Hari Puri Ji Maharaj claimed that, like a fisherman, he cast his reel across the 7 seven seas to snatch me from America. For, how else could I arrive at a sacred fresh water spring in the middle of a mango grove at a time predicted by the Baba, by reading the stars?

He delivered me into the hands of Guru Dattatreya. He made me aware of the Guru-Shishya Parampara,  inserted me into that oral tradition, and made me a baba, with the discipleship of 5 gurus. 

By the “iccha” of Guru Dattatreya, Baba Hari Puri Ji Maharaj, having the siddhi of Speech, was able to instruct me in English for two years until he left his body in 1972.

Tvam eva mata cha pita tvam eva!

With him, I discovered the love of guru by chela.

My dear guru-bhai, Pir Paramanand Puri Ji Maharaj, shishya of Pir Amar Puri, our shared guru ji. He was a great Pir of Datt Akhara, responsible for its renaissance. I watched, on the day of his abhishek, how Pir Sandhya Puri entered his body when he performed omkars at his samadhi. We grew up in the Akhara together, along with Sundar Puri, who became Pir, when Paramanand Puri took samadhi. He was a man of great wisdom and sharp wit, a cynic with a global awareness.

Shri Maharaj Kapil Puri Ji was the most powerful leader of the 16 lineages since the 1950’s until he handed that to Macchendar Puri in 1998. I had known him since 1971, but found him inaccessible due to his position, eloquence, & effulgence. Shortly after Pir Amar Puri’s samadhi, he approached me and offered me a home as all my gurus had passed away, and our lineage was one and the same. In 1986, he re-initiated me, and put me in the line of succession in the family. He was one of the great shastric authorities in the akhara with the ability to pull verses from the sky at will. He was the greatest of all the storytellers I have ever met, going into granular details betraying another kind of connection with knowledge.

Amar Puri Maharaj was inseparable from Hari Puri for the last years of his life, and when Hari Puri took samadhi, he left Amloda Kund for Amar Puri’s ashra, at Siloda, Madhya Pradesh where he is buried. So at that time, Amar Puri took over the role of guru for me. He had been an alchemist and taught me many deshi secrets. But his powers were more than revealed when he was made Pir of Datt Akhara in 1979.

Taking the vrat of Urdhvabahu, Amar Bharti Maharaj, my dear brother, kept his arm raised in the air for 50 years. I believe we first me at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in 1986, at which time he had already had his arm raised for a number of years. When you push human endurance, certain potentials open up, then, it’s how you exploit those potentials. We’ve had a lifetime of great conversations, he was a radical intellectual and a true Sanatan Dharmi & Naga Baba. We spent time at all the Kumbh Melas & at my ashram at Haridwar.