I am Harmony. Radhe Shyam

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      Dr. Hem Chand Joshi was a widely known language scholar who reportedly was able to read, write, speak and teach in fifty-two languages. He was also a great devotee of Shri Babaji. During his lifetime, he collected stories about Haidakhan Baba and wrote the manuscript of a book about Him. The book was not published during his lifetime but was set aside to be published when Babaji would return. The book was found and published by Dr. Joshi's widow at Shri Haidakhan Baba's instruction after His return in 1970. The fol­lowing is a story from this book.

      "Dr. Joshi's father-in-law, Shri G.N. Joshi, had been suffering from tuberculosis for three or four years and had on this day succumbed to the dreaded dis­ease. A pall of gloom descended on the family and the household, and heart-rending cries rent the skies. The dead body was brought outside the house and placed under a lemon tree.

      "People from the village came to join the family in lamenting the loss, and preparations were under way to make the cortege to carry the body to the cremation grounds. As the last holy bath was being given to the body, Babaji suddenly appeared on the scene

      "Shri G.N. Joshi's mother fell at Baba's feet and prayed thus: 'My Lord, now that You have come to me in my time of crisis, please give me Your Grace and somehow grant another lease of life to my dead son. I am worried to death regarding my young daughter-in-law (G.N. Joshi's wife). How will she bear this irreparable loss and go through her life all by herself? I have three other sons, but my heart weeps for this young, 24-year-old girl. Please, Lord, please...'

      "The Lord smiled and said, 'Don't worry; your son will be all right.'

      "Everyone who was present got a very sly look about him and a murmur broke out, as if to ask how can anything be done to a dead body at this stage, when all was over bar the shouting? But, obviously, Babaji had other ideas.

      "Suddenly Babaji became seriousness personified and broke a branch from the very tree under which the dead body lay, and He started to do the now-familiar 'jhara'.³² Barely a minute had passed when He told the lamenting mother, 'Don't worry; warmth seems to be returning to the body.' One more minute and He said, 'I can even feel his pulse returning.'

      "The entire crowd stood bewildered: what was Bhagwan Haidakhandi up to? G.N. Joshi is dead and how and from where is He calling him back? It seemed that everybody who heard Babaji s proclamations had lost his power of comprehension. But anybody would do so, seeing this kind of spectacle.

      "A little later, Shri Babaji asked if it was possible to get some milk from a woman's breast. It was possible and a cup or so was brought to Babaji. Sip by sip, He fed this milk to G.N. Joshi and then, with His hands, He opened Joshi's eyes.

      "Everyone saw that Shri G.N. Joshi had come alive and was looking around in total surprise. Practically everyone had heard that Baba Haidakhan was God incarnate, but now they had actually witnessed it.

      "Now Babaji ordered them to take Joshiji into the house; but superstitions are hard to get over and even now everyone was afraid to lift the body back into the house, for fear that this ghostly spirit might take possession of them should they touch the body.

      "Babaji once again smiled and said, 'Don't worry. This man is alive and not dead, as you think. Take him inside; nothing will go wrong.'

      "Shri G.N. Joshi was subsequently taken to his bed in the house where slowly but surely he began to recover. By and by he started drinking milk and taking food, etc.

      "Babaji left thereafter, but came back to the house after eight days and told the family members to take Shri G.N . Joshi to the nearby river (Ramganga). There the Lord took a few dips in the river Himself and asked people to give a few dips to Shri G.N. Joshi, also. After that, He asked them to lay him on his stomach and cover him with a blanket. After half an hour or so, people saw that a lot of filthy, foul-smelling water ran out of Joshi's nose.

      "The Lord then asked Joshi to accompany Him and, to and behold!, Joshiji got up and walked up the hill for a distance of two and a half miles, quite comfortably, back to the house.

      "This happened in 1910 or 1911 and after being given this fresh lease on life he eventually died in 1950 or 1951, a 40-year lease renewal."³³

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      There are many stories of Shri Babaji raising people from the dead. There are even a few examples of the following variant of the resurrection story. This story is written by Shri Giridhari Lal Mishra.

      "Once Haidakhan Baba was traveling with a devotee (Jeevanchand Joshi) to Badrinath [a religious pilgrim center in the Indian Himalayas]. En route, the devotee was struck by cholera. After a violent but short period of vomiting and profuse dysentery, he was very close to breathing his last.

      "Babaji, compassionate as ever, felt sorry for him and said, 'I shall leave My body instead of you, as there is no one to mourn My loss.' The attack of cholera subsided immediately, as far as the devotee was concerned, but Babaji, on the other hand, was hit by the same disease very quickly and He told the devotee, 'When I leave My body, consign the lifeless form to the flames and the ashes to the Gan­ga.' Shortly afterwards, He left the human body. The devotee, grief-stricken though he was, did as he had been instructed by Babaji.

      "Shortly thereafter, the devotee returned to his home town of Almora. On arrival at his house, he was informed that Shri Babaji was staying, for the last few days, at another devotee's house. It was impossible to believe that this could be true, as he had himself done the last rites. Nevertheless, he hastened to this devotee's house. Lo and behold! Babaji was sitting there in person! He did not even believe his eyes until he had felt Babaji's body.

      "The entire episode so shocked the devotee that he was practically insane for about six months."³⁴

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      Shri Mahendra Baba spent many years looking for Babaji. Just before he found Babaji, Mahendra Baba met an old man named Shiromani Pathak in a small village named Sheetlakhet, in the Almora District of Uttar Pradesh. Shiromani had known 'Old Haidakhan Baba' (Babaji had left the scene over twenty-five years before Mahendra Baba met Shiromani) and had helped create the Siddhashram for Babaji, just outside of Sheetlakhet. The old man took a great liking to Mahendra Baba and the two sat and talked for hours through the night about Babaji. Whenever Mahendra Baba asked Shiromani about Babaji, Shiromani would burst into tears and Mahendra Baba would wait for him to get quiet again. Mahendra finally got this story of Babaji from Shiromani.

      "An hour before my uncle died, he said, 'Just see how gracious He is! Give Him something to sit on. Worship Him!' Those present around him thought he was delirious, but, actually, Shri Sadashiv was giving him liberation by showing Himself to him in His glorious body. From that very moment [Shiromani] said, he, too, felt a great desire to obtain a sight of Him. It be­came an over-whelming wish, but how to meet Him? He had heard tales of His wonderful appearance, but had never been blessed by a sight of His form.

      "One day, unexpectedly, 200 to 250 men came to his house, and with them were some palanquins. In one beautiful palanquin, ceremoniously surrounded by many rich and respectful people with folded hands, was a great and merciful Sage, wearing a shirt and cap, and with a loving smile on His face, shedding grace on all animate and inanimate things around Him. Shiromanji, at that time, was suffering from a very septic wound. As soon as he heard of Shri Bhagwan's arrival, he ran toward Him with joy. He slipped on the wooden steps and a splinter of wood pricked his foot, and he fell down in a faint. The people surrounding him were anxious about him, but Shiromanji was lying with his head resting on the merciful Master's lap in a trance which would put to shame the trance of great Brahma Rishis, and was experiencing a nectar-like peace, fully gratified.

      "After resting at this place for some time, Shri Maharaj, with all His worshippers, whose number had swelled to thousands within a short time, left to proceed onwards.

      "There was no fixed programme for Shri Maharaj; wherever He went, there, without any effort or call, thousands of men and women collected. Hearing of His coming, there was seldom anyone who could stay at home. There were no questions and answers, but people experienced peace