Years back I’d heard a tale of horror, which happened to a young French girl traveling through India. She’d been fascinated by Aghori sadhus, who have a reputation for being way out on the fringes of the sadhu world. She’d gone to Gujarat to seek them out and had come in contact with some black magic babas. They drugged her with datura (Jimsom weed) which produces a long-lasting zombie-like state in its victims. She was kept drugged and used by the band of sadhus for sex and often left for hours in the blinding heat by the side of the road with a begging bowl and made to beg for rupees from passerby.
They kept her captive for several years and one day, thinking she was too passive and docile and without a will of her own, they lost track of her, and she managed to walk away and contact the police. She was transported to the French Embassy then back to Paris where her family took her on rounds to all the best specialists in the city. Eventually they all concurred that she’d suffered permanent brain damage and no cure was available. She was aware enough of her situation and allowed her family to institutionalize her so that her needs could be met as best as possible and to prevent her from committing suicide.
Two years after hearing this terrible story I ran into a woman sadhu, who I had often encountered while traveling around India. That morning, I was wearing my Maharaji locket, which I only wear intermittently. I was sitting in a cafe in Paharganj having breakfast with this woman, who had come from France more than thirty years ago. She was a devotee of Ram and a chela of a very famous sadhu from Ayodhya and now lived as a permanent resident of India. All of a sudden she reached across the breakfast table and began to finger the locket around my neck with Maharaji’s picture, “Oh oh!” she cried. “This is the Baba! He saved my little girl’s life!” When I asked her what she was talking about, she proceeded to tell me the whole story about her daughter with the Aghoris that I’d heard before.
She told me that her daughter had been in and out of hospitals for about a year and that when the doctors had finally exhausted every blood test and cat scan process they could think of – they gave up and institutionalized her permanently. About a month later her daughter woke up in the middle of the night and Maharaji was sitting on the edge of her bed. He said, “Daughter, sleep well tonight. Tomorrow, you go home.” When she woke the next morning all the damage and the pain from the drugging and the abuse had melted away as if it had never happened.
Excerpt from Barefoot in the Heart: Remembering Neem Karoli Baba edited by Keshav Das
What a touching story, so illustrative of the deep compassion of Babaji.
I find the amazing tales of Maharaji quite fascinating, but they also puzzle me .. I’ve been a student of Ram Dass and devotee of Maharaji since 1979, and the only visitation I’ve had from him is in my dreams .. unless he came concealed.
I’m very scientific .. that’s a thing that attracted me about Ram Dass: he was trained at high level in western psychological science, so I respected his bullshit meter … he could spot a fake … he initially distrusted Maharaji…
But after all these years … and much service … and much suffering and melodrama … I wonder why I never see Maharaji in a more mystical way … One thing I tell myself is that I’d never want to disturb him if it’s unnecessary … being scientific I wonder “what is the medium of a mystical visitation?” … and am I being greedy wishing for one?
Anywhoo … your story is powerful, and is yet another manifestation of the potential wonder associated with Maharaji
Dear Harmony-
If you have had a visitation, or vision in your dreams of the Maharaji, than he HAS appeared to you. Dreams are a portal for spirits. If you have seen him in your dreams you have been blessed with his spirit. Dreams are also my way of connecting. Coming from a scientific background like you have, you may not see this for what it is, but be open to your dreams. You can even ‘ask’ him to visit you again, before you go to sleep at night.
If you can remember, when you dreamt of him, how did you feel when you woke up from that dream?
Sweet dreams-
Lynn
Have you felt LOVE? When you feel that you LOVE as a projection on to what ever or whom ever or you just feel LOVE happening in the moment that is a mystical manifestation of Majaraji He doesn’t manifest in a form unless the person needs it as reassurance.
I know the Goddess personally, and she tells me she is an atheist, But I believe in her, even if she doesn’t. ;o)
Hey Guys,
Jesus was doing this stuff pressed down and running over, long ago.
I’ll suggest here that all these powers are to had by anyone willing to obey the universal laws that govern them. And not all use them for good.
Check out the magicians at Pharoh’s court. Look at the various magicians on TV. Check out the sidhus.
And some just don’t have ‘it’.
I don’t have it. But I stand in awe of people who do; and use it for the purposes Christ so encouraged people to do.
He is also the only one to worship. Worship others at your peril.
Also, it’s nearly time for Christ to return. Will you all deny him then.
Robin, I am glad you have Jesus as your guide and mentor. He is a truly wonderful manifestation of true Spirit, and points out a powerful way to come to God. He is my teacher and mentor, too. But I have come to the conviction that he is not the only way, despite words in Christian scripture attributed to him to this effect. At one time I did think he was, but I’ve come to believe these are words put in his mouth by a later writer. Jesus IS a son of God. So are you. And he points us to a pure and powerful Path. But a God who is Love provides for us as many paths as there are people on this wonderful planet of his. Many of the differences are cultural. But all point to the same God, Source, Center, Energy. and it’s pure Love.
Visitations and visions of the Sat Guru happen only if it is Dharmic for an individual’s spiritual progress. “Ours is not to question why, but only to do and (paraphrasing) die into spiritual love.”