Maharaj-ji Neem Karoli Baba
(from "Chants of a lifetime" by Krishna das):
We could not hold Maharaj-ji. There was no way to buy his attention, and we could not get him to look at us. We could not give him anything; he did not want anything. We tried to give him money - some of the Westerners had money and they wanted to make a donation to the temple - but he would not take it. He said, "All of the money in the Universe is mine, even the money in America."
Maharaj-ji was completely free. It was only God, everywhere, all the time. One time Maharaj-ji was in the village of Vrindavan in the middle of the summer. It was scorching. He was walking down the street, and coming toward him in the other direction was a baba - a sadhu or yogi with long, matted hair. They had known each other many years before in the mountains. They hugged and were so happy to see each other.
This other Baba said to Maharaj-ji, "Oh, now I have found you again after all these years! We will stay together and it will be great."
But Maharaj-ji said, "No, no, no, brother, you don't want to stay with me. I am constantly surrounded by worldly people, householders, nothing but problems and stuff. You are a sadhu, a saint; you don't want to be around me."
The sadhu said, "Oh, please take me with you! I want to be with you again; it's been so long!"
Maharaj-ji tried to dissuade him, "No, no, you don't want to be with me. I am with worldly people all the time."
"Oh Baba, please!"
Maharaj-ji said, "Okay, okay, chalo [let's go]. I am on my way to Mathura." In the middle of the day, in the summer heat, they started walking together to Mathura, which was about 15 miles away. In those days there was a 10 or 12-mile stretch with nothing by the desert. No villages - nothing. They kept walking, walking, and walking, and their thirst was growing intense. Finally, in the distance, they saw a well and ran to it. Maharaj-ji got there first.
There was a woman drawing water with a bucket. Maharaj-ji put his hands out and said, "Ma! Give me something to drink! She poured the water in his hands, and he began to drink. As he was drinking, the other baba arrived. He had a kamandalu, gourd pot, with him. It was his only possession. He put his pot out for the woman, who poured water into it, and he began to drink. While he was drinking, Maharaj-ji started chatting with a woman. He asked, "Where are you from? What village? What is your name? What's your caste?" It turned out that she was untouchable.
When the sadhu heard this, he flipped out. In the caste system, untouchables are in fact untouchable. People from other castes, especially Brahmins (who are of the highest caste), are not supposed to come into contact with them. This baba was a Brahmin, which Maharaj-ji also was. But Maharaj-ji was not bound by any system; he treated all people the same. The Baba started screaming at Maharaj-ji, "What have you done?!" He threw his pot down on the ground and broke it. You are responsible for this. Look what's happened! Look what you got me into! I needed this pot. It was my only possession, and mow it's ruined and impure! I can't use it anymore!"
Maharaj-ji pretended that he didn't understand and said, "What? Kya baa? What's the matter? What happened? Oh, "he said, "I thought you were a sadhu! I am so sorry, I thought you were a saint! What is all this attachment? What is all this anger? What is this? Where did this come from?"
Hearing these words and realizing his attachment, the baba fell down at Maharaj-ji's feet and, as Maharaj-ji later related, "he washed my feet with his tears and went back to the mountains to finish his sadhana or spiritual work." Maharaj-ji had warned him, "Don't hang out with me! Anything could happen." And it had. Anyone who was attracted to Maharaj-ji, who was beyond all attachment, was consciously or unconsciously offering their hearts for purification.
We want to be near these great beings because of the love, but anything inside us that can burn will start burning. Everything that is hidden is going to show. Being around him, I became more aware of the stuff that took me out of love; my thoughts, desires, and emotions, which were running totally out of control, came between us. Drawn by the power of his love, like moths to a flame, the other devotees and I were purified by that fire. There was nowhere to get away. We wanted to be in that love, but in order to be in that love, our stuff had to burn away. The process still continues in a different way.
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