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Babaji/en: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Babaji.jpg|thumb|Drawing of Babaji from ''Autobiography of a Yogi'']] | [[File:Babaji.jpg|thumb|Drawing of Babaji from ''Autobiography of a Yogi'']] | ||
'''Babaji''' is an unascended master of the Himalayas. He has become well known in the West through the writings of | '''Babaji''' is an unascended master of the Himalayas. He has become well known in the West through the writings of [[Paramahansa Yogananda]]. Babaji has chosen to forgo the [[ascension]] by reason of the [[bodhisattva]] ideal, which means that he desires to remain on earth until everyone has won their freedom. He remains in a body of flesh in a cave in the Himalayas, yet he is able to dematerialize his body at will and carry himself and his followers from one part of the world to another. | ||
== The unascended brotherhood of the Himalayas == | == The unascended brotherhood of the Himalayas == | ||
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<blockquote>The deathless guru bears no mark of age on his body; he appears to be a youth of not more than twenty-five. Fair-skinned, of medium build and height, Babaji’s beautiful, strong body radiates a perceptible glow. His eyes are dark, calm, and tender; his long, lustrous hair is copper-colored.... He has lived for many centuries amid the Himalayan snows.<ref>Paramahansa Yogananda, ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' (Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1977), pp. 348, 355.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>The deathless guru bears no mark of age on his body; he appears to be a youth of not more than twenty-five. Fair-skinned, of medium build and height, Babaji’s beautiful, strong body radiates a perceptible glow. His eyes are dark, calm, and tender; his long, lustrous hair is copper-colored.... He has lived for many centuries amid the Himalayan snows.<ref>Paramahansa Yogananda, ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' (Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1977), pp. 348, 355.</ref></blockquote> | ||
Yogananda’s Sanskrit tutor was a disciple of Babaji who had spent time with the master in the Himalayas. He said of Babaji, “The peerless master moves with his group from place to place in the mountains.... Babaji can be seen or recognized by others only when he so desires. He is known to have appeared in many slightly different forms to various devotees—sometimes with beard and moustache and sometimes without them. His undecayable body requires no food; the master, therefore, seldom eats.”<ref>Ibid., pp. 348–49.</ref> | Yogananda’s Sanskrit tutor was a disciple of Babaji who had spent time with the master in the Himalayas. He said of Babaji, “The peerless master moves with his group from place to place in the mountains.... Babaji can be seen or recognized by others only when he so desires. He is known to have appeared in many slightly different forms to various devotees—sometimes with beard and moustache and sometimes without them. His undecayable body requires no food; the master, therefore, seldom eats.”<ref>Ibid., pp. 348–49.</ref> | ||
Another of Babaji’s disciples has explained why Babaji has kept a physical body for so long: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
One night when some disciples and Babaji’s sister, Mataji, were kneeling at the great Guru’s feet, Babaji said: “Blessed Sister, I am intending to shed my form and plunge into the Infinite Current.” | |||
Mataji asked, “Why should you leave your body?” | |||
Babaji said, “What is the difference if I wear a visible or an invisible wave on the ocean of my Spirit?” | |||
Mataji replied, “Deathless Guru, if it makes no difference, then please do not ever relinquish your form.” | |||
“Be it so,” said Babaji solemnly. “I shall never leave my physical body. It will always remain visible to at least a small number of people on this earth.”<ref>Ibid., pp. 352–53.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
In ''Autobiography of a Yogi'', Yogananda says that Babaji’s sister, Mataji, has also lived through the centuries and is almost as far advanced spiritually as Babaji. Her name means “Holy Mother.” | |||
Yogananda relates the following story about the power of a guru’s intercession: | Yogananda relates the following story about the power of a guru’s intercession: | ||
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With these words Babaji placed his healing hand on the chela’s disfigured shoulder. “I have freed you tonight from painful death. The karmic law has been satisfied through your slight suffering by fire.”<ref>Ibid., p. 349.</ref> | With these words Babaji placed his healing hand on the chela’s disfigured shoulder. “I have freed you tonight from painful death. The karmic law has been satisfied through your slight suffering by fire.”<ref>Ibid., p. 349.</ref> | ||
</blockquote> | |||
Yogananda’s Sanskrit tutor tells a story about Babaji that illustrates the importance of obedience and of trust in the Guru: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
On one occasion Babaji’s sacred circle was disturbed by the arrival of a stranger. He had climbed with astonishing skill to the nearly inaccessible ledge near the Guru’s camp and said, “Sir, you must be the great Babaji.” | |||
The man’s face was lit with inexpressible reverence. He continued: “For months I have pursued a ceaseless search for you among these forbidding crags. I implore you to accept me as a disciple.” | |||
When the great Guru made no response, the man pointed to the rock-lined chasm below the ledge. “If you refuse me, I will jump from this mountain. Life has no further value if I cannot win your guidance to the Divine.” | |||
“Jump then,” Babaji said unemotionally. “I cannot accept you in your present state of development.” | |||
The man immediately hurled himself over the cliff. Babaji instructed the shocked disciples to fetch the stranger’s body. After they had returned with the mangled form, the Master placed his hand on the dead man. Lo! He opened his eyes and prostrated himself humbly before the omnipotent Guru, who said, “You are now ready for discipleship.” Babaji beamed lovingly on his resurrected chela: “You have courageously passed a difficult test. Death shall not touch you again. Now you are one of our immortal flock.” | |||
Then he spoke his usual words of departure;... the whole group vanished from the mountain.<ref>Ibid., pp. 349–50.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
With those words we understand that the real disciples of Babaji have regained the immortal threefold flame of life—their own immortality. They are no longer mortal. So Babaji only has immortals as his followers, at least in this particular situation and group. | |||
Yogananda explains that the stranger’s test concerned obedience: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
When the illumined master said, “Jump,” the man obeyed. Had he hesitated, he would have disproved his assertion that he considered his life worthless without Babaji’s guidance. Had he hesitated, he would have revealed that he lacked complete trust in the Guru. Therefore, though drastic and unusual, the test was a perfect one for that individual in the circumstances.<ref>Ibid., p. 350.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
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{{MTR}}, s.v. “Babaji.” | {{MTR}}, s.v. “Babaji.” | ||
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, June 20, 1995. | |||
[[Category:Heavenly beings]] | [[Category:Heavenly beings]] | ||
<references /> | |||