Baba Lokenath was born in 1730 in the remote village of Chourasi Chakla (north of Calcutta) in West Bengal. His father, Ram Narayan Ghosal, was a devout Brahmin, who spent much of his time meditating and studying the scriptures. His mother, Kamala Devi, was calm, quiet, serene and pure of heart.
Sannyasin (the order of Hindu monks) in India have always been revered by all classes of society. Most Hindus of that time believed that if one member of a family renounced the world to become a sannyasin, then the entire family would be liberated from the wheel of incarnation. Ram Narayan, a staunch Hindu, had faith in this popular belief and told his wife that he wanted their first-born son to become a sannyasin.
Kamala Devi, in the Hindu tradition of a faithful wife, silently accepted the wish of her husband. When the first son was born, however, although the wife had promised, the new mother could not keep her word. The convincing logic of Ram Narayan fell on deaf ears. Kamala Devi could not bring herself to abandon her precious child to a life that promised such austerity and uncertainty.
Ram Narayan’s trust in the Divine Will was undeterred, even when Kamala Devi would not relinquish either of the two sons who followed. Taking refuge in the power of prayer, Ram Narayan continued to pray for the fulfillment of his intention. At last his prayers were heard. The time was ripe for his dream to come true. A fourth son was born.
Those attending the birth reported signs of Grace from the very beginning of Baba’s life. A light shown all around the baby as he sat on Kamala Devi’s lap. Kamala Devi’s face radiated with a divine glow. Ram Narayan, standing on the threshold of the labor room, was lost in trance looking at the child. Drawn to Baba’s magnetic eyes, Ram Narayan felt a holy purpose in the child’s birth. Kamala Devi, with a sublime smile, gave her consent to surrender her newborn to the Divine.
When Lord Krishna was born in prison, the iron gates opened by themselves and the guards fell unconscious. So, too, with the birth of Kamala Devi’s fourth child, the gates of attachment unlocked themselves. The bonds of Maya (illusion) were released. The holy mother rose above her attachment to the child and surrendered him for the redemption of the world.
The mother who does not bind her child with the fetters of her own attachment, one who allows the child to follow its true path of spiritual awakening, is an ideal mother. In this sense, the Enlightened Ones are all mothers. They love their devotees as children, but they love without attachment. They love with a love that allows growth and transformation into the highest fulfillment of life. The surrender of her fourth baby elevated Kamala Devi to the state of a truly spiritual mother.
Baba described his boyhood days to his disciple, Brahmananda Bharati, this way: “In my boyhood days, my elderly kin would speak to me of the highest principles of the Vedas and of spiritual knowledge, so that I would develop a sense of renunciation and love for God. I used to listen patiently to their knowledgeable talks and spend the rest of the time playing with boys of my age. This is how I passed my boyhood days.” This statement indicates that Baba’s parents did not send young Lokenath to school for formal, secular education. That did not, however, keep the unlettered boy, from one day becoming an embodiment of wisdom.
During Lokenath’s early youth, a Vedic scholar named Sri Bhagwan Ganguly lived in the neighboring village. Ganguly was a scholar of great repute who was revered as a householder sannyasin. Ganguly was sixty years old and was second to none in knowledge of the scriptures. In all conferences and debates on scriptural injunctions throughout India, Bhagwan Ganguly’s judgment was considered unexcelled and definitive. His knowledge of the scriptures was preeminent.
Ram Narayan approached Bhagwan Ganguly and asked him to become the Acharya Guru (the guru who initiates the adolescent boy into the Gayatri Mahamantra at a sacred thread ceremony and then leads him toward the ultimate realization of the Self).
Ganguly sensed a divine destiny in Lokenath when he heard the story of Ram Narayan’s implacable prayers for a spiritual son and Kamala Devi’s surrender of this, her fourth son. Bhagwan Ganguly intuited the immense potential with which Lokenath had come into the world — to manifest the truth, once again, that God exists in seed form in the human soul and that, with the practice of spiritual discipline, transcendent Divinity will blossom in the extraordinary seeker.
Bhagwan Ganguly readily welcomed this unique opportunity. Through the sadhana of Lokenath, he could translate all of his theoretical knowledge of the shastras into practical reality. He could prove to the world the greatness and glory of brahmacharya , the practice of celibacy, and one-pointed devotion toward God. Ganguly was convinced that Lokenath was the proper soil in which to sow the seed of a yoga which combined Bhakti (the path of devotional surrender) and Jnana (the path of knowledge of the Will of the Divine).
Ram Narayan returned home, filled with gratitude to the All-Merciful God.
Bhagwan Ganguly agreed to perform the sacred thread ceremony when Lokenath reached the age of eleven. The most auspicious day was selected for the performance of the ceremony since it was decided that after the initiation, young Lokenath would start out on his journey with his teacher.
Lokenath’s bosom friend, Benimadhav, whose sacred thread ceremony was also fixed on the same day, expressed his firm determination to leave home with Lokenath and Bhagwan Ganguly. Benimadhav’s parents, however, were not willing to let him go and tried their best to dissuade him. They attempted to get the boy to see the seriousness of his decision, which was no longer child’s play, by painting a dreadful picture of the lives of sannyasin , who must live in absolute uncertainty as far as the material demands of the body are concerned.
The warnings of his elders went unheeded and Benimadhav, undeterred, stepped into his larger destiny as the companion of Lokenath in the search for the Absolute. The matter was presented to Bhagwan Ganguly and, as the Divine willed, he agreed to perform the sacred thread ceremony for Benimadhav on the same day.
The news about the two young boys leaving home under the guidance of such a renowned scholar and householder, who by then had reached the age of sixty, spread quickly. People assembled in large numbers at the residence of Lokenath to witness the ceremony. The entire ceremony was conducted by Bhagwan Ganguly in accordance with scriptural injunctions and reminded the people of a yajna , or sacred fire ceremony, which was performed in the ancient Vedic days.
It is important to note that Lokenath was not a brahmachari in the lineage of Adiguru Shankaracharya’s sannyasin and brahmacharin. Guru Bhagwan initiated Lokenath and Benimadhav as Naisthic Brahmacharin. Unlike brahmacharin, who wear white clothes, Naisthic brahmacharin traditionally put on ochre colored robes and follow more orthodox rules of celibacy, food, etc.
Soon after the ceremony, Guru Bhagwan left with his two young disciples to live in the jungle. Thus, their spiritual odyssey in search of the Indwelling Atman began in the tradition of the Rishis of ancient Vedic times. Lokenath and Benimadhav walked happily alongside their new guardian. After traveling miles through villages and jungles, they reached Kalighat, a holy pilgrimage site in Calcutta which is the seat of Shakti, the Universal Mother.
The history of Kalighat in Calcutta and how the Deity of the Divine Mother Kali came to be worshipped there is noteworthy.
The story goes back more than a thousand years. At that time there were deep jungles at the bank of the Ganges before she merged into the Bay of Bengal. There were no roads. Only renounced monks, called sadhus , walked through these jungles on their way to the confluence of the Ganges and the Sea. This sacred mythological site is one of important place pilgrimage to millions of Hindus. Bathing, especially in the Ganges and Narmada Rivers, is a ritual of purification to all Hindus. Even westerners often come away stunned at the purifying and renewing power of bathing, or merely standing with their feet in the Ganges. And the Narmada purifies with only a glance.
The sadhus moved in large numbers to ensure security from the dangerous animals of the jungle. In spite of the group protection, however, many sadhus were lost to the jaws of tigers and crocodiles. On this occasion, a small group of sadhus were traveling through the jungle, playing musical instruments and loudly singing the Holy Name of God to scare away animals and to strengthen their faith in the Divine. The group found a place to rest after a long day’s walk. The elder took a break under a big tree while others moved out in small groups to gather fruits, water, and wood for the night fire. One sadhu named Atmaran unknowingly moved deeper and deeper into the forest, away from his smaller group. Atmaram was a simple-hearted, true devotee. He found himself alone in a place which was incredibly peaceful, at a large lake with wonderful lotus flowers. Lost in the ecstatic fragrance of the lotus, he sat to meditate and effortlessly went into trance. In deep meditation, he saw a corner of the lake become bright with light. The light assumed the form of a radiantly Divine young girl, who spoke to him, saying, “My child! I am the Divine Mother Kali.”
In even more ancient times, during the incarnation of Lord Shiva (the “Destroyer” of the Hindu Trinity), King Daksha, who was the father of Mother Durga (another form of Divine Mother and the wife of Lord Shiva), performed a great fire ritual to appease the gods. Daksha, however, did not invite Durga’s husband, Lord Shiva, to attend the ceremony. Shiva — being a sannyasin — did not possess material wealth and Daksha did not approve of his ashen, unkempt and materially dispossessed son-in-law. Durga was deeply insulted. She fainted in the middle of the congregation.
Shiva saw this while in meditation and instantly appeared at the yajna site. He was furious. Lifting the body of Durga onto His shoulder, Shiva moved through the worlds in a rage with his third eye open and shooting fire, destroying everything along the way.
The other gods, afraid Shiva would annihilate the entire universe, prayed to Lord Vishnu, the Sustainer, to stop Shiva. Vishnu threw his sudarshandisk and cut the body of Durga into pieces, stopping Shiva. Parts of Durga’s pure and chaste body fell at different places, all of which subsequently became the most powerful Shakti temples of Divine Mother.
In Atmaram’s vision, Kali revealed that one of the toes of Durga’s right foot fell into this lake and had been preserved there ever since. Kali told Atmaran, “I want to manifest in this place as Dakshina Kali to bring all auspiciousness to the people of the world in this Kali Yuga. Right now I am in the Nilgiri Mountains in the loving care of my devotee, Brahmananda. Go there and tell him about my wish to be brought here and installed as deity.”
Atmaram emerged from his meditative trance remembering this divine command. Inspired by Mother’s Vision he walked to the Nilgiri Mountains, where he found the great sage, Brahmananda, deep in meditation. Atmaram told Brahmananda about Mother Kali’s instructions. The huge stone on which Brahmananda sat for meditation became a flying disk which carried him and Atmaram to the side of the lake. Thoroughly searching the corner of the lake of Atmaram’s vision, they found the Divine Mother Durga’s toe, now in stone form.
Mother Kali then came to Atmaram in another dream. She instructed him to carve the black stone on which they had flown from the mountains into a new form of the Deity, hiding the toe inside it, and to worship it as Mother Kali. Brahmananda and Atmaram took a long time and great care to carve a beautiful image of Mother Kali. A small cottage was built to install the Deity for regular worship.
Brahmananda and Atmaram thus became instrumental in founding the Kali Temple and installing Mother Kali’s idol. The small triangular island on the lake, which became the energy field of Mother Kali, came to be known as Kalighat. Ghat refers to the bank of a river. Most of the merchants who passed by that way to go to the sea stopped there to offer their respects to the Mother. Because the Mother’s temple was situated at the bank of the Ganges, it became popularly known as Kalighat.
Though no exact date or time could be said as to when this place first came to be known as Kalighat, research suggests that it was about a thousand years ago, during the Pal dynasty.
Towards the end of the Sixteenth Century AD, during the regime of Mughal Emperor Akbar, Abul Fazal wrote Ain E Akbari referring to the present area of Calcutta as ‘Kalikotta.’ In those days the area was only a jungle. The whole area was known as Kalighat — there was no separate name. (Baba corroborated this.) Abul Fazal, while writing ‘Kalighat’ in the Persian language, wrote it as ‘Kalikotta.’ Later, the same name uttered by the English traders took the form ‘Calcutta.’ Hence, the name ‘Calcutta’ was derived from ‘Kalighat.’
Kalighat made an appropriate setting for Baba and Beni to come to approach Divine Mother for darshan and to receive her blessings before starting decades of rigorous austerities and yoga practices.
In the words of Baba, “At that time (1742), Calcutta was no more than a jungle, and Kalighat, the temple of Mother Kali, stood in the midst of a wild forest. The English traders, who had not yet established their kingdom in India, conducted their trade in and around Kalighat. When we arrived there, we found it was populated by a large number of sannyasin with long locks of matted hair. Beni and I found their company most enjoyable. Within a few days we started feeling quite at home in Kalighat. When the sadhus sat silently in meditation, we, in childish playfulness, would pull their long hair or touch their loincloths. They never said anything to us. This encouraged us and we continued disturbing them off and on.
”When the disturbance reached its peak, the sannyasin approached Guru Bhagwan to complain about our misbehavior. Gurudev answered them, ‘Why do you complain to me? I am a householder. These boys belong to your Ashram. I am only instrumental in bringing these two boys, belonging to your order, from home to you.’ The sannyasin, pleased by this apt reply, did not complain anymore. The episode was over. Gurudev called us to his presence, and said sweetly, ‘You are pulling the long hair and the loincloths of the sannyasin. When you, too, have grown old and others pull your long, matted hair or pull your loincloths, then what will you do?’
”I said, ‘How strange! We wear the long clothes given to us on the day of the sacred thread ceremony. Why on earth would we grow long hair and put a bit of loincloth around our waist?’
”Gurudev replied, ‘Don’t you understand by now that you are to become like these renounced monks?’
”I replied, ‘If we have come to be like them, then, why do they live on alms and we on the money sent from our homes?’ Gurudev said, ‘Even that money should be treated as received in alms. The people at home know our address, hence, they send money for our expenses.’ When I heard this, I told Gurudev, ‘If that is the case, we should not stay here anymore. We should immediately move to a distant place.’ Gurudev readily agreed to my suggestion, and we left Kalighat.”
With respect to Gurudev, Baba Lokenath explained to his devotees and disciples, “Gurudev would always put me in the forefront whenever we were able to move to a new place or when a new venture was to be undertaken.”
Lokenath, at just eleven years old, requested that they leave Kalighat to avoid depending on money from home and live as true wandering mendicants. We see in this his inherent tendency toward renunciation. Baba was a born yogi. We also see in Gurudev’s response to such requests a training for and deference to Lokenath’s leadership. In allowing Baba’s leadership to express and develop early, Gurudev foreshadows Lokenath’s destiny.
Sitting comfortably erect for meditation, offer all that you are into the rising and falling light within the breath. When you are deeply relaxed, see yourself before you were born, as a spark of diamond-white light in the Divine Heart. Feel the pure, sweet, nurturing energies of the Divine all around you, like a womb. Feel the pure essence of the Divine as your own essence. This is home, where you come from, who you are beyond form. Allow the golden-white, Divine Light to flow through you now, informing and forming your life today in ways that are beyond your understanding. Wrapped in the Light that is your true home, know that you are safe, that you can always return to this Light, because it is who you are. Everything else will one day disappear. Only this Light will be left. Whenever you are beset with difficulty, remember this simple, brilliant spark of Light that you are. Offer your troubles into it. Let the Light burn them away until they disappear into the Light.