Loknath Baba – Importance – Guru Who Lived For 180 Years

Loknath Baba is a saint from Bengal who performed numerous miracles during his lifetime in the 18th century and he continues to show his divine presence by helping devotees even today. He lived for 180 years but never spread his teachings. But he had predicted that his teachings will be spread 100 years after his death.

Loknath Baba was born in the village of Chaurasi Chakla near Kolkata around 1730 AD. He was sent to the adjacent Kochua village to be the disciple of Pandit Bhagwan Ganguly; from there he went to Kalighat with his guru at the age of eleven.

From the age of 11 he lived in the forests, practicing the Yoga of Patanjali and the most difficult Hatha yoga.

The seven foot tall Loknath Baba with little flesh on his denied himself all physical needs, never slept, never closed his eyes of blinked. He went about naked and braved the cold of the Himalayas. He meditated for 50 years and at the age of 90 attained self realization. After realization, he is said to have declared: “I have seen only myself.”

He then traveled on foot to Afghanistan, Persia, Arabia, and Israel, and made three pilgrimages to Mecca, Finally, 136 years old, he came to Baradi, a village near Dhaka in Bangladesh, where he set up a small ashrama. It was here that he put on saffron robes. It is in this form that we see pictures of Loknath Baba.

He is said to have attained Samadhi in 180 at the age of 160. Before the 1980s, Loknath Baba was known only in small circles as an ascetic guru who predicted that people would know more about him a hundred years after his death.

During the 1980s, Loknath Baba’s disciple began to grow in number, and they began a concerted effort to spread his sect. A group of his devotees would go the Gangasagar festival every year and distribute pamphlets about him. Today, there are numerous temples to Loknath Baba all over the city. The temple at Teghoria in Kolkata is the most famous.

Apart from miracles, there are other reasons why Loknath Baba occupies a special place among the gurus in Bengal. Unlike many other gurus, he stayed away from tantra and mantra. He did not give any ritual initiation. He stressed spontaneity and devotion and shunned ostentation and luxury. But the most important difference between him and other Gurus is that he did not work to spread his own word.

The Loknath Baba sect took shape, as he had predicted, long after his death.

Loknath Baba’s devotees now run into thousands; many miracles are attributed to Loknath Baba. Devotees claim that terminal diseases which could not be treated with modern medicine were cured by his miraculous powers.

Bibliography 
Bharater Shadhak (1970) Shankarnath Roy - Karuna Prakashani Kolkata
Encyclopedia of Hinduism Volume VI page 298 - IHRF