It is said that an avatar lives in the omnipresent Spirit. He is beyond the space-time continuum; there is no relativity of past, present, and future for him. His living presence, a deathless embodiment of the Divine, is beyond human comprehension. The immortal Yogi, Sri Sri Mahavatar Babaji is one such behind-the-scenes savior of humanity who has been working in humble obscurity for centuries.
Known in the world primarily through the account of him written by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda in the Autobiography of a Yogi, the acclaimed spiritual classic, Mahavatar Babaji is the Paramguru of all Kriya Yogis in the world today and benevolently guides their spiritual endeavors. It was Babaji who rediscovered and clarified the ancient technique of Kriya after it had been lost in the dark ages.
Reviving Kriya Yoga science in the modern age
The journey of Kriya Yoga began more than 150 years ago, in 1861, in a Himalayan cave near Ranikhet (Uttarakhand) where Babaji imparted this sacred science to Sri Sri Lahiri Mahasaya. On the occasion, Babaji said, “The Kriya Yoga that I am giving to the world through you in this 19th century is a revival of the same science that Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna; and that was later known to Patanjali and Christ, and to St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples.”
Babaji permitted Lahiri Mahasaya to give Kriya Yoga to ‘all truth-seekers who humbly ask for it’. Considered to be the highest form of pranayama, Kriya Yoga is a psychophysiological method as well as an entire science that bestows on the practioner in time mastery over his breath, inner life-forces as well as the mind, thereby freeing these subtle faculties for higher and spiritually liberating activity. The methodical efficacy of Kriya quickens the journey of the little self from his ego-bound existence to cosmic consciousness.
At the behest of his guru Sri Yukteswar (disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya), Yoganandaji established Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) in India in 1917 and Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in America in 1920 to spread the Kriya Yoga teachings and help truth seekers achieve personal communion with God.
Every year, July 25th is celebrated as Mahavatar Babaji Smriti Divas by YSS to mark the auspicious occasion in 1920 when Babaji visited Yoganandaji at his father’s home in Kolkata to bless the young monk’s mission to America. Babaji assured him and anointed him as the Chosen One to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West.
A Divine Plan for the world exists
Yoganandaji referred to Babaji as the Yogi-Christ of modern India. He asserts Babaji and Christ to be in communion, sending out vibrations of redemption, planning the spiritual salvation for this age and inspiring nations to forsake wars, race hatred, religious sectarianism and the evils of materialism. Babaji realizes the necessity of spreading the self-liberations of yoga equally in the East and the West.
The Autobiography of a Yogi mentions that Babaji moves with his exalted flock of disciples from place to place in the remote Himalayan regions, revealing himself only to a chosen few. Lahiri Mahasaya’s statement: “Whenever anyone utters with reverence the name of Babaji, that devotee attracts an instant spiritual blessing” is a fact vouched for by all ardent devotees of this divine avatar. Indeed, Mahavatar Babaji has promised to guard and guide all sincere Kriya Yogis in their path towards the Goal. Further info.: yssofindia.org
