Neem Karoli Baba ashram in Mahakumbh mela 2025
(A devotee`s experience)
It is purely by Sai’s grace that Subu and I decided end-December to attend the Maha Kumbh Mela (13 Jan -26 Feb’25) between 31 Jan and 3 Feb (this being the last amrit snaan day of the season). The media (print and social) was all over, marketing this mega event and the numbers that had started to turn up in Prayagraj on a daily basis were in crores.
Over the last 1 year, I have been reading about Neem Karoli Baba and was even blessed to visit the Kainchi Dham ashram in Nainital in May’24. As soon as our Prayagraj tickets were booked, I reached out to Reuben to see if he had an idea about where in Prayag Dada Mukherjee (one of the ardent devotees of Maharaj with a brotherly relationship between the two) lived. Maharaj ji used to stay at Dada’s house whenever He visited Prayagraj. 4 Church lane turned out to be quite far (>10kms, that too in the opposite direction) from the ashram that we would be put up at.
how to reach 4 church lane prayagraj
Subu had already warned me that we have to just stick to the agenda of doing ganga snaan, and that we won’t be able to do any sightseeing given the traffic restrictions and the crowd. So, I dropped the idea of making an effort to go here and mentally prayed to Maharaj ji that I would visit him leisurely another time.
On the second day of our stay at Kumbh mela (1 Feb), we wanted to do triveni sangam snaan and went over to the boat area, only to realize that it is closed for 4-5 hours because of the vice president and CM’s visit. We then decided to walk across the river to see the akharas (where naga sadhus were staying). It was almost noon by now, it was quite hot and the whole area was very dusty (fine sand/soil of the river) and very crowded. We had woken up at 3:30am and by now both of us had headache too.
dada mukherjee lecture in Florida 1985
We first reached sector 20, had one round of 3 akharas; there were in total 13 akharas spread over 3 sectors. Each sector is a huge area spanning a few kilometres (easily 3-4) in length and breadth, with many cross roads too. It is basically a matrix, lined with tents of various spiritual/religious institutions or ashrams. In total, there might have been more than 1000 masters/leaders/gurus, each with many more thousands of followers/students, and lakhs of pilgrims going just to see them.
ram dass meets maharaj ji neem karoli baba
After a good, free lunch at panch-agni akhada, Subu was very tired and he decided that we go back to our ashram across the river (>5kms walk). By now we had an understanding of how the mela looks, and other areas too would be similar only. Having put in so much effort reaching here, I wanted to visit one more akahada, and managed to convince him. We then went to sector 18, almost 3pm now, walked around for a bit in the maze of cross roads. And now we were ready to head back, and started walking on one of the cross road (a random selection). This was named Shankaracharya marg (this is not the main akhara road) and it had camp sites of various gurus here.
Suddenly, Subu in an excited tone said, “your Neem baba is here”. Wow! It was Neem karoli Maharaj ashram. What a surprise for me! We went inside the compund, there was small kutiya with an altar for Maharaj ji, a few pictures of Him and Lord Rama Sita Hanuman. About 7-8 people in the hut were singing, probably ram charit manas or sundarkaand. I chanted the Hanuman chalisa, and while leaving, a lady there offered us 2 laddoos.
Ah! What a way in which Maharaj ji Himself drew us to His ashram to give darshan. In retrospect, the odds of us reaching this ashram was very very minimal (sangam snaan getting cancelled due to VIP visit, fighting it out to visit another naga sadhu sector, random selection of Shankaracharya marg….), isn’t it purely His grace! And topping it was the laddoo prasad! It was like maharaj ji saying, “jao, prasad khao”. Ahh! How benevolent He is.
Was His leela over, not yet! Right after we came out, Subu received a call from Mayank’s (Subu’s office colleague) cousin to visit the ashram that he was staying in and associated with. The ashram is Chandra mohan ashram. And we realized that this was just a 5 minute walk from where we were. We received a warm welcome and learnt more about Chandra mohan guruji, who too is a siddha purusha and blessed by mahavtar Babaji.
All this while, the present (current) guru was asleep on a cot. After half an hour of chit chat and eating chivda, we were ready to leave. By now the guruji was up, so he blessed us and gave us prasad of orange and murmur. Mayank’s cousin insisted on us having coffee with them, they are all so hospitable, and we couldn’t say no.
We were standing at the gate of the ashram sipping coffee, and just then I saw the present guru ji wearing a blanket and lying on the cot but with legs folded at the knee and upright, just in the same way as neem karoli babaji’s favorite posture. I was stunned for a moment! It was quite a sight, having darshan of the feet of guruji in Maharaj ji’s famous pose. It is not a comfortable, easy position that people generally would lie down in. My mind wondered in wonder, at Neem baba’s act of grace. My immense gratitude to Him. Om sai ram!
website
