Some teachings are so complicated that they are explained in thick books, with difficult words and rules that take years to even begin to understand.But some teachings are so simple and beautiful that a child could repeat them in one breath, but they are so profound that a whole lifetime feels too short to truly live them. The words of Neem Karoli Baba belong firmly to the second kind.Neem Karoli Baba, lovingly called Maharaj-ji by those who followed him, was a Hindu saint and a worshipper of Lord Hanuman. He passed away in 1973, but thousands of followers are drawn to his ashram at Kainchi Dham, situated in the hills of Uttarakhand near Nainital.He wrote no heavy books and gave no grand lectures. Mostly, he sat wrapped in a blanket, shared a little fruit, laughed easily, and spoke a few quiet words. Those words travelled far, reaching seekers, writers, and even some of the biggest names in the world of technology.
Neem Karoli Baba (Photo: nkbashram.org)
Quote of the day
Love everyone, serve everyone, remember God, and tell the truth
Neem Karoli Baba
What does the quote mean?
Maharaj-ji’s disciple Ram Dass, the Harvard teacher and psychedelic, once asked how a person becomes enlightened. The answer he received was this same line. Each part of it points to a different way of being in the world.Baba did not say love the good people, or the people who love you back. He said everyone. Love, in his teaching, is not a feeling you wait for. It is a choice you keep making.
He told to serve and remember God in all pursuits
For him, love that stayed inside the chest was incomplete. It had to become action. His ashrams were known for feeding anyone who arrived. Two of his disciples later founded the Seva Foundation in California, which works to prevent and treat blindness around the world.And while doing all of this, he says to remember and recall God’s name. Not just in a temple, but while working, eating, walking. Apart from this, Honesty, for Maharajji, was not only about not lying. It was about your words and your life pointing in the same direction.
Why is his teaching still relevant today?
Our lives are so busy nowadays that we often scroll past strangers without seeing them, treat service as something we pay for, and mould the truth to fit the moment. But Maharaj-ji’s four instructions are just contrary to all of this.Interestingly, the people who carried his message forward were not only monks. Apple’s Steve Jobs travelled to India to find him, though Baba had already passed. Mark Zuckerberg later visited Kainchi Dham on Jobs’s suggestion during a difficult stretch in his own life. Even now, the busiest, most modern lives seem to circle back to this same simple wisdom.
