176 Biography of a Yogiparticles and not subject to karma or indeed any form of “universal economy.”^53
This liberated body casts no shadow and leaves no footprint. In contrast to tra-
ditional Indian notions of avatāra, however, Yogananda’s “avatar” is not simply a
descent of the divine but a sort of “return” of a fully divinized individual self that
nevertheless started out as fully human. According to Yogananda, Babaji’s origi-
nal patronymic and place of origin is not known.^54 Babaji can, of course, alter his
form at will and therefore may appear slightly differently to different disciples.
In Yogananda’s descriptions he bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Lahiri
Mahasaya. It is ultimately to Babaji that Yogananda attributes the revelation of
“the possibility of bodily immortality.”^55
An account by Ram Gopal Muzumdar, as retold in the Autobiography, fea-
tures not only Babaji but also his sister Mataji, who is alleged to be almost as
spiritually advanced as her brother and remains in constant ecstasy in a secret
underground cave near Dasaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi. Unlike his sister, Babaji
is apparently more mobile and is thus purported to be ever wandering among the
peaks of the Himalayas with a small band of disciples, which notably includes
two very spiritually advanced Americans. In Muzumdar’s account, Mataji unchar-
acteristically levitates out of her cave in a halo of light and is soon joined by her
brother, who arrives in an airborne flaming whirlpool. Babaji, it turns out, has
been thinking of shedding his form in order to return to the “Infinite Current.”
His sister seems unimpressed with this idea and inquires why he would leave his
body. When Babaji asks what difference it makes if he “wear[s] a visible or an
invisible wave on the ocean of [his] Spirit,” Mataji points out that if it makes no
difference, then he might as well keep his form.^56 To this Babaji replies by vowing
that he will never henceforth leave his material body, always remaining visible to
at least a small number of disciples on earth. Thus, the case of Babaji establishes
fully divinized bodily immortality as a possibility alongside that of traditional
notions of final liberation. It is important to note that Babaji’s body, even though
visibly resembling a physical human form, nevertheless exists entirely outside of
the schema of conventional material embodiment as it is not held together by
desire but by divine will.
We return thus to the dual model of yogic goals with which we began this
study. This is Sarbacker’s distinction of the numinous and the cessative all over
again. However, in Yogananda’s model, we see that the two are not only equally
valued but interchangeable. Yogananda’s own terminolog y somewhat belies this
fact. After all, why would one choose to be anything other than supremely free?
From one perspective, it appears that Babaji is making a bodhisattva- style sacri-
fice. He remains embodied for the sake of his disciples. However, Babaji himself
maintains that it makes no difference— he is but a wave on the ocean of the abso-
lute and whether that wave is visible or invisible (that is, with or without form) is