We pay special tribute to Babaji on July 25 as co-founder of our Guru-lineage. Master said that it was Jesus who requested Babaji to send someone armed with the science of yoga (union with God) to the West to re-awaken original Christianity. In the early formative years of Jesus ministry, and that of his disciples, it was well acknowledged that God and the kingdom of heaven were to be found within. Over the years succeeding religious institutions were granted enormous worldly power and due to the influence of the Kali Yuga a formulae developed in which acceptance of a creed was thought sufficient to be saved.
To be born again is far more than intellectual agreement to a dogma, being sprinkled with, or dunked in water, and even more than an initiatory experience such as feeling the power of the Holy Ghost in a Spirit-filled church. Follow in the steps of Jesus as he is baptized by his guru from a previous life, during which he sees the power of the Holy Ghost descending , he then goes out to the wilderness where he is tested. In fact there are many steps to be taken that eventually lead to the hill of Golgotha, the hill of the skull. We learn that the spiritual journey of many steps leads to our skull, our own brain where the Holy Ghost, Christ-Consciousness and God the Father are all to be found through actual experience. This interior experience of the Mystical Crucifixion has been known by saints and realized masters around the world, yet the world at large is either indifferent to divine pursuits, or is drawn to the idea of belief through simple faith, sans the inner experience of following the Christ all the way to the resurrection of Divine Consciousness.
Great Masters such as Jesus and Babaji are ever anxious that all should enjoy the inner kingdom of heaven, so Jesus asked Babaji to send the liberating methods of Kriya Yoga to the West. Babaji had his great disciple, Lahiri Mahasaya, through whom he had already started a spiritual revolution in India through diksha, initiation into Kriya Yoga; a technique of breath and mind control that awakens the spine and brain to the higher frequencies of innate divinity. Lahiri Mahasaya had a very advanced disciple in Priyanath Kerar, later Swami Sri Yukteswarji, who perceived the underlying truth behind both the Bhagavad Gita and Biblical scriptures. Babaji then guided young Mukunda, later Swami Yogananda, to his guru Sri Yukteswarji, where he was grounded in the insights of both Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswarji in regards to the scriptures, both East and West. Of course the work could not be carried on through intellectual conversion only, but Yoganandaji walked in the steps of realization, even as Jesus and Babaji, and discovered directly the great truths that all saints perceive in the vision of God.
Babaji prompted Yoganandaji to travel and then live in America to introduce the science of Kriya Yoga. Babaji felt the desire of certain devotees in the West were ready for these teachings–his intuitive compassion reached across time and space and he knew that such souls as Rajasi Janakananda (James J. Lynn), Sister Gyanamata, Mother Hamilton and others would take advantage of these teachings–a few bringing them to full fruition. It would be Mother Hamilton, Paramhansa Yogananda’s great disciple, who would be destined to experience and further elucidate original Christianity and the inner meanings of the Mystical Crucifixion based on her own experiences. Babaji’s awareness stretched further down through time and he knew that succeeding generations of disciples would also find those who would go the whole way to full God-realization. Of course he also knew there would be the tendency to institutionalize these teachings, and much would be lost along the way. But, implicit is the opportunity for truly realized souls to keep the flame of realization alive, and that in time it may grow beyond a cultural revolution, as we have already witnessed by the influence of the Autobiography of A Yogi, and that it may bloom into fields of realized souls scattered across the globe.
Babaji has ever been interested in the long term evolutionary needs of the world, and it is for this reason only that he has maintained a physical body for so long. He continues his influence primarily through the inner attunement of advanced devotees. It can be a tricky thing to say that Babaji said this, or appeared here or there; as the ego-mind is at work until it is completely transcended and can cause delusions. There have been many books now written about Babaji since Master penned his spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi. However, due discrimination must be used in this regard. Even as in social circles there may be name dropping to enhance one’s own status, so those with a spiritual interest will drop names to lend a halo of credibility to the incredible. Going to God is not a circus–it is attained by dedicated souls sincerely making effort to change their lives and attune themselves to the highest Light. We all enjoy tales of the remarkable, however God-realization is much closer to home–know it to be right in the heart and soul of the seeker.
I am prompted to relate on remarkable experience I had with Babaji. It occurred when I had first left my profession and Phyllis had generously offered me a cottage on Hornby Island. Late one night I was walking in Helliwell Park. Suddenly I was enveloped in a powerful spiritual field, I felt my footsteps guided as I made my way through the dark woods onto a small beach on the ocean side. The night sky and stars seemed to grow close, or I seemed to grow large, and it felt I could reach out and touch the twinkling lights. The thought, “Babaji could come down to me as one of those lights,” came to my mind. However, Babaji has never acceded to my desire for outward remarkability, he only draws my mind inward. Just then I saw the wonderful five pointed star radiantly glowing. Entering the vast ocean of Spirit I was swam in God’s ocean of Bliss. Through my open eyes I saw that it was Babaji as Spirit permeating all creation. Through his Grace I pierced the personal and entered the impersonal–I describe here in words what cannot be described, but it seems right to do so anyway.
On this day of Babaji Remembrance, it is good to think on him and to read about him in the Autobiography; and better than all is to be inwardly attuned with him and open to his Grace. Of course we seek out God Omnipresent beyond form, and on the way up we are inspired by realized masters and saints, and rightfully so. Going beyond all form we find God is all-pervasive, everywhere present. In the universal vison we find His voice being spoken through all: in a child, someone in ignorance, and most lovingly from His perfected ones. Babaji’s words soaked in love and bliss are an encouragement to all to rise above the thralldom of everyday concerns–know the Supreme One, the One who is ever-present within you.
Travel Update: We have continued our westward march and find ourselves encamped at a pretty spot just outside Winnipeg, Manitoba–Birds Hill Campground. Well known Canadian writer Gabrielle Roy (1909-1983) called Birds Hill, near where she grew up, her most sacred memory of Manitoba. It has a wonderful feeling here. We are taking a day’s rest after several days of uninterrupted travel. As soon as we arrived here God took me upstairs and has largely kept me there. In writing about Babaji today he seemed so close, guiding my choice of words and making his will known to my receptive mind. Tomorrow, the 25, we will caravan further west, and will be in thought of Babaji and of you.
