Meister's Journey: Chapter 4: I bow to thee, Babaji

in #travel8 years ago (edited)

First test passed - still alive 

I woke up the next morning with a slightly sore feeling in my mouth. The last hours of sleep really did me well and the alleged scorpion attack wasn‘t as bad as my still melodramatic and neurotic me pictured it to be. Nevertheless it felt the strong desire to find out what had caused my first not too comforting nighttime experience. I had the two parts of the insect wrapped in a tissue and went to the Ashram‘s clinic. Michelle, my only point of reference in the Ashram so far, was as happy and good-humoured as the day before. She told me that she‘s usually quite a happy camper the entire day. The only exception is during night and to disturb her sleep is a BIIIG NO NO. She could have told me before… 

The doctor of the clinic sat outside on a chair enjoying the sun while being engaged in a light talk with some villagers. I told him about my experience with what I called a ‚scorpion‘ and reached my hand out with the tissue that contained the insect. The doctor however didn‘t even bother to look at it and started laughing straight in my face. 

„There are no scorpions here!“

„So what is it then?“

„Some insect“, he answered. 

No shit, sherlock! I was genuinely looking for the feedback of an expert, but instead found myself laughed at by not just the alleged expert but his entire entourage. To lose my ego was one goal and I guess being ridiculed while looking for a serious talk could be considered quite an appropriate approach to achieve exactly that.


   
The mysterious Guru 

I felt really confused and didn‘t know what to think of this Babaji guy. I started reading about the story of the Ashram and the life of its founder Babaji. He was found inside the cave at the foot of the Mount Kailash in 1970. At that time there wasn‘t anything but jungle where today you find the neat Ashram equipped with solar panels, library and computer and the surrounding Chai shops and small shacks with cows and barking dogs. 

He looked like a young man then. You would think around 20 years old. Nobody knew where he came from, how he got there. But the people who came in touch with him were soon to find out that he was a special one. The Jose Mourinho among the Gurus, an enlightened one with special powers. The mere presence of this spiritual master lifted your own existence up and he didn‘t even need to speak a word for his followers to understand what he wanted. Next level telepathy skills I guess. He also didn‘t age. During the fourteen years he spent in Haidakhan he kept his babyface. Looking at the pictures you could only tell that through time he gained weight which is hardly a surprise considering the eating habits in India. When you order a black tea with milk, a ‚Chai‘ as it‘s called, be ready to be bombarded with sugar too. 

After the establishment of several Ashrams and the accumulation of quite a group of followers he decided in the year 1984 to leave his physical body, so his soul could reach higher spheres again. This special kind of volontary death is called ‚Mahasamadi‘ and apparently the most popular choice of at least what we refer to as ‚death‘ among the most enlightened ones. 

This whole story seemed more than fishy to me. But then again, who am I to automatically dismiss the supernatural? I wanted to find out how far spirituality can go. I was committed to find it out no matter what. I was looking for answers and fate lead me to Babaji. Well to his Ashram. I wasn‘t quite sure yet how seriously I could take this whole Babaji thing. 


The other Babaji 

When I arrived at the Ashram there were maybe three other people. One of them was Lalita. This wasn‘t the name she was born with though. It is quite a common thing for westerners to choose or to be given a different name, an indian name, either in the modern language of Hindi or in the ancient language of Sanskrit. So did this american woman. She had already dived into the various aspects of spirituality consequently she was the one to talk to whenever I needed some clarification.   

At one point she talked about Babaji and how he founded the technique of Kriya Yoga in the 19th century. I was even more confused.   

„Does it mean he was already more than a hundred years old when they found him in the cave in 1970?“, I asked her. 

She had the ability to remain remarkably calm in any kind of circumstances. Coping with this noob she explained everything I had to know about Babaji in a calm and clear manner: 

„I mean the previous incarnation. Babaji is God Shiva in human form. That‘s why you see Shiva statues everywhere, that‘s why we‘re at the Ganga River, also known as Shiva‘s river and facing Mount Kailash, the mountain dedicated to Shiva. Babaji is a so called ‚Mahavatar‘. An divine spirit that can access and leave his physical body anytime he likes. He has been known to appear in the Himalayas throughout the centuries to perform miracles and help human beings to reach a state of enlightenment themselves, only to disappear again. He allegedly taught Jesus about ancient vedic wisdom while he was in the Himalayas in his younger years.“

I heard about theories that implied Jesus‘ stay in India when he was young. So could it be that Jesus‘ teachings have their origin in ancient Indian wisdom? I felt more and more excited to be here while still maintaining a certain reservation towards the idea of Babaji being an actual Mahavatar. 

„In the 19th century Babaji taught the secret technique of Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya who then taught Sri Yukteswar who then gave the knowledge to his disciple Paramahansa Yogananda.“ 

An other woman in the Ashram had told me about Yogananda and his bestselling book ‚Autobiography of a Yogi‘. This is how the dots are connected. Babaji, Jesus, Yogananda. 

She then added: „In 1970 Babaji came back with a different approach. He saw that the people of the later 20th century didn‘t show the capacity to learn the rather difficult Kriya Yoga technique. Too many seemed too distracted, still too many seemed too out of touch with themselves. Consequently the Babaji of the 70ies and 80ies emphazised on the importance of Karma Yoga, the simple form of connecting with yourself through the constant repetition of a holy mantra while doing physical work. ‚Om Namah Shivaya‘ is the universal mantra and it means ‚I bow to you, God‘.“ 

I noticed that they would all greet each other with ‚Om Namah Shivaya‘. However I didn‘t like to use the name of a Hindu God in my meditation practice. I didn‘t want to identify with any religion. Religion means separation, but it‘s union I‘m striving for. The word ‚Yoga‘ itself translates as ‚union‘.  

I really didn‘t know what think of it. This all was way beyond my previous world view. But didn‘t I ask for it? Wasn‘t I completely fed up with world that I knew and didn‘t I want to reach different spheres of existence? I walked around the Ashram and noticed the different pictures of Babaji during different periods of his life meanwhile being astounded by his never changing youthful appeal. 

Can this really be true? I thought of the Mount Kailash omen. Although I still felt resistance I knew I had to surrender. To lose my ego. To lose my fears. In order to trust the universe I had to surrender to the universe, Surrender to this life experience. Surrender to Babaji. 


The previous chapters:

Chapter 1: https://steemit.com/blog/@meister/meister-s-journey-chapter-1

Chapter 2: https://steemit.com/travel/@meister/meister-s-journey-chapter-2-meet-the-new-me-swami-sri-rama-bhutesha-premananda

Chapter 3: https://steemit.com/travel/@meister/meister-s-journey-chapter-3-karma-yoga-and-the-scorpion-incident

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.36
TRX 0.12
JST 0.039
BTC 69735.97
ETH 3533.64
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.72