain manner or why he did this or that. He just enjoyed being with Maharaj-ji for as long as he was allowed to.

Food for the hungry: Maharaj-ji loved feeding people who visited him. Offerings of fruits and sweets that were brought by devotees were distributed among those present. Once, a large quantity of food was being prepared on an important occasion in the Ashram, and many people from the villages had arrived to receive the prasad. However, the food was not being distributed, and the people were waiting, some of them clearly hungry.

Maharaj-ji asked why the food was not being given to the people, and was told that some rituals were yet to be completed before the food could be distributed. Maharaj-ji flew into a rage and ordered the organizers to forget about the rituals and feed the people immediately.

At times he would sit silent, completely withdrawn into the Self, but at times he could thunder like he did now to feed the visitors, and sometimes he would joke and laugh like a child. Many devotees have also told stories about how food prepared for some 10-12 people would turn out to be sufficient to feed 30-40 people when Maharaj-ji was present.

Once, an inmate of the ashram who was on a diurnal fast, was somehow forgotten by the ashram management, and they did not offer him the milk with which he was supposed to break his fast in the evening. That night Maharaj-ji suddenly asked this person if he had had his milk to break his fast. Not wanting to antagonize anyone, he lied, saying that he had had his milk.

But Maharaj-ji shouted at those responsible for the slip, and asked them to give him milk. They looked around, and then said that unfortunately, there was no milk left now, and only in the morning the supplies would be replenished. Maharaj-ji then asked everyone to go to sleep, but told the fasting person to stay near him. Then he brought out a container full of milk and also parathas out of his blanket, and made the man eat right in front of him.

The ways of an avadhuta : From the way Maharaj-ji never seemed to be attached to one place, although he made ashrams and temples, and from the way he performed innumerable miracles, it seems he was an avadhuta of a very high order, a siddha. Distinguished teacher in the Nath Yoga tradition Sri M (Madhukar Nath/ Mumtaz Ali Khan) says that his guru, Maheshwar Nath Babaji thought that Neeb Karori Baba had some kind of connection with Sri Guru Babaji (Mahavatar Babaji, the guru of Lahiri Mahashaya).

During his apprenticeship with Maheshwar Nath Babaji, Sri M was asked by his guru to visit Maharaj-ji. Sri M says that when Maharaj-ji saw him, he gestured to him, calling him near him, and then gave a rotten apple which he had brought out from under his blanket. Maharaj-ji asked Sri M to eat the apple, but seeing that it was rotten, Sri M hesitated. But Maharaj-ji again pressed him to eat, and he ate it.

Then Babaji asked him to leave. That must have been Maharaj-ji’s way of blessing the young Sri M, but who knows how he transmits spiritual power? Who knows the ways of an avadhuta?

The Harvard University psychologist who became Ram Dass, servant of Ram: Richard Alpert was teaching in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University when he started experimenting with psychedelic drugs with Dr Timothy Leary. Earlier, he had got his master’s degree in psychology from Wesleyan University in 1954 and his PhD in psychology from Stanford University in 1957.

In 1958, he was appointed as an assistant clinical psychology professor at Harvard University. Both Leary and Alpert were brilliant psychologists, but experiments with psychedelic drugs were perceived as departures from the usual lines of psychological investigation at the time. In 1962, Leary helped Harvard Divinity School graduate student Walter Pahnke and others, in conducting an experiment involving the use of psilocybin (a psychedelic drug derived from certain species of mushrooms) to get powerful mystical experiences.

Although the use of psilocybin was not illegal, both Alpert and Leary lost their jobs next year for their involvement in the experiment. However, they continued to work in the area, and Leary, Alpert and Ralph Metzner published the book The Psychedelic Experience : A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1964. Then again in 1966, Alpert, Sidney Cohen and Lawrence Schiller published LSD: A Journey into the Asked, the Answered and the Unknown.

In 1967 Richard Alpert was travelling in India when he met the American yogi Bhagavan Das (Kermit Michel Riggs). It is through Bhagavan Das that Richard Alpert came to know of Neem Karoli Baba and to meet him. However, initially he wasn’t quite ready to shed the ego of the American psychologist to be able to surrender to Maharaj-ji.

Neem karoli Baba12 — Steve Jobs, mark Zuckerberg, Julia Roberts – all were connected with the Neem Karori Baba

The thing that unsettled Alpert was to see Bhagavan Das, his companion and fellow American, running to Maharaj-ji and prostrating to him, stretched full length on the ground, touching Maharaj-ji’s feet. They were fed sumptuously by those present there, and then, after some time, Maharaj-ji did something that completely stumped Alpert. Maharaj-ji called him, and asked him to sit near him.

Then he said (Excerpt from Ram Dass’s Be Here Now):

“You were under the stars last night.”

“Um-hum”

“You were thinking about your mother.”

“Yes”. (‘Wow’, I thought, ‘that’s pretty good. I never mentioned that to anybody’)

“She died last year.”

“Um-hum”

“She got very big in the stomach before she died.”

….. Pause…..“Yes”.

He leaned back and closed his eyes and said, “Spleen. She died of spleen.”

But further surprises awaited Alpert. The next morning Maharaj-ji asked him for the psychedelic drugs he had with him.

He looked at me and extended his hand. So I put into his hand what’s called a “White Lightening”. This is an LSD pill, and this one was from a special batch that had been made specially for me for travelling. And each pill was 305 micrograms, and very pure. Very good acid. Usually you start a man over 60 maybe with 50 to 75 micrograms, very gently, so you won’t upset him. 300 of pure acid is a very solid dose.

He looks at the pill and extends his hand further. So I put a second pill—that’s 610 micrograms—then a third pill—that’s 915 micrograms—into his palm.

That is sizable for a first dose for anyone!

“Ah-cha”

And he swallows them! I see them go down. There’s no doubt. And that little scientist in me says, “This is going to be very interesting!”

All day long I’m there, and every now and then he twinkles at me and nothing—nothing happens!

Later Maharaj-ji would say that those who experience altered states of consciousness or “mystical” states under the influence of psychedelic substances were not experiencing true mystical states; that they were only engaging in “window-shopping”, not real shopping. Anyway, Richard Alpert soon surrendered himself to Maharaj-ji and Maharaj-ji accepted him and called him Ram Dass. Of course, Ram Dass would soon become a leading spiritual leader for thousands of seekers, particularly from the west.

Sri Ramana and “Ananda” : By showing how he could digest those LSD tablets without being affected by the drug in any way, Maharaj-ji showed Richard Alpert that a persson with true spiritual power can “undo” the power of psychedelic drugs, and that seeking ecstasy through drugs was certainly not the true spiritual way. This reminds me of an incident concerning Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and one of his close devotees, Annamalai Swami.

One day, Sri Ramana was having his bath with Annamalai Swami and another person in attendance. Annamalai Swami happened to talk about the ecstasy that cannabis addicts seemed to experience. They usually describe their cannabis-induced ecstatic state as “Ananda”, i.e., bliss. Annamalai Swami asked Sri Ramana what the sage though of such “Ananda”. Maharshi laughed and said, “Oh! Yes, those fellows who use cannabis talk of “Ananda, Ananda!”

So saying, he briefly hugged Annamalai Swami and then went away. Immediately, Annamalai Swami went into samadhi, and remained in samadhi in the exact spot where the sage had embraced him, for many hours. Sri Ramana showed him, perhaps, that the jivanmukta is forever in ecstasy; he doesn’t need cannabis or any other drug to experience bliss, and he can even transmit his bliss to another.

The young priest who recited the Gita like a scholar: On June 15 every year, there is much celebration and feasting at Maharaj-ji’s ashram at Kainchi, some 20 kilometres from Nainital, to mark the anniversary of the ashram. Thousands throng the ashram that day for worship and for taking part in the community feast, called bhandara in the local language.

On one such bhandara day, a 11 or 12-year old school boy from Ranikhet joined other boys of his school and a lot of other people visiting Kainchi Dham. His name was Bhagawan Singh, and he belonged to the Thakur caste. The moment Maharaj-ji saw this boy in the bhandara crowd, he called him near and asked, “Will you stay with me?”

Now this boy was quite inseparable from his mother who didn’t allow him to leave her and stay elsewhere overnight even on occasions like family weddings. So he should actually have said “no” to Maharaj-ji’s request, but he later recalls that the moment Maharaj-ji asked him whether he would stay with him, he agreed immediately. The very next day Maharaj-ji left for Vrindavan, taking the boy with him. There, Maharaj-ji arranged for the boy to stay and gradually learn the work of a temple priest.

About this time, a very rich man from Jaipur, Seth Anand Ram Mangtu Ram Jaipuria constructed a temple at Virndavan, as desired by Maharaj-ji. A sign board was put up there, with the information that it was a temple constructed by Seth Jaipuria. Maharaj-ji, on his part, appointed the young Bhagwan Singh as priest in the temple.

One day, when Bhagwan Singh was reading the Ramayana in the temple, the rich man, Seth Jaipuria arrived there with a group of his relatives and followers. He called out loudly to the young priest, “Hey, boy! Come here”. Bhagwan Singh was taken aback because people called him “Pujariji” (respected priest) or “Panditji”, but no one ever yelled at him like this.

When he came out, Seth Jaipuria said, “Who appointed you as priest here?”

Bhagwan Singh : “Maharaj-ji has appointed me.”

Seth Jaipuria : “You are not a Brahmin. You are a Thakur. Am I right?”

Bhagwan Singh : “Yes, I am a Thakur.”

Seth Jaipuria : “And you are not well-read. You don’t know Sanskrit.”

Bhagwan Singh admitted that he was not a learned person, but read the Ramayana and the Hanuman Chalisa. Before Seth Jaipuria could say anything more, however, there was Maharaj-ji’s booming voice from behind, “O Jaipuria!”

When Seth Jaipuria and all the others turned to Maharaj-ji, they saw that he looked red with anger. He shouted at the rich man, that he might as well destroy the temple he had built or take off the signboard displaying his name, that there were lots of other people who would build temples at Maharaj-ji’s bidding. And then Maharaj-ji said, “You say that this young priest is not learned. I will prove to you that he is very learned. Tell me how do you want to test him? Which scripture do you want him to recite?”

Seth Jaipuria said he would like to hear Bhagwan Singh recite the Gita. Maharaj-ji asked him which chapter of the Gita he would like to listen to, and Seth Jaipuria said that he would like to listen to Chapter Eleven (Vishwarupa Darshana) of the Gita. Maharaj-ji was clad in his blanket as ever. He now walked up to the young priest—who was trembling by now to witness all the commotion caused by his priesthood—suddenly covered him under his blanket and touched the boy’s forehead with his toe.

Then Maharaj-ji just stood near him, blanket duly draped on his own body as usual, and the young priest started reciting the eleventh chapter of the Gita in absolutely chaste Sanskrit. From what Bhagwan Singh himself said about this incident later, the moment Maharaj-ji flipped the blanket on him and touched his forehead with his toe, he lost ordinary consciousness, but was vaguely aware of Sanskrit verses being spoken by himself. It was as if he was listening to the recitation, but did not know how it emerged from his own mouth.

Seth Jaipuria then fell at Maharaj-ji’s feet and asked for his forgiveness, but Maharaj-ji asked him to apologize to the young priest, which he did.

At around 1.15 am on 11 September, 1973, Maharaj-ji left his body. Earlier in the day Maharaj-ji was taken to a heart specialist in Agra because he had complained of pain in the chest. The doctor said his heart was fine, and just needed some rest. However, his condition worsened later while travelling back to Kathgodam (on the way to Kainchi), and he wished to be taken to Vrindavan. He was admitted into the emergency facility of a hospital at Vrindavan.

The doctors said that he was in a diabetic comma, but his pulse rate was alright. Maharaj-ji pulled off the oxygen mask from his face and the blood pressure measuring band from his arm, saying “Bekar” (“Useless”), and asked for Ganga water. There was no Ganga water there, so ordinary water was given to him. Then he said “Jaya Jagadisha Hare” (“Victory to the Lord of the Universe”), several times, and his face became very calm, without any sign of pain, and he died.

A Samadhi Mandir came up at Vrindavan where he was cremated, while Kainchi Dham remains a very important place of pilgrimage for his devotees. Of course, across India, and even abroad, there are temples and ashrams dedicated to Maharaj-ji today. Some sightings of Maharaj-ji have been reported even after his passing away, and the powerful attraction of this extraordinary avadhuta and jivanmukta is still felt by devotees around the world.

Images from different sources

(Sanjeev Kumar Nath, English Department, Gauhati University, sanjeevnath21@gmail.com)

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