to be a photo of Babaji with a small group of devotees, moving across the valley in the glow of sunset. Precisely the scene I so loved.
With the joy came also deep shock. "How is this possible? Who is he?" I asked myself for the first time at this level. because the power of His omniscience hit me more deeply than ever.
As time went on. this realisation taught me that Babaji embodies absolute omniscience and love and through Him, we will come to know divine love and unity with God.
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"Love me more and more -- as I love you beyond all bounds, as I have always loved you and will always love you. Never doubt my love, not even when I send you challenges and tests. both inside you and in the outside world because everything is for your highest good and for your inner growth.
Always, whenever you call me inwardly, I am already there with open arms and am waiting for you to draw you into my heart. Be always ready for anything and my blessing will have no end ... "
There was something I wanted to say to Babaji, but whatever English I had learnt at school, I had by now forgotten. So I held the thought in my mind and fixed my gaze on Him.
Raising His head, He looked at me with luminous eyes and made a gesture with His hand. I understood His answer. There have been times when, with a gentle smile, Babaji has spoken the odd German word.
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Countless gifts have been offered to Babaji. Some He gave away more or less immediately, others he kept for a longer period of time. Perhaps it had to do with the motivation or devotion which lay behind the offering.
Once I put considerable effort into making a rug and sent it off with my daughter to India. We thought this rug must have gone the way of most of the gifts because it wasn't seen again.
Two years later, on a visit to Babaji's Chilianaula ashram (situated higher in the Himalayan range), I was watching an asana (seat) being prepared for Babaji. I could hardly believe my eyes. There, lying on the top, was the little rug. I was overjoyed.
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While we were singing the evening Aarati, I noticed Babaji's eyes were concentrated on something outside in the darkness. I followed His line of vision but couldn't at first discern anything. Soon though, on the roof of the building housing the kitchen, a dog's head became visible. Yes, now more of its body appeared and it wasn't long before the old dog was sauntering down some stairs, sprinting past the temple and trampling over the seated people till it. came to a halt at Babaji's seat. The dog gazed up at Babaji. who ran His fingers through its fur and tenderly stroked its back. Then. upon a gesture from Babaji, the dog took off again.
It wasn't the first time, I had noticed Babaji communicate telepathically with animals.
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On my second visit to Haidakhan, one day I sat alone with Babaji on the other side of the valley. He had crouched down on one of the steps leading to the nine temples and indicated to me to sit at His Feet. It was my first time totally alone with Him. The peace and stillness which surrounded Him, the whole atmosphere of the temples and the beauty of the valley all lifted me up to another sphere of consciousness.
Inwardly, I said to Babaji, quite spontaneously: "I have trust in you". Scarcely had I formulated the thought when He turned his elegantly proportioned, beauteous countenance and looked at me out of unfathomable eyes.
"Yes", I repeated, "Unshakable trust have I in you".
Without any arousal from Him, I gradually came to and suddenly noticed, to my horror, that all this time I had unwittingly been sitting on His foot! Hardly had this realisation struck like lightning, when I felt Babaji's toes wriggling beneath me.
Through this incident, Babaji let me realise, to my utter amazement, how He perceives not only the immediate surroundings but at the same time also the entire world, all levels of it. and He is at one with it all.
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The greatest transformation in my life was worked by Babaji in that He opened my heart chakra and let me experience divine, all-encompassing love. It happened spontaneously, out of the blue.
We were on tour. It was that time of day for resting. Sharing my room was an elderly woman who was rather weak due to a digestive disorder. She was also crying because she had just received a lesson Babaji which had upset her. I embraced her in sympathy and then it happened .... Love in all its expansiveness, beyond all words. flowed through me. My self was dissolved in it; I was no longer present; the feeling of happiness was indescribable, infinite. "I" didn't exist as such anymore. Love was all there was. Everything was contained in it ...
Then the first fleeting thought came into awareness. "What are you doing?" Slowly and steadily, I became conscious of my body .... "I drank from you", said the elderly woman, who up till then had remained motionless and peaceful in my arms. Intuitively, she knew what had occurred.
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"Whosoever comes to me with love, then l will show him,' her love beyond anything imaginable".
Babaji loved to play with children. One day, in the garden, He jokingly said to a five-year-old boy: "See that dog over there -- she's your wife. What do you say to that?"
I don't want the dog for a wife".
"Well then, why not?"
"I don't like a woman with a tail and four legs".
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We were sitting in the kirtan hall one evening, chanting. The room was illuminated by a kerosene lamp hanging from the ceiling. Babaji had arrived to give darshan. One of those present in the crowd was a sick young Indian boy who had earlier visited the clinic where I worked.
Somehow I felt a strong sympathy for him and was glad to hear that Babaji had earlier that afternoon dressed him in new clothes and given him permission to stay at the ashram.
When I went to pranam to Babaji, I asked inwardly for His blessing for this sick boy. Not long after, I noticed the boy making pranam. Babaji showed him much love and placed His hand on the boy, thereby bestowing shakti (energy). For me, it was like witnessing the Divine Mother.
Darshan was over and Babaji walked over to the sick boy and again blessed him. This caring so touched me that I impulsively ran to Babaji and bowed down, thanking Him for His love and saying internally: "You are truly the Divine Mother". As I stood up again, the burning kerosene lamp above began to swing. Babaji pointed to the burning flame and said: "No fire, no fire, fire". Then He gave me a friendly look and left.
I understood intuitively that Babaji wasn't referring to fire as such, but rather to the divine energy within everything material and ethereal, which Babaji Himself embodies.
From this I now understand Babaji's presence is constantly everywhere -- within all humans, animals and plants and within all feelings, words, deeds and events.
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One can only wonder at Babaji's play on words. The following story is not only humorous but teaches me also that after death. the human body is a useless leftover and shouldn't warrant any fuss made over it.
Down by the river at a spot just below the ashram in Haidakhan, the inhabitants of the little village,
