I was born into a semi-traditional Hindu Brahmin family. I had, so far, since my childhood, taken part into all the rituals without thinking much about them.
I had read a few Hindu scriptures but I had thought of them as stories and myths, and at most metaphors, to teach some underlying spiritual message but never had really believed in them literally, that is till I got to know about Neem Karoli Baba or how I fondly call them Maharaj-ji.
I first came to know about Neem Karoli Baba like many of us through social media but I hadn’t really thought of visiting his ashram in Kainchi.
Then one day my maternal aunt came to visit us. She told me and my mother that she had been going to Nainital for three years during summers and stays there for 3-4 days each summer, but she hadn’t told us about Kainchi or Maharaj-ji’s temple as she was a bit superstitious.
But I knew Baba’s temple was in Nainital and I immediately asked her whether she went to Neem Karoli Baba’s Ashram. Hiding her shock at how I caught her little secret, she nodded yes.
Anyways, so I first went to Maharaj-ji’s ashram in July of 2022. In those days, the Ashram was less crowded unlike nowadays and you could sit inside the temple near Hanuman-ji’s or Baba’s murty for hours and could meditate or recite Sunderkand or Hanuman Chalisa for any number of hours.
The spell bounding beauty of the temple-ashram sitting in the lap of Kumaon Hills and the enchanting smell of the flowers (or is it something more than flowers, perhaps the presence of divine spirits) that makes Kainchi a magical place, almost as if situated in heaven.
The temple of Hanuman-ji was consecrated by Neem Karoli Baba almost 60 years ago on the cave of Sombari Baba, another saint of very high order, who lived almost hundred years ago, and who performed severe penance in that cave some hundred years back.
In those days, you could still feel the presence of Sombari Baba in the ashram, when Kainchi used to be less crowded. I got a hotel room near the temple and stayed there for some 3-4 days.
Everyday in the morning I would go to the ashram and would sit there and pray or meditate for 2-3 hours. When it was time to go home, I got a copy of ‘Miracle of Love’ and some other books from the ashram store and took the bus from Kainchi to home.
