Mahavatar Babaji

Mahavatar Babaji
Mahavatar Babaji meditating in the lotus position – a drawing from Autobiography of a Yogi, commissioned by Paramahansa Yogananda and based on his own meeting with Babaji
Personal life
Known forKriya Yoga
Religious life
ReligionHinduism
SchoolYoga
Religious career
Disciples
Influenced

Mahavatar Babaji (IAST: Mahāvatāra Bābājī; lit. 'Great Avatar (Revered) Father') is the Himalayan yogi and guru who taught Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895).[2][3][a] Babaji first became recognized through the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, who devoted a chapter of his Autobiography of a Yogi to Babaji and founded Self-Realization Fellowship, a modern yoga movement that Babaji is associated with.[3] The cave where Babaji met Lahiri Mahasaya, located near Ranikhet, is now a tourist attraction and place of pilgrimage in India.[4]: 170 

Mahavatar Babaji was on the cover of The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[5][1][6] He can also be seen on the cover of George Harrison's 1974 album Dark Horse. Songwriter Roger Hodgson of English rock band Supertramp composed a song called "Babaji" in reference to Mahavatar Babaji. This song was recorded and released on their 1977 album Even in the Quietest Moments...[7] In Book 3 of Conversations with God (1998), by Neale Donald Walsch, it is mentioned that Babaji may at one time have resurrected himself from the dead, like Jesus.[8]

The 2002 film Baba featured a fictional encounter with Mahavatar Babaji.[4]: 235, 314  The film was produced by Rajinikanth, a devotee of Babaji.[9]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Babaji's other names include Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj (Supreme Ecstatic Master), Maha Yogi (Great Yogi), and Trambak Baba or Shiva Baba (incarnations of Shiva).[3]

References

  1. ^ a b cnn.com "How the 'Sgt. Pepper' cover might have looked today". Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  2. ^ Miller, Timothy (1995). America's alternative religions. Internet Archive. Albany : State University of New York Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-7914-2397-4.
  3. ^ a b c Jones, Constance (2008). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Internet Archive. New York : Checkmark Books, an imprint of Infobase Publishing. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8160-7336-8.
  4. ^ a b Virk, Rizwan (2023). Wisdom of a Yogi. Bayview Books. ISBN 978-1-954872-10-3.
  5. ^ Tillery, Gary (2011). Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison. Quest. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-8356-0900-5.
  6. ^ "Who Are All Those People in SGT Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - Spacious Planet". Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  7. ^ Melhuish, Martin (1986). The Supertramp Book. Omnibus Press. pp. 124–126. ISBN 0-7119-0787-0.
  8. ^ Walsch, Neale Donald, Conversations with God: an uncommon dialog (Book #3), page 95.
  9. ^ Chaubey, Santosh (16 March 2018). "Here's how Rajinikanth became a devotee of Mahavatar Babaji". India Today.
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