Mahans In Your Life: Mahan Of The Day :- Baba Lokenath Brahmachari

Baba Lokenath (1730 AD to 1890 AD)

Baba Lokenath Brahmachari (1730-1890) was born on Janmasthami, the birthday of Lord Krishna in the village ofChaurasi Chakla, a couple of miles from Kolkata to father Ramanarayan Ghosal and mother Kamala Devi. Ramnarayan Ghosal wished to dedicate one of his child to the path of renunciation to the God but could not do so with the earlier three sons due to the motherly attachment of his wife Kamala Devi. When the fourth son was born, by divine providence his wish was fulfilled and Kamala Devi finally agreed. He requested earnestly Pandit Bhagawan Ganguly, a householder (Grihi) sanyasi and a scholar of great reputation of the nearby village of Kochuya to be his son's guru and teach him the wisdom of the Shastras. Young Lokenath left home with His guru at the age of 11 along with his bosom friend, Benimadhav.

Travelling for many miles, they came to Kalighat, near Kolkata, a holy pilgrim site in eastern India, and the seat of Shakti. At that time, the place was a jungle and full of sadhus and sanyasis, with long matted hair, and wearing loincloths. Lokenath and his friend started feeling at home right from the beginning in the midst of these holy men - who never told them anything even when they would disturb them in their meditation by pulling at their hair and their loincloths.

From Kaligahat they proceeded to deeper jungles for performing austerities. Like a loving mother Guru Bhagwan Ganguly prepared the two boys for the hard life of austerity and renunciation. Under his able guidance, the boys, in addition to the practice of deep meditation, also observed various fasting vows that lasted - starting from a single day - to two days, then for three, five, nine and twelve days and then a fortnight. When the fasting lasted for a full month, twice in a row, Benimadhav could not complete his vow the second time, while Lokenath could do it easily. During the long years that these vows were being observed, Guru Bhagwan took complete care of his two disciples, from begging alms, to preparing their food, and even attending to their calls of nature. Afterwards, Baba Lokenath would always speak of his Guru with tears in his eyes and his voiced choked with emotion.

It was known to Guru Bhagwan that Baba Loknath would attain the magnitude of enlightenment. The Guru guided Lokenath for a period of thirty to forty years, in the practices of the necessary yogic disciplines and hatha yoga. Baba stood firm repeatedly, almost unimaginable austerities, under the guidance of His beloved Guru.

When Lokenath asked his Guru about the need to study the scriptures, His Gurudev replied,

"If You know who You are, You will come to know everything. There is nothing in this external, manifested world, which is not within you. Believe My words; there is no truth without, because your atman is 'sarvatbhutatman', the Atman seated in the hearts of all creatures. In You is the dormant seed form of all the knowledge, power and wealth of this entire creation. Why should You leave the diamond and waste time on pieces of glass?"

Lokenath travelled to the Himalayas and meditated in the nude for nearly five decades. Finally, at the age of ninety He attained enlightenment. Recalling His time in the Himalayas, Baba Lokenath said,

"While in samadhi, heaps of snow would cover My body and would melt away. In that sublime state I had no feeling of the existence of My body. I was in that state of samadhi for a long time. Then, finally the effortless state of the Ultimate Truth was revealed. In that state of consciousness, there was no difference between me, the rest of the cosmos and all its manifestations. The inner and the outer all merged into each other as an expression of ultimate bliss, absolute joy. There is no state beyond this to be achieved in human life with total effort and divine grace."

There were a number of times when Baba did speak of the enlightened state:

"Words are such poor vehicles to express the inner experience. Any attempt to reduce it to words only belittles the Ultimate Truth. It is like the mute trying to express the taste of nectar."

"Everything that exists in the infinite creation exists within Myself. The whole Universe is within Me. I am existence beyond space, time and causation. My existence is without beginning or end. I exist in eternal expansion. These words are not meant to be shared. That is the reason you see Me spending time with the householders, granting their mundane demands. Do not think when I am busy with you all in worldly matters, that I lose touch with that blissful state. No. Whoever achieves that state can never fall from it. Nothing can ever again be seen in isolation. Everything is seen as the expression of the One. In variety is the taste of Unity.s"

"Because I eat, drink, attend to the call of nature and live like any one of you, you think of Me as one like you. Your greatest mistake is to think of Me as a body. How am I to explain who I am? Everyone is so involved in the fulfillment of small desires, so unconscious, so forgetful of the true 'I'.

After spending fifty years among the snows of the Himalayas, Loknath, along with his Guru and his friend, proceeded towards Mecca and Medina, wishing to study the Holy Koran under an able teacher. Walking all the way, they reachedKabul, where they stayed for some time with Mullahsadi, who was known for his poetry and his brilliant commentaries of the Koran. From Kabul, the three yogis went to Mecca and thence to Medina. While walking through the desert to Medina, they met with Abdul Gaffar who was himself a yogi of high attainment. Baba Loknath would later say the following about this great man -

"I have travelled extensively all over the world and could find only two real Brahmans beside myself - one is Abdul Gaffar, and the other - Trailangya Swami."

While staying at Mecca, Guru Bhagwan decided it was time for him to leave his old and worn out mortal body behind and for that purpose, they came back to Varanasi, the holiest of all pilgrim sites, on the bank of the River Ganga. Here, Guru Bhagwan placed the caring of Lokenath and Benimadhav into the hands of Sri Hithlal Mishra, also known popularly asTrailangya Swami. Thus being free from his only worry in the world - that of placing his two beloved disciples under an able teacher and guide - Guru Bhagwan left his physical body while in deep meditation at Manikarnika Ghat.

Baba Lokenath traveled extensively on foot to Afghanistan, Persia, Arabia and Israel, making three pilgrimages to Mecca after his enlightenment.

Baba Lokenath was all alone when he walked into the village of Daudkandi in Tripura, where, through his divine grace, he rescued a man called Dengu Karmakar from the clutches of death. Dengu instantly became an ardent devotee of Baba Lokenath, and it was he who was responsible for bringing Baba to Baradi, which was Dengu's home. He gave Lokenath a place to stay in his home, despite the admonitions of his family members. Baradi was destined to become the seat of Baba's divine play, because it was here that Baba Lokenath revealed his divinity and infinite grace to the people of the world.

Baba Lokenath performed many miracles during his life with the Divine Power and seeing and feeling the unbearable suffering of others as His own suffering.

Finally, on the 19th day of Jyeshtha, 1890 (1297 in Bengali), Baba was meditating and he slided into trance. His eyes were still open and he left his physical body forever. He was then 160 years of age. He had said before his death :

"I am eternal, I am deathless. After this body falls, do not think that everything will come to an end. I will live in the hearts of all living beings in my subtle astral form. Whoever will seek my refuge, will always receive my Grace."

As an Embodiment of Love, Baba Lokenath promises us, "Whenever you are in danger, whether in war, forest, ocean or jungle, remember Me. I shall save you. You may not know me. You may not realize who I am. Just pray to me with a little touch of your heart and I shall free you from gripping sorrows and miseries."

Teachings

His teachings were infused with simplicity that endeared the common man. He preached love, devotion and unwavering faith in God and in one's deeper, immutable self. After attaining enlightenment he had said:

“	I have seen only My self. I am bound by my own karma. The materialistic world is bound by the tongue and the sex organ. He who can restrain these two is fit to attain enlightenment