Neem Karoli Baba / Shri Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji

Neem Karoli Baba

Maharajji | Nainital

Neem Karoli Baba Maharjji (नीम करौली बाबा) or Neeb Karori Baba also known to followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru, mystic and devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman. He is known outside India for being the guru of a number of Americans who travelled to India in the 1960s and 1970s, the most well-known being the spiritual teachers Ram Dass and Bhagavan Das, and the musicians Krishna Das and Jai Uttal, and Trevor Hall (Rampriya Das). His ashrams are in Kainchi, Vrindavan, Rishikesh, Shimla, Neem Karoli village near Khimasepur in Farrukhabad, Bhumiadhar, Hanuman Gadi, Lucknow, Delhi in India and in Taos, New Mexico, USA.

Neem Karoli Baba – Maharajji

Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji established at least 108 temples, fed millions of people, advised government and corporate leaders, performed what can be called Miracles, influenced current American and Indian society, brought grace into the lives of countless suffering people, and all the while remained out of the “public eye.“

It is believed that by the time Maharajji was 17 years old He knew EVERYTHING. This is to be taken to mean a knowing that is actually incomprehensible to you and me. A knowing that is all. The knowing of Bhagvan. The knowing of God. There are stories contained in this website and in the books referred to herein that hope to in some way help to tell of the Grace and Love of this truly remarkable being. Maharajji had nothing and Maharajji had everything.

In the late 60’s an American known as Baba Ram Dass authored books telling of Neem Karoli Baba and hundreds of westerners went for Maharajji’s darshan. Maharajji was elusive as the stories tell, but many were allowed to be in His presence and they tell stories that are a wonderment of love and grace and lilas and mostly awe.

Now, there appears to be three Maharajji’s. One is the historical Maharajji. This Maharajji seems to have taken birth and lived a “traceable” life in time. Secondly, there is the “formless” Maharajji. This Maharajji is the Maharajji that we apparently connect with on our “inner” dimension. Thirdly, there is the Maharajji that exists in form “now”; the Maharajji who is reported seen and experienced; the Maharajji who never actually died. This is Maharajji who is a “time-traveler”. We are just beginning to learn about that Maharajji and some of His effects in the world.

Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji taught many people. These teachings continue today. The teaching was very subtle or literally a knock on the head. Maharajji’s teachings seem to have been totally individual. Each devotee would have the answer or the help they needed in the way that was best suited to their needs. When devotees remembered Him, Maharajji would rush to them to help and protect them. This seems to be going on to this day.

Maharajji seems to be continually visiting people and helping them since He “left His body” in Vrindaban in 1973. One devotee said that he thought the greatest miracle was what Maharajji has done since then. Maharajji has visited, helped, guided, fed, and called into service so many in the last forty years. Maharajji never went away.

Kainchi Dham Ashram – Kainchi (Nainital)

Among the most well known of Neem Karoli Baba’s disciples were spiritual teacher Ma Jaya, Ram Dass (the author of Be Here Now),teacher/performer Bhagavan Das, Lama Surya Das and the musicians Jai Uttal and Krishna Das and Trevor Hall (Rampriya Das). Other notable devotees include humanitarian Larry Brilliant and his wife Girija, Dada Mukerjee (former professor at Allahabad University, Uttar Pradesh, India), scholar and writer Yvette Rosser, filmmaker John Bush, and Daniel Goleman author of The Varieties of the Meditative Experience and Emotional Intelligence. Baba Hari Dass (Haridas) was not a disciple, however, he supervised several buildings and maintained the ashramsin Nainital area (1954-1968) before heading to the USA to become a spiritual teacher in California in the beginning of 1971.

Steve Jobs, along with his friend Dan Kottke, traveled to India in April 1974 to study Hinduism and Indian spirituality; they planned also to meet Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji, but arrived to find the guru had died the previous September. Hollywood actress Julia Roberts was also influenced by Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji. A picture of him drew Roberts to Hinduism. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of facebook, influenced by Steve Jobs, visited Neem Karoli Baba’s (Maharajji) ashram in Kainchi in October 2015. Larry Brilliant took Google’s Larry Page and Jeffrey Skoll, co-founder of eBay, on the pilgrimage.