Neeb Karori Baba

Neeb Karori Baba (or Neem Karoli Baba) was born in the village Akbarpur of Uttar Pradesh (India) in a wealthy landlord family. His mother died in his early age. He was 8-9 year old at that time. He was married to Shubh Shree Ram Beti of village Badam Baas at the age of eleven years. Baba left his home at the age of twelve and return after the gap of 10 to 12 years. First, he went to Rajasthan from there he went to Rajkot, Gujarat.

After that he reached to Bavania Village of Morbi District (Gujarat). There he continued his sadhana in a water pond near Ramabai Ashram. He meditated for hours in pond. There he was known as Talaiyaa Baba.

From Babania, Maharaj ji set off on a journey around the country. While traveling, he arrived at the Neeb Karori Village, in the district of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, and there he stopped to take some rest. Villagers became attached to him and beseeched him to stay. They built an underground cave for him in which he immersed himself in spiritual practice all day. Later a new cave (which still exists) was dug out about 200 meters from the old one. Maharaj had a Hanuman Temple built on the roof of this cave, and on the day of consecration he shaved his long, matted hair and started wearing a long, cotton dhoti instead of the loincloth.

After moving into the new cave, Baba started interacting more with the villagers. He developed a friendly association with the younger people of his age group and often participated in their sports. He mingled with them so freely that it was not possible for them to be over-awed by the peculiarities of his astonishing deeds. While playing hide-and-seek, he was able to locate any one of them instantly, wherever they might be hidden in the forest, but when his turn came, he became invisible and was not to be found anywhere.

While climbing trees in the forest, his pursuers would follow him up one tree only to reach the top and see him sitting on another. No one saw him leaping from tree to tree. While swimming in the village pond, Baba would disappear under the water and come out after a long time. It was all a matter of amazement and fun for them.

During this period a poor bird catcher named Gopal became Maharaj’s ardent devotee and came to attend to him every day. One day, Baba’s instructions not to enter his cave, Gopal made the mistake of going in with a pot of milk that he had brought for him. He found Baba in deep meditation with serpents wrapped around his body. He was so horrified to see his guru in his Shiva-like form that his legs gave way and the pot of milk slipped from his hands. He ran outside and fainted. Baba came out and lifted him up saying, ‘You should not have entered the cave without permission.’ It was by Baba’s touch alone that Gopal regained consciousness.

One time Neeb Karori Baba did not get food for several days. The villagers said that he appeared agitated. He shouted at the holy image of Hanuman, ‘Will you starve me to death?’ No sooner did he say these words than several people came to the temple with plates full of fruits and sweets.

Once Baba went to Farrukhabad from Neeb Karori in the first-class compartment of a train. Seeing his sadhu-like appearance, a conductor told him to get off the train at the next station. Neeb Karori Baba got down and took a seat on the platform. Despite all efforts of the station staff, the train did not move; its departure was delayed for two hours. The conductor could not explain the problem since no mechanical defect was found. In fact, the engine was running, but the wheels would not turn. All the compartments of the train were checked thoroughly and no fault was found anywhere. While the authorities were deliberating over the problem, some railway employees asked Baba in jest to make the train move. He said, ‘I am turned out of the train and you are asking me to let it go!’ An employee replied, ‘Perhaps you had no ticket.’ At this, Baba showed them several genuine first-class tickets. Amazed, they begged him to re-board the train and let it move.

In 1935 a rich man came to Neeb Karori Baba and offered Baba a silver plate full of gold coins in the presence of some other brahmins. He did not accept the offering. His rejection of it antagonized the brahmins, for they had wanted Baba to give them the money.

Later another rich man came to Neeb Karori bringing thirty cans of ghee (clarified butter) for the forthcoming yajna (fire ceremony) on the full-moon day. Baba was in Farrukhabad at the time, taking a bath in the Ganges. In his absence the brahmins spoke to the rich man in a derogatory way about Baba and persuaded him to go away with his cans of ghee.

Baba could see all that was happening at Neeb Karori Village from Farrukhabad, and on his return he reprimanded the brahmins and gave up the idea of performing the annual yajna.

One day shortly thereafter, he left the village. He had lived there for eighteen years. After leaving Neeb Karori, Baba lived for some time on the bank of the Ganges at Kilaghat in Fatehgarh. After leaving Kilaghat, he wandered from place to place. Nothing can be said for certain about where he went and what he did during this time. There was, however, a steady growth of reverence for him among people in the towns of Bareilly, Haldwani, Almora, Nainital, Kanpur, Lucknow, Vrindavan, and Allahabad, and also in Delhi, Shimla, and even Madras (Chennai), a far-off city in the South.

Without any publicity, urban and rural Indians of all ages, castes, and classes, as well as people from the West became Baba’s devotees. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and even atheists were drawn to him.

During the 1940s Neeb Karori Baba began spending more time in Nainital, Himalayas. Many of the town’s inhabitants became devoted to him. If they saw Baba going anywhere, they would leave their business or chores and like carefree beings, follow him wherever he went. There was an inexplicable bliss in the households that Baba visited. No effort was needed to find out where he was in the town at any particular moment because his presence could be felt by the spirit of joy and festivity pervading that place. He would occasionally stay in the houses of his devotees, but he spent much of his time on the secluded Manora Hillside, about two kilometers outside of the town.

Baba's ashram in Kainchi

Sometimes he would pass the nights on the roadside parapets, and householder devotees accustomed to domestic comforts would remain awake with him all night, night after night, and still attend to their usual routine during the day. Instead of feeling fatigued, they felt a new spirit of energy. In the early 1950’s Baba started to build first temple, which he named Hanumangarh, constructed on the Manora Hillside.

Over the next two decades he also had temples, and in some places –  ashrams, constructed in Bhumiadhar, Kainchi, Kakrighat, Vrindavan, Kanpur, Lucknow, Shimla, Delhi, and other places. Neeb Karori Baba valued the temples and ashrams, but he had no desire or attachment for them. As soon as each temple was completed, he would turn its management over to a local trust. Many visitors were fed every day in Baba's ashrams and given packets of prasad (blessed food) to carry home for their families. The visiting ascetics were offered money and blankets as well as food. Baba would say, ‘If you do not empty the stock, how can it be replenished?’ Just as the sun never sees darkness, Baba never faced a shortage of anything.

He devoted time towards his responsibility of a householder and at the same time he continued to look after his bigger family i.e.; the world at large. In his family as a householder, he has two sons and a daughter.

From the 1950’s until his Mahasamadhi, Baba visited the temples and ashrams but never stayed in one place for long. Wherever he stayed, he lived simply and was always concerned with the welfare of others.

Neeb Karori Baba treated everyone equally. Although saints generally maintain distance from women, Baba mingled with them freely. He could playfully hold the hand of any woman and without any hesitation, catch hold of her nose and tweak it for fun.

Nothing was seen as inappropriate in his behavior. Both male and female devotees pressed and massaged his feet. His presence and touch communicated such good thoughts and feelings that everyone felt uplifted. Neeb Karori Baba regarded all human beings as his own children and treated them accordingly. He often said, ‘You feel pestered with a few children, but I have so many.’

A devotee said that Baba once asked a group of people who had gathered to see him, ‘Why do you come to me?’ And he answered himself saying, ‘You come to me because of my love for you.’

He nurtured the concept of Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world as one family) and would say that love binds all together. His blood relations, along with countless others, merged within this worldwide family. Devotees only found out about Baba’s relatives when his last rites were performed. He said, ‘The whole universe is our home and all residing in it belong to our family. Every woman is a mother or sister and every man is a father or brother. This is all God's family. You can do service of the highest order only if your thoughts are centered on God. Instead of trying to see God in a particular appearance, it is better to see him in everything.’

On 11 September 1973 Neeb Karori Baba left his physical body in Vrindavan. He is a perfect example of how the eternal power assumes human form and dwells for a time amidst the masses.

Extracted from babaneebkarorimaharaj.com