Translator: Shani Evenstain

North to the Himalayas, the cliffs near Badrinath are still blessed with the presence and inspiration of Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya’s mentor (the saint of Banares). According to the belief, the great master has kept himself alive for hundreds of years. The immortal Babaji is considered an ’Avatar’, a state in which the supreme transforms and manifests itself in a physical body. The ancient Avatars of India are Krishna, Buddha and Patanjali. This honorary title was given to this anonymous Yogi (siddha), who is one of the immortals.
The West have learned about Babaji through Paramahansa Yogananda’s great book "Autobiography of a Yogi", which was published in 1946. In it, Yogananda write about Babaji, calling him ’Mahavatar’, or ’the great Avatar’. Yogananda also writes about other contemporary Yoga masters who had met Babaji, most of them part of the Kriya Yoga tradition. According to this tradition, Babaji was born to a Brahamin family on November 30th, 203 A.D. in a small village in southern India, now known as Parangipettai, near the estuary of the Cauvery River. It is said that Mahavatar Babaji had initiate spiritual giants, like Shankara, Kabir, and Lahiri Mahasaya, who guided Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi and Sri Sudhir Ranjan Bhaduri.
 
Mahavatar Babaji is known to projects pure vibrations onto humanity, in order to encourage countries to stop wars, hatred, religious sects, and object the negative influences of materialism. Sri Swami Yukteswarji writes about Babaji that his spiritual level is beyond the grasp of an ordinary man. His limited perception cannot penetrate and reach that of an Avatar. Such spiritual state is simply inconceivable to an ordinary man. The ever young Babaji, who has resided in the Himalayas for centuries, gives his blessing to the world continuously. His role is to help humanity’s spiritual guides when they fulfilled their worldly duties, and the time has come for them to operate through the spiritual plain.
Babaji was given many titles that attempt to describe his spiritual level, but the Mahavatar simply adopted the name ’Babaji’. The word ‘Baba’ is rooted from the word ‘father’ and ‘ji’ indicates honor, respect, admiration. Babaji then simply means ’The admirable father’.
Babaji’s most prominent disciple in the 19th century was Lahiri Mahasaya, who is the modern rejuvenator of the lost art of Kriya Yoga. When initiating Lahiri Mahasaya into the secrets of Kriya Yoga in 1861, Babaji has granted humanity with one of the oldest techniques for reaching self-realization and freedom. 

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