The Yogi, having an uncluttered mind resembling that of a still mirror like lake, is connected (yoga) with the Mother Goddess, and acts like a conduit through which HER blessings flow.

Baba Rampuri tells the story of how Adi Sankara established his main monastery, Sringeri Math, and the Temple of Sarada Devi, where he witnessed a pregnant frog trying to cross the deadly hot sands in the noon day sun, trying to reach the river.

Baba Rampuri makes some comparisons between European Hermetic Alchemy and Indian Alchemy.

“In 1527, the alchemist Agrippa stressed in a letter that there is a secret interpretation and understanding which cannot be conveyed through the printed word alone, but must be transmitted from the master to the disciple, echoing Pythagoras and Plato.

And he wrote, “Whosoever therefore shall know himself, shall know all things in himself; especially he shall know God… and how all things may be fitted for all things in their time, place, order, measure, proportion and harmony…”

Agrippa was very suspicious of faith. He insisted on direct knowledge of the sacred by its experience.”

Baba Rampuri talks about his trials and tribulations in becoming a baba.

“Becoming a baba starts out as an exercise in copying and mimicking. This is to prepare the soil for a great spirit to enter. Many great spirits live in the world of babas, some benign, some horrific. Some spirits pass through whole lineages of yogis, while some might possess individuals. And in some, passes the spirit of Guru Dattatreya, himself.”

Baba Rampuri talks about how the Yogi reads the world as if it were a book.

“‘Hinduism’ is a recent word constructed in the West by India’s colonizers to represent a set of beliefs thought to be held by most Indians, thus a religion. But traditionally, those thought of as Hindus (originally referring to people who lived on the “other” side of the Indus River), have no concept of “Hinduism,” but speak of the sum of knowledge among their diverse traditions as the “Sanatan Dharma.” In the oral tradition of the Naga Yogis, we think of the Sanatan Dharma as the Book of the World.”

The world is the container of all things and The Book of the World is its articulation. Its language is Primary Language, not Sanskrit, but a language of signatures: marks, signs, flags, and cyphers, that call our attention to outer resemblances which indicate inner, hidden relationships.

Baba Rampuri narrates the history of Naga Babas and Sannyasis from Guru Dattatreya in the age of the Ramayana through Adi Sankara to the present time.

“I was enchanted by the yogi-shamans, the Naga Babas of India – naked in ashes, long dread locks twisted with Marigolds piled on their heads like crowns…”

“According to Indian storytelling, some 2500 years ago appeared a man who became known as Adi Sankaracharya, India’s greatest philosopher, prolific commentator of ancient texts, poet, and for our purpose here, the greatest organizer of the ancient tradition of Yogis, the founder of the monastic order known as Sannyasis. About 1500 years later, a number of lineages of Naked Yogis, or Naga Babas from among Shankaracharya’s order of Sannyasis, formalized even more ancient bonds into an association called The Akhara.

The Akhara’s collected lineages look back for their origins to the Age of Treta, countless thousands of years ago, the age of the epic poem, The Ramayana, and to the Three Headed Guru of Yogis, Dattatreya, their ultimate founder. Guru Dattatreya is naked, his dread locks touch the earth.”

Baba Rampuri talks about the challenge to know the “other,” and, in this case of engaging another culture, overcoming its representations by one’s own culture.

“I see the mainstream representation of India in much the same way as I see the mainstream news media. Our understanding of India is an imperial culture’s construction of its colony. I clearly saw this in my own thinking, and continue to discover its artefacts in my thoughts.”