Baba Lokenath Brahmachari
Encyclopedia
Baba Lokenath Brahmachari or simply Baba Lokenath was an 18th Century Hindu
saint and philosopher in Bengal
.
,1137 Bengali Era (29th August, 1730) to a Brahmin
family in the village of Chaurasi Chakla, named as Kochua, in Basirhat
sub-division, a couple of miles from Kolkata
. His father Ramnarayan Ghoshal and mother Kamaladevi were deeply religious. He was their fourth son. Ramnarayan requested Acharya Bhagawan Ganguly, a famous Pandit and renowned scholar of that time in the village of Kochua, to be his son's guru
and show him the way of moksha
or enlightenment. At the age of 11, young Lokenath left home with his guru. He visited Kalighat Temple
in Kolkata and then lived in the forests for 25 years, selflessly serving as his guru's chela
and practising ashtanga yoga
of Patanjali along with hatha yoga
. After this he travelled to the Himalayas
where he meditated in the nude for nearly five decades. Finally, he attained enlightenment
at the age of ninety.
After his enlightenment he traveled extensively on foot to Afghanistan
, Persia, Arabia and Israel
, making three pilgrimages to Mecca
. When he came to the small town Baradi near Dhaka
, a wealthy family built him a small hermitage, which became his ashram
. He was at the time one hundred and thirty six years old. There he accepted the sacred thread
of the Brahmins and clothed himself in saffron robes. For the rest of his life he performed miracles on and gave divine wisdom to all who came to him to seek his blessings. He received the title Baba(Bengali
for Father). Baba Lokenath is said to have been nearly seven feet tall with little flesh on him. He was an ascetic, denying him self physical pleasures. He could even negate sleep, never closing his eyes or even blinking.
On the 19th day of Jyestha, 1297 (1 June 1890), Sunday, at 11:45 am, the Baba was meditating when he went into a trance with his eyes open, and while still meditation, left his physical body forever. He was aged 160. His last words were:
. After attaining enlightenment he had said:
of millions of Bengal
i families on both sides of the Indo-Bangladesh border. He is regarded a saint among Hindus and is often deified as a living God.
An often repeated legend tells that Baba Lokenath was an Avatar
of Shiva, sent as a Messiah
to redeem the world of sin.
2. Swamibag(near Shakti Oushadhalaya), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Head Office: Sodhpur, Muragacha (Kolkata), West Bengal, India.
Branch Office: Lataly, Khankal, Uttarakhand, Haridwar, India Web: www.loknathyoga.com & www.janakinathsevatrust.com
2. Kachua Ashram - Near Kakra Mirza Nagar railway station towards Hasnabad Station. Take a train from Sealdah north and arrive Kakra Mirza Nagar railway station towards Hasnabad and take a van for Kachua Ashram.
3. Chakla Ashram - Near Bira railway station towards Bangaon. Take a train from Sealdah north and arrive Bira railway station towards Bangaon and go to Badar by van, after that again take a van for go to Chakla Ashram.
4. Tegharia Mandir - near Rajarhat Expressway
5. Garia
Ashram - near Garia Bazar Metro Railway
6. Jadavpur Naba Baradi Ashram - Sulekha Crossing , Jadavpur
7. Poddar Nagar Mandir - Jodhpur Park , South Kolkata
8. Lokeshwar Lokenath Mandir, Philips Stoppage, CIT Road.
9. Sai-Lokenath Milon Mandir {Sai-Lokenath Satsang Society (Regd Trust.)} FA 9/3Deshbandhu Nagar, Baguiati, Kolkata 700 056.
10.Anowara Ashram-Sri Sri Baba Lokenath Ashram (Anowara).Address:-Vill: Guzara, Thana: Anowara, Dist: Chittagong.Bangladesh.Location to Visit: By Bus-From Baheddarhat Bus station to Anwara root line Bus and require to step down at Barkal Breedge. From Barkal Breedge to Dutterhat by Rickshaw.It is situated nearer Dutterhat.
11. Sree Sree Lokenath Sebashrom- Kakailcheo, Ajmirigonj, Habiganj.Each year (Bangla Karthik Mas) thousand of people gather in this location in a particular occasion. It is situated in the Vati area of Habigonj (Sylhet).
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
saint and philosopher in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
.
Life and Death
Baba Lokenath Brahmachari was born on Janmastami, the 18th day of BhadraBhadro
Bhadro is the fifth month in the Bangla Calendar.Bhadro marks the beginning of the Autumn season. According to the modified calendar developed by the Bangla Academy, the month of Bhadro has 31 days. Bhadro spans from mid August to mid September in the Gregorian Calendar....
,1137 Bengali Era (29th August, 1730) to a Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
family in the village of Chaurasi Chakla, named as Kochua, in Basirhat
Basirhat
Basirhat is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal, India. Basirhat subdivisional town is located on the banks of Ichamati River.- History :...
sub-division, a couple of miles from Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. His father Ramnarayan Ghoshal and mother Kamaladevi were deeply religious. He was their fourth son. Ramnarayan requested Acharya Bhagawan Ganguly, a famous Pandit and renowned scholar of that time in the village of Kochua, to be his son's guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
and show him the way of moksha
Moksha
Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
or enlightenment. At the age of 11, young Lokenath left home with his guru. He visited Kalighat Temple
Kalighat
Kalighat is a locality of Kolkata, India. One of the oldest neighborhoods in South Kolkata, Kalighat is also densely populated and vibrant -- with a rich history of cultural intermingling with the various foreign incursions into the area over time....
in Kolkata and then lived in the forests for 25 years, selflessly serving as his guru's chela
Chela
Chela has two main meanings. One derivation comes from Hindi from Sanskrit , meaning "slave" or "servant". In English, the word means a religious student or disciple...
and practising ashtanga yoga
Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga may refer to:*Raja Yoga or Yoga, the classical system described in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali *Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, a system of yoga developed by Pattabhi Jois...
of Patanjali along with hatha yoga
Hatha yoga
Hatha yoga , also called hatha vidya , is a system of yoga introduced by Yogi Swatmarama, a Hindu sage of 15th century India, and compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika....
. After this he travelled to the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
where he meditated in the nude for nearly five decades. Finally, he attained enlightenment
Moksha
Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
at the age of ninety.
After his enlightenment he traveled extensively on foot to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Persia, Arabia and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, making three pilgrimages to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. When he came to the small town Baradi near Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
, a wealthy family built him a small hermitage, which became his ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
. He was at the time one hundred and thirty six years old. There he accepted the sacred thread
Upanayanam
Upanayana is the initiation ritual by which initiates are invested with a sacred thread, to symbolize the transference of spiritual knowledge .- Significance of the sacred thread :...
of the Brahmins and clothed himself in saffron robes. For the rest of his life he performed miracles on and gave divine wisdom to all who came to him to seek his blessings. He received the title Baba(Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
for Father). Baba Lokenath is said to have been nearly seven feet tall with little flesh on him. He was an ascetic, denying him self physical pleasures. He could even negate sleep, never closing his eyes or even blinking.
On the 19th day of Jyestha, 1297 (1 June 1890), Sunday, at 11:45 am, the Baba was meditating when he went into a trance with his eyes open, and while still meditation, left his physical body forever. He was aged 160. His last words were:
Teachings
His teachings were infused with simplicity that endeared the common man. He preached love, devotion and unwavering faith in God and in one's deeper, immutable selfSelf (spirituality)
Religious views on the self vary widely. The self is a complex and core subject in many forms of spirituality. Two types of self are commonly considered - the self that is the ego, also called the learned, superficial self of mind and body, "false self", an egoic creation, and the Self which is...
. After attaining enlightenment he had said:
Legacy
Today, Lokenath Brahmachari is a household deityDeity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
of millions of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
i families on both sides of the Indo-Bangladesh border. He is regarded a saint among Hindus and is often deified as a living God.
An often repeated legend tells that Baba Lokenath was an Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
of Shiva, sent as a Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
to redeem the world of sin.
Temples/Ashrams in Bangladesh
1. Barodi, Narayanganj, Bangladesh.2. Swamibag(near Shakti Oushadhalaya), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Ashrams and Temples of Mahayogi Sri Loknath Brahmachari in India
1.Sri Sri Baba Loknath Brahmachari Mahamandal Ashram, India.Head Office: Sodhpur, Muragacha (Kolkata), West Bengal, India.
Branch Office: Lataly, Khankal, Uttarakhand, Haridwar, India Web: www.loknathyoga.com & www.janakinathsevatrust.com
2. Kachua Ashram - Near Kakra Mirza Nagar railway station towards Hasnabad Station. Take a train from Sealdah north and arrive Kakra Mirza Nagar railway station towards Hasnabad and take a van for Kachua Ashram.
3. Chakla Ashram - Near Bira railway station towards Bangaon. Take a train from Sealdah north and arrive Bira railway station towards Bangaon and go to Badar by van, after that again take a van for go to Chakla Ashram.
4. Tegharia Mandir - near Rajarhat Expressway
5. Garia
Garia
Garia is a posh neighbourhood in south Kolkata, India. It includes the localities of Naktala, New Garia, Chak Garia, Garia Park, Baghajatin, Baishnabghata-Patuli, Techno City, Model Town, Ganguly Bagan, Tentulberia, East Tentulberia, Ramgarh, Briji, Kamalgazi, Mahamayatala, Boral, Sreenagar,...
Ashram - near Garia Bazar Metro Railway
6. Jadavpur Naba Baradi Ashram - Sulekha Crossing , Jadavpur
7. Poddar Nagar Mandir - Jodhpur Park , South Kolkata
8. Lokeshwar Lokenath Mandir, Philips Stoppage, CIT Road.
9. Sai-Lokenath Milon Mandir {Sai-Lokenath Satsang Society (Regd Trust.)} FA 9/3Deshbandhu Nagar, Baguiati, Kolkata 700 056.
10.Anowara Ashram-Sri Sri Baba Lokenath Ashram (Anowara).Address:-Vill: Guzara, Thana: Anowara, Dist: Chittagong.Bangladesh.Location to Visit: By Bus-From Baheddarhat Bus station to Anwara root line Bus and require to step down at Barkal Breedge. From Barkal Breedge to Dutterhat by Rickshaw.It is situated nearer Dutterhat.
11. Sree Sree Lokenath Sebashrom- Kakailcheo, Ajmirigonj, Habiganj.Each year (Bangla Karthik Mas) thousand of people gather in this location in a particular occasion. It is situated in the Vati area of Habigonj (Sylhet).
External links
- www.loknathyoa.com - Spreading all over the world
- www.babalokenath.org - a useful website about his teachings.
- www.loknathbaba.com
- Website containing info, pictures, video, music etc. Of Sri Sri Baba Lokenath Brahmachari
- Devotional Songs Of Sri Sri Baba Lokenath Brahmachari,Krishna,Shayama Sangeet,Gayatri Mantra,Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev, etc.
- Devotional Videos Of Baba Lokenath Sri Chaityana MahaPrabhu,Shayama Sangeet, etc.
- Devotional Pictures Of Baba Lokenath , Mahaprabhu Chaityana, Ma Tara, Ma Sarada devi, etc.