Maharaj ji – Baba Neem Karoli (Wonder Mystic of India)

One Divine Soul – Many Name

Maharaj ji was born as Lakshmi Narayan Sharma and this was the name given to him by his parents. When he left his home and wandered in search of truth, he came to be known as Lakshman Das. When he did tapasya at Bavania in Gujarat, he was known as Tallaiya Baba.

Later when he lived at the Indian village of NeebKarori, he was called NeebKarori Baba by the local villagers. There is a lot of confusion about the spelling of ‘NeebKarori’. NeebKarori is the phonological translation of the same word from Hindi. Neeb is also sometimes written as Nib and Karori is sometimes written as Karauri. The ‘ee’ in Neeb is to be pronounced as in ‘speed’ and the ‘o’ in Karori is to pronounced as the ‘a’ in ‘raw’. It is to be noted that the name NeebKarori was taken up by Maharaj ji himself. He has signed with this name at some places. Neeb (In pure hindi – neev) means foundation and Karori (in pure hindi – karari) means strong. So Neeb Karori means a strong foundation.

Divine Teachings

Maharaj ji’s teachings were simple and universal. He often said, “Sub Ek” — All is One. He taught us to “love everyone, serve everyone, remember God, and tell the truth.” Strongly connected to Hanuman, the Hindu God in the form of a monkey, Maharaj ji “taught” in a highly personalized, non-traditional way that reflected the deep devotion of the bhakti path of the heart. Known as the “Miracle Baba” throughout north India, He manifested many siddhis (powers), such as being in two places at once or putting devotees in samadhi (state of God consciousness) at the touch of a finger.

Maharaj ji is best known for the unconditional love He showered on all who came into His presence as well as those who never met Him in the body but established a connection to him beyond the physical plane.

Maharaj ji & His Mystic Ways

Maharaj ji was once wandering somewhere in Eastern U.P. At one place he passed by a railway station. The train happened to be at halt. He had a fancy to travel some distance by train. He got into a nearby coach and sat in an upper class compartment. After a while the train started and continued its journey. Some time later, a Travelling Ticket Examiner saw this somewhat uncouth, rustic-like person occupying the upper class seat and approached him and asked for his ticket. Maharaj ji just looked up at him once and paid no further attention to his query. He continued to remain silent in contemplation. The Ticket Examiner was annoyed. He demanded to see the ticket. It was those days when most of the railway staff was either British or at least Anglo-Indian. Mahara jji shook his head and spread out his empty hands. The Ticket Examiner understood the situation and decided to take action. Soon after, the train stopped for a brief halt at a small way-side station in the country-side. Maharaj ji was ordered to get down. He promptly obeyed, left his seat, got down out of the carriage and walking a few steps along the dusty platform went and stayed under the shade of a tree. He seemed absolutely unconcerned of whatever had happened. He paid no attention to what was going on around him. In a couple of minutes the bell rang, the railway guard blew his whistle and waved the green flag. The engine driver sounded the whistle and started the engine. Nothing happened. The engine did not move and the train continued to stand where it was. After a few minutes the guard got down and walked up to the engine driver to enquire what the trouble was. No trouble could be detected. Everything seemed to be all right. The engine driver checked everything and tried again. No result. More time passed. The Station Master became anxious. Another train which was due to come by was held up at some station up the line. Telegraphic messages started coming. 15 minutes, 20 minutes and then half an hour passed. Anxiety built up. Then a subordinate member of the staff very timidly approached the Station Master and pointing to Maharaj ji sitting under the tree insisted that the whole situation was due to having shown disrespect to the holy man. He suggested that the only way out of the impasse was to approach him and beg his forgiveness and request him to continue his journey without any hindrance. This was conveyed to the guard and the engine driver. At first they vehemently refused to do any such thing but as more time passed, better reason prevailed. They respectfully approached Maharaj ji, saluted him, asked to be excused for their rudeness, requested him to bless the train and invited him to continue his journey. Maharaj ji looked up and glanced at them for a moment and said “All right, Chalo. Hum chalenge, Hum chalenge” (“All right, Go. I shall come along, I shall come along”) and got up and re-entered the train. Immediately the engine gave a jerk and the train started to move as though nothing had happened. A little crowd, which had gathered there, in the meanwhile, loudly acclaimed Maharaj ji with awe in their voice. From then onwards no Railway Officer ever interfered with Maharaj ji’s free movement in any train he fancied.

Maharaj ji & Temples

Maharaj ji has prompted and supervised the construction of several beautiful and very impressive Hanuman Mandirs. These temples enshrining Sri Hanuman are powerful attractions to innumerable devotees. One such most attractive and impressive Hanuman Mandir is in Lucknow. Sri Hanumanji shrined in Baba Neem Karoli’s Ashram at Kainchi is also a centre of worship. In Brindavan also there is a beautiful Hanumanji temple.

Unique Encounters with Devotees

• Maharaj ji & Julia Roberts

Hollywood star Julia Roberts became interested in Hinduism after seeing a picture of Hanuman devotee Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, who died in 1973. Roberts said that her interest in Hinduism “came from seeing a picture of a Guru called Neem Karoli Baba and I was so drawn to this picture of this person and I did not know who he was or what he was about but felt a very strong interest.” 

• Maharaj ji & Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of facebook, influenced by Steve Jobs, visited Neem Karoli Baba’s (Maharaj ji) ashram in Kainchi. During the townhall meeting with PM Modi, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that when his company was going through a tough patch, Steve Jobs advised him to visit a temple in India, where the Apple co-founder had also experienced life-changing spiritual reflection. “He told me that in order to reconnect with what I believed as the mission of the company, I should visit this temple that he had gone to in India, early on in his evolution of thinking about what he wanted Apple and his vision of the future to be, the month-long trip reinforced for me the importance of what we were doing,” Zuckerberg said.

• Maharaj ji & American Tech Titans

The mystery is why this modest ashram would attract such asteady stream of American tech visionaries. Along with Steve Jobs and Zuckerberg, Google’s Larry Page and Jeffrey Skoll, co-founder of eBay, have also made the pilgrimage.

“Everybody in the world wants to go and see this place,” said Larry Brilliant, a Doctor who once lived at the ashram and later became head of Google’s philanthropy division. “It’s a combination of ‘Eat Pray Love,’ know thyself and change the world.”

• Maharaj ji & Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs arrived in 1974 on a trip around India. He had a growing interest in Eastern spirituality and a classmate had met the guru and urged Jobs to meet him, Jobs told his biographer, Walter Issacson. But when he arrived, suffering from dysentery, Jobs was disappointed to learn that the guru had died the previous September. He spent most of his time walking around nearby villages and reading an English version of “Autobiography of a Yogi,” the story of another famed sage, according to Isaacson.

“He was searching for the same thing all of us search for, what we’re still searching for, the meaning of life, why we live, how we can do anything good in our lifetimes,” said Brilliant, who became a lifelong friend. He was also searching for raw food, as Brilliant puts it — “Where the hell am I going to get a good salad?”Brilliant, who is now senior adviser to Skoll Global Threats Fund, lived at the ashram for three years before Neem Karoli Baba pushed him to leave and take on the smallpox epidemic. At first, Brilliant resisted. Brilliant eventually talked himself into a job at the World Health Organization and worked for the groundbreaking eradication effort.

• Maharaj ji & Ram Dass

Before Maharaj ji left his body one of the outstanding acts of Grace and Benediction he did was to effect the transformation in the life of an American seeker named Richard Alpert. Well known as one of the acclaimed leaders of the American drug cult, the former professor of the Harvard University was in a state of moral and spiritual crisis in his life when Maharaj ji mysteriously drew him to himself and cast his glance of Grace upon him. That first Darshan and the benediction worked a miracle in that restless soul and soon transformed him into a teacher now known to thousands of his followers as Baba Ramdass. This fascinating story is narrated in Ramdas’ book “Be Here Now”, a most interesting and absorbing human document that gives many interesting insights into Baba Neemkaroli ji and his mystic and wonderful personality.

References

General Information from Publications & Internet