Experiencing Baba’s Presence

On October 27, 2015, the anniversary of Baba Muktananda’s lunar mahasamadhi, a Celebration Satsang was held in Shri Nilaya hall at Shree Muktananda Ashram. The following is an excerpt from a talk that Oliver Hill, a Siddha Yoga meditation teacher, gave in this satsang.

Recently, a Siddha Yogi shared this extraordinary experience with me.

It was October 2, 1982, the night that Baba would take mahasamadhi. This Siddha Yogi sat down for his regular practice of meditation. While he was entering into meditation, a rustling energy rose from the base of his spine. As the energy moved upward, he could see some of his familiar ways of identifying himself gather up into a little bundle. The bundle then seemed to float away from him and hover at a distance from his body. Momentarily freed from his limited identity, this man experienced a vastness inside, like a boundless ocean that was divinely blissful. And instantly, he knew that this vastness was Baba, as clearly as if he were looking at Baba’s physical form. He swayed with joy. He was brimming over with the essence of Muktananda—with the bliss of freedom.

As he slowly returned to his familiar sense of individuality, the experience of Baba’s presence remained vividly inside him. He understood, more clearly than ever before, that the inner presence of the Guru was his ongoing support and foundation.

When he learned the next day that Baba had taken mahasamadhi, he knew with certainty that Baba’s grace and energy transcended Baba’s physical form, that Baba was still vibrantly alive.

Baba’s enduring presence is here for all of us who walk the Siddha Yoga path. We can find Baba through our longing to know him. We can experience Baba’s presence by invoking his grace, by honoring his legacy, by practicing the Siddha Yoga teachings. When we, as students, put forth the effort, we do recognize that Baba is with us—guiding us, giving us faith that we can attain the supreme goal.