Baba Lokenath

Baba Lokenath
Mousumi Ghosh

The honoured mystic Baba Lokenath Thakur is the Lokenath Bramhachari
of Baradi and Baba to his devotees. Baradi is a village in
Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Lokenath set up his ashram here.
When we look at the picture of Baba Lokenath Bramhachari sitting in
his yogic posture, we get mesmerized by his eyes. It is rather
impossible to describe his eyes. It seems that Baba can see our bare
soul, such a bright and piercing eye but very very assuring.
It’s true. His devotees believe his comforting discourse – “Remember
me when you face any trouble in water, land, forest and anywhere in
the space. I shall protect you”. Baba though not living in this world
now in his physical body is saving countless people from their many
grave crises. He is immortal to his devotees.
Let us have a glimpse of his life and deeds that succeeded in
mesmerising so many people for more than a century. In his physical
body, he lived for more than one hundred and seventy five years.
He first came into limelight through a surprising incident in Baradi.
At that time he was a new comer in Baradi. After spending a long
period of one hundred and fifty years in Himalayas and other places,
he arrived at Daudkanti village in Tripura. One Dengu Karmakar of
Baradi village who was wrongly convicted in a criminal case requested
earnestly to the unclothed saint with magnetic personality when Baba
was meditating under a banyan tree at Daudkanti. With Baba’s grace, he
became free of crime charge. He was the first known devotee of Baba
Lokenath Thakur and he induced Baba to stay at his house in Baradi.
He was a mystery at first to the villagers for his unclothed body and
unusual activities. Locals assumed him as a mad Sadhak. Some local
respectable Brahmin men were making Sacred Thread (paita) in the
village. Unexpectedly the threads got entangled and the Brahmins with
all their efforts failed to separate them. Suddenly, that mad person
came there. The Brahmins became scared as nobody knew his identity and
caste. However, that person advised them to recite Gayatri Mantra. The
Brahmins instead requested him to recite that. Baba Lokenath separated
the entangled sacred threads by reciting Gayatri Mantra. Later, the
local Zamindar family the Nag babus became his devotee. Baba wanted a
land which fetches no rent. Accordingly with the approval of the
Zamindar family, His hermitage was built in an abandoned Burning Ghat
at the village periphery.
Once, Baba was summoned at the court in a criminal case where an
altercation between a disciple of him and a rowdy son of a Zamindar
led to a serious fight. The opponent’s lawyer asked his age. Baba
replied –“One hundred and fifty years “. The lawyer loudly protested
and said that in the court one should not talk all these non sense.
Baba then quietly said that they could note what they desired. The
plan of the opponent’s lawyer was to prove that it was impossible for
this too old saint to see the incident. So he again asked, “You said,
you are one hundred and fifty years old. Vision becomes too weak at
this age. But how could you notice the incident from the room? The
saint smiled. Pointing at a distant tree, He enquired, “Do you notice
any creature climbing on the tree”? Nobody was able to see any thing
at such a long distance. Brahmachari then smiled and said, “You are
young and have a strong vision. But you are not observing anything.
But I am sure that there are lines of red ants that are climbing the
tree”. Some people of the court then went there and saw that it was
right.
Baba once saved Bijoy Krishna Goswami a famous religious spoke person
of Dhaka from a dangerous forest fire in Chandranath Hill. Goswami was
meditating in a forest there. Suddenly the forest fire started which
scared even the wild animals there. Goswami started meditating again.
At that time suddenly, Baba Lokenath (then unknown to Bijoy Krishna
Goswami) arrived, took Goswami in his arms and saved his life by
relocating him to a safe place. Later when they two met at Baradi,
Lokenath Brahmachari told about that incident.
Baba was like a guardian to many ferocious animals. A poisonous snake
was like his pet. Similarly the tigress of a forest kept her cubs near
him when she went to collect food for them when Baba was in meditation
in the forest. Again, the birds took rest sitting on his shoulder.
Like a little child, he enjoyed distributing sugar to the ants and he
watched with utmost concentration whether they ate them or not. One of
his devotees invited Baba at his home on the occasion of the memorial
service of his father. Though baba was not regular at such social
functions but he agreed. As the devotee did not notice him, on the
next day, he came to the Ashram and expressed grief. Lokenath replied
that he went there but the devotee himself ordered him to go out. The
disciple became speechless. How could it be? Baba then pointed out
that the disciple injured a dog twice with his stick when that poor
creature entered the room reserved for delicious sweets. So baba made
it clear that he exists within every creature. Similarly, a rich
devotee, who was suffering from a dreadful disease once, brought milk
for him in a large earthen pot. Suddenly Baba became very angry and
denied his gift. After repeated request, he suggested that as the
concerned person was rich enough, if he brought it in a new good pot,
it could be used. That person followed his advice. However, when at
last it was kept in the courtyard, a dog of that Ashram with joy
started to drink that milk. The rich man became very angry and started
to beat the dog. Baba Lokenath then said that for that reason, he
refused his milk. Once a thing was given to Baba, a devotee lost all
his rights on that good. So there was no reason for the person to
behave so cruelly.
There are various remarkable experiences which his devotees narrated.
For instance, the deputy magistrate of Darjeeling, Mr Parbati Charan
Ray was Baba’s devotee. Once, he became bed ridden with life
threatening disease. One day, He saw Brahmachari beside his bed. After
that, he became completely cured. After a few days, he visited the
hermitage at Baradi to pay homage to Baba. He enquired whether Baba
had visited Darjeeling recently. Baba as usual replied that he did
not. But Parbati Babu repeatedly queried about that incident. He was
certain that it was not a dream. Baba just said that he was at that
time thinking about Parbati.
Similarly, Dr Nishikanta Babu was a medical practitioner in America.
He was a relative of Baba’s ardent disciple, the Nag families of
Baradi. One day, a sophisticated American lady came to him. She was
suffering from complicated colic pain. The western medicines failed to
relieve her pain. She wanted to try ancient Indian medicine as she had
great respect for India. But Dr Basu did not have knowledge about
ancient Indian treatment. In the course of their discussion, suddenly,
the lady screamed and asked the doctor about the person at his back.
The lady saw a tall Indian saint with matted hair and long beard. As
he was at the back side of Doctor at first failed to notice the
figure. The patient then said that Baba had given her the medicine in
this fraction of a second. Then the figure simply vanished from the
closed room. The figure resembled that of Baba Lokenath Thakur.
In the middle of the eighteenth century (on Tuesday, Janmastami,
Bengali year 1138), Lokenath Brahmachari was born in a well-known
village Chakla, situated in Barasat sub division of Twenty four
Parganas. His father Ramkanai Ghosal had a secret desire that one of
his sons would become a recluse and acquire divine knowledge.
Ultimately, his youngest son Lokenath got the permission from his
mother Kamala Devi to become a Sannyasi. Acharya Bhagaban Ganguly, who
was a known name in the field of spiritual education in the locality,
became his teacher. During his Sacred thread wear ceremony, Lokenath’s
Acharya decided to renounce the world taking his student Lokenath with
him. Lokenath’s childhood friend Benimadhav also joined them. Both of
them obtained the ceremonial diksha from their Sir Bhagaban Ganguly.
All of them left home. The age of the young hermits or Brahmacharis
were then about ten and their teacher around sixty. They visited many
holy places before meditating in the forest. Kalighat, the famous
Sakti peeth was surrounded by jungle. It was a powerful centre for
meditation for saints who gathered there from far and near. These two
young recluses disturbed them by pulling their matted hair. When the
agitated saints mentioned it to Lokenath’s Guruji, he replied that
these children belonged to the same group in which these holy men
belong. So they should train them as required. Their Acharya was
indeed an excellent teacher. During the tough period of meditation in
the forest, when the young ascetics had to bear with a period of
strict discipline and long days of fasting, Acharya himself nursed
them. He even washed their bodies when needed. Even when they became
adult, he did the compulsory begging to acquire food for all of them.
The food collected through begging is the purest food to the Indian
saints. He believed that the young hermits would lose their required
concentration if they got mixed with family men and their consumerist
attitude. The meditation at the forest continued for twenty five
years.
Then after meditating a long time in the high ranges of Himalayas,
they met a spiritually powerful Yogi, Hitalal Mishra. Too old Bhagaban
Ganguly before leaving his mortal body requested him to take care of
his ‘young’ students. These young students were then about ninety
years of age. They acquired huge Yogic knowledge from Yogi Hitalal.
And after long period of meditation Lokenath transformed into renowned
Brahmavid or powerful Yogi. He travelled various places of Himalayas
and that of Tibet. He also visited the Mecca, the most spiritual
centre of the Muslim people. After meditating for a long period in
the snow capped Himalayas, their teacher Hitalal Mishra ordered them
to come to the lower valley and work for the betterment of mankind.
Benimadhav moved to Kamakhya in Assam and Lokenath Brahmachari went to
holy Chandranath before arriving at Baradi beside River Meghna.
Baba Lokenath Brahmachari himself conveyed the message of his death of
physical body to his devotee Prabhu pada Bijoy Krishna Goswami. He
died on Unishe Jaistha in Bengali year 1297. He also saved the life of
one of his devotees after this date who was wrongfully given capital
punishment in the lower court.
Countless number of his devotees is still receiving his divine grace
and I am one of them.