we left the ashram, Shri Babaji told us that our names, repeated together - Sita Ram, Radhe Shyam - constitute a mantra. And His last words to us, as we started down the 108 steps from the ashram to the riverbed, were "Be happy, children!"
By coincidence or otherwise, everything we turned to in the United States went well. We sold our house very well in an awful real estate market. Mortgage rates fell from 18-19% in May to 11% in July, and after our contract was signed on July 4, rates climbed again to 18% by the end of the year. We were able to send Babaji $50,000 for the three new temples in less than four months after our return. In four more weeks, we managed to give away the rest of the proceeds and officially terminate my stalled effort to start the consulting business. At the end of August, we applied for visas to return to India.
Our lives had been totally changed by our encounters with Shri Babaji. Our thoughts were very much focused on The Divine and on service to the whole of Creation. Religion, or spirituality, had an immediate, practical, moment-to-moment relationship to our lives. We felt the 'pull' of Babaji's love, joy and wisdom and wanted further to experience His presence and teaching. We had much to learn and wanted to have Him be our guru, wanted Him to accept us as His disciples. So, late in December, 1980, when our visas came, we went back to India to be with Babaji again, to sit at the feet of the Master and learn about and from Him.
"There is a great saint, an ocean of all qualities, Whose beginning and end nobody knows," From the Haidakhan Aarati.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." John 1: 1-3 (King James translation)
"Creating all things, he entered into everything. Entering all things, he became that which has shape and that which is shapeless; he became that which is conscious and that which is not conscious; he became that which is gross and that which is subtle. He became all things whatsoever; therefore the wise call him the Real." From the Taittiriya Upanishad
CHAPTER II
PREVIOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF BABAJI
Some Experiences of Yogananda's Line
There is a belief in, a tradition of, and there are published reports of earlier manifestations of Babaji. The traditions extend back to prehistory; the written reports start with the second half of the 19th century - or go back to the early centuries A.D., depending on how you choose to interpret a scriptural prophesy.
Millions of people all over the world have read about Mahavatar Babaji in Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi11,which was first published in the United States of America in 1946. Yogananda's guru's guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, began talking and teaching about Babaji in the 1860's and his disciple Shri Yukteswar - Yogananda's guru - wrote a book in 1894, under Babaji's instructions, which gave some information about Babaji.
Yogananda, passing on information obtained by Lahiri Ma-hasaya, Shri Yukteswar, and himself, in conversations with Shri Babaji, stated that Mahavatar Babaji gave yoga initiation to the great Shaivite teacher, Shri Shankara (788-820 A.D.) and to the poet-saint Kabir (1440-1518), as well as to Lahiri Mahasaya.12 There are no facts relating to birth or family in any of His manifestations.13
Yogananda's spiritual line's experience of Babaji began in the autumn of 1861, when Shyama Charan Lahiri was 33 years old.14 He was then an accountant in the Military Engineering Department of the British Raj in India, a married man with four children. A telegram from the head office directed his transfer from his post in Danapur, a town near Benares, to Ranikhet, in the Almora District of the Kumaon Hills in modern Uttar Pradesh state (renamed Uttaranchal in 2000). After thirty days of travel by horse and buggy, Lahiri reached his new office. His duties were not demanding and he was able to spend many hours roaming the hillsides. The area has been known, since before written history, for the saints who live and wander there, and Lahiri felt a strong desire to see them.
One afternoon, on Dronagiri Mountain, he heard a distant voice calling his name. He followed the voice and found a smiling young man who welcomed him and took him to a cave which contained some woolen blankets and some water bowls. The young man asked Lahiri if he remembered these things. In English, the young man said that it was apparent that his telegram had taken effect. When a baffled Lahiri asked what he meant, the young man said that he referred to the telegram that directed Lahiri to transfer to Ranikhet. He himself had put the suggestion into the mind of Lahiri's superior officer. The young man said that when a person feels unity with all of humanity, he or she can work through anyone's mind.
Since Lahiri remained bewildered by all this, the young man tapped him lightly on the forehead and suddenly Lahiri began remembering his previous life. He recognized Babaji, the cave, the blankets and water bowls and recalled the years he had spent in this cave in his last incarnation.
That night Shri Babaji initiated Lahiri into kriya yoga in a spectacular palace created by Babaji to satisfy a desire of Lahiri, from some long past life, since all desires must be attained and fulfilled before one embarks on this last high spiritual climb. When the initiation rites were completed, the palace disappeared, but Babaji and the disciples who accompanied Him remained with Lahiri on Dronagiri Mountain. During another seven days, Lahiri, in an unbroken state of bliss, attained Self-knowledge.
On the eighth day, Lahiri fell at Babaji's feet and implored Him to let him stay always in the wilderness with Shri Babaji. Babaji told Lahiri his duty was to serve in the city as an example of the ideal yogi-householder; people burdened by ties to work and family would take inspiration from him. Babaji said the family man is not barred from attaining the highest yogic growth; one who faithfully pursues a spiritual path can attain enlightenment.
The next morning, when Lahiri knelt at Shri Babaji's feet for blessing, Babaji told Lahiri that there was no separation between them; that whenever Lahiri called on Him, wherever Lahiri was, Babaji would come to him.
Soon after Lahiri's return to his office in Ranikhet, a letter came from the head office saying that his transfer to Ranikhet had occurred by error and that he should return to Danapur. On his way back to his post, Lahiri stopped to visit friends in Moradabad. His high spirits compelled him to share the tale of his miraculous experiences and his friends were incredulous. In his enthusiasm, Lahiri said that if he called Him, his guru would appear. He was immediately put to the test. Lahiri went into a windowless, quiet room and told his friends to wait outside until he called. Lahiri went into meditation and asked Babaji to appear. The room filled with a glow from which a luminous figure of Babaji appeared.
Babaji sternly rebuked Lahiri for calling Him for a trifle. Truth, He said, is not for the person of idle curiosity. Spiritual truths are discovered by people who overcome their skepticism. Babaji agreed to remain, but told Lahiri that from then on He would appear to Lahiri only when he needed Him, not always when he called.
The door was opened and the friends stared in disbelief. One laughed; saying this was a case of mass hypnotism, since no one could possibly have entered the room without their knowledge. Babaji smiled and let each one touch his warm, solid flesh, and they all prostrated before him. Babaji asked that a simple, sweet dish - halva - be prepared and talked pleasantly with them while it was being made. After they had eaten, Babaji blessed each one, then disappeared in a sudden flash of light.
Lahiri Mahasaya, after his initiation by Shri Babaji,
