Meet Neem Karoli Baba, The Guru Who Inspired Virat-Anushka, Mark Zuckerberg & Steve Jobs

If you are spiritual and into philosophy, you must have heard of the popular Neem Karoli Baba. His followers knew him by the name Maharaj-ji. He is well-known as a spiritual master not only in India but all across the globe for his numerous American disciples. Several well-known international personalities like Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerberg, Julia Roberts, etc. have been associated with him and his teachings during the 1960s and 70s.

Spiritual teachers Ram Dass and Bhagavan Das are the most well-known disciples and so are the musicians Krishna Das and Jai Uttal. Neem Baba Karoli ashrams are in Kainchi, Rishikesh, Vrindavan, Shimla, Bhumiadhar, Neem Karoli village near Khimasepur in Farrukhabad, Hanumangarhi, and Delhi in India. His ashram is also situated in Taos, New Mexico, United States.

Who is Baba Neem Karoli?

Born with the name, Lakshman Narayan Sharma, he was born around 1900 in the village of Akbarpur in the Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh, India. He was born into a wealthy Brahmin family. His parents married him off at the age of 11, and he left home to become a wandering sadhu. At his father’s request, he later returned home and lived a settled married life. He was a father of two sons and a daughter.

Here is how Baba Lakshman Das came to be known as Neem Karoli Baba

Neem Karoli Baba was known as Baba Lakshman Das at the time he left his home in 1958. There is a story Ram Dass tells that Baba Lakshman Das boarded a train without a ticket. The conductor decided to halt the train and Neem Karoli Baba was forced to get off the train at the village of Neem Karoli, Farrukhabad district in U.P.

When Baba got off the train, the train did not start. After several attempts at starting the train, the conductor was suggested by someone to bring back the sadhu on the train. When the conductor allowed Neem Baba Karoli to board the train.

Neem Baba Karoli agreed to board the train under two conditions:

• A railway station is to be built in the village of Neem Karoli.
• And the railway company must treat sadhus better.

The officials finally agreed and Neem Karoli Baba boarded the train. After he boarded the train, it started immediately, but the train drivers proceeded only after the sadhu blessed them to move forward. The train proceeded after taking blessings from Baba. Later a train station was also built in the village of Neem Karoli as promised to Baba Neem Karoli. Baba was named by the locals and he lived in the village of Neem Karoli for a while.

He was later known by many names such as Lakshman Das, Handi Wallah Baba, and Tikonia Wale Baba. He was also known as Tallaiya Baba when he did tapasya and sadhana in Gujarat at Vavania Morbi. Local inhabitants in Vrindavan, addressed him by the name of Chamatkari Baba.

Neem Karoli Baba Ashram and how to reach them

Two main ashrams were built during his life at Kainchi and at Vrindavan. Over 100 temples were constructed in his name.

Neem Karoli baba Ashram Kainchi Dham

In 1964, The Kainchi Dham ashram was built with a Hanuman temple. He stayed in this ashram in the last decade of his life. Two local sadhus, Premi Baba, and Sombari Maharaj started to build a modest platform two years prior to perform yagnas.

The ashram is situated 17 km from Nainital on the Nainital-Almora road, over the years the temple, has become a significant pilgrimage for locals, spiritual seekers, and devotees worldwide.

Every year on June 15, to commemorate the inauguration of the temple, the Kainchi Dham Bhandara takes place. The celebration typically receives over a lakh (100,000) devotees.

Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Mehrauli, Delhi

The Delhi ashram is located in Jaunapur near a place named Mehrauli. It is built in a large area and is situated amongst huge real estate. This temple sustains a hospital and two schools.

Neeb Karori Temple

Neeb Karori temple is situated in the district of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. Maharajji lived in a cave made by the villagers for him. He continued with his tapasya after coming from Gujarat.

Vrindavan Ashram

This place in Uttar Pradesh is the Samadhi Sthal of Maharajji because he left his body here. One of the two temples in Vrindavan was built by Maharajji himself.

Veerapuram Ashram

The Hanuman idol had to be moved from this location close to Chennai.

Neem Karoli Baba death

Baba Neem Karoli passed away on Sep 11, 1973, in a hospital at Vrindavan after he went into a diabetic coma. Due to pain in his chest, he visited a heart specialist in Agra, he had been returning by night train to Kainchi. He began convulsing en route and requested his traveling companions to be taken to Shri Dham Vrindavan.

In the hospital emergency room, the doctor placed an oxygen mask over his face and gave him injections. The hospital staff declared that he was in a diabetic coma but that his pulse was fine.

Suddenly Maharajji rose and pulled the oxygen mask off his face and the blood pressure measuring band from his arm. He was found saying,

“Bekar (useless)”

Maharajji asked for Ganga water but was presented with regular water as there was no Ganga water nearby. He then repeated several times each time in a lower pitch,

“Jaya Jagadish Hare” (“Hail to the Lord of the Universe”)

Eventually, his face became very peaceful, and all signs of pain vanished. He was declared dead.

Some of his personal belongings and his samadhi shrine are present in the Vrindavan ashram.

Famous disciples of Neem Baba Karoli

Neem Baba Karoli had some notable followers not only in India but also overseas. The disciples include singer and spiritual teacher Bhagavan Das, spiritual teacher Ram Dass (author of Be Here Now), author and meditation teacher Lama Surya Das, and the musicians Krishna Das and Jai Uttal.

 

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A post shared by Ram Dass (@babaramdass)

“I am the father of the world. The whole world is my child.” – Neem Karoli Baba #maharajjimonday pic.twitter.com/YKS3wPwt6o

— Krishna Das (@KrishnaDas) June 24, 2018

Other prominent devotees include Dada Mukerjee (former professor at Allahabad University, Uttar Pradesh, India), humanitarian Larry Brilliant and his wife Girija, scholar and writer Yvette Rosser, filmmaker John Bush, American spiritual teacher Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, and Daniel Goleman author of The Varieties of the Meditative Experience and Emotional Intelligence.

In the Nainital area (1954-1968), Baba Hari Dass (Haridas) supervised several buildings and maintained the ashrams before heading to the US.

Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, along with his friend Dan Kottke, Larry Page, and Jeffrey Skoll visited Neem Karoli Baba ashram

Apple founder Steve Jobs traveled to India in April 1974 to learn about Hinduism and Indian spirituality. When he arrived to meet Neem Baba Karoli, he found out that the guru had died. Influenced by Steve Jobs, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg visited Neem Karoli Baba’s ashram in Kainchi in 2015 when Facebook was going through a difficult phase.

Larry Brilliant brought Google’s Larry Page and Jeffrey Skoll, co-founder of eBay, to Neem Karoli Ashram.

Baba neem karoli , the Indian mystic who inspired the likes of Steve jobs, Mark zuckerberg, Julia Roberts, and many more achievers of this world even after passing away long before, it’ll be very unfortunate if u r an Indian and don’t know about him. pic.twitter.com/Wbw5Cl3D7o

— kashif Qureshi (@kashiflion) April 24, 2019

Ram Dass and Larry Brilliant founded the Seva Foundation after returning to the United States. It is an international health organization based in Berkeley, California. Steve Jobs also funded the organization. It is dedicated to applying the teachings of Neem Karoli Baba toward preventing and treating blindness.

Another Foundation, the ‘Love Serve Remember Foundation’ is present to preserve and continue the teachings of Neem Karoli Baba.

Julia Roberts, the popular Hollywood actress was also influenced by Neem Karoli Baba

A picture of Neem Karoli Baba pulled Roberts to Hinduism. She was so influenced by Neem Karoli Baba.

Recently Cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma paid a visit to Baba Neem Karoli Ashram in Vrindavan, Mathura

Virat and Anushka visited Neem Karoli temple for ‘darshan’ of Baba’s samadhi along with their daughter Vamika. Reportedly, the couple meditated in a hut and stayed there for about an hour.

Before leaving for Maa Anandamayi Ashram, they posed for photos and gave autographs to fans.

Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma with their daughter Vamika in Shri Baba Neem Karoli ashram in Vrindavan.#ViratKohli | #INDvSL | #INDvsSLpic.twitter.com/HQV7Gc8OIL

— Virat Kohli Fan Club (@Trend_VKohli) January 5, 2023

Neem Karoli Baba Documentary

Windfall of Grace, a 2021 documentary offers an engrossing combination of narratives from simple, rustic Indian devotees juxtaposed by portrayals of renowned American devotees. By way of their overwhelming love and surrender for Neem Karoli Baba, these expressions aim to bring out not just the differences but also the similarities between the two. Their spiritual path and practice and shifts in their life purpose were greatly inspired by their individual encounters with Baba.