Somavari Baba, you are a great saint who lives in Padampuri. In the Kali Yuga, you are like Bhishma, and Paramanand is your name. You live detached in the universe like a lotus in a muddy swamp. Sorrow and wordly matters do not touch you. You live in a bliss, untouched by Maya or worldly delusion.

- Shri Charnashrit

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Among the saints and yogis of India eager for darshan of Shri Haidakhan Baba was the great saint of Padampuri known as Somavari Baba. Somavari Baba was an ideal saint, the emperor of saints; yet even he considered himself fortunate to have the darshan of Shri Haidakhan Baba. To understand the greatness of Shri Somavari Baba, one needs to know that the famous saint of Ayodhyna, Shri Raghunath Dass, used to bow at the feet of Shri Somavari Baba, and that many saints of the Himalayas say that a saint of the stature of Shri Somavari Baba will not be seen in this era. He used to eat only once a day, a little rice and dhal, whatever happened to be available. His body was thin owing to his hard penance.

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References to his high yogic feats in the works of numerous devotees all suggest that Shri Somavari Baba was an ideal saint. However, whenever Shri Haidakhan Baba happened to visit his ashram, Somavari Baba would come running to Him, fall at his feet and cry loudly, "Father! Father!" He used to offer his seat to Haidakhan Baba, and felt blissful, blessed and highly favored, just being at His feet. Devotees present on such occasions said that the meeting of the two great Beings was as holy as the confluence of the sacred rivers Ganga and Yamuna; to be there was to know supreme bliss. Somavari Baba has often said that any householder from whom Shri Haidakhan Baba accepted even a bit of bread was fortunate and to his inner circles of devotees said Babaji was, in fact, a manifestation of the great God and that even the trio of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara, worshipped him. They had a great love for each other, these Beings; when devotes asked Haidkhan Babaji about Sombari Baba, He would say there was no saint like him in the whole universe.

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Shri Haidakhan Baba once arrived desperately ill, purging and vomiting, at Somavari Baba's ashram. Pained to see His Holiness in such a state, Somavari Baba asked Shiromani Pathak to take care of Him. Shiromani brought Babaji to his home, nursing His Holiness with devotion and utmost care. The next night, at about 1 o'clock, Shri Babaji got up and went out.  Thinking that His Holiness might have gone to attend nature's call, Shiromani followed with a small pot of water. It was winter, the weather severe, the snow lying about three to four feet deep. He saw His Holiness at a distance of a few steps, then couldn't see Him anymore. He had vanished into the forest.

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Shiromani Pathak was not courageous enough to search for Babaji that night. He waited until daybreak and when His Holiness didn't return, set out to look for Him. After going some distance, Shiromani saw a forest guard coming toward him, pale with fear. The forest guard told him that during the night, he had seen a tall and naked figure in the forest. Shiromani then understood that it must have been the leela of Shri Haidakhan Baba.

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Shiromani continued searching, only to learn that Shri Babaji had been in Ruvari, a village where, for the last two months, a Divine Mother yagna was being performed; His Holiness, present there the whole time, had never left the village. When Shiromani Pathak went to Ruvari himself and saw His Holiness, he went struck with wonder. Haidakhan Babaj's face shone with the brilliance of a ruby, with no signs of illness whatsoever. Shiromani Pathak could hardly believe that mere days ago, His Holiness had been in his house in a state of desperate illness. Yet it was also clear that for the last two months, His Holiness had been in Ruvari, conducting the yagna ceremony.

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When this incident was reported to Shri Somavari Baba, he simply smiled. "His Holiness Haidakhan Maharaj is not only a great saint, He is actually God incarnate. Difficult even for the gods to understand the leelas of His Holiness."

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This is an excerpt from Giridhari Lal Mishra's "From Age to Age, Stories of Haidakhan Babaji"

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