People
Maharaj-ji left no books and built no institution — but he left people. These are a few who came to him, and who carried his love out into the world.
Dr. Mungali
A devotee graced by Neem Karoli Baba since birth in the Himalayan foothills, who today carries Maharaj-ji's love into the world through the Divine Nectar satsang — a rare meeting of scientific rigour and bhakti, expressed in decades of selfless service.
Read more →
Ram Dass
1931 – 2019A Harvard psychologist named Richard Alpert who travelled to India in 1967, met Neem Karoli Baba, and returned as Ram Dass — carrying Maharaj-ji's love to a generation in the West through the seminal book *Be Here Now*.
Read more →
Krishna Das
b. 1947Often called "the chant master of American yoga," Jeffrey Kagel met Maharaj-ji in 1970, lived at the ashram, and was given the name Krishna Das. He has spent his life carrying Maharaj-ji's presence into the world through kirtan — the call-and-response chanting of the divine names.
Read more →More of Maharaj-ji’s devotees
Bhagavan Das
The wanderer who led Ram Dass to Maharaj-jiA young American who had been wandering India barefoot for years, Bhagavan Das was the guide who brought Richard Alpert to Neem Karoli Baba in 1967 — the meeting that became *Be Here Now* and changed the course of Western spirituality.
Read more →Larry Brilliant
Physician · helped eradicate smallpox · co-founded SevaAn American doctor who came to Maharaj-ji as a hippie and was sent — at Baba's insistence — to join the WHO campaign that eradicated smallpox from the earth. With Ram Dass he later founded the Seva Foundation, turning Maharaj-ji's teaching of seva into sight for millions.
Read more →Jai Uttal
Kirtan artist · Grammy-nominated musicianA multi-instrumentalist who found Maharaj-ji through Ram Dass and Bhagavan Das, Jai Uttal blends Indian devotional music with Western styles. His ecstatic kirtan has carried the Hanuman names and the love of Maharaj-ji to stages and living rooms around the world.
Read more →Dada Mukerjee
Close Indian devotee · author of *By His Grace*A professor at Allahabad University and one of Maharaj-ji's closest Indian devotees, Dada Mukerjee shared his home and his life with Baba for years. His memoirs *By His Grace* and *The Near and the Dear* are among the most intimate records of life beside Maharaj-ji.
Read more →His love reached unexpected places
Maharaj-ji never sought fame, yet his presence quietly drew people from every walk of life — long after he left his body. A few of the better-known:
- Steve Jobs — Read Be Here Now as a young man and travelled to India to find Maharaj-ji — arriving after Baba had left his body. The pull never left him.
- Mark Zuckerberg — Visited Kainchi Dham in 2012 on Jobs’ advice, during a hard chapter for his company. He has spoken of Maharaj-ji’s idea that “all is one.”
- Julia Roberts — Came upon a photograph of Maharaj-ji, felt an instant pull, visited the ashram — and embraced the path of bhakti.
- Virat Kohli & Anushka Sharma — Among many from India who have made the quiet pilgrimage up to Kainchi.
We share these not to chase celebrity, but because they point to something true: his love asks nothing of who you are, and finds you anyway.
Listen & read on
- Love Serve Remember Foundation — Ram Dass’s talks, writings & meditations
- Be Here Now Network — the Here and Now podcast & more
- Krishna Das — kirtan & the path of the heart
- Seva Foundation — seva in action, curing blindness