
A Visit to Mahavatar Babaji’s Cave..
I first heard about Mahavatar Babaji — the formless, immortal yogi believed to reside in the Kumaon range of the Himalayas — back in 2013 during my study of Indian mystics.
The moment I came across his name, something stirred within me. The stories I read online were otherworldly. They spoke of a being untouched by time, ageless and radiant, guiding souls through subtle whispers, unseen but deeply felt by those attuned to the spiritual path.
Babaji’s presence is most famously mentioned in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.
In the book, Yogananda writes about Babaji as a living Himalayan master who has maintained a youthful form for centuries.
He is said to have revived the ancient science of Kriya Yoga — a powerful spiritual discipline aimed at accelerating spiritual evolution — from a hidden cave near Ranikhet in Uttarakhand.
There are even mysterious accounts suggesting that Jesus, during his so-called “lost years,” visited India and met Mahavatar Babaji. These threads, mythic yet magnetic, planted a deep yearning within me to one day visit this sacred cave — a place still resonating with the vibrations of an awakened master.
Time passed. Life moved on. But the desire never left. Twelve years later, just a few days ago, I finally got the chance.
We began our trek to Babaji’s cave with quiet excitement.
The trail was about 3 kms long, winding through a dense forest. The deeper we went, the more silence engulfed us. Not just the silence of the woods — but an inner stillness, like nature itself was whispering secrets to those who dared listen.
Midway through the trek, we lost our way. The signs of the trail vanished. We stood at a point where all paths seemed to disappear. We backtracked, confused, only to later find that the path had been there all along — wide and clear.
We simply hadn’t seen it. It was baffling. How could we miss what was right in front of us? Was it our eyes? Our minds? Or was something else at play?
Eventually, we reached the cave — a modest opening in the mountainside, yet vibrating with a strange stillness. A couple of meditators sat inside, absorbed in deep silence.
There was barely any room left, but my friend and I somehow managed to squeeze in. We closed our eyes and tried to meditate, but something felt unsettled.
As if the cave was still holding its secrets tightly. After a few minutes, we stepped outside. That’s when it began to rain.
One by one, the others in the cave came out and left, perhaps deterred by the weather. And suddenly, there we were — just the two of us, alone in the cave.
We had no umbrellas, and the rain grew heavier. So we stepped back inside, now with the entire space to ourselves. And something shifted. The moment we sat down again, the silence thickened — not heavy, but deep, like a blanket drawn over the restless mind.
The air inside the cave felt charged — as if Babaji’s presence still lingered, unseen yet palpable.
This time, meditation came effortlessly. Thoughts faded. A sense of expansion grew from within — not the dramatic kind, but subtle and profound.
As if we were not sitting in a cave, but floating inside a sacred womb of the earth, embraced by an energy far beyond words.
Time disappeared.
An hour passed like a moment. It was blissful, serene, and deeply humbling.
Reflecting back, it’s clear — if we hadn’t lost our way, if we hadn’t missed the path, if we had come earlier — we would’ve never had that private, mystical moment inside the cave. It was as if the universe orchestrated everything: the detour, the rainfall, the departure of others — all to prepare the space for us.
And in that quiet space, I felt something I had only read about — the silent gaze of an immortal yogi, a presence beyond time, still watching, still guiding, still waiting for sincere seekers to arrive.
If there is one cave in the world where one must sit and meditate at least once in a lifetime, this is it.