My revered Guru, Kathia Baba Sri Sri 108 Swami Sri Krishnadasji Maharaj, was born on October 14 1939 in Rajmahal, a small town on the banks of the holy Ganges river, in the state of Bihar in India. He was named Krishnananda Sinha by his parents. His father, Sri Ramanath Sinha was a lawyer in the Rajmahal Sub Divisional court and his mother, Smt. Hridayavasini Devi was a housewife. Sri Babaji Maharaj was youngest of seven siblings in a family of four sisters and three brothers. Being the youngest, he was the favourite of everyone in the house, and he received a lot of love and affection from everybody.
His parents were disciples of Sri Sri 108 Swami Santadasji Maharaj, the 55th guru of the Nimbarka sampradaya. Both were devout Vaishnavs and all their children received diksha from a sadguru. A room in their house had been converted into a small temple and the puja, seva, bhog, and aarti of Sri Thakurji, Sri Ramdas Kathia Babaji Maharaj, and Sri Santadasji Maharaj was regularly performed with a lot of devotion. Everyone in the family referred to Sri Santadasji Maharaj as, “Maharajji.” From a very young age Sri Babaji Maharaj had implicit faith and deep devotion for “Maharajji.” He read the biographies of Sri Santadasji Maharaj and Sri Ramdas Kathia Babaji Maharaj when he was six or seven years old. He read both the books again when he was thirteen years old. This time the life of Sri Santadasji Maharaj had a profound impact on him. He felt that if anyone followed the path shown by “Maharajji,” that person will would be definitely successful in both, the material and the spiritual world. He wanted his own life to follow the same course as “Maharajji,” and so he prayed earnestly to “Maharajji.” He would stand in front of “Maharajji’s” photograph and say, “please bestow your grace so that I am able to follow the path that you have shown through your life.” The future course of his life reflects very unambiguously that his prayer was heard, and he received “Maharajji’s” grace in full measure. It is reflected in the uncanny similarity in the events of his life and the life of “Maharajji.” This was confirmed by his Gurudeva Sri Sri 108 Swami Premdasji Maharaj.
The desire to reach spiritual fulfillment through realization of God sprouted in his mind at a very young age. Sri Babaji Maharaj heard somewhere, “You have to perform austerities in the forest to see God,” and he was convinced that this was true. Even before he reached the age of ten, he would try and meditate in the garden to realize God. At the age of fifteen, in 1954, Sri Babaji Maharaj suddenly had a very strong urge to take diksha. The desire came of its own, without any external prompting or influence. He was studying to prepare for his matriculation exams, but he was so consumed by this strong desire to take diksha, that when his father asked him to wait until his exams were over, he replied, “If I don’t get diksha soon, I think that I will not sit for my exams.” His father was convinced about the seriousness of the matter and wrote a letter to Sri Premdasji Maharaj, who was the Braja Videhi Mahant and the Mahant of the Nimbarka Ashram in Vrindavan. In the month of March or April 1955, Sri Babaji Maharaj received diksha from Sri Premdasji Maharaj at the Nimbarka Ashram in Shibpur, Howrah. After the diksha, Sri Premdasji Maharaj said to him, “I have offered you at the feet of my gurudeva, he has accepted you and surrendered you at the feet of Sri Thakurji.” When Sri Babaji Maharaj heard this sentence he truly felt that his very own “Maharajji” had accepted him. He felt a deep sense of fulfillment at the thought that he had received the refuge of his beloved “Maharajji,” and as if, a very old and deep desire within him had been fulfilled.
Sri Babaji Maharaj was very brave and adventurous even when he was a child. When he was just nine years old, a moment of daring almost cost him his life. One day his kite got entangled in a high branch of a big tree. He ignored his friends warning and climbed up the tree to retrieve his kite. He successfully climbed up and managed to free his kite, but stepped on a weak dry branch as he was coming down. The branch broke, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. His head hit a stone on the ground and he lost conciousness. He bled profusely and pieces of stone got embedded in his skull. He was taken to Calcutta in an almost unconscious state, and admitted to the Calcutta Medical College. The surgeon successfully removed many pieces of stone from his skull and saved his life, but he said to Sri Babaji Maharaj’s mother, “Your son’s intelligence centre has been badly affected by this injury. He will not be able to study too much. Do not blame him if he does not do well academically.” The doctor was medically right, but by the unlimited grace of his gurudeva, Sri Babaji Maharaj not only became an honours student, his academic achievements were unparalleled in his profession. He topped the matriculation examination from his school and got a Gold medal and two scholarships. He went to Ranchi to do his I.Sc., and in 1957, as a mere seventeen year old lad, was admitted to Darbhanga Medical College to study medicine. He was a brilliant student and an excellent sportsman. He was the University Swimming Champion for two years, and the captain of the college football team. He played table tennis, athletics, did body building, and weightlifting as well. He wrote poetry, short stories, novellas, and one of his stories won an award. He played the flute and the violin, acted in college plays, painted and sketched as well. He was equally mindful of his spiritual duties. As instructed by his gurudeva, he got up early in the morning, put on gopichandan tilak on his body, and did his japa twice a day without fail. After diksha, meat, egg, onion, garlic, and liquor was prohibited for him. He maintained this discipline throughout his life, and for nine years at the college hostel, he had to subsist mainly on curd and rice.
Sri Babaji Maharaj completed his MBBS in 1962. After a two year housemanship he studied for a post graduation specialization in medicine. He completed his MD, then the highest medical degree in India, in 1966. The same year, with the consent and blessings of his gurudeva, he left for USA to pursue higher education. A year later he returned to India and with the blessings of his gurudeva, he got married to Km.Sudeshna Sarkar. She received naam mantra from Sri Premdasji Maharaj before she left for USA with Sri Babaji Maharaj.
For almost four and a half years in USA, he received extensive training for specialization in cardiology, nephrology, and internal medicine. He became Chief Resident at the Maumee Valley County Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. Sri Babaji Maharaj stayed in the US till 1971. In June 1971 he moved to Canada, a country where he spent the next 19 years of his professional life. In Canada too, he continued to increase the scope his medical knowledge and acquired various medical degrees like- – ABIM, FCCP, FACA, and FACP, all from different American medical boards. He also earned his only Canadian degree-The LMCC. In Canada, he spent 18 years in a town called Campbellton, where he practised medicine professionally. He practiced mainly as a cardiologist, although he also became renowned as a specialist in chest and kidney disease, and in internal medicine. He developed the cardiology department of his hospital into one of the most modern and efficient in that country. He also modernized the Pulmonary and kidney departments. His diagnostic abilities and medical knowledge were so renowned that his colleagues called him, “A walking dictionary of medicine.” He could diagnose patients just by listening to their symptoms, and sometimes by merely looking at them.
His gurudeva had said to him, “God comes to you in the form of a patient. You should serve a patient as if you were serving God.” Sri Babaji Maharaj never forgot his Gurudeva’s words. Throughout his professional career as a physician, he never ever refused to attend to any patient who came to him for treatment. It was well known in the medical fraternity of Campbellton, that in case of any medical query or doubt, they could rely upon Dr.Sinha for the correct advice. He earned fame, wealth, prestige, recognition and all the other things by which we measure a man’s success. More than that, he earned the love, affection, and respect of his colleagues, his patients, his staff, and the gratitude of the community he lived in. The whole town knew him and respected him for his services and his dedication to his work. Usually he worked for about 16-17 hours a day, but still he gave the highest priority to the pursuit of his spiritual goals. He followed all the rules and regulations of a Vaishnava, and performed austerities like a yogi despite an extremely busy professional life. He performed 7-8 anushthans of 1.25 lac japa of the Gopal mantra. During these anushthans, he would cook for himself, stay silent most of the time, and observed many other strict disciplines. He celebrated the various utsavs of our sampradaya regularly, and offered special puja, bhog on these occasions.
Sri Babaji Maharaj’s stay in Canada meant that he was deprived of the company of his gurudeva by circumstance. Every alternate year, he came to India for four months and tried to spend as much time as possible in the company of his guru. Sri Dadaguruji Maharaj too loved him like a son, and took him and his family to various pilgrimages, and to the Kumbha Mela. The time that he spent in the company of his guru was the happiest time of his life. On these pilgrimages he would be just an obedient and dutiful disciple of his guru, ready to do any service for his master, even carrying Gurudeva’s luggage on his head like a coolie. No one could look at him then, and say that he was a famous and brilliant physician. Sri Babaji Maharaj’s unswerving and steadfast devotion to his gurudeva was the true hallmark and measure of his life. Sri Dadaguruji Maharaj was extremely satisfied with this single minded, steadfast devotion and selfless service. He gave Sri Babaji Maharaj many boons and blessings, the most cherished of them being that Sri Babaji Maharaj would attain complete realisation of God in the Grihastha ashram itself.
Despite all the fame and wealth that he earned, Sri Babaji Maharaj never thought that any of his achievements were his own. He always believed that he had achieved everything due to the infinite grace of his guru. His whole life had been dedicated to following his Gurudeva’s instructions, and he tried to be of service to his gurudeva in every way possible. When Sri Dadaguruji Maharaj decided to build an ashram near Calcutta, he single handedly bore the entire expense of the construction of the ashram, right from the purchase of land to the pratishtha ceremony. His practice was just gaining a foothold at that time and his income too was limited, but still he gave almost his entire savings, and a large portion of his regular income for the construction of this ashram. Apart from that, he would send money for the regular seva of the ashram. He single handedly bore the expense of the renovation of the ashram which Sri Dadaguruji Maharaj had established in Vrindavan. Sri Babaji Maharaj earnestly desired to take sanyaas, and serve his gurudeva in the manner Sri Garibdasji served Sri Ramdas Kathia Babaji Maharaj. He repeatedly requested his gurudeva to give him sanyaas. Sri Dadaguruji Maharaj agreed and Sri Babaji Maharaj began making plans to return to India, but fate willed otherwise. In 1981 Sri Dadaguruji Maharaj cast off his mortal body. The news of his Gurudeva’s evanescence came as a body blow to Sri Babaji Maharaj. He thought that his gurudeva had changed his mind about giving him sanyaas, and he was deeply saddened by the thought that he would not get a chance to serve his gurudeva. He immediately flew down to India and organized a huge bhandara for his Gurudeva in Laskarpur and Vrindavan. After ensuring that the ashram affairs were in order he went back to Canada to resume his professional life.
In the eight years that he was in Canada after his gurudeva’s evanescence in 1981, his professional success touched unprecedented heights. When he stopped practicing in 1989, his annual income was in hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he was a multi millionaire. The trappings of material world held no attraction for him and he decided to give up his medical practice forever and come back to India to take sanyaas and become an ascetic. When the people of Campbellton heard about his decision to stop his medical practice, they were stunned and saddened. Some of them wanted to petition the government to stop him from leaving. His patients, and sometimes even their families, would cry and plead with him to stay and continue his medical practice. His colleagues were heartbroken, and when he informed the administrator of the hospital that he would not practice medicine when he returned to India she said, “I feel sorry for India that it would never know what a great doctor you are.” For four months, until the time he finally departed for India, the people of Campbellton cried and grieved over the fact that he would leave their town. The love and affection that he received from the people of Campbellton was unprecedented.
He returned to India in July 1989. He made arrangements so that his family would live a comfortable life here in India. With the permission of his family members and other relatives, he gave up the Grihastha ashram and came to Calcutta on 1st March 1990, to live the life of an ascetic at the Sri Santadas Baba Ashram at Laskarpur. The same year on the day of Buddha Poornima, Sri Babaji Maharaj formally entered the sanyaas ashram when he took sanyaas at the Sri Santadas Baba Ashram in Vrindavan. As per wishes of his gurudeva, he was named KRISHNADAS.
He returned to Calcutta and started to initiate disciples by giving them naam mantra and diksha mantra, and began his leela as a sadguru. Sri Dadaguruji had anointed Sri Babaji Maharaj as his successor, and on 3rd June 1990, in the presence of some of his sadhu co disciples and other mahants and sadhus, he formally became the Mahant of the Sri Santadas Baba Ashram at Laskarpur. He was the spiritual and administrative head of the Ashram, but he never hesitated to do any work that was required to be done. It happened many times that he alone did the seva, puja, cooking of bhog, washing utensils, looking after the cows, mopping the temple premises, growing vegetables in the garden, maintaining accounts, looking after guests who have come to stay, handling correspondence, and any other work that needed to be done. This was in addition to the fact that he had to give mantra, diksha, and spiritual advice to those who sought his refuge. He did everything selflessly, cheerfully, tirelessly, as a service to God, with the firm conviction that it was his duty to do so. In between all this he found time to do his japa, study the scriptures. He did not sleep for more than three hours a day.
On 25th April 1992, at the Ujjaini Kumbha Mela, he became the Srimahant of the Kathia Baba Sri Ramdas Khalsa, established by Sri Dadaguruji Maharaj for the purpose of sadhu seva. Sri Babaji Maharaj went to every subsequent Kumbha Mela and did sadhu seva with a lot of enthusiasm and devotion. Innumerable devotees were given prasada, and he made arrangements for their stay at the Khalsa. He considered sadhu seva and service of bhakts or devotees at par with Sri Thakurji’s seva.
Sri Babaji Maharaj attained complete realization of God in the Grihastha ashram itself, when he lived in Canada like a simple householder. He had confirmed this fact to me and to some other disciples. His answers to our queries reflected the fact that he had firsthand knowledge of everything that he spoke about. Although he was very reluctant to directly talk about his spiritual achievements and experiences, he would say that he had attained spiritual fulfillment, and for him there is nothing more to be realized or known. His spiritual quest was enriched by a thorough study of the scriptures. Apart from the Upanishads, The Bhagvad Gita, The Puranas, and other scriptures of The Hindu religion, he studied the scriptures of all the major religions of the world. His own realization of scriptural truths, his own spiritual experiences, and his knowledge of the physical sciences is reflected in books which he authored to explain the concepts of God, spirituality and religion. Books like—Nimbarka Sadhan Pranali, Shantir Sopan or Road to Happiness, Sanshaya Bhanjan, are invaluable to people of all sects and religions. All three have been written in Bengali only The Road to Happiness has been previously translated in Hindi and now in English. Apart from these he also authored the biography of his gurudeva in Bengali and English. He also wrote, Arghyadali, a book of devotional songs written and composed by him, and compiled the stutimala, a collection of some of the prayers of our sampradaya.
I can go on endlessly about him, but I think that this brief description of his life should be sufficient for the reader. His accomplishments in the field of medicine and his realization of the scriptural truths himself, truly establish his authority to speak about science and spirituality.
It is our extreme misfortune that he decided to cast off his perishable body at the age of 67. On December 14 2006, he breathed his last on this earth and his soul became one with the Eternal, Imperishable Soul, and the Paramatma. To mourn or grieve for a realized soul like him is sheer ignorance, but the void left behind by the absence of his physical form cannot be filled. There is no death for a self realized soul, this has been declared at various places in our scriptures and many saints have established this to be a true fact. Till date many have experienced the grace of Sri Babaji Maharaj and still continue to do so, even after his evanescence.
This web site will attempt to bring to the digital world the teachings and explanations offered by my revered Gurudeva, Kathia Baba Sri Sri 108 Swami Krishnadasji Maharaj, and his Dadaguruji, Sri Sri 108 Swami Santadasji Maharaj. The Brahmavidya instructed by Sri Hamsa Bhagwaan was passed on from guru to disciple and is still as relevant and true as it was thousands of years ago. Brahmavidya in essence means the knowledge which leads to realisation of God. How is it relevant in modern times? What does realisation of God mean? Can it be achieved in this life or is it a mythical notion, an old wives tale? How does one go about this task? What are the nuances and steps involved and what are the obstacles? I hope the reader will find a logical and reasonable answer to his questions when he navigates through this site. I hope and pray to my Gurudeva to seek his blessings and inspiration in this task. I also pay my obeisance to all the acharyas of this great Guru Parampara starting from Sri Hamsa Bhagwaan and seek their blessings for this task.
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