p. 8

"The world is ... corrupted by capitalist elites, but we cannot hope to win any war {such as, the class-war} on the material plane."

p. 67

"our elders considered him [Hari Puri Baba] too ... radical."

p.

city

saint

15

Puttaparti

Satya Sai Baba

Ganes`puri

Baba Muktananda

R.s.ikes`

Tatwala Baba

15-6

Varanasi

Ananda Mayi Ma

23

nigh Jaipur

Hari Puri Baba

p. 17

S`iva "is usually depicted ... two eyes rolled upward and the third one closed. He wears a cobra around his neck and a five-day-old crescent moon in his hair, from which a

p. 18

torrent of water (the Ganges or Ganga) springs forth. In his hand he holds a trident with a two-headed drum dangling from its tines."

"Naga means naked {Actually, /naga/ is ‘dragon’; ‘naked’ is /nagna/. Apparently, a pun is intended.}, and indeed many Naga Babas have abandoned all clothing".

p. 22

"I moved slowly forward, rising up from the temple floor with every step, a few inches at a time, until I was dancing on air. ...

p. 23

But I had left my body and entered into another state of consciousness."

"From the bare, rocky hill emerged the open thighs of a giant woman, her pubic hair the only greenery on the mountain. ... I have come to meet a celibate hermit who lives in the private parts of a great rock woman." {That the male saint celebrated in each Tantra is dwelling in the vagina of a goddess, is stated in the prologues to some Vajra-yana Tantra-s.}

p. 33

"I can teach you the secrets of the soul, atma vidya; ... I can show you who you really are ... . ...

p. 34

I’m talking about a different kind of text from what you are used to. It is not written; it’s not a book. ... . ... its authority and power lie in the empty spaces. On paper these are the white spaces that haven’t been touched by ink. The printing can be perceived from as many different perspectives as there are people and spirits and gods."

p. 34

"the guru is the patron of the disciple, willing to travel to any of the three worlds to save his rear end."

p. 35

"to be a disciple, a chela ... means that you will have a guide, a benefactor, a protector, one who will show you a path and do everything in his power to see to it

p. 36

that you also cross to the other side, as he has, so that you may show the path to others and keep it from disappearing."

"virja havan, the initiation ritual into sannyas, for every neophyte who has entered into the Juna Akhara, the old Order".

p. 38

"when Hari Puri Baba was born, the gods and goddesses rained fragrant flowers from heaven, cows tripled their flow of milk for a month, and for once there was peace on earth."

p. 40

"Hari Puri Baba obtained a number of siddhis. ... He spoke ka bhasha, the crow language, the language of birds."

"the Bhrigu Shastri ... possessed the Bhrigu Shastra, a text composed thousands of years ago by the Rishi Bhrigu, his ancestor. The Bhrigu Shastri also has a highly guarded section of that ancient text that contains horoscopes for those who would approach his lineage for thousands of years to come." {It is would appear that this is not a material text, but rather one in a divine world, which text is consulted there whenever the need may arise.}

p. 41

"shave all your hair, down there too, not just your head and face. ... the three worlds know you are my disciple ... .

p. 42

Adi Shankara vanished from the world (literally) at the age of twenty-eight. {32, the same age as Christ according to the usual tradition} ...

p. 43

The barber handed me a small mirror ... so that I could watch".

p. 45

"Pointing to the altar, Hari Puri Baba told me that, in fact, he was not becoming my guru but only my shakshi {saks.in} guru, a "witness guru" to my becoming the disciple of the lord of yogis, Guru Dattatreya".

p. 46

"I heard a few sanctifying drops of water hit the dhoti, as the cloth was held tight by three gurus." "he bent my head and sliced off the remaining hair".

p. 47

"said Hari Puri Baba. ... "... By the authority vested in me by all the mad people of the world, I declare you cleansed of all sin.""

"mixed white ash, called vibhuti, with water in a small brass bowl to make a paste. ... "Vibhuti is from the sacred fire, the dhuni, which never goes out. We make our sacrifices into the dhuni ... . It has in it the fruit of countless sacrifices, and indeed is illusion burned to ash. ..." ... applied the thin paste to my forehead in three horizontal lines."

"slipped the rudraksha bead on the janeu string over my head. "... This bead, which ... is a seed from a tree, contains the power of discipleship. ... Rudra, shed a tear of compassion for mankind, and this became the rudraksha tree. It pulls the pranas upward ... .""

om – ji!

guru, dev, datt, swami, alakh

"Gur sweet, or guru sweet?" I answered, "Guru.""

p.

the root of __

is the __ of the guru

57

meditation

body

puja

feet

58

mantra

speech

liberation [moks.a]

grace

"Late at night I would have visions as I stared into the fire and let my eyes go out of focus. At first I saw tridents and conches, flaming spears and a lotus, and then one night I saw a yellow-eyed, fat-bellied man riding a ram. ... I had been very fortunate to have the darshan of Agni, the God of Fire."

p.

#

anga

meaning

59

1.

yama

"control"

2.

niyama

"prescription"

3.

asana

"sitting"

4.

pran.a-yama

"control of breathing"

5.

prati-ahara

"withdrawing from ... what our senses perceive"

60

6.

dharan.a

"retaining"

7.

dhyana

"focusing, meditation"

8.

sama-adhi

"integration"

"do japa, repetition, of your guru mantra – fifty-one malas a day".

p. 63

"Respect for the dhuni, like respect for other people, means not pointing your feet in its direction."

fire is __

logs are __

smoke is __

sparks are __

offering is __

universe

year

clouds

thunder

soma

world

earth

night

stars

rain

man

his mouth

his breath

his eyen

food

pp. 63-4

woman

her womb

her hair

pleasure

semen

"Hari Puri Baba was a storyteller. ... He would ... entrance his audience with tales of great sadhus and their teachings, the exploits of gods and heroes".

"hat[.]ha yoga ... was not really part of the Naga sannyasi tradition but belonged to the Naths, a later tradition of sadhus also known as "torn-ears" (because their ears are torn to insert their large black earrings)." {This yoga would appear to be of Ajivika provenience, at least a millennium older than the Naga sat-nyasa founded by S`ankara-acarya.}

p. 68

"Tuesday, Mangalvar, Mars-day, Hanuman’s day of the week. This is a day that ... is good for meditation, worship and charity. Local villagers ... smeared sticky laddu candy on the closed lips of the huge sindur- orange Hanuman. ... They massaged jis legs ... with westlers’ mustard-seed oil, and then emptied ... orange sindur powder over his head ... . This sacred coloring was put on everyone’s third eye."

p. 69

"Hanuman is Mahavir, the great hero who searches the Three Worlds for the greatest treasure, discovers it within his own heart, and brings it back to his people."

p. 70

There was "an apsara, a heavenly nymph, cursed by her lord, Brihaspati-Jupiter, to take birth as a monkey girl. This monkey girl, known as Anjana, could assume any form ... . ... Vayu ... blew away her garments, embraced her, and impregnated her. ... Hanuman was born to Anjana in a nearby cave ... . ... Before Anjana departed, she ... told him to eat ... ‘... the rising sun,’ pointing to

p. 71

Surya the Sun. ... This happened to be the day of a solar ecloipse ... . ... Hanuman threatened Airavata, the elephant mount of Lord Indra himself .., which struck the monkey on the jaw ... . ...

p. 72

Hanu means jaw. ... Hanuman ... especially likes to tease the rishi-sages ... . He steals and hides their ritual implements ... . ...

One day as he swings in the trees

{The Kerkopes, suspended from a stick,

near the ashram of the rishi Trnabindu,

and associated with the name TRiBallos,

Hanuman

were changed into monkeys (CDCM, s.v. "Cercopes").}

catches hold of a ferocious tiger and a bull elephant ... . ...

{Bull changed into a "spotted leopard" (MJW, pp. 180-1).

p. 74

Hanuman ... came to a cave that

Monkey arrived at "Waterfall Cave" (MJW).

led him to an underwater city beneath the sea."

"Monkey uncovers a great underwater city" (MJW, pp. 34-5).

p. 75

A baba proffered to Hanumant a selection from among signet-rings.

To Monkey was given a block of iron by the wife of dragon-king Ao-kuan (MJW, pp. 36-7).}

"craws ... were attracted to Hari Puri Baba and perched close to him ... . ... He used to make these funny little noises to them, and ... they seemed to respond. I realized that Hari Puri Baba ... was actually speaking to them. and the crows were talking back."

"And these spirits, as you call them, need humans to perform material tasks, whatever they may be, and humans go to spirit for immaterial tasks such as the acquisition of knowledge and the blessings this may bring. The more humans believe in and honor spirit, the more that spirit manifests and speaks through humans."

"only the body acquires karma and the spirit remains a witness."

Kas`i is Varan-asi "(where the Varan and Asi rivers meet), or Banaras." Its god and goddess are Vis`va-natha and Anna-purn.a, respectively.

The god’s "anger jumped out of his body as the wrathful deity known as Bhairon, and sliced off the haughty Brahma’s fifth head. ... Brahma’s severed skull stuck to his hand, and ... he wandered throughout the three worlds using the skull as his begging bowl."

guests fed by Baba Ram Nath Aghorin were, sequentially :

p. 89

1. humans

p. 90

2. hounds

3. ghosts

p. 91

"where Vishnu dreamed the world into existence while sleeping on the coils of his endless serpent. They turned Mount Meru, the axis of the world, upside

p. 92

down to use as their churning rod, ... his endless serpent stretched as the churning rope in the hands of the gods and demons. ... After a thousand years of churning, treasures started rising to the surface.

The Wish-Granting Cow was first ... .

Then came the Sea Goddess,

the fragrant Wish-Granting Tree, and

the Apsaras ...;

Shiva caught Soma the Moon, which he displayed in his dreadlocks,

and the cannabis plant ...;

Vishnu acquired the ruby called Kaustubha, and placed it on his chest like a medal.

Then Mahalakshmi, ... the Goddess of Prosperity, rose ... . ...

Dhanvantari, Lord of healing, Herbs, and Longevity, ... appeared".

p. 93

However, during all this excitement, four drops fell to earth and landed at what is now Prayag [Allahabad], Hardwar, Ujjain, and Nasik.

Every twelve years, which is how long it takes for Jupiter to circle the Sun, when Jupiter, the Sun, and the Moon are in the same places in the sky as they were when

p. 94

each drop was spilled, the amrit, this Nectar of Immortality, appears and there is a great celebration called the Kumbh Mela in each of these four places."

"on Monday for Shiva {MONday for the MOON atop his head?},

on Tuesday for Hanuman."

"the names of the different sects : ... Bhairagi {actually, /Vairagin/; a pun with the name of hero /BHR.nGIN/ may be intended}".

Avahan."

"I recited the names of the seventeen river goddesses and asked them all to join Ganga and Jamuna at that moment". [total :17 + 2 = 19 {sets of 19 goddesses are mentioned in Irish lore}]

"Hari Puri ... traveled at night without his body, sometimes covering astounding distances."

p. 111

A reason for disapproval against being made a sannyasin : "He has no gotra ...!"

{Approval from one’s gotra ‘clan’, pravara ‘family’, and jati ‘guild’ would be expected as a praerequisite to one’s becoming a sannyasin. The author of this autobiography had apparently wilfully neglected to secure these necessities.}

p. 116

The author states himself to be "from a good family in America".

{Being from a "good family" ought to further cause to seek approval from such family for one’s joining any major institution. Approval from a "good family" would be honored in Bharata.}

p. 112

"The akhara is a circle divided into four quarters, determined by a system of lineages :"

# of Lineages

direction

surname

16

northeast

Puri

p. 113

4

southeast

?

13

southwest

Giri

14

northwest

"

p. 127

"Pandit ... had performed my funeral rites. I was now ritually dead. ...

p. 128

May this Mahavakya be received by my disciple, Ram Puri!" Hari Puri cried. ...

p. 129

"... Bathing in the water there will complete your initiation.""

"the word bahinchut, which might be translated as "sister-fucker." The ... word ... was tantric".

"There are exactly seventy-two lakhs plus seventy-two thousand three eleven [7,272,311] nadis, subtle currents, in" the human body.

"Mind you, destruction of the universe is not a violent act ..., but simply the disappearance of the web of illusion."

deathbed statement by Hari Puri : "Before discarding this body, I wanted to have some fun, so I left my body in your very capable hands and became a tourist. I flew to all the tirths, all the sacred places – to Kashmir, Kerala, Bengal, Dwarka Ji – everywhere I had visited before, and more. ... I sacrificed my legs to grow wings!"

"What do you know of sin? ... It’s the sounds one makes during his life. {"Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man : but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." ("RFM", p. 233a)} ... Sin is mispronunciation."

p. 163

Crows were sent (by instructing them in crows’ language), to indicate the places of burial of curse-objects.

p. 164

"He awakened ... the dhuni ... . He made a circle of turmeric around it, and decorated his trident and tongs with green chili peppers and more turmeric root ... . Then he enraged the flames with myrrh ... . ... Slowly he circled the sacred fire with a lemon hidden in his ... hand, and ... the approached his trident in the northeast corner of the dhuni. ... . ... he impaled the lemon on the center spoke of the trident".

p. 165

statement by curer : "... Every time I heal someone, I get boils. The stronger the disease, the longer the boils last. ..."

p. 166

instance of such curing : "And the wife was cured, but the disease, probably cancer, was so powerful that not only did Baba get large and cancerous-looking boils on his legs, but I got them as well."

"I don’t want, I don’t need, this body anymore ... . ... This body is finished ... . I’ll take another one, if you need me so much ... ."

"I jumped back when the lightning revealed the ghost of a scowling Hari Puri Baba sitting on a throne. ... The ghost of Hari Puri Baba ... was a white marble statue of him."

p. 186

origin of "the great web of illusion, which is the world" : "Before the world comes into existence, there is only consciousness. Matter exists in potential, and is indistinguishable from consciousness. ... I visualized this as a calm, mirrorlike lake, reflecting only itself ... as the Cosmic Mind. At this stage, everything is the Same. ... If there were only sattva, the Balanced, then ego would always be transparent and movement would remain potential. Rajas, the Active, as agent of the Same, attracts, transforms, and assimilates. Tamas, the Passive, as agent of the Other, repels and maintains the isolation of things. ...

p. 187

The tension between the Active and the Passive shapes the five elements."

constellation

its identity

p. 187-8

cradle with 3 babes (the trimurti)

Orion

p. 188

gem of Anasuya the mother of Datta-atreya

Betelgeuse

as`rama-house of Atri

Pollux

Atri the father of Datta-atreya

Sirius

the 4 hounds of Datta-atreya

Canis Major

kama-dhenu of Datta-atreya

Lupus

"That night Hari Puri Baba appeared to me in a dream, the first time since he had left his body. ... He handed me a mirror ..., and asked me to look carefully at my face. ... When I turned the mirror at a slight angle, I could see the back of my head as if there were another mirror behind me. When I turned around, I saw myself reflected from every angle. In fact, I was in a room full of mirrors, and there were thousands of me. The sky had vanished, replaced by a ceiling mirror, and when I looked up, my multitudes looked down on me."

p. 197

"He told them his name was Baba Jai Ram Puri and

p. 198

that he had been wandering in the forest for at least a couple of hundred years. ... some display of power ... caused the earth to tremble and the birds to fly out of their nests."

p. 199

Jai Ram Puri Baba was "the guru of Uday Puri Baba who built Udaypuria hundreds of years ago."

p. 235

"By ... 1986, my diaries had grown to more than a thousand pages, and I had also collected numerous other texts".

{This entire situation was due to the author’s and his companions’ being extremely poor judges of personal character : they promoted to being in charge of their entire operation a treacherous poisoner who delighted in destroying manuscripts.}

p. 236

"I had been hemorrhaging, and I started to suspect foul play."

p. 237

"the pages of my diaries, had met a violent end."