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“There can be no biography of him. Facts are few, stories
many. He seems to have been known by different names in many parts
of India, appearing and disappearing through the years. His western
devotees of recent years knew him as Neem Karoli Baba, but mostly
as “Maharajji” – a nickname so commonplace in
India that one can often hear a tea vendor addressed thus. Just
as he said, he was ‘nobody.’
He gave no discourses; the briefest, simplest stories were his
teachings. Usually he sat or lay on a wooden bench wrapped in
a plaid blanket while a few devotees sat around him. Visitors
came and went; they were given food, a few words, a nod, a slap
on the head or back, and they were sent away. There was gossip
and laughter for he loved to joke. Orders for running the Ashram
were given, usually in a piercing yell across the compound. Sometimes
he sat in silence, absorbed in another world to which we could
not follow, but bliss and peace poured down on us. Who he was
was no more than the experience of him, the nectar of his presence,
the totality of his absence—enveloping us now like his plaid
blanket.”
--Anjani
“ In 1967 I met Neem Karoli Baba, a meeting which changed
the course of my life. In the depth of his compassion, wisdom,
humor, power and love I found human possibility never before imagined…an
extraordinary integration of spirit and form.
I was with him only briefly for he left his body in 1973. Still
he entered my heart as living truth, and his presence continues
to enrich and guide my life.”
--Ram Dass
448 pages including 51 rare photos
& over 1000 stories
$23.00
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By His Grace A Devotee’s Story (about life with Neem Karoli
Baba)
By Dada Mukerjeerjee
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224 pages including rare photos
$19.95
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The Near and the Dear Stories of Neem
Karoli Baba and His Devotees
By Dada Mukerjee
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Dada [ Sudhir Mukerjee] is recognized as one of the devotees who
has been closest to Maharajji [Neem Karoli Baba]. Their relationship
has been so intimate for so long that we treasure Dada’s stories
about his “Baba” as especially precious. He is our elder
brother in Maharajji’s spiritual family.
This man we know as Dada was also Professor Sudhir Mukerjee, a professor
of Economics at the highly regarded Allahabad University. He edited
a prestigious economics journal, was a political activist, delighted
in ideological discussions with his many intellectual friends. He
was a responsible family man whose household included his wife (Didi),
his mother and aunt, and his brother and nephew.
And then into his life stepped Maharajji—a barefoot sadhu wearing
only a dhoti. He moved right into Dada’s home, uninvited. Initially,
Dada was kind and courteous, as you might expect, though skeptical
as befitting his role as a scholar. But his intellect found itself
to be no match for his intuitive heart, through which he came to treasure
Maharajji and acknowledge him as nothing short of God in form.
Dada had been offered a ringside seat at the play of the Lord. And
the price of admission had been giving up who he had been.
Whatever Dada did, it involved a remarkable degree of surrender. For,
by the time I met him, the transformation seemed complete. There was
no sign of the Professor; there was only Dada. Maharajji had said
to him, “You are mine,” and so he is. Dada had become
so much an instrument of Maharajji that there was no space between
the order and its execution. Such a level of surrender was hard to
comprehend. It was not as if Dada was a separate being serving Maharajji—he
was the service itself.
For me and other Westerners, these moments of sharing in faith are
especially precious because it is so difficult to speak of “Guru”
in the West; so hard to express unabashed devotion; so culturally
unacceptable to speak of the yearning to surrender to another being.
But now, as we are gathered on Dada’s porch with Maharajji in
our hearts, it is as if we are not just speaking about Maharajji;
he is here with us. Maharajji once said, “When anyone thinks
of me, I am with him.” And so he is. The moment itself is his
darshan.
We always want just one more story from Dada. For his faith never
flickers. The purity, the power, and the obvious truth of his stories
resonate deep within us, opening our hearts once again to our own
innocence, reawakening in us our own perfect faith.”
From Introduction, by Ram Dass
294 pages
$17.95
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Hamman Chaleesa Songs In Praise of Hanuman
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Eleven beautiful new versions of the devotional song-prayer to Hanuman,
the Monkey God, composed in the 16th Century by Tulisdas. Performed
by Jai Uttal, Geoffrey Gordon, Diana Rogers, Carolyn Shapiro, Jai
Lakshman, Hans Christian and friends
CD, 72 minutes, with 10-page booklet of lyrics, translations and
art.
$15.00
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Hanuman : An Introduction/Devdutt Pattanaik
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"Hanuman, the lord of monkeys, is one of the few gods in Hinduism
to be worshipped across caste lines by followers of the Shaiva, Vaishnava
and Shakta orders. He is admired for his strength, scholarship, wisdom,
humility and celibacy.
"This book is an attempt to understand the imagery, ritual and
philosophy associated with Hanuman worship in our time. At its heart
is a single narrative on the life of the monkey-god woven out of plots
and ideas found in the Valmiki Ramayana, Mahabharata, various Puranas
and several vernacular Ramakathas. Also included are tales found in
Jain Ramayanas and the Ramayanas of South East Asia.
"Highlights include lucid explanations, a map showing the traditional
journey of Rama to Lanka through Kishkinda, the text and translation
of the Hanuman Chalisa, and over 100 illustrations, many of them in
colour."
134 p
$17.95
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