Babaji - Message from the Himalayas. Maria-Gabriele Wosien

creation of the world. It is remembered as a time when "the mountains crashed asunder, the earth shook, the winds raged and even as far as the very depths of the ocean the turbulence was full and furious".

      When it was all over, ice and glaciers could be seen only on the highest elevations of what today are known as the Himalayas. Shiva and the pantheon of gods, whose former abode was on the Kumaon Kailash - the one identical with the legendary Mount Meru, world axis of the planet - retreated to a mountain in Tibet, north of Lake Mansarovar, also called Mount Kailash. As for the ancient sacred centre, little by little people began to move in and settle there.

      This sacred centre of the world (the macrocosm) has a corresponding site in the human body (the microcosm), namely the meru danda of the spinal column wherein are connected the chakras, centres of consciousness or sites of manifestation of the gods.

      When Shiva wedded Sati he brought her to the Kumaon Kailash, where in ancient times there used to be a lake at the base of the mountain. Sati delighted in bathing there and to this day the spot is called 'Sati Kunda'.

      On the day of her arrival the goddess planted a sapling on this site and today it still stands as the one and only tree rising majestically out of the river Gautama Ganga. This river was formerly underground and it was Shiva who brought it to the surface at a later stage to emerge approximately two and half kilometres north of this site. This was an act of grace by Shiva for the rishi, Gautama, who was one of seven rishis²⁶ practising yoga and meditation in this area.

      The Gautama River flows underground from Lake Mansarovar for many kilometres beneath the Himalayan Range and surfaces not far from the little village of Haidakhan. It continues its flow through the Sati Kunda, curiously without ever flooding the sacred tree, not even during the annual monsoon when torrential rains turn the river into a watermass of relentless, surging turbulence. Furthermore, as with Ganga water, the water taken from the area near the tree can be kept for years without contamination setting in.

      At the foot of Mount Kailash, about level with the Gautama River, is a cave which, like the mountain, dates back to the time of creation. There are several subterranean passages leading from the cave towards Haridwar, Benares and Lake Mansarovar. Described in the Shiva Puranas²⁷ as a dwelling place of the gods, this cave is worshipped as a site where Shiva periodically retreats for deep meditation and tapasya [ascetic practices].

      It was inside this cave, in June 1970, that Babaji was 'discovered' by a local villager who had had a dream instructing him to go there²⁸.

      Mount Kailash (approx 2600m) is described in local historical accounts as well as in mythology as the 'golden mountain' because the Meru Parvat is also called Hemadi which means golden mountain. It is known also by other names such as Ratnasanu - jewelled peak; Karnikachala - lotus mountain; and Devaparvata - mountain of the gods.

      Today only some sporadic huts are to be found on the lower slopes; vegetation is scant near the peak; and there are no water springs at all. There is however a rare variety of the parijata tree growing all over the mountain. Only one among thousands of these is able to produce a seed. (In legend, it came into being when a milky potion bestowing immortality was beaten to a froth.) On the summit of Kailash is a Shiva sanctuary with a lingam, dhuni²⁹ and an altar of bells, the latter being offerings made by pilgrims.

      Opposite Mount Kailash, on a hilltop across the river, is a temple constructed in the 1840's (oral tradition dates its completion in 1843)³⁰ by Babaji's own hands and with the help of some villagers. This Shiva temple has an octagonal form symbolising the ashthasiddhis³¹, the eight-fold aspect of Shiva's manifest power. Using only local stones and boulders, Babaji would trace out the required size of the building block with his staff and the excess rock would just fall away. Inside the temple itself is a three-faced lingam, believed to be alive with divine breath.

      In recent years after Babaji's reappearance, the temple precinct has been greatly extended to become an ashram capable of housing many people.

      To the human eye, the five-hundred-metre-wide riverbed is an endless mass of whitish-grey stones and boulders. Babaji has said that these are souls who have attained liberation, and that the day is no longer far away when so many people will flock to Haidakhan that their number will surpass even that of the stones in the riverbed.

      Stone has traditionally been significant as an object of ritual worship and as a vital medium of divine revelation; it also features strongly in accounts of disciples' experiences in Babaji's ashram. For instance, down on the riverbed in line with the temple above, there is a lingam which marks 'the most sacred site on earth'; its meaning was revealed some years ago to a disciple in a vision:

      "On the evening of 28 January 1976, a marriage ceremony was being performed by the riverside near the ashram. During the festivity, Babaji called me over and told me to go look for a little boy who was apparently missing.

       "In the darkness I began to climb the many stairs to the ashram above, pausing several times to catch my breath and gaze upon the cheerful scene below. At this height the sounds of the brass band and the voices from the crowd became mingled into a great humming and droning. I leaned against the wall and surveyed all below me. Suddenly I could see the 'other Haidakhan' as it were, the hidden spiritual reality of a place that had otherwise become so familiar to me in the two months of my stay there.

       "The words 'Haidakhan is the centre of the world' kept coming into my mind and then I had a vision. I saw a havan kund (sacrificial fire-pit) enclosed by a beautifully structured yet simple boundary and inside it was teeming with life. It was a picture of utter simplicity but I knew I was looking at the original and the last place to exist on earth....."

      Mahendra Baba³² has spoken of the significance and spiritual beauty of this place in the ecstatically inspired poetry of his Haidakhandi Arati³³:

      "Haidakhan is a place unique - pure, full of bliss, the ultimate goal,

       Where gods and sages daily meet, where the Gautama Ganga flows.

       Beholding Mount Kailash, I am drawn to it with all my being. At the foot of this mountain is a beautiful divine cave - within the Lord Himself resides.

       There the animals of the forest move about without fear and enmity toward one another.

       Since my Lord is dwelling there, even Nandana Van, Lord Krishna's abode, has lost its charm for me.

       Glory be to this sacred place of Haidakhan, Lord

      Shiva's home."

      Of his vision of the future, Shiva tells his son, Karttikeya, that a time will come, when all the gods will return to the Kumaon Kailash; this will be also the time when Haidakhan will regain its original significance as the principal sanctuary of the world; a time which would mark a turning point in world history and the dawn of a new age.

6) HAIDAKHAN BABA - HISTORICAL REVIEW

      Yogananda referred to Babaji as 'Mahavatar', the great divine incarnation, and as 'Immortal Babaji'. He stated that along with Christ, Babaji is preparing the groundwork to usher humankind into a new consciousness.

      The name 'Babaji' is a general term of respect used when addressing spiritual masters and teachers. Since time immemorial, Babaji as Shiva-avatar, has been a familiar figure in the Himalayan world, though known by countless different names and titles in both classical literature and oral tradition³⁴. Manifesting in different places, under various guises, he is nevertheless always understood to be the same divine Being.

      Babaji is generally known to be an ayonisambhava or spiritual being that is neither born of woman nor dies a physical death. As swayambhu or self-manifested, apart from retaining memory of all his previous physical manifestations and having all knowledge, his vision extends beyond time and space and beyond the origin of creation.

      The Shiva Purana³⁵ contains a dialogue between Brahma and Shiva which implies the existence of a divine principle that incarnates into human form throughout the ages:

      "In the twenty-eighth aeon, during the dvapara yuga [the age following