Babaji, or Swamiji, as I – and many others – fondly like to call him, is just that: a wise man, much read, respected and loved. To this day I haven’t really figured if he is of any tenet, religious or otherwise, or his notions about the inane questions we’d love to ask someone of his stature and demeanour.
Yet, he is one of the most uniquely accomplished individuals I have ever known.
Accomplished, because he has touched many lives in many ways, shaped and reshaped minds in a manner no amount systematic education can. Across age groups, gender and stages of life. His way has accorded serenity to many a tempest, in the most logical and uncommon manner, to multitudes of families from all walks of life. Yet, he never addresses gatherings, nobody falls at his feet, and there is no retinue milling around him. Unique, that’s what he is. living on his terms, and shaping and reshaping the lives of many others who thought they had it sorted.

Ensconced in his little ‘kutia’ or bare, one-room dwelling, a bamboo shack,by a Himalayan village, one would expect a spartan existence. It is. Except that it comes with all the trappings of an intellectual abode: books, laptop, broadband, cellphones and Bluetooth, for good measure! A car outside, self-drive to the extent it’ll out a trucker to shame. No statues, no idols, no religious paraphernalia. Just a powerfully simple acknowledgement of the Supreme Being in shape of a sacred space with a pole for incense sticks. Children hollering ‘Namo Narayan, Babaji!’ , followed by elderly trudgers catching up to pay obeisance. Why?
Well, he’s uniquely accomplished, you see. Just like so many he’s mentored into corporations, administration, entrepreneurship and education. The world over, from that little ‘kutia’!

Manish Chaturvedi