Sri Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji
Shri Neem Karoli Baba (Hindi: नीम करोली बाबा) or Shri Neeb Karori Baba (Hindi: नीब करौरी बाबा) (died September 11, 1973, in Vrindavan, India), also known to followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman. He is known outside India for being the guru of a number of Americans who travelled to India in the 1960s and 1970s, the most well-known being the spiritual teachers Ram Dass and Bhagavan Das, and the musicians Krishna Das and Jai Uttal. The exact details of Neeb Karori Baba's birth and early years are not known. He was born in an affluent Brahmin family and his father's name was Pundit Durga Prasad 'Vedacharya'. He was born as Pundit Lakshmi Narayan Sharma at Akbarpur, Firozabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He was married at the age of 11 to Rambeti (daughter of Pundit Rewati Ram) and is survived by three children: Aneg Singh Sharma, Dharma Narayan Sharma and Girija Bhatele (née Sharma). He had two havelis (palatial homes) in Akbarpur, the older of which has been converted to a temple and the newer one is being preserved as his birthplace shrine. He also has another home in Agra in Gokulpura where he visited multiple times after he left his married life. He has nine grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren. He left his home around the time when his youngest child (daughter) was eleven (1958) and wandered extensively throughout northern India as a sadhu. During this time he was known under many names including Lakshman Das, Handi Wallah Baba, and Tikonia Walla Baba. When he did tapasya and sadhana at Bavania in Gujarat, he was known as Tallaiya Baba. In Vrindavan, local inhabitants addressed him by the name of Chamatkari Baba (miracle baba).He was considered by many to be a saint. Neem Karoli was a life-long adept of bhakti yoga, and encouraged service to others (seva) as the highest form of unconditional devotion to God. In the book Miracle of Love, compiled by Ram Dass, a devotee named Anjani shares the following account:
There can be no biography of him. Facts are few, stories many. He seems to have been known by different names in many parts of India, appearing and disappearing through the years. His non-Indian devotees of recent years knew him as Neem Karoli Baba, but mostly as “Maharajji” – a nickname so commonplace in India that one can often hear a tea vendor addressed thus. Just as he said, he was ‘nobody.’ He gave no discourses; the briefest, simplest stories were his teachings. Usually he sat or lay on a wooden bench wrapped in a plaid blanket while a few devotees sat around him. Visitors came and went; they were given food, a few words, a nod, a slap on the head or back, and they were sent away. There was gossip and laughter for he loved to joke. Orders for running the ashram were given, usually in a piercing yell across the compound. Sometimes he sat in silence, absorbed in another world to which we could not follow, but bliss and peace poured down on us. Who he was no more than the experience of him, the nectar of his presence, the totality of his absence.
Maharajji established at least 108 temples, fed millions of people, advised government and corporate leaders, performed what can be called Miracles, influenced current American and Indian society, brought grace into the lives of countless suffering people, and all the while remained out of the "public eye."
It is believed that by the time Maharajji was 17 years old He knew EVERYTHING. This is to be taken to mean a knowing that is actually incomprehensible to you and me. A knowing that is all. The knowing of Bhagvan. The knowing of God. There are stories contained in this website and in the books referred to herein that hope to in some way help to tell of the Grace and Love of this truly remarkable being. Maharajji had nothing and Maharajji had everything.
In the late 60's an American known as Baba Ram Dass authored books telling of Neem Karoli Baba and hundreds of westerners went for Maharajji's darshan. Maharajji was elusive as the stories tell, but many were allowed to be in His presence and they tell stories that are a wonderment of love and grace and lilas and mostly awe.
Now, there appears to be three Maharajji's. One is the historical Maharajji. This Maharajji seems to have taken birth and lived a "traceable" life in time. Secondly, there is the "formless" Maharajji. This Maharajji is the Maharajji that we apparently connect with on our "inner" dimension. Thirdly, there is the Maharajji that exists in form "now"; the Maharajji who is reported seen and experienced; the Maharajji who never actually died. This is Maharajji who is a "time-traveler". We are just beginning to learn about that Maharajji and some of His effects in the world.
Maharajji taught many people. These teachings continue today. The teaching was very subtle or literally a knock on the head. Maharajji's teachings seem to have been totally individual. Each devotee would have the answer or the help they needed in the way that was best suited to their needs. When devotees remembered Him, Maharajji would rush to them to help and protect them. This seems to be going on to this day.
Maharajji seems to be continually visiting people and helping them since He "left His body" in Vrindaban in 1973. One devotee said that he thought the greatest miracle was what Maharajji has done since then. Maharajji has visited, helped, guided, fed, and called into service so many in the last twenty-five years. Maharajji never went away. For this we can be grateful.
