Sri Mahayogi Mahamandaleshwar Sri Panchdasnama Juna Akhara Swami Somnath Giri Ji Maharaj (Pailot Baba)

Mahayogi Pailot Babaji is the elder Dada Guru (Uncle Guru) to the disciples of Swami Vishnudevananda Giri.

Our Master (Swami Vishnudevananda Giri) says that he first met Pailot Babaji long before they came across each other in this relative dimension. Enlightened masters who irradiate the light of Jnana and possess superhuman power potential can also meet in the subtle dimension. On the physical plane, we firstly met with Pilot Babaji in 2009. We invited Babaji to the Advaita Vedanta Congress we had organized in Moscow. Then Babaji invited us to Kumbha Mela 2010, which was held in Haridwar. In June 2010, Babaji visited Divya Loka (our ashram in Russia) and took part in the Advaita Vedanta Congress held in 2010. Swamini Satya Tejasi Giri, the facilitator of the Congresses, writes the following in her book “Advaita in Russia” about Babaji:

“I first heard about Babaji a long time ago. They said he was a great yogi, and I saw his picture. Babaji is kinglike, there's no other way to say it. But at the same time he is easy and accessible to everyone. Such qualities can only be seen in truly great saints. Babaji radiates infinite love. This radiation is so intense that I saw his disciples more than once sitting for hours beside Babaji, immersed in the vibrations of this love, without getting tired and not wishing to go anywhere. Many of them would neglect eating or sleeping, and, when offered food, they would refuse it, or they were surprised to bring back to their memory that it was time for prasad (taking of consecrated food).

Babaji’s spiritual influence is enormous. When you are beside him, your mind naturally calms down and sinks inward. Babaji always speaks in a simple yet noble way. There is a great power behind his few words and they penetrate deep into the heart. Each phrase is literally saturated with bhava (attitude) of the Higher Self, with majesty, glory, perfection, and the infinite expanse of bliss. When the heart (rather than the mind) listens to him, it establishes itself in its Original Nature, which is eternal and transcendent. We are very fortunate to have met Babaji”.

From Pailot Babaji's biography

At the age of 19, Kapil Advait decided to be a military pilot (that's why people today call him Pailot Baba). He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for flying at extremely low altitudes (so as not to be spotted by enemy radars). The fighter pilot's firmly established life was one day dramatically changed by his guru, Hari Baba, who had guided him through life since childhood. In 1962, while Kapil was being engaged in combat operations, the engine of his plane malfunctioned. At that critical moment, Hari Baba miraculously appeared in the cockpit of the falling plane and landed it safely at an alternate airfield.

At the age of 33, after this and other similar incidents, he left his military career and went to the Himalayas, where he spent a total of 12 years (3 of them on the Pindari Glacier). During this while, he traveled and meditated extensively in caves and received initiations from great saints and avatars, including Dattatreya and the immortal Babaji. Having developed many higher faculties and realized his true Self, Pilot Baba devoted himself to teaching yoga as a way of learning the Truth.

In India and beyond, he repeatedly held public demonstrations of underground Samadhi (up to 33 days), underwater Samadhi (up to 7 days), Samadhi in an airtight glass cube for NASA scientists (up to 4 days), and surrounded by fire. He was also invited to Ural during Soviet-Indian space flight preparations, where he taught the cosmonauts special breathing exercises and how to stay within limited spaces without breathing.

President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadan, is a Pilot Baba's longtime disciple. The president meets regularly with Guruji (as also does the former Prime Minister of Nepal). But he is not the only president who practices Pailot Baba's Himalayan yoga. Presidents of Japan, India, Uzbekistan, former American president Bill Clinton, even former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, as well as many other famous politicians, are acquainted with Pilot Baba Ji. Some of them attended Guruji's seminars, some have come just for advice. One way or another, Pilot Baba keeps repeating: "Today, even politicians have a chance to look at God and, having realized the great truths, to try and help people see the light...”

Today Pilot Baba is about to introduce to the world Kaya Kalpa, or a rejuvenation method for the body, mind, and man on the whole. This is a practice that makes it possible to live 144 years.

Mahayogi Pilot Baba is also an organizer of Kumbha Mela, the largest sadhu festival in India.

For the past few years, Master has been conducting a mission “World Peace Campaign”. Traveling throughout the world, he gives lessons of yoga and meditation and teaches people the art of Samadhi and knowing their true selves. Pilot Baba is now a Mahamandaleshwar (the rank corresponds to the Archbishop title in the Christian church) of one of the most ancient Indian sannyasi lines, Juna Akhara. He believes that people should respect all the religions of the world, and that the true self-realization of man is possible only through making of his own inner journey – as the Truth (God) is not outside, but within us.

Man can realize himself only through an inner journey,” – Pilot Baba Ji says. The difference between an ordinary person and a realized soul is that the ordinary man gets trapped in the external world, while considering it his refuge. But realized souls turn to their inner self.

 

Pilot Baba says: "Before you start your spiritual practice, ask yourself: Am I the body? Am I the mind? The sensory organs? The wisdom, power of thought, or consciousness? Then, the answer will come: I am not the body. Am I not the mind. Am I not the sensory organs – neither physical, nor astral, nor cosmic. Am I not the power. Am I the life. I am the existence. I am my very self.