Baba Muktananda’s Darshan and Wisdom

Pennsylvania, United States

Once, when I had only been on the Siddha Yoga path for a short time, I was going through a dark period. I found it difficult to work and to carry out my normal activities.
 
Then, one night, I fell asleep, and suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. A voice invited me to turn around and said: “Don’t worry, I’m here next to you. Soon you will find God within you again.” Although I didn’t see who it was, I was certain that that touch and those words came from Baba.
I had never before felt such a strong and lively presence.
 
This experience happened many years ago, but this morning in meditation on the day of Baba’s Solar Mahasamadhi, it reemerged so palpably in my consciousness.
 

San Giorgio a Cremano, Italy

Baba’s words have profound meaning for me as I grapple with the events in Israel and Gaza. As I think of all the people, animals, and the very air and ether vibrating with devastation, Baba’s words ring with truth: “Where is that place where there is no Self? Who is there who does not have this Self?”

I am grateful that Baba’s incredible wisdom is available to us at this difficult time, enabling me to steady my mind so I can formulate and send forth divine prayers with the deepest longing of my heart.
 

Colorado, United States

As I was meditating and repeating the mantra this evening, I noticed that love began to flow in my heart. This experience of pure, spontaneous love is what gives my life a deeper meaning. This love is so fulfilling that deep contentment suffuses me; I experience inner peace and a merging with the infinite space of God.
 

Konolfingen, Switzerland

Recently, before I fell asleep, I read and reflected on Baba’s words about chanting. As I gazed at the accompanying image of Baba—arrayed in brightly colored robes and holding a tambourine, his arms raised in the bliss of chanting—I felt stirrings of joy. The next morning, I chanted for an extended period of time and then glided very easefully into meditation. Afterward, I felt bright, alive, and full of love. I felt this was an experience of the Kundalini, which I was able to take into the rest of my day. In fact, I believe that it helped me to find solutions to some of the challenges that lay before me. Even now, I am still experiencing the love and support of the Kundalini.
 

Warrnambool, Australia

I love this teaching in image 12!  I experience the truth of Baba’s words. Every night, I chant with Shri Gurumayi via DVD, and I feel the Kundalini Shakti becoming pleased with the vibrations of the chant. As the chant goes on, I feel pulled more and more into meditation.

Evening chanting prepares me for my final meditation before going to sleep.
 

St. Laurent, Canada

As I read Baba’s teachings, I realized that by contemplating, absorbing, and then gaining tremendous insight from his teachings, I become filled with rasa, which leads me to the experience of having Baba’s darshan! Jnana leads me to bhakti!
 

San Felipe, Mexico

In viewing this gallery of Baba’s photos, I looked at each of them, reading Baba’s words, and thinking about what I have received since 1985, when I came to this wonderful path through Gurumayi’s guidance. Suddenly I was crying and a weight that had been on my heart that day lifted. Then I was looking at Baba’s eyes, Baba’s smile, Baba as he chanted… I never met Baba personally, but I know him through his words and through shaktipat, this great experience I received.

Images began coming back, so present to my awareness, such as Baba’s Samadhi Shrine in Ganeshpuri, and the beautiful experience I had at a Siddha Yoga European Retreat in Sitges when Siddha Yogis who had met Baba shared their experiences. Baba felt so alive, so close to me in my life.
 

Paris, France

Recently we’ve been babysitting our twenty-one-month-old grandson, who’s been captivated throughout his short life by the photos and books of Baba and Gurumayi. He always seems to gravitate to them on the bookshelf and pull them out to gaze at Baba!
 
This week he can't seem to get enough of the photo gallery of Baba. Whenever he sees the computer, he asks for “Baba ji” and delights in each and every one of the photos. We are truly blessed to see that recognition in a small child’s eyes, a deep knowing that transcends time and space!
 

North Carolina, United States

What a morning this has been! I have been in total bliss since I began to view these photos of Baba. In doing so, I relived many moments that I experienced with Baba in Gurudev Siddha Peeth: chanting with Baba, walking behind him as he went around the gardens, watching him feed Vijaya the elephant with so much love.
 
At one point I felt as if Baba were standing right in front of me, and I could feel his love flowing to me.
 

 Mumbai, India

As I looked at each one of these precious photos and read Baba’s words, memories arose of the time I spent offering seva in Gurudev Siddha Peeth thirty years ago. I can recall the sacred stillness of Baba’s Samadhi Shrine and my experience of meditating there. The six months I lived in Gurudev Siddha Peeth are the touchstone I return to again and again in my life.
 

 New Jersey, United States

After viewing each of the images and reading Baba’s words, my heart swells with emotion. I have longed for years to know Baba better, and these images give me a precious and sacred darshan.  
 

 New York, United States

When the pictures of Baba with the beautiful quotations came up on the website, I decided to memorize one of the passages each night before bed. I was surprised how easy it was to do this! Just by reading them aloud a few times, I could learn them, and was often able to recall them spontaneously throughout the next day.
 
I know that Baba’s love was supporting me in this endeavor. Since I started doing this practice, my heart has been filled with such sweet love. My meditations have been full of peace and bliss. When I look at Baba’s picture, I feel his presence smiling back at me. In this way, I have had a direct experience of the teaching that when you take one step toward the Guru, the Guru takes countless steps toward you.
 

 Vancouver, Canada

For me, each of Baba’s pictures and teachings is a window through which I can view the world with the eyes of my heart. The mesh of the senses disappears, and I see the world without judgment, as if I were looking at a postcard.
 

Rodez, France

The sweet darshan of Baba’s photo gallery stirs a place deep in my heart. It is the essence of Baba. The words are so inspiring and hopeful. I feel as though I have just met Baba for the first time, and simultaneously, as though I have known him forever. Yes, that’s it—it is a timeless recognition.
 

Toronto, Canada

The first time I experienced Baba’s darshan was during an evening satsang at Shree Muktananda Ashram in 1979. As Baba came into the hall and moved down the aisle, it was as though the sun had entered the room. Even though he walked along so lightly, there was a sense of tremendous power, solidity, and brightness emanating from his being.

Later, when I came up to receive Baba’s darshan, he looked at me with recognition, as though he had always known me. I felt that I had come home. Now, once again, having Baba’s darshan in these beautiful photos, I recognize how he has continued to be a bright and ongoing presence in my sadhana.
 

 New York, United States

I first met Baba in Oklahoma when I was a graduate student at the university there. Baba held a dancing saptah, and he was full of ecstasy. It was a beautiful time that I will always relish. I remember watching Baba playing the tambourine and chanting God’s name. His energy filled the room, and it was transformed into a space full of joy and grace.

These pictures are a reminder to me of that wondrous time. Baba lit up my life and the world during those years, and I continue to experience his darshan in my waking and dream states.
 

 Florida, United States

During this month, I have begun to recognize that I experience my Self in many different ways in my daily life. And, most profoundly, I have realized that my very human beingness—with all my uniqueness, challenges, and idiosyncrasies—is the Divine expressing itself in perfection right now.

All through these flashes of awareness, I have felt unconditional love and respect for myself, a deep trust in life, and a sense of spontaneous joy and liberation. These experiences make me want to meditate more and more, so that this can become a steady experience.
 

 California, United States

I had never met Baba or Gurumayi, but Gurumayi was coming to the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland, and a friend brought me to meet her. As we waited in the main hall, we chanted Om Namo Bhagavate Muktanandaya. At one point, in anticipation of Gurumayi’s imminent arrival, everyone stood up—still chanting—and faced the back of the hall, where she would first appear.
 
In the back of the hall was a photo of Baba, larger than life. As we chanted, I noticed the eyes on Baba’s image came to life—they were looking at me! And not just at me, but into me—into the deepest part of my being. I had never before experienced anything like this, and I knew at that moment that the Guru who was about to come through those doors was no ordinary person. And I knew my life would never be the same.
 
Through this experience, I felt that it was Baba who’d set the stage and opened my eyes for my first encounter with a living Siddha.
 

California, United States

Before coming onto the Siddha Yoga path, I never knew that the Self is so close to me. I used to think that the experience of the Self is possible only for those who renounce this world. After applying Baba’s core teaching in my practices, the experience of the Self has become so accessible. I have understood that this world is a reflection of the Self. I have recognized that I can experience the Self wherever I am. It is right with me as the changeless “I” in the midst of the different roles in my life.
 

Hyderabad, India