Haidakhan Babaji
To find out more about Babaji, I recommend visiting the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram's website at Babaji Ashram (babajiashram.org). You will find links to Babaji's teachings, as well as photos and links to ashram videos.
All I can speak to is my own experience of Him. I consider myself more of a student than a devotee really, as I do not make time in my day for bhakti or ceremonial practice. I used to keep a website in the 1990s that you can view at The Wayback Machine (~netreach.net/people/waterboy/bholebaba).
I used to long for the time that He was physically accessible, and then for a while I longed to find Him. But then He appeared. And then He appeared again. And again. Whenever I need Him, He appears. One time that I was feeling doubts about my school and mission, the fragrance of incense sudenly appeared and I felt my body get lighter. He is everywhere.
One time I was dictating a lesson plan while driving late at night. I wondered aloud if I should really be teaching about the metaphysics of high and low energy and just then, the car passing on my left had the license plate "hi - lo." The divine plays around Babaji are amazing.
Another time, when I was totally broke, lost, overwhelmed and unsure where I was going, I did have to get gas near home. When I paid inside, the new attendant grabbed my hand and said, "You know, the spiritual path is a very selfish path." I was dumbfounded, went blank, and I did not know how to respond. This stranger, who looked Indo-Dravidian, wasn't letting go. The heavily-accented fellow said, "The owner brought me to work. I live upstairs," and he pointed up.
I didn't think anything more of it until a few weeks later while getting gas at the same station. I looked in the window and didn't see my new friend. Then I looked up and saw there wasn't any apartment. Om Namah Shivaya. Mind blown silent and heart blown open.That how it is with Him. One of my other teachers first met Him in the Sierras as Harry Khan. He's also shown up in Sebastopol (California) as a young native boy, visible only to the local children. He is everywhere. That body that died in 1984 was just a body, imho.
Experiencing Babaji
While the confirmations of His presence come from the world around us, the place to look for Him is within.
Believing in or otherwise paying respect to Babaji is not required to be successful with YBNL body language classes. While I maintain a campus sanctuary for devotees, there isn't any mention of Him in classes, and barely on campus at all. This is to keep the information available to everyone, and not hidden behind any ashram politics, devotional requirements, or other off-mission distractions.
Training with Babaji
Training with Babaji began when I committed to learning "the real thing" some thirty years ago. The best way to describe the experience is that I had to throw my life to the wind, and learn the lessons presented. For ten of those years, He was my only friend, and the only counsel I accepted. At the time, I thought everyone lived like that. I couldn't see any other way to be.
Today, my training continues and the wonder never ceases. I am currently working on a third semester for those who can remain stable in Unity Consciousness, which has a specific meaning for this training: it means that we trust that we are all One.
This trust brings us into partnership rather than competition with both our fellow friends and strangers. This dissolution of the "other" creates an internal body language that increases intuitive abilities. Manifestation of our choices becomes easier and our intuition develops to keep us present and safe, perpetually.
Picture: selfie with Sri Muniraji , chosen successor of Haidakhan Babaji. Crestone, Colorado, July 1997.
What is "The Real Thing"
I don't know.
The solo-training I can pass on, that students must do for themselves, resolves the core issue that prevents meaningful connections. Further training relies on this new grounded sense of connection to reveal intuitive abilities that are useable in the moment they are needed. This training only works for win-win though. If we need one side to lose, then we have cast them as the "other" and we are not connected to them. This intuitive training will fail.
So I don't know, but this is real enough for me. In any case, "the real thing" may still be on the horizon. The training isn't over.
If you are seeking the consciousness that we are all One, I believe that my school is a pretty good place to start.