My Visit to Babaji Cave in Himalayas: an amazing spiritual adventure

Written by Karen Maria Dabrowska

My trip experience to the Himalayas Mahavatar Babaji Cave in Himalayas. Make sure it is safe and comfortable. This Blog is based on our 1 week trip between Sep 28 – Oct 5, 2022. It has useful points to help you plan your trip

A visit to  Mahavatar Babaji’s cave made it possible for me to   follow in the footsteps of Paramahansa Yogananda, the father of yoga in the West whose best selling book Autobiography of a Yogi inspired me to visit India.

But the knowledge that is in the book stays in the book. As the famous medieval  explorer Ibn Battuta  said “the one who read is not like the one who saw”.

No amount of reading and study can provide the insights which come from spending time in the idyllic Indian countryside  where  Babaji Cave in Himalayas ( the immortal master who resides in the Himalayas)  revealed kriya yoga in a cave near Kukuchina village to Lahiri Mahasaya. Mahasaya passed it to his disciples among them Swami Sri Yukteswar who became Yogananda’s guru.

Yogananda talks about Ranikhet in his autobiography. Lahiri Mahasaya, a  government accountant in the Military Engineering Department  was transferred to Ranikhet  in Almora district situated at  the foot of Nanda Devi the second highest mountain in India. The transfer enabled him to met Babaji.

The trip to Babaji’s cave, expertly organised by Rishikesh Day Tour, included a day in Ranikhet  with its witty signs by the side of the road – if you are married divorce speed. It is an area of pine forests with amazing shades of green. At night leopards often sit by the side of the road. Tigers do not venture out from the depths of the forest.

Before visiting the cave a great taste of the forest and its wonders comes in  Ranikhet’s Forest Healing Centre, India’s first such centre which covers 13 acres.

It is the place for forest  meditation based on immersing oneself in silence and the ambience of the forest  and differs from traditional meditation systems of controlling thoughts or concentrating the awareness on some particular point.

Two other fascinating sites  enroute to the cave are the Jhula Devi temple of bells and the Badinath group of temples in Dwarahat.

Jhula devi Temple

Jhula Devi  temple is dedicated  to  goddess  Druga the protector of the valley   in which it is located. It is believed that who ever ties a bell on the temple wall is granted his/her wish – in due course. Seeing thousands of bells reminded me of John Donne’s meditation: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” 

Dwarahat Town

Dwarahat is famous for 55  ancient temples constructed mainly by Katyuri kings who ruled over  regions in Uttarakhand in India and western Nepal from 700 to 1200 CE. They are constructed of granite  the local stone and instead of mortar iron clamps were used to tie adjoining blocks.

Dwarahat has a number of comfortable hotels but for something really different I stayed in Joshi’s Guest house in Kukuchina village. The guest house with a general store by the side of the road and dormitories  and small bungalows  up some not so safe steps is a place where time stands still.

Joshi Guest House

Joshi relaxed with a cup of tea and treated his guests as family members. When I asked him if he had  hand sanitizer he replied with a mischievous endearing twinkle in his eye: “I have everything – help yourself.” and welcomed me to walk around the store.

The houses  opposite had large gardens and the cows were lovingly taken of  care of. Men and boys relaxed on the bench across the road from the general store.

There was a sign about busses but I never saw a bus.  Nobody was in a hurry. They seemed to enjoy every moment  of the day where the coolish temperatures were very welcome. An old man whose face was forever young grabbed my case and carried it  on his head.

He gave me a padlock and key for my bungalow – calling it a hut seemed disrespectful even though it was  quite small.  There were  three beds  and about five power sockets. WhatsApp was possible but modern technology seemed  an unwelcome intrusion into this rustic environment.

Like the bungalow all the furniture was made of local wood which  showed its age.  It is here that I learned how to wash using a large bucket and a small jug. Hot water came from the boiler on wall which came to life with a red light at the flick of a switch.

My Inspiration behind visit to Babaji cave

At  the end of the day  the dark sky seemed to have its own mysterious colour.  Thought of the  time when I was sitting in my small room in West London reading about Babaji and thinking if Babaji appeared to me I couldn’t handle the experience. Looking outside through window it was pitch black except for three lights.

Two years later in the night sky outside the bungalow where I sat waiting for a delicious home cooked vegetarian dinner three lights appeared in the sky in exactly the same configuration as in West London. The saying there is no such thing as chance made more sense than ever.

Breakfast was puha an interesting mixture made with  flattened rice and vegetables cooked over an open fire in the garden below and served  by a polite young man. Obviously I had curiosity value and we communicated – mainly through google translate.

Walking  to Babaji cave

Started the walk to the cave at sunrise. The silence was deafening with only a few birds welcoming the morning with their songs. First there is a shortish walk along a gravel  road which then became  a  well worn track along which thousands of  spiritual seekers have made a journey of self discovery.  At the beginning of the track were some modest  houses and larger ones in the process of construction.

Along the Track

The Yogoda Society of India has obligingly placed  small benches along the track.   I availed myself more than once of these seats, sipped  mineral water and ate energy  giving chocolate biscuits.   Along the way streams crossed the track which rose  steadily until the cave was reached.  Walking through this idyllic countryside it was easy to understand why the Hindus regard the Himalayas as a temple.

Before Cave

Before the cave was a large meditation hall  with  pictures of  Yogananda, Lahri Mahasaya. Sri Yukteswar  and Jesus Christ. It was such  a joy to see that the masters from different traditions are honoured and respected. That is the beauty of the Hindu religion – it embraces all. Around the meditation hall was a garden whose blooms felt  the love of those taking care of them.

The Mahavatar Babaji Cave

The cave appeared about five minutes walk from the meditation hall. It was smaller than I imagined.  Me and my guide were the only people in the area. The dream of seeing Babaji’s cave had become a reality. Sat in the stone structure carved by nature  looking out at the world which stretched out before me.

There is so much to learn in life but the lessons learned  from silence are a thousand times more valuable than the lessons which come through words.

The message from nature

The message from nature, the voice of the trees and the silence was interrupted by the arrival of a number of truth seekers. They obviously wanted to experience the cave together so I sat on the large concrete steps outside. It was a joy to be in the cave alone for  many precious moments where God was with me and all was right with the world. For a time I had fled to the questionless realm, the heaven of inner joy.

Walk Back to

The 90 minute walk back to the guest house did not take as long as the walk to reach the cave. Stopped again at the meditation call to buy laminated pictures of Yogananda and his masters. Maniram my guide knew the people who lived at the end of the track and there was a hospitable cup of tea and a gift of peaches from the tree.

The water boiled in its own good time on the open fire. A dog barked as if its life depended on it. There were a lot of smiles and conversations in Hindi. Guessed they were talking about me as guide called me Mata ji and he repeated Mata ji many times.

Meeting with Mr. Joshi

Joshi was welcoming on my return to the guest house. Bought  more mineral water and lay down in the bungalow.  The trek wore  me out and there was no way I could manage the walk up 400 steps to the nearby temple. After the long nap sat in the meditation hall in the guest house. The masters on the pictures were there with me sending me their energy and inspiration.

Another simple, delicious dinner of rice, vegetables and chapatis was served.  The moon walked across the sky with its powerful energy telling me of world’s far beyond this earth. “Babaji tests you sometimes”, Joshi said when I told him about the altitude sickness which was affecting me. He didn’t answer when I asked him whether or not I had passed the test.

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