Maharaj
Omniscience · Omnipresence · Omnipotence · Other Divine Lilas · Mahasamadhi Lila · After Mahasamadhi
Divine Reality
On 11 September 1973 Maharaj ji ended his physical existence in a hospital in Vrindavan, apparently leaving his body like an ordinary man. The implications of Baba's Mahasamadhi are still a mystery. In many ways there seemed to be no break in his lila. Even though he stopped using his form in the manner to which his devotees had become accustomed, people continued to have his darshan and experience his presence and grace.
In hindsight Baba gave certain hints and indications about his Mahasamadhi during his last two years in physical form. The devotees, however, were so engrossed in his darshan that none seemed to have understood them.
In hindsight Baba gave certain hints and indications about his Mahasamadhi during his last two years in physical form. The devotees, however, were so engrossed in his darshan that none seemed to have understood them.
INDICATIONS OF THE CHANGE TO COME
In 1971 a devotee asked Baba for permission to record his voice. Maharaj agreed but at the same time, ordered him not to play the tape for anyone for two years. Though he did not give any reason for saying so, it became apparent two years later.
One day in 1972, about a year before his Mahasamadhi, Baba suddenly asked K.K. Sah, "Where should I leave my body?" K.K. was startled and rendered speechless by Baba's question.
On a cold day in Agra at the end of 1972, Maharaj was sitting covered with a blanket at the house of Thakur Mahavir Singh. He wanted to have a bath, so a servant got water and a lota ready. Afterwards Thakur's son Karanvir brought another dhoti for Baba to change into. Seeing Baba's body wet but his dhoti dry, he said, "Haven't you taken a bath?"
"I have."
"How is it that your dhoti is not wet?"
"This is one of the unusual things about me."
Karanvir asked Baba to change his dhoti, but he did not, saying, "I shall not change it today." Then in a distant way he said, "I do not know when I may leave, I have a long way to go." This was the family's last darshan of Baba.
In another instance a physician from Delhi came to Kainchi with two others to see Baba at the suggestion of R.S. Yadav. Although the doctor had treated many patients sent to him by Baba, he had never met him. Shortly after they arrived, Baba sent them off, giving each of them a pack of apples. The physician expressed his desire to stay at the ashram for some time longer, but Baba asked him to go and stay in Nainital and then go straight back to Delhi the next morning. When he was about to leave, Baba said, "You will not see me again." The physician misunderstood Baba's meaning and thought that his own time was coming to an end. On his return to Delhi, he put his affairs in order, completed pilgrimages in time, and then waited for the last day of his life. When he got the news of Baba's Mahasamadhi, he was stunned and then understood the actual meaning of Baba's last words to him.
As described earlier, two months before his Mahasamadhi, Baba got Purnanand Tewari transferred. Tewari was hurt since he did not want to be transferred, but Baba called Tewari to him and said, "It is I who has been transferred, not you. Now I shall go to Amarkantak and you will not be able to meet me." Then he smilingly recited the following verse, "I have to leave this fort and rampart, I am transferred to another place. I have received an urgent call, so I must go." Tewari understood the true meaning of Baba's words two months later.
I went to Kainchi in the last week of August 1973 and had to return to Allahabad on 1 September. When only one day remained, I asked Baba's permission to leave, for I had to go to Nainital. Baba glanced at me lovingly and enquired, "When will you come again?" It somehow made me feel like I belonged to him. Deeply touched, I replied, "Baba, I will come whenever you ask me to come." In a sweet voice Baba said, "Come tomorrow."
I returned the next morning, offered pranaam to him, and then had prasad in the bhandara. After spending some time with him, I asked for his permission to go, but his brief answer was "Sit now." It was about two in the afternoon, and many cars of devotees stopped by the ashram gate. After sending them off, Baba bade us farewell in a way he had never done before. His eyes were moist with tears of love. Major Pramod Chandra Joshi was with me. The emotions that overwhelmed us cannot be described in words. It was Baba's farewell to us.
-Rajida
About a week before Baba's final departure, he got certain things done which were to serve great needs in the time to come. He had a post office and a bus stop opened a long time before, but there was no telephone in the valley. One day a high official in the telephone department came for Baba's blessings for his son's mental health problems. Baba asked the official to get a telephone installed in the Kainchi post office within twenty-four hours and assured him that, "By this service rendered by you, Hanumanji will fulfil your wish." By Baba's grace the difficult task of installing a telephone in the foothill region was completed.
Until 1973 the yagnas in Kainchi were performed every year in a makeshift yagnashala. Baba wanted to make it a permanent structure before his Mahasamadhi, so he got it constructed under the supervision of Inder ji. Its roof was being laid on 9 September, when Baba set out on his last journey.
In the beginning of September 1973 it was getting cold in Kainchi and the surrounding hills. Nevertheless, the ashram was full of devotees. Every morning many visitors, including many westerners, came from Nainital and returned there every evening. Baba met everyone very lovingly, and in this way one day passed into another. Baba appeared healthy in all respects. He was cheerful while meeting people and talked humorously. His kindness, generosity, and love were so intense that it created a feeling of oneness between him and the people around him. He enquired from everyone of their welfare and gave prasad and blessings to all.
Some devotees did detect a perceptible change in his behavior during his last days. It seemed that his affection for people was interspersed with moments of detachment. Though he still loved the gatherings of devotees, he spent his time in solitude between midday and four o'clock. If someone went to him during that period, they found Baba immersed in deep thoughts. Those who noticed the change in him were surprised but were unable to infer anything from it. One or two days before his final departure, he began counting days on his fingers.
Occasionally Baba's happy mood was interspersed with references to serious topics such as mortality. At times he said, "We meet only those people with whom our meeting is predestined. Duration of association with each person is also preordained. One should not grieve if one is separated or if the association does not last long." About the body he said, "Everyone has to die. We weep because of our attachment and desires," and "Whoever comes into this world will have to leave it. Nobody can stay here. I will also go and will not give darshan to anyone." When asked where he would go, he replied, "Far away to the bank of the Narmada River." Once, he said to Sri Ma, "What can I do when God is calling me?" About the funeral rites he once said, "Having been cremated, the longing of the soul to come to bodily form is lessened." He also said, "When a guru leaves his mortal form, his ashram becomes his form." And during one conversation he said, "I will not die."
On 7 September Jagannath Anand's daughter Sarla came to see Baba. She said to him, "Baba, I am worried because I am on the retrenchment list of the Food Corporation of India, where you got me temporarily posted." Sarla had suffered from polio in her childhood and was unable to walk. This, however, did not stop her from moving around with the help of her hands. Baba gave her and her father sweets to eat and made them have prasad at the bhandara. Then Baba asked Sarla, "Do you want to marry?" When she replied in the negative, Baba was pleased, and he reassured her saying, "Nobody will retrench you from service. They will have to confirm your post." Baba also said to her, "I am very happy with you. Today you may ask for anything you like." In reply she said, "Baba, I only want your blessings." At this Baba looked at her with eyes filled with tears, and in a voice full of emotion, he said, "From now on I will have to do all your work." Sarla felt contented upon receiving Baba's blessing. A few days later the whole retrenchment list was cancelled, and all the posts were confirmed.
The 8th of September passed like other days. There was a great rush of visitors in the ashram. The western devotees were chanting songs in front of Baba's kuti, and inside, people were having his darshan. Baba expressed his concern about Hukum Chand and Kishan Lal Arora, both of whom were sick in the ashram. Baba sent for a doctor from Bhowali twice in the morning. The third time he sent Inder to call the civil surgeon from Nainital with a message that Baba himself was suffering from heart trouble and that the doctor should bring along the electrocardiograph machine. Although Inder ji looked for the civil surgeon until eleven that night, he could neither meet him nor get the machine. At last he returned to Kainchi.
Meanwhile Kishan Chandra Tewari had come from Nainital to see Baba at about 3 p.m. Baba also asked him to call the doctor from Bhowali for the patients. Tewari humbly told him that the doctor would not want to come again so soon and would say that the medicine he prescribed would take some time to have the desired effect. Baba said, "Tell the doctor that I also have heart trouble." Eventually the doctor did come again and found Baba in sound health. He said that Baba felt uncomfortable because of acidity. He wrote a prescription and advised light food and rest. Baba then asked the doctor to examine the patients once again. He also sent someone to ask the patients if they had informed their family members that they were ill. He was pleased to hear Hukum Chand's negative reply and praised him again and again, saying that he was a good man. Sending for the doctor several times was Baba's lila since a mere glance from him would have cured the two devotees. They next day at the time of Baba's departure, the patients lay unconscious and were not able to have his darshan. After Baba's departure their condition improved and they fully recuperated.
Baba did not want food the night before he left. After a lot of persuasion he agreed to have ramdana (amaranth). It was eleven at night and Sri Ma and a few devotees were sitting with him in his kuti when Baba began telling a story. He said, "There was a saint and he left his body. His devotees and the members of his family cremated his body. After some time the saint came back." Then he turned to Sri Ma and said, "Tell me, how did he come back?" Sri Ma kept quiet, and he did not give any answer. The devotees present were not able to understand this enigma.
The 9th of September dawned. Baba was in a happy mood, and the devotees in the ashram had his darshan. He talked to Sri Ma briefly about some of his close devotees who were not present at the time. The western devotees were singing and chanting devotional songs in front of his kuti, as they did every day, and there was an endless flow of visitors. Baba laughed and talked to everyone with great affection, and the visitors were contented with his darshan. The westerners interrupted their chanting and called out loudly, "Baba Neeb Karori ki Jai!" (Glory to Baba Neeb Karori!) On hearing this invocation, Baba called out from his room, "Neeb Karori is dead." They did not take him seriously, and Baba continued conversing humorously. At ten in the morning he went to Radha kuti.
Sri Ma and the few devotees inside Radha kuti gave him a bath, and Shri K.C. Tewari chanted mantras dedicated to Lord Shiva. The scene was similar to that of a temple where devotees offer water and milk to a Shivling. Baba's eyes reflected deep love. There was a unique charm in his face, and a gentle, joyful smile pervaded it. The devotees drank the water in which his feet were washed, and by an inspiration they preserved the rest for future use. After that they worshipped Baba with sandalwood paste and incense and then performed aarti. Baba had sago (arrowroot) to eat and happily talked with everyone. In the midst of all this, he kept on saying, "I have to go today."
At about 1 p.m. Baba suddenly said, "I am going now." He asked Kishan Chandra Tewari to tell Inder ji to have his car brought to the ashram gate. Tewari went to pass on the message to Inder ji, and Baba bade Sri Ma farewell at Radha kuti. During the course of his conversation with Ma, he said to her several times, "Ma, the way you have served me, none has ever served nor will anyone be able to do so in the future. When I will leave, I shall weep before you, but I shall laugh before the world." That day had come. With tears in his eyes, he blessed Sri Ma and said, "Wherever you may be all that is auspicious will be with you." When Sri Ma earnestly insisted that she accompany him, he said "I am going to a doctor devotee in Agra. He will look after me and examine me with his new machine that he has imported from America. After getting myself examined by him, I shall return the next day." Reassuring her, he said, "If need be, I shall send a telegram. You come with Ramesh." Baba's words proved true.
After bidding farewell to Sri Ma, Baba came out of Radha kuti, and two people offered pranaam to him. Holding their hands, Baba went towards the Hanuman temple, talking and laughing. Many devotees present in the temple premises came running up to him and bowed at his feet. Some walked on either side of him and others followed. Baba said, "I am going to be released from Central Jail today." Baba's very significant words, said in an affectionate manner, were taken lightly. In the past, whenever Baba left a place, his manner was completely detached towards his attendants, and he never looked back at them. But that day his unprecedented behavior naturally attracted the devotees' attention.
When Baba reached the Hanuman temple, he joined his hands together in salutation and stood there for some time. This was perhaps the second time that he was seen to do this, the first time being when the murti was consecrated. Then Baba's blanket, which was regarded as symbolic of him, slipped from his shoulders onto the ground. Though Baba did not seem to want it, people picked it up and covered him with it. After this he had darshan at the Laxmi Narayan and Shiva temples, standing silently at each for some time. Then he walked towards the entrance gate taking long strides. At the gate a devotee took his photograph—the last one. Once again the blanket slipped off his shoulders. Devotees picked it up and tried to put it on him again, but he refused. So they folded it and put it in the car.
Before getting into the car, Baba gave instructions for the closing of the kitchen and asked the organizers of the ashram to make arrangements for sending the women devotees home. Many devotees asked Baba's permission to go with him, but Baba asked a young man named Ravi Khanna, who had come into his service only a few days before, to sit in the car. When Baba got in, all the devotees touched his feet for the last time. The car was about to leave when a woman who Maharaj called Kachauri Mai came just in time to lovingly place her head on his feet. Baba sat quietly for some time and then said, "Mother, I was waiting for you." She had walked the eight kilometers from Bhowali to see him.
As soon as Baba left, a peculiar silence and gloom descended on that crowded and lively place as had never been felt before. All the devotees became silent and sought solitude. Some started making preparations to go home, whereas others sat in their rooms. Only laborers worked in the yagnashala, and the two patients were asleep on their wooden beds.
When Inder ji started the car, a rainbow appeared and radiated all its colors in the silent sky. Appreciating the scenic beauty, Baba said, "Inder, look at this beautiful creation of God. Man cannot create this." The spectacle lasted for about an hour and a half until the car reached Kathgodam. On the way Baba talked to him about destiny and the future. All of a sudden Inder ji's eyes fell on Baba's feet. He was puzzled to see that they had enlarged to about one and a half times their normal size. Upon reaching Kathgodam, they became normal and Baba got out of the car and boarded the Agra Fort Express with Ravi Khanna. Inder asked Baba's permission to accompany him, but Baba very affectionately told him, "You have to get the roof of the yagnashala completed, but I shall call you soon." Just as Sumant (Lord Ram's charioteer) left Ram and returned to Ayodhya, Inder, taking his vacant car, returned to the ashram in the dark.
That night Baba conversed with Ravi Khanna in the train. Sri Ma had put milk in a thermos and Ganges water in a bucket for Baba. Khanna wanted him to have some milk, but he refused. Khanna earnestly insisted again and again and even poured some milk into a tumbler only to find that it had turned sour. Baba was looking at him smilingly. Baba asked him to throw the thermos out of the train, but Khanna did not think it proper to do so. Taking the thermos in his hand, Baba threw it out and said to Khanna, "One should not be attached."
The next morning, on 10 September, Baba reached Agra and went to Jagmohan Sharma's house at about 6 a.m. Sharma welcomed him and came to know that Baba had a return ticket on the night train to Kathgodam the same day. Baba called a barber and got his beard and hair shaved. He ate only ramdana saying, "Now, cereal and fruit are less nourishing. Prepare ramdana, I shall have it today." Then he told Sharma, "Bad time is ahead. Do not live in big houses. There will be a lot of plundering and killing. Live in a small house." He talked in this way throughout the day. He told Sharma's father, "When the body gets old, it becomes useless. One should have no attachment for it." Baba was in a very jovial mood. Seeing him like that, Sharma's mother-in-law asked him, "Are you the same Baba who once stopped a train?" Baba laughed at this and said, "You also have come to know about it."
From there Baba visited his devotee Dr. Mathur, who was a heart specialist. Baba told him about his cardiac symptoms and asked him to examine him. The doctor took Baba's cardiogram and found him healthy. He said that the blood becomes a bit thicker in old age, which can cause anxiety. He gave him many tablets, saying that the medicine would stop the anxiety if taken from time to time. Baba was unshaken and said, "You are wrong. I am suffering from heart disease." The doctor replied that he had a new machine imported from America and that it did not go wrong. Baba said, "Is your machine God that it cannot be wrong?" Though Baba kept the medicine given to him by Dr. Mathur, he did not use it. It cannot be said with certainty what ailment Baba had or whose illness he had taken upon himself.
That evening Baba took Dharma Narain and Ravi Khanna with him to the Agra station and arrived in time for the night train. Baba already had the tickets with him, and they took their seats in the first-class compartment of the train leaving for Kathgodam. By Baba's order they all got off the train when it stopped at Mathura. Some devotees at the station touched Baba's feet. After some time Baba closed his eyes and his body began to perspire. He asked for water, and after having it, he asked them to take him to Vrindavan. By the time a taxi was arranged, Baba was unconscious. Instead of taking him to the ashram, they took him to the Ramakrishna Mission Hospital in Vrindavan where he was given oxygen. While preparations were being made to check his blood pressure, Baba pulled the oxygen tube out of his nose and pushing the blood pressure instrument aside whispered, "It is all useless." Immediately after this, he repeated the name of God, "Jagdish, Jagdish, Jagdish," three times, and then his body became still. It was 1:15 a.m. in the middle of the night on the 11th, the sacred day of Anant Chaturdashi, when Baba merged himself with infinity by cardiac arrest. While the whole of India was sound asleep, Baba ended his physical lila away from his devotees.
Baba's body was taken to the ashram where Trilok Singh, the night watchman, sat with him. Trilok held Baba's hand in his own. Sitting with his eyes closed, he felt Baba's pulse beating. However, when he opened his eyes and checked it again, it was still. In this way Baba's divine play continued.
Banwari Lal Pathak, a priest in Vrindavan and a devotee of Baba, had arrived at the hospital as Maharaj was about to be taken to the ashram. He started informing people in Agra, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nainital, and other cities either by phone or by telegram. All India Radio also broadcast the news all over the country in their morning and evening news bulletins.
The next morning devotees left for Vrindavan from everywhere without having food or water. Devotees from the nearby towns and surrounding areas arrived early in the morning, and people from distant places trickled in all day. Sri Ma and Sri Jivanti Ma traveled with Ramesh by taxi from Kainchi ashram. The western devotees who were in India came, but those who were in their own countries were helpless. However, a group of thirty American devotees did manage to arrive by plane. Many renowned persons and high officials also came to pay homage to Maharaj. By his grace the news reached everyone. I got the sad news in Allahabad, which I then conveyed to other devotees in town. Within moments we left for Vrindavan. Wherever the news was received and whoever received it, all were dumbfounded and had no idea as to what had happened to Baba.
At Vrindavan ashram devotees were not able to decide how to perform Baba's last rites. Some were in favor of immersing him in water, but others wanted a burial and a monument raised. (According to Hindu custom, a saint or sanyasi is not cremated. Either they are immersed in flowing water or they are buried.) Just then a renowned sage of Vrindavan, Baba Leelanand Thakur, also known as Pagal Baba, arrived. Pagal Baba finally decided that Maharaj should be cremated and that it should be done inside the ashram at the place where yagna was usually performed. The place for yagna had been constructed for the Navaratra in April of that year. The residual yagna material had been immersed in water after the puja was performed, and a small stone wall was erected all around the place. It was maintained as if it were prepared for this very purpose.
By 2 p.m. Sri Ma had not yet arrived. People were hungry and thirsty. A majority of them did not want to delay the cremation any longer, whereas others were of the opinion that they should wait for Sri Ma. When the opinion of the majority held complete sway, Baba's body was brought out into the courtyard of the ashram. Suddenly a terrible storm arose out of nowhere. It rained so heavily that nothing was visible to people beyond ten paces. Clouds darkened the atmosphere, and even the beams of the headlights of passing cars seemed dim. As a result the bier had to be placed on the veranda on the other side of the courtyard, and the cremation got delayed. Sri Ma arrived a little later. The moment she stepped out of the car, the storm ceased. There was an atmosphere of immense grief on her arrival.
A sandalwood pyre was arranged, and people had the last darshan of their beloved guru. Baba looked as if he were in deep sleep. His face was as radiant as before. At about six in the evening, Baba's body was put on a beautiful bier decorated with flowers. He was then placed on a carriage and carried in a procession all around Vrindavan, accompanied by devotional music, as is traditionally done for saints. A large crowd of devotees followed him, and people showered flowers on him from temples and houses. People stopped the carriage at every step and performed aarti. The journey took a long time. The carriage came back to the ashram at about nine at night, and in an atmosphere burdened with the grief of separation, Baba's pyre was lit with deep devotion. Everyone had different experiences at that moment. For one, Jagmohan Sharma saw Baba standing in between Ram and Lakshman amidst the flames of the pyre and Hanuman ji doing parikrama (walking in a clockwise direction around someone or something sacred) around them.
When the pyre had cooled, devotees collected the ashes in many kalash (pitchers). Some kalash were taken to Varanasi, Haridwar, Prayag, and other holy places of pilgrimage, where the ashes were immersed in the sacred waters of Ganga. Others were sent to Baba's ashrams, where his murti was later installed over them. Seeing Kehar Singh ji collecting Baba's remains, Devkamta Dixit ji remembered something Baba had once said. He told the other devotees that he had heard Baba say, "Kehar Singh will collect my mortal remains." At the time Baba's words seemed inappropriate, but that day those words came true.
On the thirteenth day after Mahasamadhi, a grand bhandara was held at Vrindavan ashram. Kainchi ashram held a bhandara the previous day, according to the custom in the hills. The devotees who had not been able to pay homage to Baba earlier felt grateful to have his prasad on the twelfth and thirteenth days after his Mahasamadhi.
Until 1973 the yagnas in Kainchi were performed every year in a makeshift yagnashala. Baba wanted to make it a permanent structure before his Mahasamadhi, so he got it constructed under the supervision of Inder ji. Its roof was being laid on 9 September, when Baba set out on his last journey.
FINAL DAYS
In the beginning of September 1973 it was getting cold in Kainchi and the surrounding hills. Nevertheless, the ashram was full of devotees. Every morning many visitors, including many westerners, came from Nainital and returned there every evening. Baba met everyone very lovingly, and in this way one day passed into another. Baba appeared healthy in all respects. He was cheerful while meeting people and talked humorously. His kindness, generosity, and love were so intense that it created a feeling of oneness between him and the people around him. He enquired from everyone of their welfare and gave prasad and blessings to all.
Some devotees did detect a perceptible change in his behavior during his last days. It seemed that his affection for people was interspersed with moments of detachment. Though he still loved the gatherings of devotees, he spent his time in solitude between midday and four o'clock. If someone went to him during that period, they found Baba immersed in deep thoughts. Those who noticed the change in him were surprised but were unable to infer anything from it. One or two days before his final departure, he began counting days on his fingers.
Occasionally Baba's happy mood was interspersed with references to serious topics such as mortality. At times he said, "We meet only those people with whom our meeting is predestined. Duration of association with each person is also preordained. One should not grieve if one is separated or if the association does not last long." About the body he said, "Everyone has to die. We weep because of our attachment and desires," and "Whoever comes into this world will have to leave it. Nobody can stay here. I will also go and will not give darshan to anyone." When asked where he would go, he replied, "Far away to the bank of the Narmada River." Once, he said to Sri Ma, "What can I do when God is calling me?" About the funeral rites he once said, "Having been cremated, the longing of the soul to come to bodily form is lessened." He also said, "When a guru leaves his mortal form, his ashram becomes his form." And during one conversation he said, "I will not die."
On 7 September Jagannath Anand's daughter Sarla came to see Baba. She said to him, "Baba, I am worried because I am on the retrenchment list of the Food Corporation of India, where you got me temporarily posted." Sarla had suffered from polio in her childhood and was unable to walk. This, however, did not stop her from moving around with the help of her hands. Baba gave her and her father sweets to eat and made them have prasad at the bhandara. Then Baba asked Sarla, "Do you want to marry?" When she replied in the negative, Baba was pleased, and he reassured her saying, "Nobody will retrench you from service. They will have to confirm your post." Baba also said to her, "I am very happy with you. Today you may ask for anything you like." In reply she said, "Baba, I only want your blessings." At this Baba looked at her with eyes filled with tears, and in a voice full of emotion, he said, "From now on I will have to do all your work." Sarla felt contented upon receiving Baba's blessing. A few days later the whole retrenchment list was cancelled, and all the posts were confirmed.
The 8th of September passed like other days. There was a great rush of visitors in the ashram. The western devotees were chanting songs in front of Baba's kuti, and inside, people were having his darshan. Baba expressed his concern about Hukum Chand and Kishan Lal Arora, both of whom were sick in the ashram. Baba sent for a doctor from Bhowali twice in the morning. The third time he sent Inder to call the civil surgeon from Nainital with a message that Baba himself was suffering from heart trouble and that the doctor should bring along the electrocardiograph machine. Although Inder ji looked for the civil surgeon until eleven that night, he could neither meet him nor get the machine. At last he returned to Kainchi.
Meanwhile Kishan Chandra Tewari had come from Nainital to see Baba at about 3 p.m. Baba also asked him to call the doctor from Bhowali for the patients. Tewari humbly told him that the doctor would not want to come again so soon and would say that the medicine he prescribed would take some time to have the desired effect. Baba said, "Tell the doctor that I also have heart trouble." Eventually the doctor did come again and found Baba in sound health. He said that Baba felt uncomfortable because of acidity. He wrote a prescription and advised light food and rest. Baba then asked the doctor to examine the patients once again. He also sent someone to ask the patients if they had informed their family members that they were ill. He was pleased to hear Hukum Chand's negative reply and praised him again and again, saying that he was a good man. Sending for the doctor several times was Baba's lila since a mere glance from him would have cured the two devotees. They next day at the time of Baba's departure, the patients lay unconscious and were not able to have his darshan. After Baba's departure their condition improved and they fully recuperated.
Baba did not want food the night before he left. After a lot of persuasion he agreed to have ramdana (amaranth). It was eleven at night and Sri Ma and a few devotees were sitting with him in his kuti when Baba began telling a story. He said, "There was a saint and he left his body. His devotees and the members of his family cremated his body. After some time the saint came back." Then he turned to Sri Ma and said, "Tell me, how did he come back?" Sri Ma kept quiet, and he did not give any answer. The devotees present were not able to understand this enigma.
The 9th of September dawned. Baba was in a happy mood, and the devotees in the ashram had his darshan. He talked to Sri Ma briefly about some of his close devotees who were not present at the time. The western devotees were singing and chanting devotional songs in front of his kuti, as they did every day, and there was an endless flow of visitors. Baba laughed and talked to everyone with great affection, and the visitors were contented with his darshan. The westerners interrupted their chanting and called out loudly, "Baba Neeb Karori ki Jai!" (Glory to Baba Neeb Karori!) On hearing this invocation, Baba called out from his room, "Neeb Karori is dead." They did not take him seriously, and Baba continued conversing humorously. At ten in the morning he went to Radha kuti.
Sri Ma and the few devotees inside Radha kuti gave him a bath, and Shri K.C. Tewari chanted mantras dedicated to Lord Shiva. The scene was similar to that of a temple where devotees offer water and milk to a Shivling. Baba's eyes reflected deep love. There was a unique charm in his face, and a gentle, joyful smile pervaded it. The devotees drank the water in which his feet were washed, and by an inspiration they preserved the rest for future use. After that they worshipped Baba with sandalwood paste and incense and then performed aarti. Baba had sago (arrowroot) to eat and happily talked with everyone. In the midst of all this, he kept on saying, "I have to go today."
At about 1 p.m. Baba suddenly said, "I am going now." He asked Kishan Chandra Tewari to tell Inder ji to have his car brought to the ashram gate. Tewari went to pass on the message to Inder ji, and Baba bade Sri Ma farewell at Radha kuti. During the course of his conversation with Ma, he said to her several times, "Ma, the way you have served me, none has ever served nor will anyone be able to do so in the future. When I will leave, I shall weep before you, but I shall laugh before the world." That day had come. With tears in his eyes, he blessed Sri Ma and said, "Wherever you may be all that is auspicious will be with you." When Sri Ma earnestly insisted that she accompany him, he said "I am going to a doctor devotee in Agra. He will look after me and examine me with his new machine that he has imported from America. After getting myself examined by him, I shall return the next day." Reassuring her, he said, "If need be, I shall send a telegram. You come with Ramesh." Baba's words proved true.
After bidding farewell to Sri Ma, Baba came out of Radha kuti, and two people offered pranaam to him. Holding their hands, Baba went towards the Hanuman temple, talking and laughing. Many devotees present in the temple premises came running up to him and bowed at his feet. Some walked on either side of him and others followed. Baba said, "I am going to be released from Central Jail today." Baba's very significant words, said in an affectionate manner, were taken lightly. In the past, whenever Baba left a place, his manner was completely detached towards his attendants, and he never looked back at them. But that day his unprecedented behavior naturally attracted the devotees' attention.
When Baba reached the Hanuman temple, he joined his hands together in salutation and stood there for some time. This was perhaps the second time that he was seen to do this, the first time being when the murti was consecrated. Then Baba's blanket, which was regarded as symbolic of him, slipped from his shoulders onto the ground. Though Baba did not seem to want it, people picked it up and covered him with it. After this he had darshan at the Laxmi Narayan and Shiva temples, standing silently at each for some time. Then he walked towards the entrance gate taking long strides. At the gate a devotee took his photograph—the last one. Once again the blanket slipped off his shoulders. Devotees picked it up and tried to put it on him again, but he refused. So they folded it and put it in the car.
Before getting into the car, Baba gave instructions for the closing of the kitchen and asked the organizers of the ashram to make arrangements for sending the women devotees home. Many devotees asked Baba's permission to go with him, but Baba asked a young man named Ravi Khanna, who had come into his service only a few days before, to sit in the car. When Baba got in, all the devotees touched his feet for the last time. The car was about to leave when a woman who Maharaj called Kachauri Mai came just in time to lovingly place her head on his feet. Baba sat quietly for some time and then said, "Mother, I was waiting for you." She had walked the eight kilometers from Bhowali to see him.
As soon as Baba left, a peculiar silence and gloom descended on that crowded and lively place as had never been felt before. All the devotees became silent and sought solitude. Some started making preparations to go home, whereas others sat in their rooms. Only laborers worked in the yagnashala, and the two patients were asleep on their wooden beds.
When Inder ji started the car, a rainbow appeared and radiated all its colors in the silent sky. Appreciating the scenic beauty, Baba said, "Inder, look at this beautiful creation of God. Man cannot create this." The spectacle lasted for about an hour and a half until the car reached Kathgodam. On the way Baba talked to him about destiny and the future. All of a sudden Inder ji's eyes fell on Baba's feet. He was puzzled to see that they had enlarged to about one and a half times their normal size. Upon reaching Kathgodam, they became normal and Baba got out of the car and boarded the Agra Fort Express with Ravi Khanna. Inder asked Baba's permission to accompany him, but Baba very affectionately told him, "You have to get the roof of the yagnashala completed, but I shall call you soon." Just as Sumant (Lord Ram's charioteer) left Ram and returned to Ayodhya, Inder, taking his vacant car, returned to the ashram in the dark.
That night Baba conversed with Ravi Khanna in the train. Sri Ma had put milk in a thermos and Ganges water in a bucket for Baba. Khanna wanted him to have some milk, but he refused. Khanna earnestly insisted again and again and even poured some milk into a tumbler only to find that it had turned sour. Baba was looking at him smilingly. Baba asked him to throw the thermos out of the train, but Khanna did not think it proper to do so. Taking the thermos in his hand, Baba threw it out and said to Khanna, "One should not be attached."
The next morning, on 10 September, Baba reached Agra and went to Jagmohan Sharma's house at about 6 a.m. Sharma welcomed him and came to know that Baba had a return ticket on the night train to Kathgodam the same day. Baba called a barber and got his beard and hair shaved. He ate only ramdana saying, "Now, cereal and fruit are less nourishing. Prepare ramdana, I shall have it today." Then he told Sharma, "Bad time is ahead. Do not live in big houses. There will be a lot of plundering and killing. Live in a small house." He talked in this way throughout the day. He told Sharma's father, "When the body gets old, it becomes useless. One should have no attachment for it." Baba was in a very jovial mood. Seeing him like that, Sharma's mother-in-law asked him, "Are you the same Baba who once stopped a train?" Baba laughed at this and said, "You also have come to know about it."
From there Baba visited his devotee Dr. Mathur, who was a heart specialist. Baba told him about his cardiac symptoms and asked him to examine him. The doctor took Baba's cardiogram and found him healthy. He said that the blood becomes a bit thicker in old age, which can cause anxiety. He gave him many tablets, saying that the medicine would stop the anxiety if taken from time to time. Baba was unshaken and said, "You are wrong. I am suffering from heart disease." The doctor replied that he had a new machine imported from America and that it did not go wrong. Baba said, "Is your machine God that it cannot be wrong?" Though Baba kept the medicine given to him by Dr. Mathur, he did not use it. It cannot be said with certainty what ailment Baba had or whose illness he had taken upon himself.
That evening Baba took Dharma Narain and Ravi Khanna with him to the Agra station and arrived in time for the night train. Baba already had the tickets with him, and they took their seats in the first-class compartment of the train leaving for Kathgodam. By Baba's order they all got off the train when it stopped at Mathura. Some devotees at the station touched Baba's feet. After some time Baba closed his eyes and his body began to perspire. He asked for water, and after having it, he asked them to take him to Vrindavan. By the time a taxi was arranged, Baba was unconscious. Instead of taking him to the ashram, they took him to the Ramakrishna Mission Hospital in Vrindavan where he was given oxygen. While preparations were being made to check his blood pressure, Baba pulled the oxygen tube out of his nose and pushing the blood pressure instrument aside whispered, "It is all useless." Immediately after this, he repeated the name of God, "Jagdish, Jagdish, Jagdish," three times, and then his body became still. It was 1:15 a.m. in the middle of the night on the 11th, the sacred day of Anant Chaturdashi, when Baba merged himself with infinity by cardiac arrest. While the whole of India was sound asleep, Baba ended his physical lila away from his devotees.
Baba's body was taken to the ashram where Trilok Singh, the night watchman, sat with him. Trilok held Baba's hand in his own. Sitting with his eyes closed, he felt Baba's pulse beating. However, when he opened his eyes and checked it again, it was still. In this way Baba's divine play continued.
Banwari Lal Pathak, a priest in Vrindavan and a devotee of Baba, had arrived at the hospital as Maharaj was about to be taken to the ashram. He started informing people in Agra, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nainital, and other cities either by phone or by telegram. All India Radio also broadcast the news all over the country in their morning and evening news bulletins.
The next morning devotees left for Vrindavan from everywhere without having food or water. Devotees from the nearby towns and surrounding areas arrived early in the morning, and people from distant places trickled in all day. Sri Ma and Sri Jivanti Ma traveled with Ramesh by taxi from Kainchi ashram. The western devotees who were in India came, but those who were in their own countries were helpless. However, a group of thirty American devotees did manage to arrive by plane. Many renowned persons and high officials also came to pay homage to Maharaj. By his grace the news reached everyone. I got the sad news in Allahabad, which I then conveyed to other devotees in town. Within moments we left for Vrindavan. Wherever the news was received and whoever received it, all were dumbfounded and had no idea as to what had happened to Baba.
At Vrindavan ashram devotees were not able to decide how to perform Baba's last rites. Some were in favor of immersing him in water, but others wanted a burial and a monument raised. (According to Hindu custom, a saint or sanyasi is not cremated. Either they are immersed in flowing water or they are buried.) Just then a renowned sage of Vrindavan, Baba Leelanand Thakur, also known as Pagal Baba, arrived. Pagal Baba finally decided that Maharaj should be cremated and that it should be done inside the ashram at the place where yagna was usually performed. The place for yagna had been constructed for the Navaratra in April of that year. The residual yagna material had been immersed in water after the puja was performed, and a small stone wall was erected all around the place. It was maintained as if it were prepared for this very purpose.
By 2 p.m. Sri Ma had not yet arrived. People were hungry and thirsty. A majority of them did not want to delay the cremation any longer, whereas others were of the opinion that they should wait for Sri Ma. When the opinion of the majority held complete sway, Baba's body was brought out into the courtyard of the ashram. Suddenly a terrible storm arose out of nowhere. It rained so heavily that nothing was visible to people beyond ten paces. Clouds darkened the atmosphere, and even the beams of the headlights of passing cars seemed dim. As a result the bier had to be placed on the veranda on the other side of the courtyard, and the cremation got delayed. Sri Ma arrived a little later. The moment she stepped out of the car, the storm ceased. There was an atmosphere of immense grief on her arrival.
A sandalwood pyre was arranged, and people had the last darshan of their beloved guru. Baba looked as if he were in deep sleep. His face was as radiant as before. At about six in the evening, Baba's body was put on a beautiful bier decorated with flowers. He was then placed on a carriage and carried in a procession all around Vrindavan, accompanied by devotional music, as is traditionally done for saints. A large crowd of devotees followed him, and people showered flowers on him from temples and houses. People stopped the carriage at every step and performed aarti. The journey took a long time. The carriage came back to the ashram at about nine at night, and in an atmosphere burdened with the grief of separation, Baba's pyre was lit with deep devotion. Everyone had different experiences at that moment. For one, Jagmohan Sharma saw Baba standing in between Ram and Lakshman amidst the flames of the pyre and Hanuman ji doing parikrama (walking in a clockwise direction around someone or something sacred) around them.
When the pyre had cooled, devotees collected the ashes in many kalash (pitchers). Some kalash were taken to Varanasi, Haridwar, Prayag, and other holy places of pilgrimage, where the ashes were immersed in the sacred waters of Ganga. Others were sent to Baba's ashrams, where his murti was later installed over them. Seeing Kehar Singh ji collecting Baba's remains, Devkamta Dixit ji remembered something Baba had once said. He told the other devotees that he had heard Baba say, "Kehar Singh will collect my mortal remains." At the time Baba's words seemed inappropriate, but that day those words came true.
On the thirteenth day after Mahasamadhi, a grand bhandara was held at Vrindavan ashram. Kainchi ashram held a bhandara the previous day, according to the custom in the hills. The devotees who had not been able to pay homage to Baba earlier felt grateful to have his prasad on the twelfth and thirteenth days after his Mahasamadhi.
