Shri Vamshidasa Babaji (Disappearance)

Vamsidas Babaji was a Gaudiya Vaishnav sadhu who lived at Swarupa Gunj, Navadwip during the time of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He was respected by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, and he used to see to it that Vamsidas Babaji was provided with grains and so on by Gaudiya Matha brahmacharis.

Srila Vamsidas Babaji appeared in the village of Majidpur in the Jamalpur district of Bangladesh. Before the partition of India, this city was formerly in the district of Mymensing. His father’s name was Sanatana Malobrahma and he was previously known as Bhairava. Babaji Maharaj came to Nabadwip from East Bengal.

He lived as a total recluse, far away from the hubbub of the town in a solitary place on the bank of Ganga near Baral Ghata in Navadvipa, as if he was a mad or crazy person. His only possessions were an old kaupina, karanga and kantha. Vamsidasa Babaji lived in a world of his own. His world centered round his deities-Gaura-Gadadhara, Nitai, Radha-Krishna and Gopala. For the service of his deities he had two brass pots, some earthen pots, one plate, one glass, some small cups, pancapatra, bell and conch-shell and nothing else.

Babaji Maharaj did not stay exclusively in the Navadwip area, but also travelled to many holy places where he practiced the spiritual disciplines of bhakti-yoga. Whenever he saw a peepal tree, he would sit under it, taking it to be the Vamsi-vata under which Krishna played his flute to attract the gopis. Once he had installed himself there, it would be difficult to get him to move.

In February 1941, Vamsi Dasji left Navadwip and headed for Vrindavan. He sometimes walked, sometimes travelled by ox-cart and sometimes by rail. He first went to Katwa where he stayed for two days under a vata tree near the railway station. Then he took the train to Bhagalpur where he stayed for a day under again under a vata tree near the station and for four days by the Ganges. Then he travelled on to Gaya where he remained on the banks of the Phalgu River for three days.

He also stayed on a boat in the Ganges near Dashashvamedha Ghat in Benares for three days, spent another three days in Ayodhya by the Sarayu including three hours under a vata tree, at the Triveni confluence at Prayag for ten days, two days at the Vishram Ghat in Mathura, eight days at the Vamshivata in Vrindavan, at the Madhya-curia on the banks of the Yamuna, the Govindevji temple, Kaliya-daha, near a tamala tree on the east bank of Surya Kund at Nandagrama, two days at Pavana-sarovara and then nine days at Vamshivata Ghat in Vrindavan.

Everywhere that he went, he remained absorbed in chanting the Holy Names and meditating on Krishna’s form and pastimes. After three months, he returned to Navadwip Dhama, in the month of Jyestha. Those who travelled with him recounted that when wandering through Vraja Mandala, he would sometimes sing songs about Krishna’s lila, sometimes glorify Navadwip Dhama, sometimes laugh madly. Sometimes, he would babble incoherently, and oftentimes he would remain completely silent.

When visiting a temple, he was often seen muttering confidentially to the deities, disclosing some personal sentiment to them. All in all, his companions were charmed by his devotional absorption. In an old Gaudiya Math weekly magazine, further accounts of Babaji Maharaj’s travels are given. It is stated there in the four years from March 1943, he travelled to Ambika Kalna, Kharagpur, Baleshvara (Balasore), Soro, Bhadrak, Khurda Road and Purushottam.

Babaji Maharaj’s disappearance day is on the Shukla Caturthi of Shravan.