Baba Neeb Karauli

Badrinath is considered one of the five pilgrimages a Hindu should visit if he or she wants Moksha/salvation in his or her lifetime. I will tell you about the other four Dhaams some other time, perhaps . It is said that God himself resides in these Dhaams/ pilgrimages. That is why many say making these trips can be difficult and full of obstacles.
So, my Dad stumbled upon Neeb Karauli Baba when he was taking his morning walk, or did he? Yes, indeed that was him calling out for my Dad while sitting in a cave. My father was startled, and stopped in his tracks and looked behind him. There he saw Baba in a yoga pose with a checkered blanket wrapped around him. My father was very excited that he had met a saint. I am not sure of what transpired on this occasion, but it seems that the stage was set for his disciple, my father-in-law, S.K.Chaudhri's son, and the daughter of Narain Swami's disciple to wed later on.
Maharajji died that same year in 1963 sometime in the end of fall and my father was devastated. He missed him a lot and started taking care of Maharajji's charitable foundation to ease his pain . To fill Maharajji's void he started looking out for saints and that's when Neeb Karauli Baba came into the family's life again.
My father and my father -in-law knew each other socially in Kanpur. My father was the Chartered Secretary of the British India Corporation, while my father-in-law was a high ranking civil servant (I.A.S.) officer appointed by the government to run the Atherton West company.
One day not long after my father became involved in Maharajji's foundation, my father received a phone call in his office asking him to go to Mr. S.K. Chaudhri's residence. Baba was visiting there and he was frantically asking to see the Chairman of B.I.C., who of course was my father! To this day, it is not clear why Baba was so insistent on seeing him. My father promptly rushed to see him. Soon we started seeing Baba quite frequently whenever he came to Kanpur. He also visited our house several times. My favourite memory of him is him sitting on our drawing-room sofa wearing his signature blanket.
This story shall continue. Just like Maharajji, Baba is part of our present family. My husband talks about his adventures with Baba (will talk about them in another episode) and of course I incorporate Maharajji in mine as well.
Just as our family's lives are for ever enriched by them so should yours by good company and saints. Then we all will have Ram Rajya. JAI HO!