Guru Parampara – Thakur Sri Sri Bhajan Brahmachari

Thakur Sri Sri Bhajan Brahmachari

The Sacred Lineage of Baba Lokenath

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Guru Parampara

Sri Sri Bhajan Brahmachari (lovingly called Thakur), Bodhi Shuddhaanandaa’s Gurudev, initiated Bodhi into the path of Lokenath Bhakti. From his early childhood, Thakur received the infinite grace of Baba Lokenath in the path of his sadhana. Baba Lokenath used to appear in gross physical form — in flesh and blood — to Bhajan Baba all through his sadhana days and instructed him about the highest form of Yoga.

In later years, when Bhajan Baba became a self-realized Master, Baba Lokenath appeared to him in gross physical form and ordained him to do his unfinished work of initiating devotees in the path of Yoga.

After Sri Sri Bhajan Baba initiated Bodhi, he sent him to the Himalayas for sadhana and when the time came he instructed Bodhi to carry out the Order which Baba Lokenath had given to Bodhi in a divine vision. In the divine vision, Baba Lokenath lifted his hand, waved it in all directions, and told Bodhi, “Spread Out” (choriye de, in Bengali). This was the unfinished work now delegated to Bhajan Baba’s spiritual child (Manasputra), Bodhi, to carry forward and spread the Word of Baba Lokenath all over the world.

Baba Lokenath appeared in this vision when Bodhi was living in the ashram of his beloved Gurudev Thakur, on 15 October 1978. He went and narrated the whole vision to his Gurudev, Bhajan Baba, and Gurudev told Bodhi, “Do as he said.”

Sri Sri Bhajan Baba thus becomes the Master who brought Baba Lokenath to Bodhi’s life, and through Bodhi, to the world. Bodhi has been travelling all over the world since 1990, relentlessly trying to serve his Gurudev, whom he identifies as one and same as Baba Lokenath. His relentless service to the suffering humanity stretches from both the seekers of light and love to the under privileged children in India.

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His Gurudev — In His Own Words

Bodhi Shuddhaanandaa on his Pujya Gurudev

I was only 16 when I had my first experience with my Gurudev Bhajan Baba, whom we all call Thakur. I had seen many sadhus during my visits to my grandmother in Varanasi, but I never saw such divinity and light in any person as I saw in Thakur. I was pulled like an iron filing being attracted to a very powerful magnet.

He was melodiously singing and the assembled devotees joined him in Kirtan as he started singing Hari Bol. The whole premises was flooded with divine vibrations. His body was glowing with light, his voice melting in the ecstasy of profound communion with the divine. I could not take my eyes off him; my heart was at the feet of this man.

His eyes met mine for a few seconds, but I was transfixed. I felt a deep attraction toward him, felt as if I had known him for ages, as if he was the man to whom I could totally surrender without a speck of doubt. Something was happening in me about which I hardly had any idea as I was at such a young age, but it was happening from my deepest core.

I slowly came close to him, put my face next to his ear and then whispered, “Would you please give me deeksha (initiation)?” He whispered through my ear, “First finish your education, then I will initiate you.” I was not happy, as if I were deprived. But I was kind of in a different world, something changed in me, a deep inner call, as if I only belonged to him. And only he could take me there, no one else.

And so I followed his wishes, finished my education, taught for a few years and then left to follow him at his Ashram. And so began my journey. I became curious to know how this rare person, in the midst of the crowd of humanity running after gross materialistic things of life, could attain to such a state where he could be so simple, so humble, so much at ease with himself.

He appeared to me most ordinary. Yet he had an extraordinary energy in and around him that made people listen to his nectarine words of wisdom and feel the depth of his intense love for the Divine. It always appeared as though the devotees assembled in the room with him were transfixed and only looking at the Master who was flowing like the Ganges. They had all totally forgotten the pains and sufferance of the worldly life. Satsang, the company of the Holy Master, is like the ever-purifying water of the Ganges. These words of the Master are not the borrowed knowledge, like that of pundits, but the profound experiential wisdom of the very incarnation of God. He had come down from the lofty heights of the Himalayas into this mundane world only to dispel the darkness from the minds of the suffering humanity.

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The Sadguru — His Life and Realization

Who is Bodhi’s Gurudev who came to bless all of humanity?

Sadguru Sri Sri Bhajan Brahmachari was born in 1925 in Ririkhal village, presently in Bangladesh. His parents gave him the name Amal. From early childhood he was always sick and deeply introverted. His longing for God was expressed in his play in making beautiful idols of Gods and offering his worship in silence.

His mother, Priyabala Bose, once went to meet the great yogi of Haridwar, Sri Bholagiri Maharaj, who lovingly took the child on his lap and said, “You are Shiva’s child, you are Shiva, why have you come here?” Turning to Priyabala, the sage said with compassion, “Don’t worry about his health, he will be all right, but he is not born to be a householder, don’t ever try to bind him to the worldly life.”

One day, Amal — fondly called Ranu — was very sick, almost dying. All hopes were given up. Then, out of the blue, an old saintly woman with long matted hair appeared at their door and said, “Let me quickly see my Haribhajan.” She looked at the child with an eye of compassion and said, “Quickly get me a pot of Ganges water.” The Yogini sprinkled it on Ranu’s face and body, murmuring some occult mantras. In no time the child’s condition improved. She instructed them, “From now on call him Haribhajan. He will be popular in the world by that name.”

In later years, while studying in school and college, Bhajan used to disappear from time to time, going into isolation for deep meditation and to be in the company of saints and sages. Bhajanbaba said, “Baba Lokenath followed me as a shadow all through my spiritual life. He would manifest in the gross body and give me instructions in the path of Yoga.”

Once Bhajanbaba was caught travelling in a train from Delhi to Mathura without a ticket. As the ticket collector threatened to throw him off the moving train, a tall man with matted hair and fixed eyes appeared from nowhere and said with anger, “What are you doing? Take him safely to Vrindavan.” The ticket collector became his first disciple.

In Vrindavan, at Banke Bihari’s Temple, he did the deepest penance and was in samadhi for days until he attained Self-realization. He came to Calcutta and, as honey bees are attracted to a fresh bloomed fragrant lotus, he gave the devotees who came to him shelter and direction on treading the path of love and devotion to God. He initiated thousands of seekers in Bhakti Yoga and Japa Yoga. Miracles were natural manifestations of this God-intoxicated saint. Siddhis served him as obedient servants.

His simple teaching: “Always take the name of the Lord in your heart and keep doing your duties. Japa yoga is the simplest way to reach God in this difficult age. Have faith in God and Guru and keep practicing the Japa with all your heart. You will surely reach Home, your original abode of peace.”

On the 6th of July, 1992, he left his mortal body. The child of Shiva merged into Shiva for good.

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The Grand Lineage

Param Pujya Sri Sri Divyananda Saraswati — Devgiri Maharaj

Thakur Sri Sri Bhajan Baba was initiated by the great yogi of the Himalayas, Param pujya Sri Sri Divyananda Saraswati, popularly known as Devgiri Maharaj. Devgiriji Maharaj lived in Uttarkashi throughout his life but came down to the plains only once — to attend the Gayatri Mahayajna at Anandamayee Ma’s ashram in Varanasi, on 14 January 1950. Great saints from all over India had come on Ma’s invitation, and Devgiriji presided over the assembled saints in the performance of this great fire ritual for world peace. He was almost a hundred years old at that time.

During this visit to Varanasi, Devgiriji initiated Thakur Bhajan Baba. Devgiriji Maharaj was not only a God-realized Master, but a great scholar of the Vedas and shastras — the Raj-Guru of the then king of Tehri (Himalayan kingdom). Even Sankarachariyas took his discipleship and learned the scriptures under his guidance. The saints and sadhus of the Himalayas in those days revered him as mother, for he not only guided them but also served them food with his own hands.

Parapara Gurudev

Pujyapada Sri Sri Vijnanananda Saraswati Maharaj

Paramgurudev Sri Sri Divyananda Saraswati (Devgiri Maharaj) was the disciple of Param pujya Sri Sri Vijnanananda Saraswati Maharaj — a realized Master who spent his whole life in the Himalayas and was considered in his times the greatest scholar of all Vedas and Upanishads. It is under him that Devgiriji Maharaj learned the shastras and followed the path of yoga to attain the ultimate self-realization.

The king of Tehri was very fond of saints and sages of the Himalayas. The only sage who qualified as his Raj-Guru was Pujyapada Vijnananandaji Saraswati Maharaj, the undisputed Master and tattwadarshi (enlightened) scholar of Vedas, accepted as the greatest by all Himalayan saints and sages.

He approached this recluse sage who was detached from everything and prayed at his feet for his approval to accept him as his disciple and also take the most honored seat of Raj-Guru. Vijnananandaji Saraswati Maharaj was most reluctant and refused to move from his Himalayan cave to the royal palace. But the king persisted with all humility and prayerfulness. Finally, this great sage yielded to the devotion of the king of Tehri Himalayas and accompanied him to his palace where a separate cottage was built for him.

It was the practice in those days for kings to conduct debates on the shastras by inviting the most renowned sages and scholars from around the country. The king convinced his revered Gurudev to participate in a debate with the wisest of scholars. Finally, when one after another great scholars were defeated by Vijnananandaji Maharaj, then came Ram Tirth Maharaj, who was considered the greatest scholar. Both debated for days, and finally Vijnananandaji Maharaj prevailed. But Ram Tirth Maharaj could not bear the shock of his being defeated for the first time, went to the Ganges, and took mahasamadhi.

Pujyapada Vijnanananda Saraswati Maharaj was shell-shocked. He immediately left the king’s palace and went into seclusion on the bank of the Mother Ganges, never to return to the palace again.

All the most sacred holy pilgrims of the Himalayan region were under the Tehri king, and both Devgiriji and Vijnananandaji, being the Raj Guru, were also the Guru of all the pundits and priests in all the Holy temples in Uttarakhand. That way all these holy temple priests are from our Guru parampara. What a blessing indeed. Salutations to these Great Masters whose lineage we follow today in our sacred path.

Therefore Bodhi Shuddhaanandaa belongs to the Adi Shankaracharya’s Saraswati sampradaya (spiritual lineage).

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Guru in Mother’s Form

Agartala Ma

In Bodhi's word:

"If there is someone in my life next to my Gurudev whom I saw as the very manifestation of the Divine in human form, it is Agartala Ma. As such her name was Kanaklata Bhattacharya, but as she hailed from the city of Agartala, the capital of Tripura — a small North Eastern state of India — I called her Agartala Ma. She was the very embodiment of Mother Divine.

When I first saw her she was in her seventies, a mother of 5 children, but a saint of ultimate attainment. Born to a mother who was a worshipper of Mother Kali, she would often ask, “Ma, how can I have the darshan of Mother Kali and talk to Her?” Her mother told her to take a small bowl in hand, sing to Mother Kali, cry and pray for Her darshan, collect the tears in the bowl, and then wash the Holy Feet of the Mother. That is what the child did for days and months till one day the Mother Divine manifested Her self-effulgent form of light and blessed her. Later on as she grew up, the Divine Mother would come to her very often in the form of an adolescent girl and pick flowers along with her, or play with her, or even assist her in her daily chores of family life.

A time came in Ma’s life when she passed through a phase of one and a half months of intense yogic sadhana which happened to her without any kind of practice or effort on her part, similar to what happened once in the life of the great saintess Ma Anandamayee. During this time the most unimaginable yogic postures happened to her body when she was in a state of trance. Her nephew’s wife and her spiritual son Narayan were the only ones who took care of Ma’s body during this time.

Narayan told me that during this time he had seen the most unbelievable things happen automatically to mother’s body as she passed through some advanced states of yoga and that she was continually visited by great ascended sages and saints of yore. During this time she would talk in a language unknown to humans — Narayan later found out that she mostly muttered this language that belongs to the celestial kingdom of celestial deities. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was the one who visited most to take her through these supreme yogic states. Finally, it was Rishi Agastya who came to give her the power to pierce the third eye chakra and reach sahashra, the seat of supreme consciousness. Thus her third eye was opened and she could see beyond time and space.

She reached the highest state of enlightenment even though she lived a very common family life fighting the battle of impoverishment due to acute poverty and her daily task of taking care of a larger family. I once told her, “You have proved to me that you are greater than even the sun, for the sun cannot hide its light, but you do so by hiding the light of a million suns inside you, away from anyone’s eye, just by hiding behind your veil.”

She came into my life as my Gurudev had left his mortal body and there was a gap in my heart. I had no one to talk to or even ask any questions. She came, she accepted me as her own son, and started guiding me through my spiritual path. She was my Guru in mother’s form. She was indeed my mother.

She once told me, “In this Kali Yuga, Baba Lokenath is the most powerful living Presence.” Baba Lokenath would often come to her and Ma would say, “If you pray to the gods, they may come or may not come, but if you pray to Baba Lokenath he will surely come to you and help you out of danger.” She would often say, “Baba Lokenath is the Living God of this age.”

Though she was beyond all external worship, still in her altar she had the picture and small murthy (idol) of Baba Lokenath and she would offer flowers and bilwa leaf every day at the time of her formal worship. During her illness Baba Lokenath would come in his materialized form and heal her.

My Gurudev Thakur Bhajan Baba had told me during my ashram days, “You will have to be a Guru one day.” I had replied, “I would never be a Guru.” He smiled and said, “Ok, see it.” But I was extremely reactive to this concept of being a Guru, for I had seen how the disciples take mantra from the Guru and then take advantage of the Guru’s kindness and his childlike divine innocence. Two things I almost hated: one, to be a Guru, and the other, to establish an ashram and create a band of monks.

But it was Agartala Ma who came into my life to make my Master’s word come true. She told me one day, “Baba, it is time you give Guru mantra to those who are thirsting for spiritual life and it is the wish of the Mother Kali that you give mantra; Mother Kali told me to tell you that you should not delay it any more. She told me that it is She who will take all the responsibility of your disciples and you don’t have to worry about them for their salvation.” I would often take these words lightly, and tell her, “Go, give mantra to whomever you wish, but don’t you ever push me into the business of Guru and mantra.” She consistently kept pursuing me with infinite patience and love that I cannot and should not stand between the Divine Mother and Her children who need to be initiated as a process of spiritual upliftment and final redemption.

Finally, when I was 61 years old — requests for Guru mantra had started coming to me when I was 40 — I surrendered to Agartala Ma and said, “Thy will be done, My Guru wins.” My Gurudev’s words came true and I started initiating those to whom I got a subtle message from my heart that I need to give the mantra deeksha.

Agartala Ma had the boon of iccha-mrityu or death by will given to her by Mother Ganga. When the time was ripe for her to leave her mortal body, she decided to leave it like an old garment. It was in the morning she was serving food to her spiritual son, Narayan, and then some exchange of words happened — Narayan had once been told not to say certain words to Ma as that could make her leave her body. But that morning Narayan was totally oblivious of this forewarning. He said those words, and Maa instantly decided to leave her body.

That very day, by 3 pm she was almost ready. She did her evening aarti to her deities, then lay on her bed. She called one of Narayan’s assistants to immediately send for Narayan, for the time was short and she was about to leave. Then she made him sit before her and as he looked on, she sat in meditative posture and started pulling her prana (the vital life force). Then Narayan came rushing in and she caught hold of his hands and said, “I am going, God will take care of you all” — and then she left her body for the eternal abode to which she eternally belonged.

Ma brought to me many messages from the Higher world, which I would possibly never ever know. She truly embodied to me the grand Masters of the astral world in the feminine form. She was my Guru as embodied purity and perfection. My prostrations to her lotus feet and the lotus feet of my Master who thought it fit that he would reappear to me in her form, and embrace me as her son and take me through the path of light toward the eternal Presence that is Baba Lokenath, the Shiva and Shakti in One."

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The Living Stream

Living Guru Parampara Today

Through satsangs, writings, meditation guidance, humanitarian outreach, and global teachings, the stream of Baba Lokenath’s compassion continues. The Guru Parampara is not only memory of saints; it is a practical spiritual current — faith, Name, meditation, humility, and dedicated action.

In this tradition, Japa and devotion are not separate from life. They transform life itself into sadhana. The guidance is simple and timeless: remember the Divine, perform your duties with sincerity, and stay rooted in the Guru’s grace. With faith in Guru and the Divine Name, one reaches the inner abode of peace.

The Guru Parampara invites each seeker to practice with sincerity, become inwardly still, and express love through service. As Baba Lokenath said — run to me in your darkest hour, and I shall never forsake you.