Did Maha Yogi, Param Guru, Shri Shri Baba Lokenath Bramhachari meet God?

I have not seen God, but I have seen Baba Lokenath in his picture, and learned about His life and preaching. He is the one who had treaded through the dryness of the deserts, meanders of the mountains and wilderness of the oceans to travel through different parts of the World, seen many religions, customs and practices. He has spent many years in the harshness and extremities of the climate in the Himalayan Mountains practicing Yogic Meditation. He had experimented over His physical being, the ardent control of the physical senses, so that He can beat the odds of this Nature in His venture to see God.

Did He see God?

  

When Swami Vivekananda asked his master, “Do you believe in God, Sir?”

Thakur Ramakrishna replied, “Yes”.

Swamiji then asked him, “Can you prove it, Sir?”

Thakur replied, “Yes.”

Swamiji again asked him, “How?”

Thakur Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa replied, “Because I see Him just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense.”

Swami Vivekananda in his lecture on the topic ‘My Master’ delivered at New York under the auspices of the Vedanta Society had expressed the above mentioned statements. He had further mentioned, “For the first time I had found a man who dared to say that he saw God, that religion was a reality, to be felt, to be sensed in an infinitely more intense way than we can sense the world.” [Excerpt from the book, “Speeches and Writings of Swami Vivekananda” Third Edition]

Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhamsa had seen God. Whosoever knows Thakur Ramakrishna knows the fact that Thakur had seen God. He used to see our divine mother “Maa Kali” as we can see the world; he used to talk to Her, feed Her and always communicate with Her.

There may be many saints in this whole world who might have seen God.

But our Baba, Shri Shri Lokenath Bramhachari did not see God. From His own holy mouth he had expressed, “Bahu bachhar pahaar parvat ghure ishwarer sange aamar dekha hoyni. Ami dekhechhi amake.”

What our Baba meant was, “For many years I had wandered hills and mountains, I did not meet God. I have seen Myself.”

Most of us would not even understand the gravity and depth of this statement. Such a great saint, a Param Yogi, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, Himself admitted that He had not seen God. How is that possible?

On one hand there is Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, an ordinary looking, uneducated and a married person from a remote village came to live in Kolkata as a Temple priest- who later claimed to have seen God.

And on the other hand there is a Param Yogi, a learned person of Gita, Puran and many other Shastras, who had spent more than one hunderd years in the mountains of Himalaya practicing Yogic meditation had no claim of seeing God. Instead, He said He had seen only Himself.

What a contradistinction in both of these great saints, the famous spiritual personalities the Bengalis have ever known. The spiritual scholars and researchers all over the world have accepted the fact that both of them are absolutely true in their individual virtue.

Why Baba Lokenath did not see God? Or, did He fail to see God? Were His Yogic Meditation and Prayer not intensive and true enough to cause the tryst with God?

To get the answer to these questions we will have to focus on the statement from His Holy mouth, “… I did not meet God. I have seen Myself.”

Therefore, it is evident enough that Baba Lokenath had neither said that there is ‘No God’, nor He had claimed anywhere about the non-existance of God. He had only said that ‘He had not met God’. This authenticates itself that Baba Lokenath had not seen anyone who is known or can be categorized as God.

But at the same time He had not denied the fact that God exists.

As an author, I would like to put forward a little of my opinion or understanding regarding this. When I was a teenager and just heard of Baba Lokenath, I came to know that He had not met God. But then He had said He had seen Himself. It was a strange assertion by Baba Lokenath that had haunted me until beyond the fourty years of my age with a question. If Baba Lokenath had not seen God then it is alright, but why did He say that He had seen only Himself.

Whereas, Thakur Shri Ramakrishna Pramhamsa had seen God, so it was affirmative enough for all the Bengalis to establish the fact that God exists and as He had seen our Divine Mother, ‘Maa Kali’ so she is there, for sure. I worshipped Thakur, Swamiji and ‘Maa Kali’ all the while and, I do even now.

However, as I grew more and more interest on Baba Lokenath, the more the above questions kept haunting me. I have always loved Swamiji and Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, so it became more difficult to accept the fact why Baba said that He did not meet God. Well, that is even acceptable.

But, the most important question that has been troubling me the most was why did Baba say, “I have seen Myself.” Does that mean that Baba Lokenath wants to claim that He is the God Himself?

This has been the very strange acclamation done by any Saint, at least in India. Does that acclamation mean that He is the God, Himself? But this is what He had never asserted it anywhere during His whole lifetime.

So far in my life, I have come across the biography of many saints and holy men who claimed that they had seen God or they have been the incarnations of God. Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed, both of them had said that they were the sons of their respective Gods.

Let us examine certain different phenomena that all of us are very well aware of in day-to-day affairs of our life. Whenever we pray our God, in fact most of us or perhaps all of us, in whatsoever religion we may believe in- close our eyes in meditation and pray Him. We the Hindus, even though we may be standing or sitting in front of the idol of our beloved God, we close our eyes while praying. A Christian fellow standing in front of an idol of Jesus Christ or a Sikh Person standing in front of the picture of Guru Nanak or a Buddhist fellow or even a Muslim, every one in every religion close his eyes while praying.

The question arises;

Why do we need to close our eyes when we are already standing in front of God we are praying?

What goes wrong if we keep on praying  God with our eyes open, or what do we miss if we don’t close our eyes?

We see the image or the idol of God first, and then in reverence we close our eyes, we establish the picture somewhere within our soul and then see God there. Thus the answer is therefore, established, that we see or want see our God in our soul itself. For Muslims, their God is Allah and He has no image. But then why does a Muslim person close his eyes. He closes his eyes with meditation, then establishes Allah within his soul and prays Him.

In our human body, the sanctum sanctorum of our God lies in the deepest and the purest place, that is our soul. And the soul is that we cannot see. So having seen the image or idol, we close our eyes to establish Him in the Sanctum Sanctorum and pray Him.

The soul is the Sanctum Sanctorum. The ‘soul’ in English, is ‘Ruhh’ in Urdu and ‘atman’ in Bengali are all the same.  According to the Hindu philosophy, a soul has no beginning and no end; it has always existed and will always exist, an infinite existence. Therefore, it is the only place where we can establish our God. It is where God lies. So Baba Lokenath did not see God, outside, anywhere else as a separate entity. He has seen God within Himself, within His very own Sanctum Sanctorum, that is the soul.

Baba Lokenath had elevated Himself to such a level of perfectness and absoluteness that He had found God within His very soul. He had reached the state of a Param Bramha, which is a state of absoluteness where the body, mind, soul and the infinity meet in all perfection. Param Bramha has no definite shape or size or colour, it is a state difficult to mention by all our mortal means.

This was the reason why He had said that He did not see God, but He had seen only Himself. In Himself, He had seen the Param Bramha, the God of all Gods- the Absolute Truth. He had Himself reached the state of that Godliness.

If this is the truth, then who did Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhamsa see? Whenever Thakur would see the God, our Holy Mother, “Maa Kali” no one else could see Her even though they might be present in the same room. Why so? Is the God, our Holy Mother invisible to others and only visible to Thakur, or it needed a special vision to see Her?

Whenever Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhamsa used to see Maa Kali no one else could see Her because Thakur would feel and see Her in his Soul. It is because our soul is the only sanctum sanctorum for the God. In whichever form we see our God, He appears in the same form in our sanctum.

Therefore, it is justified why our Baba Lokenath said that He had not seen God, but He had seen Himself. Our Param Guru, Mahayoi Shri Shri Baba Lokenath Bramhachari Himself is the Param Bramha. He had seen God within Himself and everywhere else, living or non-living, existing or non-existing. He is the God Himself. We know Him as the incarnation of Lord Shiva.

That is why Shri Shri Baba Lokenath had Himself said, “amar ki mrityu achhe re? Mrityu to kebal ghater binaash. Kintu aami to sarva bhute aachhi. Tai aamar binaash kothai bol dekhi?”

This means, “Do I have a death? Death is only the end of the body. But I am present in everything. So tell me where is my end?”

Dear Baba Lokenath, You are present everywhere in every living and non-living beings in this world and beyond.
May You give us the eyes to behold You in everything we see!

Jai Baba Mangalkari Lokenath Bramhachari !!!

Behind the rise of a great person, there is a tremendous role of a great teacher, a Guru!

Who was Baba Lokenath’s Guru and what role did he play in Baba Lokenath Bramhachari’s life?

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Why Pray Param Guru Shri Shri Baba Lokenath Bramhachari?

India is a land of Gods and Goddesses, sages and saints. Every Hindu soul in India rests his faith on the God or Goddess of his like. For Bengalis alone, there are 33-Crores of Gods and Goddesses. Each one of us pray the God we love, however, we do give our respect to the other Gods as well. We celebrate all the Pujas, but to the God who stays the closest to our heart- we share all the secrets and make all the prayers and ask for His mercy for any wrong-doing. All these activities take place deep inside our soul and are never revealed to anyone. This is the closeness of our connection with the Almighty.

Who is our Baba Lokenath Bramhachari?

As an author of this website, I have a different opinion and experience with Baba Lokenath. Though I have known Him since my teenage but never thought about Him. However, I started to love Him when I was already more than 40-years now. More than 20-years had passed by in between. How did this happen that I had gradually drifted my faith towards Baba Lokenath?

The answer is that- it has just happened all by itself, for no particular reason behind. I just love Him unconditionally, I pray Him all the time to thank Him for everything, and I ask for His kindness whenever I am in distress and need Him to drag me out of it. He is very kind. He is our Great Father and our Param Guru- and I always feel that He is following and guiding me through everything. Thus, I have my peace.

Once Swami Vivekananda had instructed a few people to write the memoirs of Thakur Shri Rama Krishna Paramhamsa, at the same time he had warned everyone not to write anything about any of His Miracles. But to write only whatever our Thakur Shri Rama Krishna had said in His preachings.

Why Swamiji did give that warning to the people before he asked them to write? Was there any particular reason behind this instruction? It is always very difficult to decipher the exact cause of such instructions or activities of great persons. Most of the time our conjecture will be based on some hypothesis and it may vary from one person to the other.  

Shall we worship a person just because He is full of mysticism and that he can cause miracles? Or, we shall love and worship Him because of His very precious preachings and spirituality. Most probably, this is where Swami Vivekananda wanted us to converge our views and understandings.

Baba Lokenath helped many people to get rid of many diseases; it is by His heavenly powers He had cured the diseases. Those days, it was the miracle of Baba Lokenath. What about these days? Today there are many efficient and very good doctors who can also cure many dreadful diseases. Also, Baba with His blessings had helped a few of His followers to get rid of Court cases from definite conviction. Again, these days there are many such efficient lawyers who have always won their cases and never lost any.

That would bring our Baba Lokenath, the doctors and the lawyers in the same datum, differentiating them only by time and technology. That would mean we can revere Baba Lokenath, the doctors and the lawyers the same way. Those days what Baba did with His mystical power, today the lawyers and doctors do with the power of knowledge, science and technology.

Then why should I pray Baba Lokenath and pay my respect to Him more than any good doctor or a lawyer?  

Here is the reason that justifies why Swami Vivekananda had warned his followers while writing about Thakur Shri Ramakrishna’s life not to write any miracles that He might have done in His lifetime. Swamiji had emphasized to his disciples to write about Thakur’s teachings only.

Great saints can do miracles to save us from dreadful diseases or steer us clear of the turmoiled waters. But that is not for what they have come to this earth. They are the Spiritual Leaders, the Gurus and the human beings with extra-ordinary qualities. If we are physically sick we can be healed by medicines, but no medicines in this world can bring peace in our mind and soul. No matter how great a doctor is, he cannot cure us if we are disturbed and lack peace.

This is where the distinction lies between a Spiritual Guru and a doctor or a physician. For the peace of our mind and solace of our heart we seek the path shown to us by our Spiritual Leaders and Gurus.

Baba Lokenath, Thakur Ramakrishna, Sai Baba, Guru Nanak, Jesus Christ or Mohammed- they are either the sons of God or incarnations of God or God Himself in human forms. They have always come down to this earth a numerous times to give us a lesson to value this life and to give it a meaning. It is beyond our imagination and understanding to judge their capability. They did many miracles that benefitted many people. But they did not come to this earth in a Mortal form to do these miracles. These miracles were the part of their performance that had followed them. They had come here with a much greater purpose, to teach us the meaning of this valuable human life. They are our Spiritual Gurus who show us the path to divinity.

Is Baba Lokenath superior to Thakur Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa or Guru Nanak or Sai Baba or Jesus Christ?

May be He is, or may be not. Who are we to judge their capability or superiority? We do so, most often, to propagate our own hypothesis or our belief without even deeply understanding its profoundness. Each of them lived in this world during different timeline, under different conditions, but all of them had left the same or similar messages to us. Each of them had a specific purpose, which they had fulfilled and then left this world, and for us they have left many precious teachings.

Our Great Father, Shri Shri Baba Lokenath had also left us some very valuable teachings. Whatever miracles He did to others may be left to them or their family to cherish. But for us He is always there in an Ethereal form and reside within our heart and soul.

Baba Lokenath Bramhachari had Himself prayed and worshiped at Hindu Temples in India, in the Mosques of Mecca and Medina and in the Church of Vatican.He had read the Holy Shrimad Bhagawat Gita, the Holy Kuran and the Holy Bible. He was very secular in His views. He had advised us to pray Him, to whom we can love unconditionally, let that be anyone. 

Param Yogi Baba Lokenath Bramhachari had promised to us that whenever we shall remember Him under whichever situation, He shall come to save us. And He always does so. It is the faith that we must have upon Him along with an unconditional love.

Baba had said to followers, “Shatadhik bachhar pahar parbat ghure baro akta dhan kamai korechi ami, tora cheye ne kebal.”

 It means that: “I have roamed many mountains for more than hundred years and earned some valuable possessions. You just only ask it from me.”

He is everyone's Father; and a Father can never see His sons and daughters suffereing. He is very kind hearted and He will always shower His kindness whether we ask for it or not. All we need to do is to have our undying faith on Him.

So the question still remains, unanswered, “Why should I pray Baba Lokenath?”

Swami Vivekananda in his famous speech in the Parliament of Religions in 1893 at Chicago had said, "It is good to love God for hope of reward in this or the next world, but it is better to Love God for love's sake, and the prayer goes, "Lord! I do not want wealth, no children, no learning. If it be Thy will I shall go from birth to birth, but grant me this, that I may love Thee without the hope of reward- love unselfishly for love sake"."

Therefore, I pray Baba Lokenath not for wealth and not for well-being; I just love Him for Love-sake.

Let us close our eyes, surrender all our worries in his Holy Feet and pray for His Kindness to give us the eternal peace.

Jai Baba Mangalkari Lokenath Bramhachari!!!

I have not seen the God, but I have seen Baba Lokenath in his picture, and learned about His life and preaching. He is the one who has treaded through the roughness of deserts and the mountains and oceans to travel through different parts of the World, seen many religions, customs and practices. He has spent many years in the harshness and extremities of the climate in the Himalayan Mountains practicing Yogic Meditation. He had experimented over His physical being, the ardent control of the physical senses, so that He can beat the odds of this Nature in His venture to see the God.

Did He see the God?

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Baba's arrival and His reluctance towards popularity

Perhaps for more than hundred-years of His life, Baba had been engaged profoundly in Yogic Meditation, far away from social life. He was in search of the Absolute truth. For this duration He did not have much of a verbal communication with anyone and gradually became reticent. After wandering on the Chandranath mountains He decided to descend to the plains of Ganges. He had chosen to come down to a village called Barodi. There, He took shelter under a very old Peepul tree. It was a sparcely populated village and the tree was situated quite a far away from the locality. Occassionally, a few of the villagers used to pass by, specially, when going to their field. When a few of such villagers saw Baba, they got impressed by His sight. They spread the news in their locality that a Charismatic looking saint had arrived to their village.

Thereafter, People from that village used to come regularly to visit Baba and offer whatever they could. But it was for a long time Baba had not consumed any food. He was an established Yogi he could render His life for days to weeks to months without food and water. So he did not eat the offerings in the beginning. One little girl used to visit Baba and everday she used to bring with her little milk. Baba used to drink that milk, and gradually, started eating soft fruits, because He could not eat hard food as He has not been doing so for a very long time.

Baba used to stay there in quiet. Of those people who used to come to visit Baba, many came to pay their respect, and many came to get His blessings to get rid of some or the other problems. By His grace and blessings no body returned empty handed. His popularity began to grow. But Baba had never sought for His popularity.

However, it is the silence in which Baba sought the truth and got His enlightenment.

Baba had once said, “Jato Gupta Tato Pokta, Jato Byakto Tato Tyakto”. It is difficult to translate the exact wordings.

But what it means is more important. “More is the silence or secrecy, greater is the abundance or richness; and more it is expressed or exposed, so much more is shunned or evaded.”

Baba meant that anything that is full and rich does not need to express itself. When the time is appropriate, it becomes self evident. Baba neither liked advertising his qualities nor desired any kind of mass popularity. He used to spend His time in the state of meditation and remained in eternal bliss. Sometimes even with His eyes wide open His sole used to wander out of His lifeless Body and transcend to some unknown sphere and then again after sometime gradually, His body come back to life.

Great saints and people of substance seek quiescence because it is in this state they can connect their soul with the Bramha. With popularity comes the commotion, and with it comes chaos; then the quietness and the serenity is lost.

…… will continue…… 

Shri Shri Baba Lokenath Bramhachary-His Arrival

Great saints descent upon this earth for a very specific purpose. Most of them live in recluse far away from our society, accomplish their purpose and leave this moribund world quietly. These saints are so pure and sacred in their heart that they live in this world like a lotus in the water, as if the petals are in water, still not wet. They live in the state of ecstacy filled with absolute happiness and absolute peace. These are the qualities that we the ordinary people will never know. So it will be an audacity to describe it with our so very little knowledge and understanding. They prefer quiescence, and need no introduction for themselves.

There is one very important sloka in Gita, which says that whenever the world is filled with the autrocities and anarchy, God comes down to this earth to destry the sinners and protect the commoners. In 1700 AD, religious fanaticism was in peak in Bengal. Bramhins were very powerful people and they distorted Hinduism to protect their own selfdom. They promoted untouchability, made twisted and distorted rituals to meet their demands. All these had increased wretchedness of the poor people of Bengal. They were destroying the basic principles of Hinduism. It was then Shri Shri Baba Lokenath had arrived in Bengal with a purpose.

There are not many descriptive documents available about Baba Lokenath. Out of his 160-years, he had spent only some 25 years or so among the people. That too, he had chosen to come to a village sparcely populated and poorly connected to the popular towns. From the Himalayas he had come down to Barodi, a remote village in Bangladesh and lived there until the last day of His human life.

He was strictly against popularizing Himself. He never wanted to spread His name among people. He wanted people to love Him from the very core of their heart and then come to Him as they please by their natural affection. But His aura and charisma was so great that people irrespective of their caste and religion started loving Him. Gradually, His name spread among hundreds and thousands of His followers.

One day his devotee, Raja Rajendra Narayan arrived in His Ashram with a photographer. He wanted to take a photograph of our Baba. But Baba was very reluctant to pose for it. But then Raja Rajendra Narayan was also not a person to give up so he was adamant that he will not leave without taking Baba's photograph. Raja knew that Baba had a very kind heart and for the people of his society and for the devotees He would do anything for their wellness and happiness. So Raja convinced Baba that every household and whosoever will keep Baba's picture and pray will get Baba's blessings, and for the vendors who will sell Baba's pictures will be able to earn their living. With Baba's photo, He will remain within the hearts of His followers, present and in future. Baba finally agreed but gave only one pose for a single take. He wanted to people to know Him in one and only one form- the same form in every heart of His devotees.

Why Baba was against spreading His name and popularity?

There is a reason for that and we will try to discuss of the in the next Log.

Jai Baba Mangalkari Lokenath Bramhachary!