I have had the great fortune of meeting some of the greatest saints of modern times and in this series, I will share my experiences of having their darshan.

Starting the series chronologically with my one-time darshan of the ageless saint – Devraha Baba, whose real age no one knew but as per the documented information from the most authentic sources (reference included), his minimum age was around 230-250 years at the time of his passing away in 1990.

There are innumerable stories of miracles related to this saint. My family’s experiences with baba have been nothing short of miracle. I had this darshan as a child in 1989. A few months later, the ageless saint took mahasamadhi, so I consider myself very lucky in this regard.

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My uncle was a senior level govt. employee and he narrated this story about his experience with baba.

In his youth, my uncle once took a day’s leave from his office and drove all the way to baba’s ashram in the Mayil village on the bank of Saryu river in Deoria district, U.P.

My uncle’s plan was to pay obeisance to Devraha baba and go back to his work. On darshan, baba gave him some instructions with prasad and asked him to proceed immediately. While my uncle had just started back on his return journey, some doubts arose in his mind regarding the instructions and he went back to baba to clarify. As he reached near baba’s scaffold (machan), baba looked a bit miffed to see him again and said in hindi  “वापस क्यों आया बच्चा, जाओ, शुभ मुहूर्त है, अभी तो मेरे दर्शन हुए हैं, बहुत तीर्थों के दर्शन इस यात्रा में होना बाकी हैं”, which translates to “Why have you come back o child, go back, it is auspicious time, you have seen me but you are going to see many holy places in this particular journey.”

This statement left my uncle a bit surprised as he had taken only a day’s leave from the office and his plan was to go back directly and join his office. Thinking about what baba meant, he started driving towards his city. As he went ahead a few miles, he realized that the highway had a huge traffic jam and now he had to take a detour through Varanasi. As he reached Varanasi and had a darshan of Baba Viswanath, a sudden urge arose in him to visit Allahabad and then while returning back, he had a darshan of Devi Vindhyvasini in the ancient Vindhyachal temple of Mirzapur district.

As he came out of Devi Vindhyachal temple, Baba’s statement flashed in his mind “वापस क्यों आया बच्चा, जाओ, शुभ मुहूर्त है, बहुत तीर्थों के दर्शन इस यात्रा में होना बाकी हैं”

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There are many stories related to Devraha baba’s age. Baba himself never disclosed his real age, and when asked, scoffed off this discussion by calling his age as “ईश्वरलीन”. In his autobiography, the first president of India Dr Rajendra Prasad (born 1884) has mentioned that his father had sat at the feet of Devraha Baba as a child – that is, in the mid nineteenth century – and Devraha Baba was already elderly at that time, which dates baba’s latest birth year in mid 18th century at the earliest.

So, by this documented proof, baba’s age was minimum 230-250 years when he took mahasamadhi in 1990.

I had the good fortune of meeting him as a small child in 1989, few months before he passed away. I had gone there with my mother and maternal grand father (nanaji). We walked barefoot for a few hundred meters on Yamuna sand in Vrindavan and waited eagerly for his darshan along with hundreds of other devotees. In sometime, a very old yet a magnificent figure arose on the machan with his arms in the ashirwad mudra. Seeing him, my nanaji started reciting shlokas from Bhagwadgita but baba ordered everyone to sit silently in his booming voice.

As we all sat silently, soaking his divine presence, his gaze suddenly fell on me. He pointed his hands towards me and said “बोलो बच्चा – ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय” – “Recite my child – Om Namo Bahgwate Vasudevay”

As I recited this mantra, he shook his hands a few times like giving his blessings. I considered myself very fortunate that in a crowd of a number of people, he gave me this mahamantra personally.

As we came back from his holy darshan, we heard the news of his passing away a few months later but the effect of the mantra he gave and his darshan is permanently etched on my memory even though I was quite young at that time.

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Devraha Baba’s key teachings

1. Even years of praying do not bring such benefit as feeding the hungry, and comforting the tears of the one who cries.
2. जीव ईश्वर को भूलने से ही दुःख पाता है, ईश्वर का नाम हर परिस्थिति में स्मरण रखो.
3. सारे जीवों में भगवान का निवास मानकर, सारे जीवों से प्रेम करो
4. विद्या वही है जिससे भगवन का साछात्कार हो जाये, दर्शन हो जाएँ
5. अपना संपूर्ण कर्म धर्म भगवान् को अर्पित कर देना, तोड़ी देर के लिए ईश्वर को विस्मृत करने पर व्याकुल हो जाना, यही भक्ति है. ज्ञान, वैराग्य सब भक्ति के पुत्र हैं
6. भारत की गरीबी दूर करने के लिए, भारत को शक्तिशाली बनाने के लिए, गोरक्षा अत्यंत आवश्यक है
7. If one of your desires is fulfilled, consider it the grace of God. If it is not fulfilled, then consider it His exceptional grace.
8. Listen, O my son! The easiest way to find God is an unselfish prayer. A prayer means dedication. It means you are fully devoted to God, and you belong to Him is every way.
9.As gold is purified by continuous heating, you should purify your soul with the constant reflection over the words of your spiritual teacher, meditation, prayer, silent repetition of the names of God.