History of the Naga Babas

Baba Rampuri narrates the history of the 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.”