MAHA AVATAR BABAJI - PARANGIPETTAI

MAHA AVATAR BABAJI

Maha Avatar Babaji - a saint born in the year 203 AD and experienced to be alive in the Himalayas still became a household name after Superstar Rajinikanth made a movie on him and the spiritual experiences through him.

Paramahansa Yogananda, another reputed spiritual writer, has written about the conversations he had with Maha Avatar Babaji, in his book "The Autobiography of a Yogi". The name Maha Avatar Babaji was given by Shyamacharan Lahiri and other disciples of the saint who met him between 1861 and 1935.

SAA Ramaiah who co-founded the Kriya Babaji Sangah to propogate the Kriya Yoga teachings of Babaji has had the privilege of building a temple for him at his birth place.

Where was Maha Avatar Babaji born?

The erstwhile South Arcot District has had the privilege of being the birth place of several saints like Thirunavukkarasar (Appar), Thirugnanasambandar, Sundaramurthy Nayanar, Sri Guru Raghavendra Swamy, Arutprakasa Vallalar Ramalinga Swamigal, Kanchi Maha Swami Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi and Maha Avatar Babaji.

Born in Parangipettai (Porto Novo) near Cuddalore, as Nagarajan, to Swethanatha Ayyar and Gnanambal on 30 November 203, in the tamil month of Karthigai on Rohini Star, Babaji had a normal childhood like any other child. In fact there is a painting of Babaji as a child in the meditation hall of the temple, narrating an incident as revealed by him to his disciples.

When Nagarajan was four years old, his mother had put away a jackfruit for a family religious function and not knowing this, the little boy had eaten up the pieces before they could be offered to God. Angered by his act, his mother had punished him by gagging him with a cloth in his mouth.

Swethanatha Iyer was a priest in the Muthukumaraswamy temple in Cuddalore. When Nagarajan was between five and seven years old, he was kidnapped during one of temple festivals and sold as a slave in Kolkata. He managed to gain the sympathy of his master who released him soon after and he then joined a group of wandering sanyasis and had an opportunity of meeting Sage Agasthya who advised him to go to Kataragama (Sri Lanka) and find his Guru who was waiting for him there.

With great difficulty, the 11 year old Nagarajan reached Kataragama where he met Saint Bhoghar and became his disciple. Bhoghar taught him Vasi Yogam and with his grace, he was also able to get a vision of Lord Muruga.

After that he spent several years in Badrinath practising Kriya Yoga and then attained self realisation. All these facts are as revealed to his disciples Shri V T Neelakantan and Shri SAA Ramaiah. The latter has built a temple at the exact birth place of Maha Avatar Babaji at Parangipettai (Porto Novo) near Cuddalore.

he Maha Avatar Babaji temple is a very simple single shrine temple with an adjacent meditation hall. Currently construction is going on to build a mandapam in front of Babaji's shrine. On either side of the sanctum sanctorum, there are sculptures of Lord Ganesha and Lord Muruga as he appeared before Babaji in Kadaragama. There is a Yaga Gundam in front of the shrine called Gowri Shankar Peetam. Babaji Padham used to be installed here but has been moved into the shrine owing to the construction that is currently happening. Every Thursday, abhishekam is performed for Maha Avatar Babaji and special pujas are held on his birthday.

On the sides of the shrine are panels depicting various incidents that happened in his life and that of his primary disciples, as narrated by him to Shri SAA Ramaiah.

There are two decorative pillars in front of the shrine which bear images of his primary disciples. Behind the temple is a meditation hall, that has an idol of Shri SAA Ramaiah and paintings of Maha Avatar Babaji and incidents of his life. Visitors are allowed inside this meditation hall for uninterrupted concentration.