Shri NimKarori Baba 3 महाराज निब करोरी

1. एकाच वेळी निम करोरी महाराज कानपूर अणि काठमांडू मध्ये :-

Nim Karori Maharaj in Kanpur and Kathmandu at a time

On one occasion Maharaj ji stayed with Devkamta Dixit ji for three days. On the fourth day they both went to the house of Hari Ram Joshi at Nazarbag, Lucknow. Joshi was ill with a fever, but seeing Baba in his house, he got up from bed and bowed before him. Baba lay down in his bed and instantly the fever left him. With folded hands Joshi said to Baba, "I was thinking of you only yesterday. I heard the news broadcast from Kathmandu, announcing that the great saint of India, Baba Neeb Karori, had been in Kathmandu the day before and that the king of Nepal had had his darshan. After hearing that news, I expected that you would give me darshan when you returned." Looking towards Dixit ji, Baba smiled.

2.  At Agra and Vrindavan

One night Baba woke up Habibulla, his driver in Vrindavan, and told him he wanted to go to Agra and then return to Vrindavan. He also said, "It is a five-minute job. We'll be back by dawn." They reached Agra in the middle of the night. Baba told Habibulla to park the car at Subzimandi and then to follow him. Habibulla had a stomach ache and did not want to go, so he told Baba that it was not a good idea to leave the car unguarded. He also asked Baba how long he would be away. Baba replied, "Half an hour." Habibulla then reminded Baba that when they were in Vrindavan, Baba had said he would take only five minutes. Baba said, "All right, you wait for me for fifteen minutes and if I don't turn up by then, go back to Vrindavan alone."

Habibulla's stomach ache got worse. He waited for Baba for about twenty-five minutes, but at last returned to Vrindavan alone with a heavy heart. After parking the car at the ashram, he went inside and saw Baba sitting on a takhat, talking to people. Habibulla had come straight from Agra, driving very fast, so he was naturally very surprised at the sight. He was still suffering from stomach cramps and was tired after the long journey, so he went straight to his room without going to Baba. Baba understood the reason for his annoyance and asked a man to fetch him. Habibulla asked the man, "When did Baba come back from Agra?" The man looked at him in surprise, "Where did Baba go? Ever since he came out of his room this morning, he has been sitting on his takhat and talking to people."

3.  At Allahabad, Kanpur and Bareilly

Maharaj got a Hanuman temple built at Panki in Kanpur through Devkamta Dixit ji. The murti was to be installed on 21 January 1964. A few days before this, Maharaj arrived in Allahabad. On the day of the consecration ceremony, I was astonished to see him at Church Lane at six in the morning. I could not understand why Baba did not think it appropriate to go to Panki on that special occasion, when a large crowd of devotees would be waiting for him. After giving prasad to the devotees, Baba went into his room at about six thirty.

Sri Ma and Sri Jivanti Ma were there when Baba asked Sudhir Mukerjee to lock the room from the outside and to tell every visitor that he had gone out. He lay very still on the takhat, and the Mothers found him in a state of samadhi. I sat in the outer room in the hope that Baba might come out of his room at any time, and Mukerjee was sending the visitors away as instructed. Just then Jagati Babu arrived and seeing me sitting there in the outer room, came and asked about Baba. I told him what was happening. At about eleven thirty Baba called from inside the room to unlock the door. When he came out, I had his darshan once again.

Two days later Baba was sitting with a group of devotees, including Jagati Babu and myself, when a car stopped unexpectedly outside. An engineer, one of Baba's devotees, arrived from Kanpur. We all welcomed him and Jagati Babu added, "How was the consecration ceremony held at Panki in Baba's absence?" The engineer was surprised at the question and exclaimed, "In the absence of Baba?" Then he said, "I received Baba on the consecration day at about six thirty in the morning and remained with him until approximately eleven thirty. The consecration ceremony was celebrated with joy and a bhandara was held. The occasion was marvelous." Jagati Babu did not agree with what the engineer said, for he knew very well that Baba had been locked in a room at Church Lane at that time. After some argument both of them decided to take the matter to Baba. When Jagati Babu raised the question, Baba said that the engineer was a liar. The engineer was taken aback to hear Baba say so. As he tried to remonstrate, Baba raised his finger to his lips, signaling him to keep quiet. This was clear proof of Baba's presence in Allahabad and Kanpur at the same time. Further enquiry into this matter revealed that other people had also had Baba's darshan in Kanpur.

That same morning Dr. A.D. Bhandari's wife was strolling in her garden in Bareilly when she saw Baba coming towards their house. He was traveling alone in a rickshaw. She immediately went inside to arrange a room for him, but when she came out to receive him, she did not see Baba or the rickshaw. She felt unhappy at Baba's coming up to the house and then leaving. When the doctor arrived home, she told him what had happened. He enquired about Baba at various places but without any success. A few days after this incident Mrs. Bhandari met Sri Ma and told her what had happened on that day, 21 January 1964. She could not believe her ears when Sri Ma told her that Baba was present in Allahabad on that day.

-Rajida

4.  I Am There

Ram Ratan Verma practiced law in Mainpuri and was a devotee of Maharaj. Baba showered his affection on Verma's whole family. When Verma died in 1956, his only child Shanta was devastated, and Baba went to her house to console her. She wept bitterly before saying, "I don't have a brother, and now no one is left in my parents' house." Baba, the ocean of kindness, could not bear to see anyone in tears. He emphasized at once, "You have me."

From then on Baba became her brother and maintained that relationship until the time of his Mahasamadhi. During that period of seventeen years, Baba went to Shanta's house every year on Rakshabandhan, the festival for brothers and sisters. As part of the tradition, the sister ties a rakhi (sacred thread) around the wrist of her brother. Maharaj got Shanta to tie the rakhi, and he gave her money, which is also part of the tradition. Once, when she was in Meerut on Rakshabandhan, Baba even went there to get the rakhi tied. Devotees remember celebrating Rakshabandhan in Kainchi with Baba for eleven of those seventeen years, so Baba was in Kainchi as well as with Shanta on those auspicious days.

5.  Who Did You Call?

Shakuntala Sah of Nainital once went to Mirzapur with Maharaj for the darshan of Vindhyavasini Devi. After a few years passed, she took her father to have Vindhyavasini Devi's darshan. While taking a bath in the Ganges, her father desired to have a swim. In his youth he had been a good swimmer, but he had become old. She forbade him and pleaded with him, but he could not resist his desire to swim. He went under water. With great effort, he resurfaced, and Shakuntala was stunned to see his desperate look. He went under again right before her eyes. In her helplessness she remembered Baba and cried out, "Maharaj, Maharaj." In the meantime a man standing nearby jumped in the water with his clothes on and dragged her father out of the water. After some treatment, her father recovered. They wanted to give something to the man to thank him, but he had disappeared and even after enquiries, could not be found. Shakuntala returned to Nainital and told Baba the whole story. Then she said, "Who was that man?" Baba said indifferently, "Keep quiet. Your work is done. Who did you call at that moment?"

6.  Perceptible and Imperceptible Forms

Whenever Baba came to Prayag, his devotee Kanhaiyalal Srivastava would inform all the devotees that Maharaj had arrived. Baba scolded him for this, but he was not able to resist the impulse to share Baba's darshan. Once, when Baba was staying at Church Lane, Kanhaiyalal ji took three dignified men to have darshan. Before they arrived, Baba left for the Allahabad train station with Sudhir Mukerjee. On hearing the news, Kanhaiyalal ji also went to the station, and leaving the three men at a particular place on the platform, he went to look for Baba. He saw Baba and Mukerjee Dada sitting on one end of the platform. He went to them and humbly asked Baba to give the three men darshan. Baba did not grant the request. Because Kanhaiyalal ji glorified Baba, it inspired people to want to meet him and sometimes to test him. Baba never like people to praise him, and he was always indifferent to those who wanted to test him.

Kanhaiyalal went back disappointed and stood quietly by his companions. He thought that Baba would have to return that way and that they would have his darshan as he passed by. After some time Baba got up and wandered around the platform, holding Mukerjee Dada's hand. There were not many people around since no train was due, but Maharaj passed by those four people twice without them seeing him. Mukerjee Dada could see those people looking towards them and could not understand why they did not take advantage of the opportunity to meet Baba. He did not understand that in being with Baba, he was also invisible to those people.

7.  A Car Made Invisible

A car was waiting at the entrance to Kainchi ashram to pick up Baba and Mukerjee Dada, and many devotees from the ashram were standing on the roadside, waiting to see them off. At a bend on the road, Ambadatt Pande, Secretary to the Central Government, was standing with his family. They had anticipated that Baba's car would leave before they arrived at the ashram, and knowing that Baba's car would have to go to via Bhowali, they decided to stop on the road and wait for Baba's car to pass with the intention of having his darshan. Before getting into the car, Dada drew Baba's attention to the fact that the family had not arrived and would therefore be stopping at that particular bend. Baba said, "They won't have darshan now." At this, Dada said that they would stand in front of the car to stop it. Baba said to him, "You sit in the backseat bending low so that your face cannot be seen from the outside." Dada obeyed him and the car set off.

High up on a bend the family watched the car approach. After passing the bend, Baba told Dada to sit comfortably. No one saw the car pass. The members of the family were puzzled about where the car had gone. It had disappeared. The devotees standing at the temple entrance down in the valley lost sight of the car as it went toward the bend. When the Pande family arrived at the temple gate and talked to the devotees still standing around it, they were all astounded. Not only Baba, but the entire car had become invisible to them all.

8.  Present Though Absent

One day on my way to the office, I saw Maharaj sitting on the veranda of Sudhir Mukerjee's house. I wanted to meet him, but I was getting late for work. I thought and believed that Baba would not keep me there at the time and would allow me to carry on to the office. It did not happen. Baba kept me with him until 1 p.m. I became carefree and thought that I would apply for a day off that day. While I was thinking that, Baba said loudly, "Go to your work. You are sitting here doing nothing." I bowed before him and thought that I had better go back home since the time had passed for going to the office. Then I remembered that Baba had told me to go to the office, not home. I was in a state of indecision but decided to go to the office.

On reaching the office, I wrote out an application for leave and went to give it to the person concerned. He glanced at the daily report and asked, "Which day do you want to be on leave? You are present today." I also checked the attendance register and was surprised and puzzled to see my signature there. I said nothing and returned to my desk. I was not able to understand how it happened and who did it. I did not think of Baba then. I was also surprised to see that my colleagues who sat near me did not ask me why I was arriving so late.

That same evening when I went to meet Baba, the idea that it was all his lila flashed in my mind. I realized that his divine play had been to make up my absence by being present in my office in tangible form. I was very moved by this.

-Rajida

9.  Bullets Absorbed By His Blanket

In January 1966 preparations were being made for the Kumbha Mela at Prayag, Allahabad. Maharaj got a camp pitched on the bank of the Ganges, towards Jhusi, so that his devotees could stay there and bhandara could be held every day. Baba would spend the day at the mela grounds and then return to Church Lane, where visitors would be waiting for him every evening.

One day a high government official and some other important people arrived at Church Lane by car. They waited for Baba until 8:30 p.m., and then becoming disappointed, they thought of going back. When the official asked me how much longer they should wait, I told them that there was no fixed time for Baba's return. I suggested they stay for another half an hour. They agreed to stay until 9 p.m., and in the meantime I asked them when they first had Baba's darshan. In reply, the official told me he first had Baba's darshan at the invitation of the civil surgeon of Jhansi, who was one of Baba's devotees. He then related one of the experiences the civil surgeon shared with him.

During the Second World War, Baba arrived at the civil surgeon's house one day. The surgeon welcomed Baba and later that night, made a bed for him on a takhat. He thought he himself would sleep on the floor so that he would be able to attend to Baba should he need anything. Both of them went to sleep at 11 p.m., and at about 1 a.m., the sound of someone restlessly tossing and turning woke the surgeon. He switched on the light and saw that it was Baba. When he asked Baba why he was so restless, Baba gave him his blanket and said, "You go and throw it in the water." The surgeon asked Baba if the task could wait until morning, but Baba insisted that he go straightaway.

It was a dark night, and there was no road to get to the lake by car. He woke up servants and after completing the task, arrived back before dawn. When the civil surgeon asked him the reason for throwing his blanket in the lake, Baba said, "Your son [an army officer] was not able to face the German attack. A stampede was caused among his troops and he also ran away, but the German soldiers followed him. He jumped off the top of a ridge and got stuck in a marsh. The soldiers fired on him from above, and taking him to be dead, they left. All those bullets got stuck in my blanket and their heat made me uneasy. When you threw the blanket in the lake, I was relieved of my discomfort."

The blanket was new, and there were no holes to be seen in it. The surgeon could not really comprehend what Baba had said, but he was more at ease knowing that his son was safe. Baba went away the next day. Many days after this incident the surgeon's wife received a letter from their son. In it, he told them all the same details but expressed his surprise at some unknown power that had saved him from a rain of bullets. There was no possibility of his being saved otherwise. After reading their son's letter, the civil surgeon realized Baba's great blessing.

By the time the official had finished telling the story, it was 9 p.m. Just then Baba returned.

10.  In the Guise of a Thin Sadhu

Shrimati Vidya Sah used to come to Kainchi from Nainital to visit Maharaj. One day while she was sitting near him, she thought that Baba often visited the houses of his devotees in Nainital. She wished that he would come to her house, but she hesitated to ask him. Her house was in the main market, and one had to climb a narrow staircase to reach it. Seeing Baba's physique, she thought that he would not be able to climb up those steps. Baba said, "I will come to your house. Get havan [fire sacrifice] performed." She got the havan performed by the priest in the temple, and the day the final oblation was offered to the god of fire, she returned home after taking prasad. A sadhu followed her the whole way. This slightly disturbed her, yet she did not say anything to him. When she reached home, she went in through a back door, passing through the house of a Punjabi family. The sadhu followed her, but the Punjabi family scolded him and sent him away. She did not understand why he had followed her.

Many months after this incident, while she was again sitting by Baba, she remembered that Baba had told her that he would visit her house one day. She had had the havan performed as he requested, but he had not made the promised visit. Baba spoke at once, "I did follow you to your house until the Punjabi family scolded me and sent me away." Seeing no similarity between Baba and that weak, thin sadhu, she was surprised at Baba's words but did not disbelieve them. She felt full of remorse that she did not welcome him because of her ignorance.

11.  In the Guise of a Priest

On Ekadashi Gurupriya Mai was going from her house in Nainital to the temple to have darshan and saw the priest of Pashan Devi temple on her way. All of a sudden an idea flashed in her mind that she should give him food that was to be given to a brahmin on Ekadashi. She took him home, and since the priest did not accept uncooked food and wanted to have a cooked meal, she gave him a proper seat, brought a plateful of food from the kitchen, and asked him to eat. While eating, the priest saw a photograph of Maharaj hanging on the wall in front of him. He said, "Who is that hypocrite in that photo?" Gurupriya felt hurt by his words and became annoyed inside. She had thought of giving ten rupees to the priest, but because he had hurt her feelings, she changed her mind. She decided to give him only one rupee. She had two notes in her box, a ten-rupee note and a one-rupee note. When the priest had eaten his meal, she sent him off with one rupee.

She then went to Leela Mai's house, where Baba was staying. Baba had been sitting all by himself in his room while his meal was being cooked. Gurupriya arrived as the food was being served to him. Baba ate a little and left the remaining food on his plate. In spite of Leela Mai's earnest request for him to have some more, Baba refused saying, "Gurupriya has made me eat already today and I have cheated her of ten rupees." Gurupriya could not understand what Baba meant. She had offered food to the priest not Baba, and she had given him a one-rupee note not ten rupees." Baba immediately took out the new ten-rupee note and showed it to her. Gurupriya could not believe it. When she returned to her house, she opened the box and found a one-rupee note, not the ten-rupee note, inside. Who was that priest that called Baba a hypocrite?

12.  As a Beggar

Although Baba accepted invitations from his devotees to marriages and other such functions, he never attended them in the usual manner. The devotees believed that one of the advantages of extending an invitation to Baba was that the work was accomplished without any hindrances.

Once, a devotee invited Maharaj to attend his son's marriage and made Baba promise to come. The devotee made special arrangements to welcome Baba and telling everyone that Baba was coming, waited for him on that day. When Baba did not come, he became sad at heart. In the hustle and bustle of the marriage, a thin beggar in clothes all tattered and torn came and attended the function. Seeing him, the devotee got angry. He scolded the beggar and leading him by the hand, turned him out. After the marriage he went to meet Baba and complained to him because he had not attended the marriage ceremony. Baba smiled and said, "I did come. Holding me by the hand you turned me out." Realizing that it was Baba in the guise of a beggar, the devotee was very surprised and his heart filled with regret.

13.  In the Form of the Child Krishna

It was the festival of Guru Purnima, and Baba was away in Vrindavan. We received information that Gopal Swarup Pathak, Vice President of India, was coming to Kainchi to have darshan of the temples. At the appointed time I waited at the ashram gate to receive the vice president, and Haji, the Muslim sentry, was there on duty. Haji was a constable from the police department who also lived at the ashram and had his meals there. We both stood silently for some time. Then suddenly Haji said to me, "Pandit ji, God does not reside in these temples. He is in Baba and we are only his servants." I praised him in my heart for his firm faith in Baba and went on listening to him quietly. He said, "When I saw Baba on Guru Purnima last year, I was startled. The huge physique of Baba appeared to me like the child Krishna. Rubbing my eyes, I looked at him again and again, and every time his child form was before me. A devotee standing by me was also looking at Baba without blinking. I shook him and asked him what he saw. Without looking at me, he gave a short reply, 'The same—whatever you are seeing.' Again I asked, 'The child Krishna?' Gesturing with his head, he nodded in agreement." The memory of seeing the child Krishna stayed with Haji. His enthusiasm while narrating the experience was remarkable.

-Rajida

14.  As a Stranger

Devkamta Dixit ji asked Baba about his uncle's idea of holding a bhandara at Chitrakut. Baba gave his consent for the auspicious work and asked him to go with his family. Dixit ji asked Baba to grace the occasion with his presence. Baba agreed and said, "At the end of the bhandara, three saints will come. Receive them well." They did not fix the date of the bhandara at that time because Baba had asked Dixit ji to go with the family, whose schedules needed to be consulted. Keeping in mind the children's school holidays, they decided to hold the function during Navaratra (the nine days and nights dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durga). Dixit ji could not inform Baba of the date since Baba's whereabouts were unknown, so he left his brother Dr. Dixit at home, thinking that if Baba arrived there, he could then escort him to Chitrakut.

Upon his arrival in Chitrakut, Dixit ji met an unknown sadhu who helped him make arrangements for the bhandara, gave good suggestions, and provided all sorts of facilities. After Vijayadashmi, Baba arrived in Kanpur on Ekadashi day and asked Dr. Dixit, "Has the bhandara been done?" Dr. Dixit could not give any definite reply, and Baba himself said, "It is not done yet. It will be held tomorrow." The bhandara was held on Dwadashi, the twelfth day. Baba arrived in time with Dr. Dixit and left after having prasad. The bhandara lasted until evening. Thousands of holy men had prasad. At about 5 p.m. the three saints Baba mentioned arrived. They were well received and fed. Each of them had as much prasad as would satisfy many people.

When the feast ended, Dixit ji's uncle remembered the services and help of the unknown sadhu and wanted to give him a pullover to protect him against the coming winter. Devkamta immediately bought a woolen pullover for him, but when he went to give it to the sadhu, he had disappeared.

15.  In the Form of Destiny

On a dark evening in Bhumiadhar, 9 November 1962, Brahmachari Baba was warming himself by a fire, outside the temple on the roadside. Maharaj was sitting alone in meditation in his kuti. A thin, weak man with long, matted hair, wearing shabby and tattered clothes, came and sat quietly near Brahmachari ji. His hands and feet were both twisted. Brahmachari was looking at him, taking in every detail, when Maharaj came running out shouting, "You have come, you have come," and sat with them by the fire. Since Brahmachari ji was in Baba's service, he got up and stood beside him.

Baba asked the visitor, "Where have you come from and where are you going?" He replied, "I have come from Pilibhit and am going to Meerut." Brahmachari ji wondered to himself why he had come to Bhumiadhar instead of going directly from Pilibhit to Meerut. Just then Baba asked, "What is the purpose?" He said, "Lal Bahadur Shastri is to be made the prime minister." Hearing this, Brahmachari was surprised, for there was no question of making Shastri prime minister in the lifetime of Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Baba then enquired about his devotees one by one. The first question Baba asked was about Brahmachari ji, who was standing by him. The man said, "Brahmachari is the guru of sadhus." After many questions like that one, Baba asked about Tularam Sah saying, "He is lying sick in Ramsay Hospital, what about him?" With a heavy heart he said, "It is not good that you save everyone. He will certainly die on the seventh day from today." Baba at once got up and returned to his kuti. The stranger also went on his way and disappeared at once. On the seventh day after this incident, 16 November 1962, Tularam passed away. The sadhu did not mention a timeframe for Shastri ji, but he became prime minister after a year and a half.

16.  A Glimpse of Ram Durbar

Baba was sitting at Hanumangarh, absorbed in the recitation of the Ramayana. Many women devotees were also sitting there with their eyes closed, engrossed in the melodious recitation. A five-year-old girl was sitting in front of Baba, looking at him without blinking, while the chapter called Uttarkand was being read. She clearly saw the details of Ram's coronation playing like a film on Baba's chest. At the part of the story where it says, "First of all, the saint Vashistha marked Ram's forehead with vermilion and then permitted all the Brahmins to do so," Ram's image was obscured by the arrival of the saint Vashistha and all the other Brahmins who stood up to bless Ram. The girl cried out in anguish. Everyone looked at her. Baba at once picked her up, put her on his lap, and soothed her. Later, while the women were going home, they asked her why she had cried out so loudly. She did not understand the singing but told them in detail what she had seen on Baba's chest. She told them she had cried because a sadhu with a long beard and jata (matted hair) and some others had stood in front of Ram, so she was not longer able to see his beautiful face.

17.  In the Form of Hanuman

One day in Kainchi ashram, Baba asked Shiv Narayan Tiwari of Unnao to read from the Ramayana. Tiwari ji asked, "Baba, from where shall I start?" Baba gave a spontaneous reply, "Read from where I said to Vibhashana...." With these words, he revealed his reality. As soon as Tiwari ji began reading from the line, "Vibhashana, listen to the ways of Lord Ram, he always loves those who serve him," Baba was overwhelmed with emotion. Unable to restrain himself, Baba got up and taking Sudhir Mukerjee's hand, left the place.

Baba's hand became so heavy that Mukerjee could not bear the weight. He was afraid that he would lose his balance and fall. Arriving at the entrance to the Shiva temple, Baba rested his hands on the ground and bent down on his knees and toes, but he did not let go of Mukerjee's hand. The pressure was so intense that it began to stop the circulation. Gradually Baba's appearance changed—his face became red and his body was covered by light brown hair. Mukurjee Dada was very frightened. Freeing his hand from Baba, he ran towards the forest and lay there unconscious for a few hours. Baba had attained the form of Hanuman, and he also disappeared from Kainchi. A thorough search was made for Baba, but he could not be found. When Mukerjee came back to the ashram, people asked questions to which he had no answers. Meanwhile, Baba appeared on a roadside parapet outside the ashram in his usual form, and people had his darshan there.

18.  In the Form of Lord Ram

Devi Dutt Joshi used to go to Hanumangarh to visit Baba. One morning as he met Baba coming down the stairs, he looked up startled. He saw Lord Ram with a bow and arrow instead of Baba. The scene changed in a moment, and he saw Baba again, smiling at him. This incident made a big impression on him, and he cried out, "I now know the reality. You are Ram. I will disclose this secret to everyone." Baba put his finger to his lips, indicating that he should keep quiet, but he did not pay any attention to Baba and continued shouting.

This incident completely changed his life. He became very detached from the world and acquired a joyous radiance. He spent his days singing devotional songs to Baba and remained blissful up to the last moments of his life.

19.  In the Form of Mother

The Gayatri Yagna was being performed for one month at Kainchi ashram. At the time the puja was to be completed, I saw Manohar Pant kneeling at the feet of Maharaj in the upper room of Vishnu kuti, crying with emotion, "Ma, Ma." I could not understand why he was calling Maharaj, Ma. Going nearer, I saw tears flowing from Pant's eyes. Maharaj was standing like a statue, wearing a blanket, and also shedding tears. This lasted for about ten minutes. After this, Pant became unconscious for a few moments and fell onto Baba's feet. He later told me that Baba gave him darshan of Divine Mother.

20.  In the Guise of Two Bulls

Baba ordered a small murti of Hanuman ji to be installed before starting construction work at Hanumangarh, but all efforts to install the murti on the unstable Manora hill proved unsuccessful. One night Pooran Chandra Joshi and some others were there until late. Everyone was afraid, for it was said that ghosts haunted the hill. Suddenly two bulls appeared out of the darkness. Seen in the dim lantern light, one was black and the other was white. They came up to the murti of Hanuman ji and bowed before it. Everyone was filled with fear, but within moments the bulls disappeared. After that, the installation of the murti became easy. The next day when Baba arrived, the devotees told him about the experience of the previous night. Baba simply said, "You should have performed their aarti. They were siddhas [elevated souls] who had come to have darshan."

21.  A Change of Dress

I once went with Maharaj to his village of Akbarpur. When we entered the village, I found that Baba's mode of dress had altogether changed while we were walking. He was wearing a dhoti, kurta (loose-fitting shirt), turban, and shoes. The sight startled me. After meeting people, Baba decided to leave. As we came out of the village, his clothes turned into a dhoti and blanket, as before. Baba never openly showed a marvel, so I took this incident as a sign of his special blessing on me. Keeping his views on publicity in mind, I concealed this experience from people.

-Jeevan Chandra, Haldwani

22.  A Treat For the Dogs

During the time that Hanumanghar was under construction, the owner of Bijnor Sugar Mills, Seth Kundan Lal, came with Trilokinath Brijbal of Mathura for Baba's darshan. Baba was in deep meditation, and the devotees around him were singing devotional songs. When Baba started talking to the visitors, Seth Kundan Lal invited him to his house for a meal. When Baba accepted his invitation, Kundan Lal asked Baba what he would like to eat. Baba said, "Missi roti [bread made from wheat and chick pea flour] and dal [lentil soup]." Kundan Lal did not like Baba's choice, so he said, "I will get malpua [sweet fried bread] and kheer [rice pudding] prepared. Please come tomorrow." Baba said, "Okay. Get malpua and kheer prepared. Dogs will be fed. Now go, it is late."

The next day Kundan Lal got malpua and kheer made in large quantities and invited many people for the occasion. It was raining heavily, and the car that he sent to collect Baba broke down on the way. When it finally arrived, Baba could not be found. All the people in Kundan Lal's house were waiting for Baba. Meanwhile two dogs got into the kitchen and proceeded to eat the malpua and kheer.

23.  Protection From Accidents

One day I was very busy at work. By the time I got home, it was about 8 p.m. I took off my shoes and immediately lay down on my bed. I was too tired even to eat. Then my servant came to me and told me that Baba had arrived. I left my bed, welcomed him, and became busy attending to him. After dinner, at about 10 p.m., I gave Baba a takhat to sleep on, and I myself slept near him on the floor. About half an hour passed when he woke me up after having hardly taken a nap. He asked me to get the car out of the garage. My body and mind were so lax from tiredness that they were hardly under my control. In a state of drowsiness, I asked him, "Where do you want to go?" He expressed his desire to go to Kainchi. I suggested that we go in the morning, but Baba did not agree.

With great difficulty I got the car out of the garage. I could not rely on myself at that time, and there was every possibility of having an accident. I drove barefoot because I never sat with Baba with my shoes on. On the way the drowsier I felt, the more cautiously I drove. In this way the car passed Haldwani and the hill journey began. I lost all courage, and we had several close calls on the bends. When we reached Bhumiadhar, I wanted to ask Baba to take some rest for a few hours, but I could not utter a single word. After passing Bhumiadhar, sleep and tiredness made me helpless. I rested my head on the steering wheel and slept soundly. Kainchi is about twelve kilometers from Bhumiadhar, on a difficult road through the hills, with many turns and culverts on the way. I was not aware of passing through Bhowali. At the entrance to Kainchi temple, Baba woke me up with a violent jerk and said, "You are sleeping." I woke up and raised my head from the steering wheel. Being frightened, I suddenly applied the brakes. I was stunned to see the gate of the ashram. In fact Baba had been driving the car all through the journey, for it was not at all possible for me to drive under those circumstances.

-Yogendra Prakash Goel, Bareilly

24.  A Train Stopped For a Devotee

My uncle was traveling from Kathgodam to Lucknow by train and Baba was seated in the compartment next to his. At the Bhojipura station, my uncle went to Baba to talk to him. When the train was scheduled to depart, the engine hooted several times and the guard showed the green light, but the train did not move. My uncle told Baba about it and asked him the reason for the delay. Baba said, "I have asked a devotee to meet me here. He is coming, running." About five minutes later a man arrived looking for Baba. He touched Baba's feet, and Baba whispered something to him, blessed him, and sent him away. Then the train moved on.

-Rajida

25.  The Protection of a Devotee

A bus driver from Nainital named Nar Singh came to Kainchi to meet Baba and remained with him for the day. It was past eleven at night when Baba permitted him to leave. He did not like the idea of walking the nineteen kilometers back to Nainital along the road, so he decided to take the route through the forest, which was only eight kilometers. He was afraid of going through the forest alone on a dark night, but he left anyway, taking long brisk steps. After some distance he saw a black dog following him. He was frightened, thinking that the dog might come from behind and bite him. Nonetheless, he continued going forward, every now and then glancing at the dog. He had forgotten all about his fears of going through the forest, and his attention was concentrated on the dog. The dog maintained a certain distance from him but followed him all the way. Reaching Nainital, he turned to see the dog again, but it had disappeared. The next day when he arrived in Kainchi for darshan, Baba said without any prompting, "That was a dog. You were unnecessarily scared. Bhairav [an aspect of Shiva] rides a dog. He had come to protect you."

26.  Control Over Motor Cars

Maharaj generally did not sit in the backseat of a car or jeep. He always took the front seat by the driver and saved the car from accidents, kept the engine going, and when necessary, made up for any shortage of petrol. Habibulla Khan, Baba's driver, said that Baba always liked to be driven at high speed—90 to 100 kilometers per hour or more. He took Baba all around the country, but he never had any accidents, flat tires, or mechanical problems, nor was he ever stranded by running out of petrol.

27.  Baba's Control of the Movement of Trains

When in Neeb Karori, Baba often arrived at the train station after the scheduled time of departure, yet the train never left until he boarded. At times Baba would intentionally delay going to the station, causing anxiety to the people accompanying him. Nevertheless, on arrival, they would find that the train was running behind schedule.

Devotees also noticed that Baba's compartment would stop just next to where he stood on the platform and that there was always room for him. The experienced porters would suggest better places for him to stand and wait for the train, but Baba never paid any attention to their suggestions.

28.  Driving On Water

Baba wanted to go from Vrindaban to Delhi. It had been raining continuously for many days, and Ramanand, the driver, said, "I was taking Baba by jeep. In one particular place on Mathura Road, so much water had accumulated that it had formed a river. The vehicles coming from Delhi were turning back as well, but he did not listen to me and said, 'Drive through this river.' I became concerned and told him that the water would fill the engine, and then we would be stuck in the middle. Baba said, 'You close your eyes and drive.' I had to obey his command. The jeep moved across on the surface of the water and we crossed it. I was very surprised."

29.  A Journey Without Petrol

On one occasion I had to come to Haldwani for some work. After finishing, I was ready to leave for Bareilly, but I suddenly had the desire to go to Kainchi to see Baba. I looked at my watch and saw that it was past 4:30 p.m. I thought there was enough time to go to Kainchi, have Baba's darshan, and then return to Bareilly. There was also just enough petrol in the car to go to Kainchi and then return to Haldwani, so without wasting any time, I drove off to Kainchi. After having Baba's darshan, I asked his permission to leave, but he asked me to stay longer.

I took prasad at the ashram, and at 11 p.m. I postponed my idea of returning to Bareilly until the next morning. Unexpectedly, Baba said, "Get up. Let's go." Both of us left the ashram together in my car. By the time we reached Kathgodam, I was worried because the petrol station was closed. There was no way out of the situation, so I drove wherever Baba commanded me to. The car ran without petrol. While we were passing through the countryside, quite a way from Bulandshahar, Baba asked me to stop at a lonely place, where he got out of the car. He asked me to go back to Bareilly. I did not know where he was going on foot in that darkness. I became worried, for the car had run on his divine power until then. I wondered how it would be possible for me to go to Bareilly without any petrol. Left with no choice, I reversed the car and started for Bareilly. The car went on running, and after covering a considerable distance, it stopped automatically by a filling station. I managed to get petrol there and arrived in Bareilly without any inconvenience.

-Yogendra Prakash Goel, Bareilly

30.  Driving On a Damaged Hill Road

As Commissioner Prakash Kishan was about to return to Nainital one evening after having Baba's darshan, Baba asked him to send a car for him the following day so that he could go to Nainital. At 8 a.m. the next morning the commissioner sent his driver and car to get Maharaj. When he arrived at his office at 10 a.m., he learned that heavy rain had damaged the Nainital-Bhowali Road and that it was closed to traffic. He became concerned because his car had not returned, so he went to see the place where the road was damaged to search for his car. The damage, however, extended for such a distance that only a two-wheel vehicle could pass through. He did not see his car in any ditch, but he worried about it all day.

Meanwhile the commissioner's driver had gone to Kainchi and driven Baba to Nainital by the same route. Baba visited some devotees' houses and then returned to Kainchi on the same road. At 4 p.m. Baba asked the driver to take the car back. The driver arrived at the commissioner's house by traveling on that very road. When the commissioner saw him, he asked, "Which route did you follow? The Nainital-Bhowali Road has been closed since last night." Astonished, the driver replied that he had passed along that road four times, back and forth, that day and had not seen any landslides or places where the road was washed away or damaged.

31.  The Government's Defeat

Based on some people's misguidance, the Education Department of Uttar Pradesh passed some orders against my school. It had disturbed the functioning of the school, and the decision on the writ petition had been pending in the High Court since 8 July. As I was nothing in comparison to the government, the matter was serious and had become unbearable to me. My patience and power of discretion were almost exhausted.

I came to see Baba in September 1968 for reassurance, but even though I was in his presence, I could not express my grief to him. After sunset one evening he gave me the opportunity to be alone with him, and in his natural way he asked me, "Any problem?" In a voice choked with emotion, I told him that I had filed a writ against the Education Department and that the writ from a poor school against a powerful government body was bound to be dismissed. I said he was my only support and that it was all up to him.

On hearing my earnest call for help, he remained silent for a few moments and then said, "The government will be defeated and the school will win." In my mental state at the time I could not believe it. I said, "Surely you would not just say this to console me." Baba became serious at this and in a stern voice said, "I have said and would say it openly." Quoting the line from the Tulsi Ramayana, he repeatedly said, "Even the suffering that we are destined to undergo can be removed by God." He spoke with intense emotion, "I am capable of changing destiny. There is no power in the world that can go against what I have said. I can lower the exalted and raise the humble." Hearing Baba's blessing, I got peace of mind and was certain that the case would not go against us. On 29 September 1969 the Allahabad High Court declared the verdict in our favor.

-Hotridutt Sharma, Aligarh

32.  To Varanasi Not Khurja

Bhagwati Sevak Bajpai went to Kanpur railway station to see off Maharaj ji and Vidyaram ji. Baba asked him to buy two tickets to Khurja. Bajpai came back with first and second-class tickets for Baba and Vidyaram respectively. Baba asked him, "Where have you bought the tickets for?" Bajpai replied, "For Khurja." Baba said, "I told you to get tickets for Varanasi and you bought tickets for Khurja. Anyway give them to Vidyaram."

Just then Governor Vishnu Sahai arrived at the station. Seeing Baba there, he became very happy and affectionately asked him to journey with him to Delhi in his car. Baba said, "No, I have to go to Varanasi on urgent work," and turning to Vidyaram said, "Show him the tickets." Vidyaram and Bajpai both became very nervous, but they were helpless because they had to obey Baba's command. When Vidyaram put the tickets in Vishnu Sahai's hand, he saw that they had turned into two tickets for Mughalsarai, a station further than Varanasi.

33.  A Lucky Escape

Lalit Mohan, a truck driver from Pithoragarh, was so influenced by his first meeting with Baba that he became his permanent attendant. He stayed at Baba's ashram at Bhumiadhar and came to Kainchi every day to attend to Baba. One day the police inspector from Bhowali came to see Baba. Baba said to him, "You are such a useless inspector. A man has kept an unlicensed revolver at our Bhumiadhar ashram, which is four kilometers away from your police station, and you have so far not been able to arrest him." The inspector said, "Baba, now that I have come to know this from you, I will arrest him by tomorrow."

The next day Lalit Mohan put his revolver in a box of sweets and put it in his bag. He placed many garlands and flowers on top of it and then got ready to go to Kainchi as usual. Just then the police inspector arrived with some policemen. He asked Lalit, "Where are you going?" Lalit replied, "To Kainchi ashram to have Maharaj ji's darshan. The inspector snatched the bag from his hand and looked in it. He saw the heap of flowers and the box of sweets in it and then returned the bag to Lalit without investigating the contents of the box of sweets. They allowed Lalit to go. When Lalit saw Baba, Baba said, "I have saved you today. Now you must surrender this revolver immediately or you will be in trouble." Following this incident and obeying Baba's command, Lalit Mohan surrendered the revolver to the police.

34.  The Birth of Badrivishal

Maharaj was staying at the house of Ram Ratan Sharma when Sharma's brother-in-law expressed his sadness and anguish on being childless. Baba said, "You go to have Badrinath's darshan just after one year from today." His wife became pregnant, and in obedience to Baba's command, they went on the pilgrimage to Badrinath. On their way back Badrivishal was born in Joshimath (a town along the way), but on the third day after his birth, the child caught cold at night and died. His mother had firm faith that Baba would certainly save her child. Remembering Baba, the parents fell asleep, afflicted by grief. In the early hours of the morning they had Baba's darshan in a dream, and he told them, "Don't worry. Sri Ram will save you."

When they woke up, the father came out of their room with the intention of consigning the tiny body of their dead child, which they had wrapped in a piece of white cloth, to the Ganges. He saw a sadhu with tangled hair, wearing red clothes, sitting on the floor outside the door. The sadhu said, "I understand your grief. Take this child inside, he is alive." He sprinkled a little water from his kamandal on the dead child, and the child started breathing. The father took the child inside to his mother. When he returned to thank the sadhu, he was gone.

35.  

Special Prasad for the Birth of a Son

Jagati Babu was a well-known hotelier in Allahabad. One day Baba and many devotees went in two cars to his house in Colonelganj, where he offered fruits, sweets, and tea. Baba picked up an apple that had been offered to him, and giving it to Jagati Babu as prasad, he said, "You give this to your wife to eat. You are childless. You will be blessed with a son." Jagati Babu had not asked for this blessing, yet Baba had given him that auspicious apple.

After some time Baba and the devotees left. Jagati, still holding the apple in his hand, had the thought that he was about sixty and his wife was fifty-four years old. He had forgotten the need for children by bestowing his affection on his brother's children. Considering his old age, he felt he did not have the courage to begin raising a child and educating him. While he was pondering in this way, his neighbor arrived. He was about seventy years old and his wife was more than sixty. They were sad because they were childless. Jagati told him about the apple and then said, "If you desire a son, take this apple and give it to your wife to eat." The man agreed, and Jagati gave him the apple.

Having eaten the apple, the old woman became pregnant and in due course of time gave birth to a son. They looked after the child with love and care, but he died after two years. The old couple was devastated. Jagati also felt sad. He met Baba at Prayag, Allahabad, and talking about the miraculous apple, he asked Baba, "Why did that child die?" Baba at once replied, "I gave you that apple for your wife. You gave it to a sixty-two-year-old woman. How could the boy survive?" Baba's blessings are specific to the devotee to whom he gives them.

36.  Pande's Birth

A man was sad because he and his wife were childless. He visited his friend at Fatehgarh and in the course of their conversation expressed his sorrow over this issue. His friend mentioned the greatness of Baba Neeb Karori and advised him to meet Baba. He also assured him that Baba's blessing could fulfil his hope. In those days Baba lived in the village of Neeb Karori, but he came to Fatehgarh every full-moon day to have a dip in the Ganges. On the next full-moon day the man went to the Ganges with his friend. When his friend pointed Baba out to him, he crossed the river to where Baba was standing, washed his feet, and drank from that water. Then, holding Baba's feet, he expressed his grief. Baba sent him off with an assurance. Consequently, he was blessed with a son, Jagdish Chandra Pande, in 1934.

37.  Don't Cry, You Will Have a Son

One day Maharaj came out of the ashram holding my hand. Both of us sat in the ashram jeep, and Baba asked the driver, Ramanand, to take us to Bhumiadhar. When we arrived, Brahmachari Baba, who looked after the temple, was not there, so Baba asked me to break open the lock. I broke open the outer lock, and Baba said, "Break open the locks of all the rooms." I found a bunch of keys inside, so I opened all the doors. He then asked me to spread a mat on the veranda by the roadside.

Baba sat there, and after some time he said, "Tewari, make me tea. Everything will be inside." I was surprised at this because he was not fond of having tea. I thought that a devotee or someone he wanted to give darshan to might be about the arrive, so I put water on to boil. Just then a Punjabi couple, who were traveling by car, saw Baba and stopped. They got out of the car, bowed at his feet with reverence, and started crying. Since both of them had a few grey hairs, I thought they were about fifty or fifty-five years of age. Baba said, "Hush, don't cry. I say there will be a son." I prepared the tea and took it to them. Baba soothed their emotions by making them drink tea. The thought, What is this madness that he is blessing this elderly couple with a child, came into my mind. Then I thought that he was probably evading their desire. When they left, Baba said to me in a stern voice, "Am I a liar?" He repeated the question again and again, and I felt ashamed of my thoughts and feelings. I had the lobes of my ears in both hands [signifies an apology or a request for forgiveness] and begging his pardon said, "Sarkar, you can never be a liar." Just then Brahmachari Baba returned. Baba reprimanded him, and we returned to Kainchi.

About fifteen months after this incident, Baba again took me to Bhumiadhar in the ashram jeep. Maharaj got his mat spread on the side of the road and sat there. After a short while the same couple arrived. They brought a can of ghee and some money as an offering. The woman held a child in her arms, and I remembered the whole incident from the previous year.

-Purnanand Tewari, Kainchi

38.  Yudishtar

Yudishtar, son of the late Omkar Singh, took Maharaj to Bhumiadhar in his car. When they got there, Yudhishtar went into the forest to attend the call of nature. There, a black snake bit him, and the poison from the bite spread quickly throughout his body, turning it black. With great effort he tried to walk towards the ashram, but he fell down unconscious some distance away. When people found him, he was already dead. All were sad and unable to do anything. Then Baba appeared, took off his blanket, and spread it over Yudhishtar. Sometime later Baba held him by the hand and made him stand up. He was swaying back and forth. Baba scolded him and asked him to drive the car. Baba himself sat by him and continued to scold him while making him drive at great speed. He took Yudhishtar to Ranikhet, sixty kilometers away, on winding mountain roads. When they arrived, Baba made him eat then asked him to drive back to Bhumiadhar. After driving this long distance in the hills, Yudhishtar became fully awake and alert.

For several days after this incident, Baba did not meet anyone. Brahmachari Baba said that Baba lay alone in his room in the ashram while his whole body turned black. He believed that Baba endured the effects of the snake poison himself.

39.  The Grace of God

In 1968 Kehar Singh ji's wife suffered from a chronic bowel syndrome. Having suffered from the disease for many months, her body was reduced to a skeleton. Seeing no improvement in her condition, Kehar Singh changed her doctor on the advice of family members and brought her to Dr. A.C. Das, who treated her with antibiotics and a light nourishing diet. One day at about ten thirty, she was sitting on her bed eating her meal when her lips and hands suddenly started trembling. The plate in her hands fell, and she herself rolled onto the bed. She could not be given any medicine, and her gaze became fixed. No one could think of what to do, and the whole family grieved.

While she was dying, Maharaj's photograph on the windowsill in front of her fell down with a crashing sound, as if blown over by a gust of wind. Its fall coincided with her death. Kehar Singh thought that the glass would be broken into many pieces, but it did not even have a crack. People were mourning her death, when about forty minutes later, she opened her eyes and looking around with surprise, murmured.

Meanwhile Maharaj was at Kainchi ashram talking to Mrs. Soni. All of a sudden he said, "Kehar Singh's wife is dead. He is my devotee. I will not let her die." Mrs. Soni could not understand what he meant by those two contradictory statements. It did not enter her mind that Baba had the power to restore life. Even though Baba did not leave Kainchi, he was seen giving darshan to Kehar Singh in the house of Santosh Kumar Choudhry in Lucknow that same day at about 4 p.m. He did not ask Kehar Singh about his wife, nor did Kehar Singh mention her.

Later, when Kehar Singh thanked Dr. Das, he said, "Why thank me? I have not done anything for your wife. The antibiotic was to control her bowel syndrome, and even then she would not have survived. Her death was inevitable. I can only say that it happened by the grace of God. You should thank God for it." After this she recovered quickly and became a healthy woman again. She lived for about six and a half years after this incident. In 1982 the devotees were talking about Baba in Kainchi ashram, and Mrs. Soni told Kehar Singh what Baba had said, strengthening his faith.

40.  The Gift of Life to a Widow's Son

On one occasion Baba was traveling to Hanumangarh, Nainital, with some devotees. Quite a distance before Haldwani, he asked his driver, Ramanand, to drive faster and faster. At a lonely place between Kathgodam and Jeolikot, Baba ordered the driver to stop the car and he got out. In the forest nearby a woman was weeping over the body of her son. He had died sometime before from a snakebite. He asked the woman why she was weeping. Then he said, "Was this not your only son?" She nodded. Baba said, "Your husband is also not alive?" She began to cry. Then Baba said, "Your son is not dead. Why are you weeping? Keep quiet." Baba rubbed the boy's body with his hand, and life returned to him. After a little while the boy regained consciousness. Baba immediately got into the car and drove off without giving the woman any opportunity to express her gratitude to him.

41.  The Gift of Life to the President's Wife

V.V. Giri's wife was lying unconscious in Willington Nursing Home. Her liver was not functioning properly, and in spite of all the best efforts and medical facilities, her condition was deteriorating. One night her blood pressure became very low, breathing became difficult, and her pulse was feeble. Informing Giri about her condition, I told him that she was dying. Giri asked me to make every effort to keep her alive until 2 a.m. She was injected with stimulating drugs mixed in glucose, put on oxygen, and a pacemaker kept her heart functioning. All efforts failed at 1:45. Giri kept his eyes glued to the clock on the wall. At 2 a.m. Shrimati Giri took a deep breath and then began breathing normally. By morning she had regained consciousness, and later her condition improved. I wanted to know the secret of why 2 a.m. was so important. Giri simply said that a saint had assured him of it. He later revealed that the saint was none other than Baba.

-Dr. R.K. Karoli

42.  A Dead Bird Flies

One day Devi Dutt Joshi found a dead bird somewhere. He wrapped it in his handkerchief and put it in his pocket. The next day when he went to see Maharaj in Kishanpur, the dead bird was still in his pocket. Seeing him, Baba asked, "What's in your pocket?" Joshi took out the dead bird, and showing it to Baba, he said, "I have arrested it." Baba said, "Set it free." The moment Baba said this, Joshi spread his handkerchief open and the bird flew away.

43.  Baba's Promise to a Child

Chandra Shekar Pande was very worried about his wife. She had been suffering from a fever for a long time and was so emaciated that she was close to death. He sent a telegram to his father-in-law, Motiram, in Anupshahar. The elderly Motiram was very disturbed at the news and went to his guru, Mauni Baba, a highly-elevated holy man of the time, and asked him, "O Gurudev, today I beg of you, please, somehow or the other, restore life to my daughter or end my life also." Mauni Baba remained in a meditative pose for some time and then said, "Only Baba Neeb Karori is capable of restoring life. You pray to him to fulfil your wish." Motiram meditated on Baba and prayed to him.

Meanwhile Baba arrived at Pande's house in Jhansi and asked him, "How is your wife?" Pande did not know Baba and asked him who he was. Baba replied, "Baba Neeb Karori." Pande said, "She is lying dead inside." Baba said, "Will you show her to me?" Pande took Baba inside. Baba looked at her dead body and said, "She is not dead yet. You have some grapes in your house? Fetch them and a bowl and a spoon." Baba extracted some grape juice by pressing the grapes in his hand and poured that juice into her mouth. Her pulse began to beat, and in a few moments, she opened her eyes. Baba said, "Give her grape juice and milk to drink. She will be cured." Then Baba went away. Pande's wife began to recuperate, and she regained her health without any treatment.

It turned out that Baba had visited Motiram's house when Pande's wife was six years old. Someone had died in a neighbor's house, and since the child was seeing this for the first time, it shocked her tender heart. At the time, Baba very lovingly said to the girl, "Ask whatever you want." She said, "Baba, when I die, bring me back to life." Baba was committed to his words but said nothing at the time. Baba kept his promise given to a child.

44.  Verbal Control of Electricity

I was very happy that Baba had come to our house, but he turned his back to me and pretended to be asleep. So I said to him, "Baba, you have come after a long time today, and now you are going to sleep without speaking to us. I do not like it." Baba said, "Switch off the light, I am sleepy." A devotee in the room obeyed at once. It became dark, and I felt gloomy in that darkness. I asked Baba to get the lights on. He said, "Light, turn on." No sooner had he finished saying the words than the light was on. All the devotees in the room were amazed, and they burst into laughter. Just then Baba said, "Light, turn off." The room was instantly plunged into darkness, and the joy vanished with the light. I asked him again to put the light on. Baba ordered the light to be on, and once again, there was light in the room as well as the joy. This fun went on for some time. In the end Baba said, "Even electricity follows my command, but not you people."

-Rajni Joshi "Munni," Kishanpur

45.  A Final Instruction to Gyan Prakash

A few days before his Mahasamadhi, Maharaj talked to Gyan Prakash in Lucknow from Kainchi ashram. There was no phone in the Kainchi valley at the time, and Maharaj did not go out of the ashram during that period. On that particular day R.C. Soni, Director General of Forests, and his family were sitting with Baba in his kuti, and they were talking about Gyan Prakash. While they were talking in Kainchi, the telephone rang in Prakash's house in Lucknow. Whatever final instruction Baba wanted to pass on, he did, and then he finished the communication. Gyan Prakash wanted to ask Baba something, but he could not because the phone had been disconnected. He did not even know from where Baba had phoned. A few days later, when Prakash met Soni in Lucknow, Prakash mentioned the phone call from Baba, telling him the day and time of the call. Soni said that he had been with Baba at the time and that they had been talking about him.

46.  Free Phone Calls

Once, Maharaj, accompanied by Sri Ma and a few devotees, visited my cousin Gyan Chandra Kapoor's house in Amritsar. They stayed for two days, and on both days Baba used the telephone to have long conversations with many people at different places. When they were leaving, Baba told my cousin, "Don't worry, you won't receive any bills for the calls I have made." Indeed, Kapoor did not have to pay for Baba's long calls, for they never appeared on his bill.

-Hiralal Khanna

47.  Divine Communication

Maharaj ji could communicate with his devotees directly, without using the telephone. Pandit Hotridutt Sharma, a Sanskrit teacher in Aligarh, did not have a telephone but had experiences of this kind. He said, "Whenever Baba came to Vrindavan ashram, he called me. His words resounded in my ears in Aligarh. Leaving all my work aside, I used to go to Vrindavan at once and have Baba's darshan there."

48.  Continuous Recitation of the Ramayana

The non-stop recitation of the Ramayana was being held in the house of a railway officer, Hem Chandra Joshi, near Prayag station in Allahabad, and many of Baba's local devotees were participating by chanting it together. After the completion of Uttarkand (the seventh and final chapter of the Ramayana), aarti was performed. Prasad was being distributed when Sudhi Mukerjee's nephew arrived and told them that Baba had come to Church Lane. After taking prasad, all the devotees went to have Baba's darshan.

Baba had just returned from his journey to the South with Sri Ma and some other devotees. The devotees who had journeyed with Baba were talking excitedly about a new experience they had just had. When their train was about two hundred kilometers from Allahabad station, Baba ordered that a window be opened. As soon as it was open, they all heard the beautiful sound of the chanted Ramayana. There were many harmonious voices accompanied by musical instruments. Everyone thought that it must have been organized in a local village. They listened to the recitation of Uttarkand for some time. Meanwhile the train traveled many miles, but there was no change in the sound of the Ramayana. Baba told them to shut the window and the sound stopped. Some time passed and Baba got them to open the window again. They heard the recitation of the Uttarkand in the same melody once again. This lila of Baba's continued until Allahabad, and everyone enjoyed the singing. When someone asked Baba where the Ramayana was being recited, he did not reply. On their arrival at Church Lane, the devotees traveling with Baba were surprised to learn that recitation had been organized at the house of his devotee in Allahabad.

49.  A Solution to Raja Bhadri's Problem

During the beginning of Raja Bhadri's term of office as the lieutenant governor of Himachal Pradesh, the Central Government wanted his response to a certain problem. He did not want to give it, for it would have hurt the feelings of his friend Jawahar Lal Nehru. He could not put off replying because he had already received several letters from the Central Government on the matter.

One day Raja Bhadri called his officials and advisors to Government House with the purpose of drafting a reply, but he could not go ahead with the meeting since he himself was not sure what to do. It was nine o'clock in the evening, food was laid out on a side table, the officials were waiting for him in an outer room, and he had not yet briefed them on the purpose of the meeting. He was sitting alone, deep in thought, when suddenly he remembered Maharaj.

He told me that Baba would solve his problem by giving him sound advice if he could be contacted. Knowing the whereabouts of Baba Neeb Karori was very difficult because he was always wandering. The Raja wanted to seek help from an I.A.S. (Indian Administrative Service) officer he knew who lived in Lucknow. He asked his officials to locate the officer's residence phone number and then agreed to my request to have dinner.

While the officer's phone number was being tried in the outer room and the Raja was having dinner, the telephone rang. The secretary answered the phone, and saying that it was Baba Neeb Karori calling from Agra, passed the telephone over to the Raja at the dining table. The Raja was pleased and said, "Baba, I was looking for you." Baba at once asked, "Well, what's the problem?" The Raja quickly explained the whole problem. Baba said, "Do what I say. Do not reply to any of the letters. Keep all the letters with you." Baba then stopped the communication. The Raja wanted to ask him something else and immediately tried to phone Baba back, but nobody could discover the origin of the call. He gathered all the letters and put them in an envelope, which he kept with him. He asked everyone to go home, and the need for a reply never arose again throughout his long term of office.

-Rani Bhadri

50.  ision of Swami Shivananda

Wandering as a sadhu through the hills, I arrived at Kainchi ashram from Shivananda ashram, Rishikesh, and had the darshan of Baba Neeb Karori. When he saw me, he said, "Are you coming from Rishikesh?" I answered yes and he said, "What is a guru?" Automatically I said, "Guru is Brahma; Guru is Vishnu; Guru is Maheshwar [Shiva]; Guru is Eternal Spirit; Salutation to the Guru." At this, Baba said, "There is no purpose in merely reproducing this sloka [a stanza in Sanskrit verse], you go back right now." I could not understand the significance of his command then. Perhaps at that moment Baba's vision was concentrated on my guru, Swami Shivananda, who had suffered an attack of paralysis, and whose condition was worsening.

Baba asked one of his attendants to take me to the Hanuman temple, which was under construction, and give me prasad. He brought me a plate full of vegetables and puris, some of which I ate, the rest of which I put in my begging bowl. When I went to return the plate, I again met Baba. He said, "You have kept food for the journey also?" I was surprised, for he had not seen me eating my meal. A devotee had offered Baba a kilogram of laddus made from gram flour, which he also put in my hands for the journey. He then told me to go sit on a rock under the tree.

Sitting there on that rock, the vision of the Himalayas, the Ganges, and of my ashram in Rishikesh suddenly flashed before my eyes. I saw my gurudev, Swami Shivananda, coming towards me, supported by two people. The scene changed, and it was Baba Neeb Karori himself who was coming towards me. I was back in Kainchi ashram. He gave me my guru's darshan through himself and asked, "Does your Shivananda walk in this way?"

After this, devotees gathered around Baba again. One of them was an army officer who asked me to tell them something about Saint Tukaram. As I am from South India, I expressed my inability, saying I could not speak Hindi well. Then Baba asked me to give a discourse, and by his power, I spoke well. Baba then asked me, "Have you seen any other place like Kainchi ashram?" I mentioned Kandy, a place in Sri Lanka. Baba said, "There are betel nut and coconut trees there and elephants come there to bathe." I was surprised to hear this because it was exactly what I had seen.

Among the gathering there was also a Christian from South India. Baba took twenty one-rupee notes from one of his disciples and gave half of them to the Christian and the other half to me. I said, "I have money." Baba said, "I know. Still, you keep it." (That money is still in my purse as his prasad, and since that day, my purse has never been empty.) He then instructed the army officer to take me to Haldwani in his car and put me on a train. Baba himself came out with me and said, "Go, sit in the car. Go back directly now." I wanted to stay in Kainchi for some time, but Baba would not permit it. At the station in Haldwani, the army officer asked me which train he should buy the ticket for. I told him that I would stay in Haldwani. He gave me thirty rupees, saying that Baba had asked him to buy my ticket. I stayed at Haldwani, Bareilly, and Izatnagar for seven days.

In Izatnagar I went to the house of a devotee of Swami Shivananda, where I had left my suitcase containing my money. The mistress of the house appeared very sad. When I asked her what was wrong, she asked me if I had not heard about Gurudev. She could not say more but showed me the daily paper. There was news of the critical condition of Swami Shivananda. Baba Neeb Karori's words immediately came into my mind. He had already told me all about it, but I did not understand. When I realized this, I cried. I told the mistress of the house that Baba had asked me to go to Guru Maharaj at the time of my departure from Kainchi. He had shown me a glimpse of him, and even then I had wasted a week. I left for Rishikesh by train that same night and arrived in the ashram on 1 July. Two weeks later Guru Maharaj took Mahasamadhi.

-Swami Nirmalananda

51.  Relief From Incurable Eye Trouble

On 2 January 1958 Kehar Singh ji's sons were playing tennis with a walnut at their house in Lucknow. A fast-returning walnut struck against the glasses of one of the boys and broke the lens. His eye was bleeding and badly injured, for many particles of glass had pierced it. The boy was immediately taken to the Medical College in Lucknow, where Dr. Mehra gave him treatment and then discharged him, saying that an operation would damage the eye. Kehar Singh ji then took him to Sitapur Eye Hospital where the doctors were of the same opinion. The glass particles remained in his eye.

One of the boy's eyes had been defective since birth. He could not move it from side to side and could not see any object clearly if it was more than five feet away. Because of this accident, his other eye also became useless. The boy was worried about his future and became depressed. One day he asked his sister if she would take care of him all through his life. The conversation touched his father, who lay on his bed and wept throughout the night. He prayed to God saying, "O God, this boy has not committed any sin. Why have you punished him for my sins?" By reading the Bible, he had gotten the impression that children bear the sins of their forefathers.

At midnight the phone rang. Kehar Singh did not want to take a call that late, but it was Baba calling from Mehrotra's house in Bareilly. Though Singh ji had not remembered Baba, Baba had heard him in his distress. Pooran Chandra Joshi was at Mehrotra's house and said that Baba had covered him with his blanket and sat quietly and seriously for some time. Then suddenly he cried out, "Kehar Singh is crying. His son's eye is damaged." He picked up the phone at once and said, "Kehar Singh, what are you doing?" Kehar Singh replied, "Nothing, Maharaj." Baba said, "You are telling a lie. You are crying. Your son's eye has been damaged. Don't send him to Sitapur. Take him to Dr. Mohanlal's hospital at Aligarh."

Kehar Singh remembered that Dr. Mohanlal was a friend of Vinod Chandra Sharma, who was then secretary to the Medical Department, government of Uttar Pradesh. He asked Sharma to ring up the hospital and reserve a room. When Sharma phoned, Dr. Mohanlal said, "What sort of a man is this Kehar Singh? The room was reserved three days ago, and it has been vacant since. Why has he not sent the patient?" When Sharma told him that they had not yet tried to make a reservation, the doctor replied that a man had come in and reserved it on Kehar Singh's behalf. Kehar Singh ji believed that Baba himself did it.

That same day Kehar Singh sent his son, his wife, and his nephew to Aligarh on the night train. The doctor himself met them at the station. He called a meeting of seven specialists and asked them to examine the boy and to submit their reports separately. Six doctors were against an operation. Only Dr. Shukla endorsed surgery, though he could not give assurances of any kind. Kehar Singh's wife was unable to give permission for the operation, so Dr. Mohanla talked to Kehar Singh on the phone. The boy's eye was already damaged, so considering Baba's wish, he gave consent for the operation. Many glass particles were removed during the surgery, but over twenty particles remained, which could still be seen in his eye.

The boy was discharged from the hospital, and the bandage was removed eight or ten days later in Lucknow. Because of the presence of the glass particles in his eye, the boy saw multiple images. He saw several light bulbs in the room and many moons in the sky. He was not able to recognize anyone, even from a distance of three feet, so he was very disturbed. Kehar Singh sent him to see Dr. Mehra of the Medical College in Lucknow. The doctor said that the boy's condition was to be expected, and that his problems would remain since no further treatment was possible.

Later, In February 1958, Baba called Kehar Singh from Kanpur and said, "Come to Devkamta Dixit's house," and gave him the address. When Kehar Singh and his son arrived in Kanpur, they offered pranaam at Baba's feet. Baba held his son's hand and pulled him near to him. Pressing the palm of the boy's hand with his right finger, he said, "I called Kehar Singh today only for you." A short while later Baba sent them back home.

Seven days after this meeting, the boy went to his father, happy and excited, and told him that he was able to see clearly without glasses. Kehar Singh asked him to read from a book, which he did. He could see clearly. Even the scars from the operation were not visible. Baba had restored the appearance and vision of the eye to how it had been before the accident on the 2nd of January. Kehar Singh took his son back to Dr. Mehra for a check-up. When the doctor examined the eye, he was bewildered. He got all his students to examine it as well and told them the medical history. When he learned that it was all by the grace of an Indian saint, he took photographs of the eye with a view to publishing an article.

Meanwhile Dr. Mohanlal phoned Vinod Chandra Sharma to ask about the boy. When Sharma ji told him that the boy could see everything clearly, he examined him personally and found it to be true. However, he said that it was medically impossible for him to see as long as glass particles remained in his eye. His recovery was purely Maharaj ji's grace. The boy never had any further problem with his eye and later got his M.A. degree.

One day in May 1958, when Kehar Singh was with Baba, Baba said to him, "That night you were asking why God was punishing the boy for your sins. You should never say so. God does not do this. Man himself suffers because of his own karma."

52.  Eyesight Regained

Devkamta Dixit's uncle had an unsuccessful eye operation. The wound did not heal and blood oozed from his eyes. He was treated by Dr. Shukla, who was going away to attend a conference for two days. Before leaving, he gave Dixit ji a new prescription and said, "The infection will be cured, but the eyesight will be lost. He will never be able to see." Dixit ji said, "Only if Baba says so will I believe this." The doctor was not impressed by this remark and said, "I have spoken the truth. If anyone can restore his sight, I will bow at his feet." Shortly after the doctor had gone, Baba arrived. When Dixit ji told him what the doctor had said about his uncle, Baba said, "Give him pomegranate juice to drink, his eyesight will be regained." He at once gave pomegranate juice to his uncle in the presence of Baba.

That same day the Sundarkand from Valmiki's Ramayana was being recited in Dixit ji's house, and Baba got up and went to listen. The part that contains the conversation between Hanuman and Sita was being read. Baba became so overwhelmed by emotion that he covered himself from head to toe with his blanket. When he was uncovered after some time, tears of blood were seen flowing from his eyes. After Baba left the house, Dixit ji's uncle experienced an unexpected improvement in his eyes. He was able to see everything and became very happy.

Baba spent the next two days at the house of Dr. Dixit, the brother of Devkamta Dixit. When Dr. Shukla returned from his conference, he was baffled upon examining his patient's eyes. He desired to meet Baba and asked Dr. Dixit where to find him. When he learned that Baba had already gone to the train station, both men left together and arrived at the station just as Baba's train was about to leave. They had his darshan through the window, and Baba praised the doctor saying, "He is an expert doctor. He has cured your uncle's eyes." Dr. Shukla was about to go inside the train to touch Baba's feet but could not, for the train started to pull away from the station.

53.  The Treatment of Diabetes With Sweets

In 1968 Kehar Singh ji was not well. He felt weak and tired and did not have any strength in his legs. Despite his poor health, while Maharaj was staying in Lucknow, Kehar Singh attended to him and accompanied him wherever he went. Baba was offered sweets everywhere, and he made Kehar Singh ji eat a lot of them, which Singh ji liked. One day while they were sitting at Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple, Baba gave him sweets and said, "You have diabetes. You eat so many sweets, now you will die." After Baba's departure from Lucknow, Kehar Singh ji's weakness increased, and remembering Baba's words he becamed worried. In January 1969 Kehar Singh received a postcard from one of Baba's devotees in Rai Bareilly. He wrote that Baba had visited him and instructed him to inform Kehar Singh of the following, "Your diabetes was cured. You need not worry about it." Kehar Singh was cured of the disease without taking any precautions or medication for it.

54.  High Blood Pressure Cured

Baba came to the house of R.C. Soni in Lucknow. Knowing that Baba was at Soni's house, Suraj Narayan Mehrotra phoned several times to ask Baba to pay a visit to his house, for his wife was suffering from high blood pressure. He even sent a man to escort him, but Baba ignored the request. Then Mehrotra himself came to the Soni's, stayed a long time talking, and also had a meal. Shrimati Soni was worried about Mrs. Mehrotra's ill health and hesitatingly asked Baba to visit her. Baba agreed and went to their house. Many doctors were there giving her various treatments, but nothing helped. Baba pressed her eyebrows with his fingers and she was cured.

55.  A Compound Fracture

Gurupriya Mai once slipped in the bathroom of her house in Nainital and suffered a compound fracture of the leg. She had to be admitted to the hospital, and the doctors told her that it would take about a month for her complete cure. When some devotees from Nainital went to Kainchi, they told Baba of Gurupriya's trouble. Upon receiving the news, Baba developed the same kind of pain in his knee. Baba suffered the pain for three days. When he recovered completely on the fourth day, so did Gurupriya Mai.

56.  Grace On a Child

The daughter of Madan Lal Sah of Bhowali was three months old when a lump developed in her throat. Sometime later her brother had an attack of paralysis, so Madan Lal Sah called Dr. Mittal and another doctor to examine him. On his wife's insistence, Sah got his baby daughter examined at the same time. The doctors advised him to get the lump operated upon in two years. When the family came to Kainchi to see Baba, Sah told him about the doctor's opinion and showed him the lump. Baba pressed the lump on all sides and it disappeared. When the child was re-examined by the doctors, they were surprised that she was cured without any treatment.

57.  An Umbrella of Protection

In 1967 R.P. Vaish, a devotee of Baba's, came to Kainchi to see Baba. He was being transferred to Delhi, and he told Baba that he wanted to tour Kashmir before taking up his post. When Vaish was leaving, Baba gave him an umbrella and said, "Keep it with you. It rains heavily there." Vaish hesitated to accept the umbrella and said, "I have an umbrella at home. This one will serve many people here at the ashram." Baba did not listen to him and again asked him to keep it with him. During his stay in Kashmir, Vaish went about holding the umbrella. On his return to Delhi, he again went to Kainchi for Baba's darshan and to return the umbrella. On seeing him, Baba said, "You have come to return the umbrella?" Baba then said, "Keep it with you. It will be a protective umbrella over you." Vaish did not understand what Baba meant, but he went back to Delhi, taking the umbrella with him.

In 1978, five years after Baba's Mahasamadhi, Vaish was transferred to Lucknow and left his extra luggage, including the umbrella, at his house in Delhi. In Lucknow he started suffering from heart, live, and spleen trouble. A check-up at Balrampur Hospital revealed that his spleen was enlarged by thirteen centimeters, but the doctors did not advise an operation due to his heart trouble. As no other treatment was available to him in Lucknow, he and his wife went to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. Back in Delhi, Vaish was getting ready to go from his house to the hospital when his wife noticed the umbrella lying there. The idea came to her that by not keeping the umbrella gifted to him by Maharaj with him always, he might have been deprived of Baba's protection. In the hot month of June, Shrimati Vaish escorted her husband to the hospital and hid the umbrella under his pillow.

Vaish was examined thoroughly once again. His spleen was still enlarged by thirteen centimeters. The doctors told him that he would have to stay in the hospital for six months and agreed that it was not advisable to operate on the spleen in his condition. They would have to rely on medicines to effect a cure. They told him that he would have to take a special tablet once a month that would reduce his spleen by two and a half centimeters over thirty days. He took the first tablet the same day. The next morning he felt so much better that he asked the doctor to get his spleen examined again. Saying encouraging words to him, the doctor explained that the process of measuring would be repeated after six months, not every day. Vaish was not satisfied with this and sent his wife to the chief medical superintendent with a request to get the spleen examined again as a special case. The superintendent ordered it to be re-measured, and the results showed that his spleen had indeed reduced in size by thirteen centimeters. Since the tablet was not that effective, the doctors were all amazed at the sudden change. When they expressed their surprise to Vaish, he pulled out the umbrella and said, "By its grace."

58.  Cured With a Flower

One day my aunt came to stay with me and my two sons in Allahabad, for she wished to bathe in the Ganges at Prayag on Makar Sankranti day. When I took my aunt to see Baba at Church Lane in the evening, he asked her to go back to Nainital the next day. Thinking of my eldest son, who was sick with a fever, my aunt did not want to return so soon. Also, the festival of Makar Sankranti was still four days away, so her purpose in coming to Allahabad would be unfulfilled. I explained to Baba that I would not be able to escort my aunt to Lucknow since I could not leave my son alone with a high fever. I therefore asked him to allow her to stay with me for some more days. Baba did not listen and asked Kanhaiyalal Srivastava to escort my aunt from our house to the Lucknow station for the 10 a.m. train the next day. Picking a flower from those lying near him, he gave it to my aunt saying, "When you leave, put this flower on the boy's forehead and go away." She did as Baba directed. When she left, the boy's temperature was 105.5 degrees. Thereafter, his temperature began decreasing at a rate of one degree an hour, and by evening the fever was gone without having used any medicine. Even though a doctor had diagnosed my son with mumps, Baba's flower cured him in no time.

59.  A Safe Delivery

Ramesh Chandra Pandey's wife had not been well for some time. She was pregnant, and the doctors told her that her condition was cause for concern. One day, while the family was worrying about her health, Maharaj arrived unexpectedly at their house. Without asking any questions, he said to Ramesh's wife, "Don't worry. Everything will be alright. Touch the feet of your husband and of your mother-in-law every morning and recite Sundarkand. You must read Sundarkand even if you are not able to take your bath." She followed Baba's instructions implicitly. When her time came, she had a normal delivery, and all the opinions of the doctors were proven wrong.

60.  See, I Called Him

Baba had great affection for Karanvir Singh. One day Maharaj came to his house and said to him, "Go and bring Govind Ballabh Pant. Tell him that Baba has sent for him." Karanvir replied, "Pant ji is not an ordinary man anymore. He is chief minister now. It is not an easy task to meet him." Baba said, "You go straightaway into his house and tell him that Baba has sent you for him." Karanvir replied, "I can only tell him if I am allowed to enter his house. Otherwise I will be arrested and not given bail." Baba persuaded him saying, "You go. Nobody will stop you." Karanvir behaved like a child with Baba and always argued with him for argument's sake. He again reiterated his position and refused to go. Baba again asked, "Won't you go?" Karanvir did not give any reply. Baba said, "Don't go. I will call him here." The matter ended there, and Baba talked about various other topics. After about half an hour he said to Karanvir, "Come, let's go for a stroll down the road." Both of them went to the road, and after a few minutes, they saw Pant ji's car coming towards them. When the car stopped, Pant ji was about to get out and offer pranaam to Baba, but Baba forbade him to do so. After a little conversation Baba got into Pant ji's car. Karanvir was standing nearby, and Baba said to him laughing, "Look, I called him. Now I am going."

61.  Bhagwan Singh Reads Sanskrit

Thakur Bhagwan Singh became an orphan during his childhood, and he was compelled to leave his home. Maharaj gave him shelter and took him into his service, appointing him priest of the Hanuman temple at Vrindavan ashram. Bhagwan Singh was not well educated nor was he a Brahmin. For this reason people were not happy with his appointment and tried to get him to leave. When some prominent persons requested Baba to give the sacred work of worship to a learned, high-caste Brahmin, Baba said that Bhagwan Singh was learned and praised his knowledge of Sanskrit. Baba's opinion did not find favor with those people, and one of them asked the question, "Can Bhagwan Singh read the eleventh chapter of the Gita?" Baba at once called Bhagwan Singh and asked him to read the chapter. Bhagwan Singh said, "Baba made me sit near him by his takhat. He covered my head with one end of his blanket and touched my forehead with his toe. He then told me to read." After Baba touched him on the forehead, he read the whole chapter with the correct pronunciation. All were surprised by this unexpected scholarship and left satisfied.

62.  The Composition of Vinaya Chalisa

Prabhu Dayal Sharma was at the Luterey Hanuman temple when he met a clerk from the Mathura treasury who told him about Baba and asked him to go for his darshan. As Prabhu Dayal did not know Baba, he did not have any faith or reverence for him but went just to see him. When he arrived, Baba asked him, "What is your name? Where do you work?" No sooner had he replied than Baba asked him to go. Prabhu Dayal wanted to stay longer, but Baba said, "I have told you to go. Go now." He had Baba's darshan for only about a minute.

As Prabhu Dayal was crossing the threshold of the ashram on his way home, he experienced an inexplicable celestial bliss and said spontaneously, "Baba is a great being, not an ordinary man." He said that he felt as if an electric current passed through his whole body. After that incident he was not able to sleep for about a month and had to be treated in a mental health hospital, for he almost lost his sanity. Yet in that condition, and motivated by his darshan with Baba, he composed the Vinaya Chalisa (a prayer to Baba, considered so befitting, that it is now sung in all of Baba's temples). He did not dare to take his composition to Baba personally, so he posted it to him. When Baba received it, he threw it away indifferently. Kalinath Kapoor picked it up out of the trash and took it to Kanpur the next day to get it printed.

63.  Baba's Whim

Before the partition of India, Gangaram Gujral of Rawalpindi came and settled in Delhi, where he acquired two shops and a lot of property. Once, while traveling by car with his son and Moti Ram Vaidya to the house of his relative Malik Ram in Haldwani, Malik Ram suggested that Gujral go to Kainchi to meet Baba. As soon as Gujral went into Baba's kuti, Baba said, "Gangaram, you have come in your car? Your property dispute is pending with Jha. I will speak to him when I go to Delhi." It was true that Jha, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, had to give a decision on a property dispute that was likely to go against Gangaram. Impressed by Baba's knowledge of this unexpressed worry at their first meeting, he asked Baba to accompany them to Delhi. When Baba assured him that he would come later, Gujral repeatedly tried to tell Baba his address. Since Baba ignored him, Gujral had doubts over whether Baba would come.

To Gujral's surprise, Baba arrived at his house many months later. Baba immediately took Gujral and his son to Jha's house, where a meeting was in progress. Jha came to Baba and asked him to sit in the living room while he adjourned his meeting. However, Baba said to Gujral, "I won't stay," and asked the driver to get the car. Gujral asked him to stay longer since Jha would be returning soon, but Baba did not listen. Gujral felt that the object for which he had come had not been fulfilled and returned home disappointed. A few days later he received written orders settling the property dispute in his favor. He was unable to understand how the decision came to be given in the way he wished. It was all Baba's lila.

64.  Roses Cure High Blood Pressure

In 1972 Jeevan Chandra Gurrani got ready to return to Haldwani after having Baba's darshan in Vrindavan. While he was taking leave, Baba gave him two roses. Jeevan Chandra ji kept those flowers carefully, though he did not understand why Baba had given them to him. He purchased a direct train ticket to Haldwani but changed his mind on the way, stopping at Bareilly so that he could meet his relative Dr. A.D. Bhandari. When he got there, he learnt that Sarvadaman Raghuvanshi's mother was suffering from high blood pressure and that her condition was deteriorating. Finding that this family of Baba's devotees was in distress, Jeevan Chandra ji went to see them. He took the two roses with him and gave them to Raghuvanshi's mother, saying that Baba had given them to him. She touched the roses to her forehead with great reverence and love and kept them with her. Her blood pressure immediately became normal and remained so until her death two years later. The two roses disappeared shortly after the incident.

65.  Kheer Prasad

One night my train was late, and I arrived at Prayag railway station at 11 p.m. I was taking a rickshaw home when suddenly I thought that I should go to Church Lane and have Baba's darshan instead. I asked the rickshaw puller to take me there, but on my way I thought that everybody in the house would be sleeping and regretted my decision. When I saw all the lights on in the house, all hesitation disappeared. I went in and saw Sudhir Mukerjee talking to Baba. As soon as Baba saw me, he took out an earthenware bowl full of kheer from under his takhat and gave it to me saying, "Eat it now." I felt as if he had been waiting for me. Though I wanted to take the prasad home, I could not disobey Baba. I was also hungry, so I ate it then and there as instructed. Baba then said to Mukerjee Dada, "See, there is an earthen bowl filled with kheer left in the kitchen. Give that to him, he will take it home."

-Hem Chandra Joshi, Commercial Railway Inspector (retired)

66.  Stories of Hanuman

Shankar Prasad Vyas of Varanasi was at Kainchi ashram when Maharaj said to him, "These mountains are the abode of siddhas [elevated souls]. Recite the glory of Hanuman ji for them." Arrangements for this were made in the Krishna-Balaram kuti, and Vyas carried on with the work for three days. He then told Maharaj that he had been telling stories continuously, but there were no listeners. In those days there were very few people living around Kainchi. Only a few women from the village came to hear the discourses. Vyas was accustomed to giving scholarly discourses to large gatherings, so he found the assignment quite uninteresting. Baba said, "What have you to do with people? I told you to tell the story to the elevated souls. Look, an old woman will come to listen. Don't hate her for her unpleasant appearance or she will curse you."

The next day, when he began the narration, he was surprised to see that a distinguished gathering had filled Krishna-Balaram kuti. Among those present were Kamlapati Tripathi, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh; Y.B. Chavan, Home Minister, Central Government; Shyama Charan Shukla, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh; and many other political leaders. In front of them sat the old woman that Baba had mentioned. After the discourse the woman was the first to leave and was never seen again.

67.  Ram Dass

Richard Alpert, former Harvard University professor, came to India in 1967. He accompanied another American devotee to Bhumiadhar ashram to see Baba. The professor was a psychologist and a man of the world, so Baba seemed very strange to him. Baba praised the Land Rover in which they arrived and asked Alpert to give it to him, prompting feelings of anger and resentment in Alpert. Baba sent both the westerners to have prasad, and when they returned, Baba looked over to Alpert and said, "You were standing under the open sky last night. What did your mother say to you? Your mother died last year? She died of spleen?" Baba's questions surprised Alpert. The first statement concerned an incident that had taken place more than a hundred kilometers from Bhumiadhar the previous night. He had gone outside and enchanted by the calm, beautiful night, stayed standing, looking up at the stars. He had felt a oneness with nature as well as his mother's presence. She had died nine months earlier in America of a diseased spleen. He had not told anyone about this, so Baba's questions made his mind spin. Unable to find a rational explanation, he began to weep uncontrollably. He felt that he had come home. He became devoted to Baba, and Baba gave him the name Ram Dass.

68.  Harpal Singh

Omkar Singh wanted his friend Harpal Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Lucknow, to meet Baba. Harpal Singh, however, had no desire for Baba's darshan. On a visit to Lucknow, Omkar Singh came to know that Baba was at Suraj Narayan Mehrotra's house. Omkar Singh went straight there to meet Baba and requested that he go with him to Harpal Singh's house. Baba agreed, and he, Omkar Singh, and Umadatt Shukla left together. When they arrived, Omkar Singh made Baba and Shukla sit in the living room and then went to find Harpal Singh.

Harpal Singh did not show Baba any respect. On the contrary he felt insulted when Baba addressed him informally as "tu" (informal form of "you") and got angry. He said to Omkar Singh, "Take this uncivilized man out. Where have you brought this nuisance from?" Hearing this abusive language directed at Baba, Omkar Singh got excited and put his hand on his revolver. Baba immediately held his hand and scolding him, went towards the car. Praising the man who had insulted him, Baba said, "He is a yogi. You don't understand, he is a yogi." After this incident, Harpal Singh's temperament changed day by day. A few months later, when Swami Kartikeya, a disciple of a saint named Oriya Baba, came to live on the banks of the Gomti River for the four months of the rainy season, Harpal Singh became his disciple. He went to his guru's hut every morning and attended to him.

Harpal Singh later became the commissioner of Lucknow. After his retirement he was reappointed to the Officer's Training School, Allahabad, where he died of a heart attack. During his last days he was always cheerful. His friends and the doctors and nurses were all surprised at his attitude. The doctors and the patient knew that death was imminent. Even then Harpal Singh recited couplets from the Gita relating to the soul. He gave such an example of detachment that he did not turn to the members of his family even at the last moment of his life. At the time of Harpal Singh's death, Baba was in Nainital. With tears in his eyes, Baba said to one of his devotees, "Harpal is gone. He has become one with me today." By calling him a yogi, he made him a yogi in reality.

69.  Colonel J.C. McKenna

Colonel J.C. McKenna of Rajput Regiment Centre in Fatehgarh was a strict disciplinarian and had absolutely prohibited sadhus from entering the army camp and the soldiers from having any kind of association with them. Due to their fear of the colonel, the army personnel visited Baba in secret while he was encamped nearby at Kilaghat and returned soon after having his darshan.

Baba wanted to bring about a change in the colonel's behavior, so one day he went to the colonel's house in his absence and lay on his bed. The attendant on duty humbly requested him not to do so, but Baba did not heed him. When the colonel arrived, the attendant informed him of the situation. McKenna went into his room in a bad temper and as was his nature, scolded Baba. He was stunned to see that it had no effect on him. Instead, smiling in his natural manner, Baba just gazed at him. Under the unique influence of Baba's smile, the colonel's heart changed. He not only apologized and offered Baba some oranges, but also became his first western devotee and removed all the restrictions he had imposed on sadhus. As Baba's devotee he kept on progressing in his career and retired as general.

70.  An American Couple

When an American woman came with some friends to meet Baba for the first time, she was greatly impressed by him and regretted that her husband was not with her. She returned to America to bring him to Kainchi to meet Baba. When they came to the ashram, he was put off by seeing the westerners so crazy about Baba and that they were not shy of putting their heads to his feet. He was especially upset with his wife for doing so.

All the Westerners used to stay at hotels in Nainital and come to Kainchi for Baba's darshan every morning and return to Nainital in the evening. The American followed the same routine with his wife, and after seven days he felt bored. Baba completely ignored him. The man was so upset that he thought of going back to America and leaving his wife in India. On the eighth day he decided not to go to Kainchi with his wife and instead sat alone all day with his painful thoughts by the side of the lake in Nainital. Though he was not a believer in religion, he remembered God that day. He asked himself, What am I doing here? Who is this man Maharaj ji? Why are all these people crazy about him? At that moment he remembered hearing the phrase, "If ye had but faith, ye would not need a miracle." He felt bad and prayed to God, "Well I do not have faith, and I need a miracle."

He decided to return to America the next day, but at the insistence of his wife, they both went to bid farewell to Baba. He also decided that he would say what he felt that day. Both of them arrived in Kainchi early in the morning, before the other western devotees, and sat before Baba's takhat on the veranda. Baba was inside Radha kuti. It was Baba's lila that an apple from the top of the takhat rolled down onto the floor. As the man bent to pick it up, Baba speedily came out and sat on the takhat in such a way that his feet pressed down on the man's hand. Baba then pressed his already bent head with his hand, and the man found himself on his knees in a prone position, as if he were touching Baba's feet. It was the situation he had always detested watching.

Looking at him, Baba asked a few questions, "What were you doing at the lake? Were you boating? Did you go to swim?" In the end he said, "You were remembering God?" When Baba said this, the man started crying like a child. Baba pulled him to himself and caressing his beard, asked him again and again, "Tell me, what did you ask God?" Baba's voice and touch brought a change in him. Reverence and love for Baba surged in his heart. He realized that everyone must have had a similar experience, and that was why people did not wish to leave him.

71.  Immediate Detachment

In 1949 Maharaj went to Kashipur in District Nainital with nine devotees and stayed at Kishan Chaube's house. On his return he went walking along a dusty road outside the town. A group of potters were coming from the opposite direction, their donkeys laden with earthen pots. There was a young potter among them who passed Baba puffing a pipe, which he carried in his hand. Baba asked him loudly, "Who are you?" The potter replied, "Who are you?" Baba repeated the question more loudly and so did the potter, getting angry. Baba then changed the question and asked, "What caste are you?" The potter repeated the question back to him. Baba at once replied, "I am a sweeper, who are you?" This time the potter spoke with pride and said, "I am a potter." Baba showed respect towards him and humbly asked, "Will you give me your chillum to smoke?" The potter held out the clay pipe containing the tobacco and cinders towards Baba. Baba puffed it two or three times and then placed his hand on the potter's head. The young potter became quite detached from the world in that instant. They went to the nearby garden of Radhay Shyam. On Baba's instruction he took a bath using the well water, and Baba got the clothes of a monk for him. Giving the boy a rosary, Baba initiated him and made him a monk. He then made arrangements for his boarding and lodging in the garden. Baba instructed the boy to go to Badrinath from there and then left.

72.  True Welfare

In 1955 Kehar Singh ji suffered from heart trouble. Taking four months leave, he went to his physician friend in Bareilly for treatment. One evening he received an official letter from the government of Uttar Pradesh. The letter was from the excise secretary, who was writing to tell him that the minister had called a meeting that was to take place in Mussoorie at 11 a.m. on 22 September and that Kehar Singh ji was instructed to attend. He became depressed after reading it because he was frightened to go to the hills in case he had another heart attack. He did not mention the letter to anyone, including his doctor. Nonetheless, wherever Baba was, he was aware of it and was moved by compassion for him.

About fifteen hours after Kehar Singh ji received the letter, the doctor came to tell him, "Go downstairs, someone has come to see you. He is a fat man, and he gave his name as Baba Neeb Karori." Kehar Singh ji went downstairs quickly and saw Baba sitting on a bench among the patients. Maharaj said to him, "Oh, you live upstairs. Let's go there." Baba led the way and walked through the house as if he had lived there for years. With the agility and speed of a young man, he climbed up the stairs, went into Kehar Singh ji's room, and sat on his bed.

As Kehar Singh ji offered pranaam to him, Baba said, "You received a letter from Kuldeep Narayan Singh yesterday?"

"Yes."

"The minister has called a meeting in Mussoorie?"

"Yes."

"You have been called to that meeting?"

"Yes."

Why are you afraid of going there? Go and attend the meeting. Nothing will happen to you.

Baba refused to stay and would not let Kehar Singh ji go with him. Baba left him outside the house and disappeared. The whole darshan took all of five minutes. Thereafter Kehar Singh was not worried. He went to attend the meeting and did not experience any adverse health effect as a result.

73.  An Everlasting Message

Shankar Prasad Vyas came to know that a man was given five rupees with instructions from Maharaj to buy a lottery ticket in his wife's name. They won five lakh (500,000) rupees. After hearing this, Vyas desired to receive that same grace from Baba. He had to go to various places expounding scriptures and thought if he received money without any effort, all his problems would be solved. When Vyas got an opportunity, he asked Baba for a lottery ticket. Though Baba heard him, he did not give any reply.

That night while Vyas was asleep, he saw Hanuman ji in a dream. Hanuman ji struck Vyas on his back with his fist. It hurt so much that Vyas cried out and woke up. He still felt the pain. Just then Baba came in his room and massaged his back with his own hands. At Baba's touch, he recovered at once. Baba then asked him to sleep and went away. The next day, when Vyas met Baba in the morning, Baba asked him, "Do you want five lakh rupees or devotion to Hanuman? You get problems with money and not devotion. Hanuman ji taught you this lesson last night." Vyas' desire for money vanished.

74.  A Bad Habit Dropped Effortlessly

An American woman came to India in search of a guru. She became associated with some sadhus and spent her time smoking charas (hashish) in their company. She squandered all her money. One day while roaming about from place to place, she was walking along Parikrama Marg, Vrindavan, in front of Baba. Baba took pity on her and arranged for her boarding and lodging in his ashram. He also occasionally produced charas for her by rubbing his hands. Later Baba made arrangements to send her back to America. When she was leaving, Baba said to her, "You will not smoke charas any more."

In 1984 this same woman returned to Kainchi with her son and stayed many days. She told the devotees in the ashram that it was due to Baba's power of inspiration that she had had no desire to smoke charas since the day that he commanded her not to smoke. She got rid of the habit without making any effort to do so. She brought her son for darshan of Baba's murti, hoping that his life would also be reformed. He was addicted to drugs in America and did not lead a productive life. In 1985 the woman returned alone and said that since her son had had darshan of Maharaj's murti, there had been a change in his life. He had begun earning his living.

75.  Worries Relieved

My situation in life was like the phrase, "No knowledge, no strength in arms, no money to spend." I felt I could not serve Baba in any way. In spite of this I was the recipient of his endless grace. He gave me everything when I was not able to offer anything in return. Not only am I indebted to him, but so is my whole family, particularly my mother, my wife, and my two sons.

One day Baba came to our house at 150 Allenganj in Allahabad. After puja and a meal, he sat silently for some time. Suddenly he said to me, "Don't worry." I told him I did not worry, but the worries came to me and did not leave no matter how hard I tried. Baba said again very forcefully, "I say don't worry." Helplessly, I submitted to what he said, as it was no use arguing further. Many years after this incident, I came to know the reality of his utterance. The purpose of his command was, as it is said in the Ramayana, "Friend, leave your worry and rely on me. I shall do all your work." In time he took away all my worries. The circumstances changed by themselves, and my nature to worry also improved. Even now if I worry about something, as is my basic nature, I have found the work automatically and appropriately done. I remember what Baba told me and feel ashamed of myself. Baba took care of me and he still does.

-Rajida

76.  Who Is the Doer?

In 1960, while I was living at Thornhill Road in Allahabad, Baba and some of his devotees were going on a pilgrimage to Rameshwaram. They left Church Lane for the railway station in rickshaws. The other rickshaws, which were all in front of Baba, turned onto Thornhill Road near the Indian Press, but Baba directed his rickshaw driver to go in the opposite direction without informing anyone. He came to my house just to tell me that I should not scold my children while teaching them. Baba's heart was very tender, and he could not tolerate children being treated harshly. Baba said to me, "All come with their destiny written." He gave me examples of people unknown to me and asked how they attained their high positions. To clarify, he asked me, "Who is the doer?" I got the point, and this question has guided me throughout my life. My children completed their education by their own efforts.

On Baba's instruction, my eldest son was initiated in the ashram of Sri Prabhudutt Brahmachari at Jhusi. We held the closing function at our place with the blessings of Baba, who sat in the prayer room with my son's head resting on his lap. Putting his hand on my son's head for a long time, Baba sat in bliss. That splendid scene cannot be described in words. Baba initiated my younger son at Kainchi ashram.

-Rajida

77.  Destiny and Protection

Due to her past karma, my wife generally suffered from ill health. She had attacks of serious diseases one after the other, and many a time her condition became critical. However, Baba's grace always protected her. Baba very often came and said to her, "Don't lose heart. God helps those who are courageous." Baba's darshan gave her the power to endure, and his words raised her morale. My economic condition was such that I could not get her treated properly, but by Baba's grace all facilities were made available to me. I saw Baba's kindness clearly in his treatment of my wife.

-Rajida

78.  The Appointment of My Sons

My elder son, Diwaspati, could not meet the application deadline for a job in the State Bank of India since he received the details quite late. After writing his application, he submitted it to Baba for his blessing and then sent it six weeks after the last date for submission of applications. By Baba's grace my son received permission to take the written exam, which he passed. He then had to go for an interview and asked me what I thought they would ask him. It was by Baba's power of inspiration that all the questions I told him were asked of him to the letter at the interview the next day. When the information was passed on to Baba, he said, "I have made him the manager."

A year later my younger son, Diwakar, was scheduled to interview for a post at Meerut University. Being impressed by his brother's experience, he also came to ask me what I thought they would ask. Although I had no experience in this area, I asked him a few questions just to encourage him. It was again Baba's lila that relevant answers to those questions became the basis of his success. He was selected out of thirteen suitable candidates.

-Rajida

79.  The Marriages of My Sons

In Kainchi ashram, Baba settled the marriages of my two sons and chose girls that were suitable for them. I was only asked to perform the task. Before the marriage of my elder son, I was passing through a bad period in my life financially, and the circumstances were challenging. Both my wife and mother were ill and required surgery. I also needed to make arrangements for a marriage ceremony, and there was nobody else in the family to take care of the household. Amidst all these odd circumstances, I witnessed Baba's miracles. Some people known to me took it upon themselves to do all the work for the wedding as if it were their own. All the necessary facilities and things that were required were arranged. The marriage was solemnized—and on a grand scale. Even my sick wife and mother participated in the auspicious ceremony, and they were later cured without surgery.

-Rajida

80.  God's Darshan

One day at Church Lane, Maharaj was in a happy mood, and only my mother, my wife, and I were sitting by his takhat. In that atmosphere my mother asked him, "Baba, show me God." At once Baba said, "You will see. You will see. You will see."

My mother remained ill for a long time and suffered a lot. When her end came, we observed many wonderful changes in her. All her suffering disappeared, and a great tranquility was seen on her face. An attractive radiance engulfed her. While she was in this blissful state, I went to the prayer room and fetched the picture of Ram durbar (Lord Ram's court) that she worshiped daily and placed it before her eyes. No sooner did she set eyes on it than she transcended herself. Her eyes were fixed on that picture, and looking at it without blinking, she passed away. My mother's joyful face and the lustre in her eyes gave us the impression that she saw God personified in that picture. All of us forgot the grief of parting, and overwhelmed by emotion, we chanted the name of Ram. This event took place after Maharaj's Mahasamadhi.

-Rajida

81.  No More Transfers

In 1968 I was in Central Services and had already spent sixteen years working in Allahabad. There was every possibility of my transfer at any moment since my service was transferable. I was past fifty years of age, my children were studying, and my wife and mother were both ill. If I was transferred to a distant place, our economic situation would worsen further, and I would not be able to look after everybody. I worried about it for many days.

One day Baba came to our house. Hardly had I finished offering my pranaam when he said, "Don't worry, you will not be transferred." I was stunned to hear Baba's words because no thought of the transfer was in my mind at that moment. I replied, "Baba, I am reassured. Your words will never go in vain." Baba tried to hide his reality by saying, "I will speak to the minister in Central Government to get your transfer cancelled." I humbly said to him, "What is the worth of the minister before Maharaj's power!" Baba changed the topic of conversation. He left, and within a month my office received orders that the transfer of employees over fifty years of age would be on a voluntary basis. Having no fear of my transfer, I worked in Allahabad for the next eight years until my retirement. Nothing could stand in the way of Baba's grace. It is said in the Ramayana, "Whomsoever Ram is pleased with, gods, men, and saints are also pleased with him." That I became worthy of his kindness is no greatness of mine; it only reflects his endless grace.

-Rajida

82.  Kehar Singh ji

Once, Kehar Singh ji went from Lucknow to Kainchi and stayed at the forest rest house near the ashram. A short while after he arrived, he came down with a fever. In that state, he went to meet Baba and found him sitting on some pebbles by the road. As he was bowing to touch his feet, Baba took his hand out from under his blanket and extended it to him with a piece of kalakand in it. As Kehar Singh was in a hurry to pranaam before Baba, he took it, put it in his mouth at once, and placed his head on Baba's feet. When he raised his head, the fever was gone. Having thus recovered, he continued talking to Baba.

A long time after this incident, Kehar Singh had a similar experience. On 25 December 1965 he heard that Baba had arrived in Lucknow. Though he was ill with a fever, he went to the houses of many devotees in search of Baba, but he could not find him anywhere. At last he went to a devotee's house in Chowk Bazaar and found Baba there. As he was bowing to touch his feet, Baba extended his hand and touched Kehar Singh ji's belly with his finger. His fever left him at once, and he was able to enjoy Baba's company.

83.  You Will Become President

The late former president V.V. Giri had developed faith in Maharaj ever since he had become the governor of Uttar Pradesh. He often went to have his darshan and reverentially prostrated himself before Baba. At times he went to Kainchi to get Maharaj and take him to Government House, where he extended all hospitality to him. When he contested the election for president, he came to Kainchi ashram for Baba's blessings and fell at his feet. Baba placed his hand upon his hand and said, "You want to win the election. Don't worry, you will become the president."

84.  An Incorrect Diagnosis

When Kehar Singh's son was seven years old, he was diagnosed with bone TB in his leg. Dr. Gauri Shankar Bhargava had the boy admitted to Balrampur Hospital and put his foot in plaster. Shortly thereafter Dr. Bhargava was transferred, and the doctor who replaced him did not take much interest in the boy, which worried his mother. Meanwhile Baba arrived in Lucknow and stayed at Hariram Joshi's house. After some time he said, "Kehar Singh's son is sick. I am going to the hospital to see him." He went to the hospital, and smiling at the boy, he said to his mother, "He has been given the wrong treatment. He has no bone TB. Take him home and he will recover." For Kehar Singh ji, Baba's word was God's word. He immediately took the boy home and stopped all treatment. One day he showed the leg to Dr. Mathur and asked for his opinion. Looking at the boy's leg, Dr. Mathur said that it was certainly not TB and removed the plaster. The boy regained his health without any medicine.

85.  Baba's Healing Touch

Once, when Mehrotra ji went to Charbag station to see someone off, he slipped and dislocated his shoulder. He was treated by an orthopedic doctor named Dr. Sinha but was not completely cured. After this he went to another specialist named Dr. Singh for treatment, but there was no improvement. Mehrotra ji became disheartened. After so much treatment he was still unable to write and had no strength in his hand. When Baba came to his house, he mentioned the problem to him. Baba massaged the shoulder a little, and Mehrotra ji's hand began functioning. He never had any further problem with it.

86.  A Divine Cure

Shrimati Mehrotra was suffering from a painful case of angina pectoris. The doctors tried their best, but her condition was quickly deteriorating. Maharaj was in Kanpur. Describing the condition of Shrimati Mehrotra to his devotees, he said, "If something happens to her, who will feed me?" Maharaj went at once to Mehrotra ji's house in Lucknow and found Shrimati Mehrotra unconscious. Baba touched his toe to her forehead, and at about midnight, she opened her eyes. Baba gave her prasad to eat and her condition improved. Baba stayed at Mehrotra ji's house for nine days on this occasion. When Shrimati Mehrotra had recovered completely, Baba left after eating food prepared by her.

87.  Kindness to a Devotee's Daughter

Shrimati Gyano, the daughter of Suraj Narayan Mehrotra, was very worried, for her son was seriously ill and had been admitted to a hospital in Shimla. She wanted to ask Baba to save his life, but she could only wait anxiously since she did not know his whereabouts. Maharaj was traveling by car from Vrindavan to Delhi with Kehar Singh ji and Jawaharlal Verma when Baba said to Kehar Singh ji, "Gyano is my devotee. If her son does not survive, I shall not be able to show my face." When he arrived at Verma's house in Delhi, he phone Gyano. Her husband said, "Gyano is crying. Our son is in the hospital, and his life is in danger." Baba asked him to give the phone to Gyano, and he said to her, "The boy has been given the wrong treatment. There is nothing wrong with him. Take him home and he will recover." Following Baba's instructions, they brought the boy home and his condition improved each day. He recovered without having any treatment.

88.  A Flower From Baba

Suraj Narayan's seven-year-old son, Gopal, went to Varanasi with his uncle Daya Narayan Mehrotra and a young servant named Lala and stayed at the home of the Maharaja of Vijayanagaram. There were communal riots in Varanasi at the time, and a curfew was in operation. During the night the two boys contracted a high fever. Daya Narayan was very anxious, for there was no possibility of treatment. They were surprised to receive a parcel the next day with only a flower inside. The sender's name written on the parcel was Baba Neeb Karori. Daya Narayan put some petals from the flower on Lala's forehead and the remaining flower on Gopal's chest. Doing this caused the two children's fever to come down.

89.  Disease Taken Away

In the last week of March 1972 Kehar Singh ji came down with the flu. Then, in the beginning of April, he suffered from diarrhea. He was unable to retain even a drop of water and became emaciated by the long illness. Doctors thought of giving him glucose and a blood transfusion since his condition had become so serious that he was not able to move at all. One night he said to himself in distress, I shall pass the days in misery. This life will be a hell for me. In utter helplessness he thought of Maharaj. He prayed to him either to make him fit to live or to let him die. That night while the whole world slept, Baba heard Kehar Singh ji's silent prayer.

At Vridavan ashram, two hundred and seventy-five kilometers away, Baba at once took the disease upon himself. He suffered a severe attack of diarrhea. His clothes were soiled and cleaned again and again by the mothers at the ashram. Baba was given a variety of treatments, all of which failed. Everyone was worried, but Kehar Singh ji slept soundly that night. He did not have diarrhea for the next three days and thereafter recovered without any medicine. His prayer was answered. At Vrindavan ashram, Baba got up at about five thirty in the evening of the next day. He bathed himself and talked cheerfully to everyone as usual. Sri Ma knew that Baba had taken someone else's disease upon himself in order to relieve the sufferer, but no one knew who had received that grace.

One of Baba's devotees, who had been in Vrindavan while Baba was sick, returned to Lucknow and told Kehar Singh ji that Baba had been in bad shape because of diarrhea. He told him the date that Baba had taken ill. It was the same night that Kehar Singh ji had prayed to Baba to cure his diarrhea. Kehar Singh felt remorse when he came to know that Baba had endured pain because of him.

90.  Relief From Poverty

Purnanand Tewari of Kainchi had a big family but no means of livelihood except for a small piece of land to cultivate. The income from it was not enough to support them, so when the children were little, the economic situation was not good. Tewari became very sad and disappointed with his life. He decided to sell his piece of land and settled the deed with a Punjabi gentleman. Baba came to his house in 1962 and consoled him saying, "Don't be afraid of misfortune. Dogs bark but the elephant walks on, he does not care." Tewari then decided not to sell his land.

Maharaj was moved by his poverty. Along with the construction of the ashram, Baba had a concrete building built near Tewari's house. He got a post office opened there and a tea shop set up for Tewari. By speaking to officials, he also got a bus stop and a booking office opened near it and had Tewari appointed as its watchman. Thus, in addition to cultivating his land, Tewari did the duties of watchman and ran his shop. As it was the only shop near the ashram, bus stop, and post office, business was good. In time his roadside shop became the main center for the collection and packaging of fruit and vegetables from that area to other markets. Due to Baba's grace, Tewari's children were educated, and the business grew.

91.  A Case of Typhoid

During the days of poverty for the Tewari family, Tewari's wife suffered from fever and asthma. Tewari got medicine prescribed for her from the doctor in Bhowali by describing her symptoms to him. She did not, however, continue taking the medicine, for it aggravated her illness. Tewari was poor and worried. One day Haridas Baba was sitting in Tewari's tea shop, waiting for the bus to go back to Nainital, and Tewari told him his tale of woe. Haridas Baba used to come to Kainchi from Hanumangarh to supervise the construction work of Kainchi ashram. Haridas listened to him, and when the bus arrived, he left. Maharaj was in Lucknow at the time but phoned a devotee in Nainital and told him to tell Haridas Baba to take Dr. Premlal to Kainchi with him at once. The doctor was to examine Purnanand's wife because she was suffering a lot. Haridas Baba and the doctor diagnosed her fever as typhoid and prescribed a new medicine. Seeing the original medicine, the doctor said that she must not take it. She regained her health in a few days.

92.  Tewari's Future

Two months before his Mahasamadhi, Maharaj spoke to the higher authorities of the Roadways Department and got Tewari transferred to the Roadways station in Bhowali, about eight kilometers from Kainchi. Baba's act distressed Tewari because he did not want to leave Kainchi. However, Baba was keeping Tewari's future welfare in mind. He did not want him to face difficulties in his absence. Baba knew that by his transfer to a place some distance away he would not be able to manage all his business affairs, so his sons would need to take on more responsibilities. Otherwise, with the deterioration in health suffered in old age, his life would be unhappy if he was still trying to manage everything. Baba explained to Tewari that after he had worked in Bhowali for two months, he would be transferred back to Kainchi and would have no further fear of transfer in the future. After Baba's Mahasamadhi, Tewari was indeed transferred back to the Kainchi bus stand. About a year after his return, the bus stand closed because it was not longer profitable, but Tewari was made a lifelong watchman of the vacated building.

93.  Changing Destiny

In 1948 Kehar Singh ji and a friend went to a man having Bhrigu Samhita (the prophetic astrological treatise of Sage Bhrigu). Kehar Singh ji expressed his desire to have written details about his astrological chart but said he did not have a horoscope. The astrologer asked him a few questions and based on Kehar Singh's answers, looked up the relevant charts in a book, drew up a horoscope, and wrote a vivid account of his life. As the things written about the past were correct, the predictions made for the future seemed to be credible. There was one inauspicious prediction about his future. According to the horoscope, he was to die at the age of fifty-four from contracting a fatal disease. Kehar Singh ji was very distubed by this.

After a long time a different astrologer came to see Singh ji for some other purpose, and Kehar Singh ji took the opportunity to discuss the earlier prediction with him. The astrologer recast his horoscope and also read his palm. Endorsing the prediction, he showed him that his lifeline was broken at that age. After this Singh ji felt there was no further reason to doubt the prediction.

In 1963, when Kehar Singh ji entered his fifty-fourth year, a lump of flesh developed on the lower part of his tongue, which doctors diagnosed as a cancerous growth. Though he became very worried, he could not decide whether to tell Baba about his fears. When Baba came to Lucknow, Kehar Singh, Suraj Narayan Mehrotra, and Prem Lal went around with him all day. In the evening they went to the kuti of Shahanshah, Prem Lal's guru, and sat on the ground by the bank of the Gomti River. Baba sent Mehrotra and Prem Lal elsewhere to attend to some task and whispered in Kehar Singh ji's ear, "Now tell." In this way Baba gave him an opportunity to relate his problem. Baba's affectionate behavior caused him to blurt out, "Baba, I have tongue cancer." Baba pulled Kehar Singh ji towards him by his left hand, embraced him, and rubbed his head vigorously with his right hand. Then saying nothing, he left him. Kehar Singh ji watched the lump on his tongue everyday in the mirror and found that it was getting smaller daily. In about a week not only did the lump vanish completely, but the lifeline on his palm appeared unbroken.

94.  Settling a Marriage

Shri S.S. Pawar and his wife were anxious about the marriage of their elder daughter. One day Baba came and said, "A boy who is an engineer has just returned from abroad. He belongs to your community. Go, talk to him." Baba gave them all the details about the boy. Pawar humbly said to him, "The boys who are engineers educated abroad demand much dowry and I may not be able to meet their demand." Baba at once said, "All will be settled. You must go." After making enquiries about the boy, Pawar spoke to the boy's parents. It did not take much time to settle the matter, and the marriage took place without any problems. Their son-in-law became a vice president of Kirloskar India, a famous firm.

95.  Helper of the Helpless

In 1951 the young wife of Pooran Chandra Joshi had an attack of paralysis in Haldwani. Her face became distorted and pale, and her eyesight became blurred. Leaving her in this pitiable condition, Joshi had to go out of station. On his return her condition worsened. Joshi consulted a doctor, who advised him to take her to Lucknow or any other big town to get her treated. This treatment would have been expensive and beyond Joshi's means. In a state of helplessness the couple remembered Maharaj and then both fell asleep. Baba gave them darshan in a dream, and her condition improved. Some days later Baba himself came to their house and asked her, "Daughter-in-law, what happened to you?" He looked at her kindly, and putting one of his palms on her head and the other under her chin, he gave a jerk and set her face right. He also restored the loveliness of her face.

96.  Grace On Badrivishal

After the death of Badrivishal's father, the economic situation of the family became serious and pitiable. According to Baba's instructions, Badrivishal studied and passed his B.Sc. exam. He then gained admission to K.R. College, Agra, for his M.Sc. During that period there was a time when Badrivishal was very worried about his lack of money, and finding no solution to his problems, he went in search of Baba. He went to the house of a devotee at Rajamandi, Agra, where Baba often went. He found out that Baba had been there about a month previously, but they had not seen him since. Badrivishal was very disappointed.

Remembering Baba in his heart, he prayed, "Gurudev! You are omnipresent and omniscient. Have pity on me. Today I have come to meet you." Musing in that way, he walked along the street back towards his home when he heard someone running and shouting after him. It was a servant from the devotee's house that he had just left. The servant said, "Maharaj has just arrived and he has sent for you." Badrivishal returned to the house and bowed before Baba. When Baba saw him, he said, "I know you are short of money. Study hard. It will be arranged by tomorrow." When he arrived at college the next day, he was informed that his scholarship grant had been received from the government, and he was asked to take it that same day. Badrivishal later became a physics lecturer at Pali Inter College, Shikohabad.

97.  Baba's Photograph

Shrimati Champa Sah of Mallital, Nainital, said that in spite of the fact that she had no faith in sadhus, Baba was kind to her and changed the course of her life. When Baba first came to Nainital, his glory spread in each house. Champa Sah had his darshan once or twice, but she did not find any change in her attitude towards sadhus. However, she saw a photograph of Baba in a devotee's house and wanted to have one herself. She tried to get one through people known to her, but she failed.

During the Nanda Devi festival, she took the necessary things for puja with her and went to the temple to worship. On her way back she saw a young boy with one photograph of Baba. Showing it to her, he asked, "Do you want to buy it?" It was just what she had been trying to get for many days. The boy wanted one and a half rupees for it. She gave the money and looked at the photograph with great joy. When she looked towards the boy again, he had disappeared. She wondered who the boy was and thought about the fact that he had only one picture of Baba. She also could not understand how he had come straight up to her to sell it. She placed that first photograph of Baba in her prayer room, and after the installation of the photo, all comforts and prosperity increased within her family. Her thoughts also began to change, and her faith in Baba strengthened day by day.

98.  A New House

The owner of the house in which Champa Sah had been living for the past twenty-five years asked her to vacate it. She could not find another house and feared that the police would evict her at any time since the owner had obtained a court order. In her distress she prayed before Baba's photograph every day. Baba sent for her through someone she knew and said sympathetically, "Why do you feel so sad? Think of Mother Sita, who had to face many difficulties in life. In time, you will have your own house and you won't have this sort of problem again." Saying this, he raised his head and looking up at the sky said, "It will be a very big house." Leaving the house that she had lived in for the last twenty-five years, she went to live in a very small house. It was difficult for her, but after some time Baba's words came true. She had a spacious house built in Mallital, and her accommodation problem was solved.

99.  A Marriage of Choice

It was Champa Sah's experience that there was nothing that Baba could not give. She wanted to get her son married to the girl of his choice, but the girl's parents did not approve. Champa Sah told Sri Ma about her problem, and Sri Ma advised her to speak to Baba about it personally. After listening to her problem, Baba said, "Arrange the marriage for this coming November." She replied that the bride's parents did not agree and that she could not make all the arrangements in a hurry. Showing displeasure, Baba repeated what he had said. Later on, when she sent the proposal of marriage to the bride's family in the proper way, they accepted it, and the marriage took place in November 1973.

100.  He Can Give Everything

Shravan Nath Sang, Principal, Birla Vidyamandir, Nainital, said that he was born by the blessing of a saint. Yet he remained indifferent to those whom people regarded as saints or elevated souls. One day in 1954 Kishan Chandra Tewari, a teacher at his school, was taking Baba home with him. On the way Shravan Nath and Baba came face to face. Baba said, "Our principal has come." Sang did not say anything and continued on his way to his house. Nevertheless, that momentary meeting inspired an ardent desire in Sang's heart to see Baba again. The feeling became more and more intense, and one day he went to Hanumangarh for darshan. Baba saw him in private and talked to him for about twenty minutes.

After this Sang escorted Bhutani students to Bhutan, and their king, Jigmi Dorgi Chogyal, invited him for an audience. The king took him to see their guru, the Lama, who was about one hundred and fifty years old. The Lama was so old that he could not even raise his eyelids. Raising his eyelids with his fingers, he saw Sang and asked, "Why have you come here?" Sang replied, "To have your darshan and blessings." At this the Lama said, "You have a great saint with you. He can give everything." He then described Baba Neeb Karori's form and appearance. Hearing the Lama's description, Sang's faith in Baba became firm. He looked up to Baba as an image of God and always went to have his darshan. Baba was particularly kind to him, and by Baba's grace, Birla Vidyamandir made good progress during his term as principal.

When Sang went to Indore to participate in a public school conference in 1962, he had an attack of paralysis. He then went to Motimahal, Lucknow, where Vidyamandir students studied in the winter. He was treated in the Medical College, and after many tests, the doctors diagnosed him with a brain tumor. He was also losing his eyesight. Lying on his bed at Motimahal, he remembered Baba. He would say that wherever Baba turns his face, the universe also turns.

In March 1963, when Tewari was with him, Baba and many other devotees came into Sang's room. When he learned that Baba had come, he tried to get up because he wanted to touch Baba's feet. Baba forbade him to do so and warned him that he would go away if Sang did not stay where he was. Baba sat on a rectangular wooden seat placed by Sang's bed and stretched his foot out towards him. In order to raise his spirits Baba said, "You are a Brahmin of the North Western Province. You are brave. Ask whatever you want, I am ready to give you all." Rubbing Baba's toe with his hand, Sang listened to him while tears flowed from his eyes, washing Baba's feet. He said to Baba, "O God! You have given me everything. What is there left that I should ask of you?" This moved Baba, and patting Sang's head with his hand, he said, "Sang is a true saint. He has no desire in him." Baba became emotional, saying, "I will go to Vindhyachal and tell Ma." He got up and went out of the room, as did the other devotees. Tewari said that after Baba left, Sang became unconscious, and after remaining in a coma for fifteen days, he died. When Sang died, Baba was in Allahabad. Two teardrops rolled down his cheeks, and he said, "Today Sang has become one with me."

101.  Mother, Have Patience for Some Days

Pitamber Pant, the husband of Shrimati Munni Devi, was in the Indian army and lived at Sipahidhara, Nainital. Some years after his marriage he was sent to Germany during the Second World War. He did not return for many years, even after the war ended. His name was published in the missing-in-action lists and not in the list of those killed, for there was no definite proof of his death. Some women suggested to Munni that she should fast on Mondays and worship Lord Shiva, which she did every week. More years passed with no word from her husband, and people began to suggest that she remove her jewelry and ornaments, as was the custom for Indian widows.

One winter Munni Devi went to stay with her father in Lucknow. She was on her way to Mankameshwar Mahadev temple with a woman friend when she saw a big, bulky sadhu lying on the bank of the Gomti River. When he saw Munni Devi, he called her to him with a gesture of his hand, but she hesitated to go towards him. He sent his devotee to fetch her. When she approached and bowed before him, he asked, "Where are you going? To worship? Sit down. Where is your husband? Her short reply to the last question was that she did not know. Baba said, "In the army? Didn't receive a letter? It will come." Munni said that Baba's words made her feel confident that her husband was alive. She felt happy and overwhelmed and started to cry. Consoling her, Baba quoted from the Ramayana, "Mother, have patience for some days. Ram will come with monkeys." He also said, "Do not worry. His letter will come and he will come."

On her return home Munni Devi narrated the whole incident to her father. He said that the baba was Baba Neeb Karori and that whatever he said would definitely happen. After some time she received a letter from her husband, and shortly thereafter he turned up. Pitamber Pant had been a prisoner of war. One day a sentry came to him of his own accord and said that he would give him an opportunity to escape and to be ready for it. After escaping and facing many difficulties, he finally reached home.

102.  Protector of the Unprotected

Baba saw on old woman who had no means of livelihood and no family of her own. Her suffering touched him, and he immediately took her under his protection. He gave her a place to live in the ashram and provided her with food and other facilities in her old age. Later she needed personal care and was unable to cope with life at the ashram, so Baba arranged for her boarding and lodging in Haldwani at the house of Vinod Joshi, the manager of Kainchi ashram. Joshi's mother looked after the old woman, and when she died, Baba got her last rites performed by Purnanand Tewari and her twelfth day rites performed at the ashram.

103.  His Kindness to Joshi

Kailash Chandra Joshi worked in the Loretto Convent in Lucknow. When Birla Vidyamandir was established in Nainital, Joshi followed Baba's instructions and went there to work. However, he had to take sick leave for nearly a year because he suffered from ill health, which did not improve even after treatment. In the end he went to Dr. Khajan Chand, a TB specialist based in Bhowali. After a thorough examination, the doctor told him that the disease had so affected both his lungs that it was incurable.

Joshi was in a desperate and depressed mental state when one day he had Baba's darshan. He told him about the situation and that his services in school would be terminated. At this Baba said, "Nobody can terminate your services. If you yourself leave it, that's another matter." About his disease Baba said, "You have faith in an injection worth fifty rupees and not in a medicine costing two paise. Go to Bindki Road near Kanpur. There you will meet a vaidya turned sadhu. Have his treatment. Take your utensils with you. He will give you food to eat as well."

Following Baba's instructions, Joshi went to Bindki Road. He saw the physician that Baba had told him about, who diagnosed him with liver disease and did not place any importance on the x-rays. He asked him to take a particular medicine with some powdered pipal (an Indian herb) mixed in his milk. Joshi had no faith in the physician's diagnosis or his medicine. However, after a few days of this treatment he regained his health. He went for a check-up at Lucknow Medical College and was declared fit. Back in Bhowali, Dr. Khajan Chand was surprised to see him in good health. What Baba said in relation to the termination of his services at school also proved correct. Joshi passed the age of seventy-five after Baba's Mahasamadhi and still did not retire.

104.  Baba's Benign Nature

An old Nepali laborer named Khantia lived in a hut near Kainchi ashram. His two cows were his only property. He had nobody to call his own and was living through his old age alone. He was unhappy because he had not been able to get rid of poverty all through his life and believed he would not get salvation even after death since there was no one to perform his last rights.

He used to watch the crowd that gathered around Baba at Kainchi. One day he thought that he could offer milk from his cows to Baba. The next morning he filled a bottle with milk and went to the temple. He wanted to pour milk on Baba's head as is done over a Shivling (a stone symbolising Lord Shiva). However, seeing Baba surrounded by many people, he hesitated and gave up the idea. He poured the milk into the river on his way out of the temple and returned to his hut.

He tried to do the same thing again on another day. He came to the bridge with the bottle in his hand and from a distance saw Baba surrounded by people as before. Baba at once told Bhuvan Chandra Tewari to escort the old man carefully over the bridge. As Tewari approached, the old man trembled with fear. Still supporting his bottle in his hand, Tewari helped him over the bridge and brought him to Baba. As soon as they approached, Baba snatched the bottle from the old man's hand and poured all the milk over his own head. The old man's eyes became wet with tears of love. Dumbfounded, he stared into Baba's face. Baba asked him, "What do you want?" He asked for salvation. Baba said, "I will get your last rites performed and salvation will be given." To assure him of his words Baba asked him to shake hands, but he hesitated. Baba instantly took his hand in his own and confirmed his words.

As Lord Krishna was moved by the poverty of Sudama [Sudama, a childhood playmate of Lord Krishna, suffered from poverty until he went to have the Lord's darshan], Baba's eyes filled with tears as he told the devotees about the old man's poverty. "Rain water drips in his hut. He has a dented plate and a broken tumbler. He has no clothes to wear, no bedding to spread for a comfortable night's rest." After that Baba sent clothes, bedding, utensils, and other things to the old man's hut from the ashram and instructed that food be sent to him from the temple daily. In the end, when the old man became ill, Baba sent him to Ramsay Hospital in Nainital by car and bore all the costs of his treatment. Baba left Haridas Baba at the hospital to take care of him, and when Khantia died, Baba sent thirteen people to get his last rites performed. He also had the twelfth day rites performed at the ashram according to the custom in the hills.

105.  Smallpox Cured

One day while Baba and some devotees were staying in Rishikesh, a rash like those seen in smallpox cases appeared all over Baba's body, though he had no fever. Sri Ma applied Boroline to the rash, and it disappeared the next day. She could not understand whose disease he had taken upon himself. Baba then left Rishikesh and went to stay at his ashram in Bhumaidhar. After a few days Sudhir Mukerjee came from Allahabad to see him. He told Baba that one of his family members had been suffering from a serious case of smallpox. Everyone in the house had been worried and remembered Baba. The water with which Baba's feet had been washed was kept carefully in their house and was given to the patient. By Baba's grace he was cured overnight. This explained the mystery of the rash covering Baba's body.

106.  Saving a Life

On 7 September 1970 in Vindavan, Shri Banvari Lal Pathak's blood pressure rose abnormally high. He had a heart attack, and his condition was serious. The children in the house became worried and ran to Baba at his ashram. They prayed to him to save their father's life. Baba came to the house with the children and scolded Pathak saying, "Why do you cry?" I have said you will recover." By Baba's grace he felt better at once, and the next day Baba sent him to Dr. K.S. Mathur, a heart specialist based in Agra, for a check-up. Dr. Mathur declared him healthy and thus relieved his anxiety.

107.  Many Diseases Cured

During the first week of May 1961 Kehar Singh ji was facing many problems at work. He was very worried and had lost all his motivation. He contracted a stomach disorder and grew weaker every day. Baba came to Lucknow and on seeing Kehar Singh's condition, asked him to take a leave and get himself treated by Dr. S.P. Gupta at the Medical College in Lucknow. Taking Baba's name, Kehar Singh told the doctor that Baba himself had sent him for treatment. The doctor, however, did not know Baba nor had he heard his name. When Kehar Singh described the symptoms of the disease, the doctor prescribed a tonic and a medicine for dysentery for him to take for fifteen days. The medicine effected such an amazing improvement in Kehar Singh's health that he decided to continue taking them.

However, the second time they reacted adversely. His liver and kidneys were affected, and there was swelling in his hands, face, and feet. He also lost weight and began to have palpitations. Singh ji then tried homeopathic treatment, but there was no improvement. In this state of helplesness he learned that Baba was coming to Lucknow. He went looking for him at Prem Lal's house and felt extremely weak while climbing up the stairs. He was about to bow before Baba when Baba said, "Raise your foot, raise your foot." He raised his foot and showed it to Baba. Baba pressed his foot with his fingers as if he was examining the swelling. He did not say anything. His touch was enough. The same homeopathic medicine worked after that, and Kehar Singh soon recovered.

108.  A Favor to Ishwar Chandra

Maharaj brought Ishwar Chandra Tewari with him from Kanpur to Kainchi and made him stay for a month. Tewari's economic condition was not good. He worked for the Milk Board and had a large family. He had the responsibility of the marriages of his daughters, and his family was not able to arrange for provisions in his absence. After receiving a pathetic letter from home, he was weeping quietly in his room at the ashram when his friend Bhagwati Sevak Bajpai of Kanpur came and asked why he was crying. Tewari showed him the letter and told him about the situation. Bajpai kept quiet, but some time later he went into Baba's kuti. On seeing him Baba said, "Tewari is weeping? Received a letter from home? Fetch it and show it to me." Bajpai went to Tewari's room to get the letter. Tewari drank a little water to compose himself and then, taking the letter with him, went to ask Baba's permission to return home. Aggrieved by his suffering, Baba said, "Not you, he [Bajpai] will go and see." He sent Bajpai to Kanpur at once. Bajpai arrived the next day and went to his own house to get his car. Then he went straight to Tewari's house and asked the family about the things they needed. The members of Tewari's family were surprised and said, "What are you talking about? Only yesterday you brought all the foodstuffs here in this very car and gave us sixty rupees for miscellaneous expenses." Bajpai was baffled. He went back to Kainchi the same day and told Tewari all about it. Tewari was overwhelmed by Baba's favor.

109.  Take Rest

Jagmohan Sharma, an executive engineer, came to see Baba upon being transferred from Nainital to Agra. When his wife asked Baba to go with them, Baba said, "I will meet you in Agra." As Baba had not asked their address, she took his words lightly. However, when Sharma became very ill in Agra, Baba went to his house in order to relieve him of his worry. He told Sharma again and again to stop worrying. After some time Baba got ready to leave. In spite of their earnest plea, Baba would not stay and said, "As long as I stay here you will remain sitting. You need to rest. Now take rest." Then he left.

110.  A Lost Mother Found

In July 1972 the wife of Jagannath Anand of Haldwani was suffering from mental health problems and wandered away from her house. In spite of a heavy search, no one could find her. Someone said that she was seen in Kanpur, but after searching there, they still did not find her.

Anand had four daughters. Sarla, the second one, had contracted polio as a child and was disabled, but she moved about by dragging herself along the ground. She was feeling sad because of her mother's disappearance, so she decided to speak her heart to Baba. While her family was devoted to Baba and she had heard a lot about him, Sarla had never been able to see him because of her disability. Nevertheless, she took a bus to Kainchi ashram by herself one day. It was dark by the time she dragged herself into the ashram, and when she found out that Baba was in Bhumiadhar not Kainchi, she became very disappointed. It was cold and had been raining heavily in the hills, so an ashram attendant gave her a blanket and showed her a place on the veranda. However, he would not open a room for her without Baba's permission.

After a little while, at about 8 p.m., Baba arrived at the ashram. First he scolded the attendants, saying that they had killed his daughter in the cold. He then got a room opened immediately and made a bed for her to rest. Sarla wanted to tell him about her problem, but Baba made her eat a meal and then rest. He said, "Tomorrow we will talk." The next day when she told Baba about her mother, he said, "Don't worry. Leave your worries. Your mother will be found. Your father is spending a lot of money unnecessarily in trying to find her. She will be found without going in search of her." Baba sent Sarla off.

No one knows how her mother reached Balrampur in the district of Gonda, but one day as she was passing by a shop, the wealthy shopkeeper saw a woman of good family in a pitiable condition and felt compassion for her. He took her home to his family, who bathed her and gave her clean new clothes to wear. They disentangled her knotted hair and got the wounds on her head treated in the local hospital. While she was recovering from her wounds, she herself gave her Haldwani address in a moment of lucidity. The shopkeeper wrote to his son-in-law, who had a factory in Haldwani, and asked him to inform the woman's family. Sarla's father received the good news on 31 August 1972 and immediately went to Gonda to bring her home in the beginning of September.

111.  Farewell to Swami ji

A swami wearing silken robes was going to Kathgodam by car and stopped at Kainchi ashram on his way. He went in to meet Baba, who received him cordially and giving him a seat by his side, made him have food. After a long, pleasant conversation, Baba bade him farewell with tears in his eyes and gratified the swami with his affectionate behavior. The swami got into the car and was driven away. After he had gone, a devotee wanted to know the reason for Baba's exceptional behavior towards him. Baba said, "His time was up. I sent him off with love." The swami traveled for barely an hour en route to Kathodam when he suddenly had a heart attack and died.

112.  Farewell to a Devotee

One evening Baba came to the house of Ramesh Chandra Bannerjee, the president of Government College, Nainital, and went on talking late into the night. At one point Baba suddenly covered himself with his blanket and sobbed. His behavior stunned everyone. Baba then got up to leave the house, but Ramesh's son Sushital, who was a young man at the time, said to Baba, "I will not let you go alone so late at night. If you have to go now, let me accompany you." Baba kept quiet, and the two of them went from Nainital to Bhowali Sanatorium on foot. They went into a room where Baba's devotee was lying sick. The man offered pranaam to Baba with folded hands, and shedding tears of love, he said, "Baba, I have just remembered you. It was my desire that I should see you before I die." Maharaj did not speak and looked at him with eyes full of tears. The devotee was immersed in joy, and his face brightened in contentment. He slowly closed his eyes and died in Baba's presence.

113.  Disappointment Turned to Joy

One day Ram Dutt Pandey received news that Baba had arrived in Haldwani, so he went there to have his darshan. On his arrival he discovered that he had been misinformed and became very disappointed. He bought some things for his shop and then boarded a bus to return to Nainital. The bus was about to leave when a taxi suddenly stopped next to it. Maharaj and some devotees got out and boarded the same bus for Nainital. Pandy's disappointment turned into a happy reunion.

114.  Destiny Appeased

Ram Ratan Verma's daughter was of marriageable age, but the planet Mars was in the seventh house of her horoscope. The astrologers predicted that if the groom were not a Mangali (particular astrological sign) boy, their married life would not last more than four years. Verma was not able to find such a groom, so her marriage remained unsettled.

One day Baba came to their house, and while Verma's daughter Shanti was making roti for Baba, he said to Verma, "Settle your daughter's marriage." Verma said that although he had tried, he had not succeeded in his efforts. Baba sent for the girl from the kitchen and read her palm. Shanti was happy to think that Baba would tell her something about her future, but Baba spat into her palm instead. Everyone laughed. Shanti also laughed and went off to do her work. Nobody understood it at the time, but Baba changed the influence of her horoscope, which was obstructing her marriage.

Baba suggested a boy from Jaipur and asked Verma to get Shanti married to him. Verma said that it was not possible since the boy's family had already received a marriage proposal from a girl in their local community. Baba at once said, "Their purpose will not be served. You talk." Baba's words came true. Verma got an opportunity to initiate the topic of marriage with that family. The groom's family wanted the marriage to be performed without matching horoscopes. For his own satisfaction Verma asked for the boy's horoscope and consulted the astrologers, who told him that the boy was not Mangali and that there was the possibility of his death by drowning within four years. The marriage was Baba's command, so plans went ahead. Still, Verma was worried in his heart. Thinking about his daughter's future, he became pensive, and his health began to suffer. When Baba arrived one day, Verma told him of his secret fears in the presence of other family members. Baba said, "It is the law of destiny, do it."

From the time Shanti arrived at her in-laws' house, she was concerned about her father's worry. She had done her best to persuade her husband not to bathe or swim in a river or lake, but she was not certain that he would comply. One and a half years after their marriage, Shanti's husband, V.B. Singh, had just taken his exams in Lucknow when he met Baba and traveled with him to their house in Mainpuri. Baba went to bathe in the Yamuna River and took V.B. Singh and his cousin along with him. V.B. Singh did not dare to bathe in the river but had to get into the water on Baba's insistence. He thought of bathing in the shallow water, but Baba made him stand in front of him and knowingly pushed him from the back. V.B. Singh fell into the river and was taken by the current. He did not know how to swim, so he sank in the water and was carried away for some distance. Baba followed him and rescued him. In this way Baba fulfilled the prophecy and also prevented his premature death. On returning to the house, Baba told Shanti's father, "Here is your son-in-law, now nothing will happen, even after four years."

115.  Telephone Baba

Baba's devotee Dr. Naval Kishore was the gynecologist at Agra Medical College until he received a post at Ramsay Hospital in Nainital. Some time after he arrived, Baba asked him to treat the hill women at Hanumangarh, which he did daily from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. One day Naval Kishore could not go to work. Baba had been away from Nainital but returned to Hanumangarh that day. He asked the reason for the doctor's absence, but nobody could tell him. That evening, while walking around with some devotees, Baba stopped near the Empire Hotel and asked, "Where does the doctor live?" When a devotee pointed to the hotel, Baba sent someone inside to call the doctor. He came out, and Baba said to him, "You are ill?" When the doctor said no, he then said, "You have a cold?" The doctor replied, "Just an ordinary cold." Baba immediately called a dandi and told the doctor to get himself admitted into Ramsay Hospital. The doctor did not feel it necessary, but Baba insisted and sent him to the hospital with some devotees.

From there Maharaj went with Devi Dutt Joshi, Pooran Chandra Joshi, and some other devotees to a washerman's house, where the puja of Sri Satyanarayan (Vishnu) was being performed. At about 7:30 p.m. the doctor's brother came to see Baba to tell him that his brother's condition was serious. He had suffered a heart attack and was having difficulty breathing. Baba said, "What can I do? You go." Baba sent the devotees with the doctor's brother to the hospital.

Later, on their return from the hospital, the devotees saw Baba walking towards Kelakhan. Baba told them that he was worried about the doctor and his family, and he continued down the slope the Kelakhan, where he went to Mohan Baba's hut. [Mohan Baba was a well-loved holy man of the Kumaon hills. He was well known as Telephone Baba because although he could truly communicate with God, at times he used gestures as if he were talking to him on the telephone. Like many Indian saints, he did all sorts of lila to hide his mystical powers. He was a very innocent, childlike being, and his prophecies proved to be true.] Mohan Baba, who was also known as Telephone Baba, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, and Maharaj ji asked him to ring up the Lord and tell him about the doctor. Mohan Baba gave an imaginary phone call to Narada, saying that Baba wanted to talk to Vishnu. Narada replied that Lord Vishnu was not available, for he was talking to Goddess Laxmi. After some time Maharaj asked Mohan Baba to ring again. This time Mohan Baba did not hear whatever Narada said clearly and went on shouting into his mystical telephone in vain. All of a sudden Maharaj got up and picked Mohan Baba up by the hair. He then dropped him on the ground and cried aloud, "He is saved now! He is saved now!" and left. The two devotees also left and returned to Nainital where they received good news about the doctor's condition.

116.  Anger, a Saving Grace

Baba advised Devi Prasad Pande to get an operation performed by Dr. B.C. Pande at Ramsay Hospital. Devi Prasad Pande did as Baba advised, but his condition worsened in spite of all the doctor's efforts. All the members of his family were worried, and in anguish, his wife went to Kainchi ashram. When Baba saw her there, he became very angry. He hit her on her back with his fists and told her to get out of the ashram. She was not able to tell him her tale of woe and left disappointed. By the time she reached Nainital, the doctor had declared her husband out of danger, and his condition slowly improved. The display of anger by Baba was a saving grace that absolved them of that karma.

117.  Insanity Cured

The officer in charge of Banda's main police station ate something given to him by someone that made him insane. The boy's father was worried and sad, for no treatment proved effective. Impressed by the fame of an ayurvedic physician in Firozabad, he took his son to Radhay Shyam's house and called the doctor. After much deliberation the physician gave him a medicine and said that if there was no change in his condition after three months of taking it, he would have to be admitted to a mental hospital. During this period Maharaj arrived, and Radhay Shyam asked him to cure the police officer. Baba put his hand on the boy's head, looked at him in a normal way, and did not say anything. It was by Baba's divine glance and touch that the boy became normal by the time he woke up the next morning.

118.  The Old Man Will Not Die Now

Kanhaiyalal Srivastava of Allahabad was lying on his back at home, eating an unpeeled apple, when a piece of it got stuck in his windpipe. He started to have difficulty breathing, and the more he tried to get it out, the deeper into the windpipe it went. He was taken to Medical College Hospital, where the doctors decided to operate. In tears members of Kanhaiyalal's family went running to Maharaj, who was staying nearby at Church Lane, and they asked him to save the old man's life. Baba said, "The old man will not die now." They did not believe what Baba said and were afraid of the operation. Meanwhile Kanhaiyalal experienced a violent fit of coughing back in the hospital, and by Baba's grace the piece of apple came out. When the members of his family arrived at the hospital, they found him cured.

119.  Favors to Rani Bhadri

When my late husband, Raja Bhadri, went to Pantnagar University as its vice chancellor, I went with him. During our stay there my mother became seriously ill. I was crying in distress when Baba arrived and relieved me of my worry by saying, "Don't cry, your mother will be alright."

Similarly, in 1964, when my daughter Alka was getting married, I was having some problems. Without any warning, Maharaj, the worthy of worship, arrived at my house in Lucknow, blessed my daughter, and then went away. All my difficulties disappeared by themselves, and the marriage was solemnized easily, without any further problems.

Later, in 1968, my daughter Alka was in the middle of a difficult labor. We were all very worried, for the doctors were helpless and could not assure us of her safety if she had to undergo a caesarean birth. Just then the adorable Maharaj arrived and went straight into Alka's room and sat there. By way of a blessing, he gave her a flower, consoled her, and went away. After that everything became normal, and she gave birth to a son.

-Rani Bhadri

120.  Baba's Central Jail

The watchman at Vrindavan ashram was making money on the sly by selling bags of cement while the ashram was under construction. Baba, knowing all, feigned ignorance, but when someone made a complaint to him, he called the watchman and asked him, "How much have you sold the cement for?" He replied, "Two hundred and fifty rupees." Giving him two hundred and fifty rupees more, Baba turned him out of the ashram. The man became jobless, and after wandering here and there for some time, he returned to Baba. He apologized with a heavy heart for his misdeeds and asked Baba to take him back into his service. Baba appointed him watchman at Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple in Lucknow. The manager at the temple was his devotee Bhushan Chandra Joshi, the former superintendent of Central Jail in Agra. Baba told people that he sent the watchman to Central Jail.

121.  Grace Unasked

Baba was sitting in a house in Nazarbag, Lucknow, where a large crowd of devotees had gathered outside. Suddenly Baba asked Pooran Chandra Pande to call a rickshaw to go to someone's house in Mahanagar, even though there was a car standing outside. When the rickshaw arrived, Baba got in and took Pande with him. On the way Baba addressed the rickshaw puller, who he had not met before, saying, "Rahim, is your wife very ill?" He replied that she was seriously ill. Baba very politely said, "Come, take us to your house." Rahim took them to his house. Baba glanced at the patient and said, "Don't worry, she will be alright." Baba then returned to the house in Nazarbag.

122.  A Winning Ticket

One day a man named Gangadhar Padhalni from the Kumaon hills came to meet Baba at Kainchi ashram. He had a minor job with Roadways and was concerned about his inability to meet his family's expenses. Although he did not say anything about it to Baba, Baba asked a devotee to give Gangadhar five rupees. Then Baba said to him, "Buy a lottery ticket in your wife's name." Gangadhar's wife was from Kerala. He followed Baba's instructions, and they won 500,000 rupees. His wife purchased property with the money, and they lived comfortably for some time. Later the woman became emotionally upset by her husband's extravagance and returned to Kerala. Baba made sure she was provided for.

123.  A Husband's Plea

Shrimati Savitri Devi suffered from liver trouble for about two and a half years. Her health became so run down that she had to be admitted to Crosswait Hospital. There her condition worsened, and the doctors lost hope. Her husband, Ramesh Chandra Choudhry, went straight to Baba at Kainchi ashram and falling at his feet said, "Whether you save her or you let her die, I am now helpless." Baba said, "To die is not a child's play. Your wife will live for a long time. The doctors tell a lie." Baba then picked up a flower and gave it to Choudhry saying, "Give this to your wife." Taking the flower with him, Choudhry went to the hospital and placed the flower on his wife's head. Savitri's condition slowly improved, and when she recovered completely, she returned home.

124.  A Way of Showing Kindness

A beggar was chanting God's name with japa mala (rosary) near Bihari ji's (Krishna's) temple in Vridaban. The sun had risen high in the sky, and he was sad that he still had not received any alms. Baba, who could read one's thoughts, saw him and at once went and sat by him. The beggar mumbled that he had not had anything since morning and now Baba was coming to grab a share. Baba, with a violent jerk, snatched the rosary out of his hands and began chanting with it himself. The beggar became angry, but Baba went on calmly counting the beads. Having blessed the beggar by using his rosary, Baba returned it to him. After that the man's condition improved. He was seen around Bihari ji's temple, but he was not begging any more.

125.  Baba Assures a Long Life

The wife of Thakur Shiv Singh of Ramgarh, Nainital, once met a holy man from the hill region who was known to make true predictions by reading the palm. When he read Shrimati Singh's palm, he did not say anything. After much persuasion he told her that she would die in a big hospital within six months. Despite being young and healthy, his prophecy frightened her. Thakur, a great devotee of Maharaj, was also worried and went to Kainchi with his wife. As soon as Baba saw them, he said, "What did the holy man tell you?" Without waiting for a reply, he said, "That you would die within six months?" He repeated it again before all the devotees present and at last said with emphasis, "She won't die earlier than age seventy-five." The event predicted by the palm reader did not take place.

126.  The Marriage of Kutul's Daughter

Kutul supplied milk to Church Lane, Allahabad, where Maharaj often stayed. Kutul had seen a boy that he wanted his daughter to marry, but he could not go ahead with the arrangements for the ceremony since he did not have the money. One day he put his problem before Maharaj and asked him for his blessing. Baba said, "Get the marriage performed as soon as possible." In spite of his circumstances, he had faith in Baba and got the date of the marriage fixed for the first available day. The worry about the money, however, remained the same.

A few years earlier Kutul had lent many hundreds of rupees to someone who had not paid him back. The person always put off payment when Kutul tried to resolve the situation, so he was convinced that the man would never pay the money back. His situation was so bad that he could not even get a loan. Finding no other way out, he once again went to the man to ask for the money. He even shouted at him but returned empty-handed.

On the day of the marriage Kutul's relatives came to his house to help him. However, there was nothing in the house, and Kutul was very worried about what to do. Just then the man who had borrowed the money from him arrived to pay him the complete amount with interest. They arranged all the necessary things quickly, and marriage was performed.

127.  Baba's Generosity

Baba was at his small ashram in Bhumiadhar when a poor man brought him milk in a clean glass with great affection. The cloth he had used to cover the glass, however, was very dirty. Seeing the cloth, none would have liked to drink that milk. Nevertheless, Baba took that glass very eagerly in his hand and removing the dirty piece of cloth, drank the milk very lovingly. The generous Baba saw the feelings of that man and ignored the unclean cloth.

128.  A Lifelong Penance

One evening in May, Baba was sitting in a chair on the lawn at Church Lane. Some families of the judges of Allahabad's High Court were sitting around him on the ground. I was sitting alone on the other side of the lawn. Some time passed, and two men came and stood near me. One of them was dressed in a black coat, like a lawyer, and the other was in the traditional Indian dress of dhoti and kurta. Both of them bowed to Baba in salutation, but he did not look at them. Baba continued to sit with his head bent, talking to the devotees near him. The newcomers waited for some time in the hope that Baba would turn his eyes towards them, and eventually they sat down quietly.

The man wearing the black coat seemed to be impatient. He was signalling to the man in the dhoti-kurta to leave. Seeing him so restless, his friend got up to attract Baba's attention and said, "Maharaj, I have come with a friend of mine. He is in trouble and wants your blessing." Seeing his friend standing, the man in the black coat also stood up. Baba said to the man wearing the dhoti-kurta, "You are a lawyer." The man agreed. Then baba said to the man wearing the black coat, "You are not a lawyer." He nodded. Everyone stared at Baba in fascination. Baba asked the man directly, "What is your trouble?" Being nervous, the man did not reply. His lawyer friend said on his behalf, "Maharaj, he has been involved in a murder case, and the police are after him." Baba asked the man in the black coat, "Have you not murdered?" He then told the truth saying, "Yes, Maharaj." Though no details of the murder were given, Baba knew it all. He said, "The man who you murdered was very gentle. Why did you do this?" The man humbly replied, "Maharaj, he was a stumbling block on my way." With grief and anger, Baba burst out saying, "His children are still young. How will they be brought up?" Filled with remorse, the man felt mortified and could not give Baba any reply.

Baba told the man that he must do a lifelong penance by taking full responsibility for the family and ensuring that the wife and children were looked after. Baba told him to take a vow that he would do so. Weeping, the man promised to do what Baba commanded. Baba asked the lawyer, "Whose court is the case to be tried in?" The lawyer gave the name of a Muslim judge. Baba said, "All will be well."

By acquitting the man from the justice of the law, Maharaj ensured that the family would be looked after. Instead of just a jail sentence, the man did lifelong penance by serving the family. He realized the enormity of his crime and suffered great remorse throughout his life.

राम