Udiya Baba

Udiya Baba
Born 1875 Jagannatha Puri

Died
8 May 1948 Vrindavan, Mathura
Came to
1937-38
Vrindavan

Sannyasa
Govardhan Pithadishwar Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Shri Madhusudan
Diksha Guru
Tirtha
Sannyasa
Purnananda Tirtha
Name
Titles/honours Shrimat Paramahansa Parivrajakacharya Pujyapad Shri Maharaj Ji
Philosophy Advaita Vedanta
"Millions and millions of Brahmas, Vishnus,and Maheshas flash (sparkle) and
disappear like a spark,in my each hair follicle"
Quotation

"I am the servant of the whole world consisting of living and non-living"
Prominent
Disciple Akhandanand Saraswati of Vrindavan

Udiya Baba (1875 – 1948), (Devanagari:

उ ड़या बाबा) also pronounced and spelled as
Uriya Baba, Oriya Baba or Odiya Baba, was
a Hindu saint and a guru. He was a teacher
of Advaita Vedanta and was regarded to
be a Paramahansa. He was a Parivrajaka,
i.e. one who does not stay in any one place
for too long. He would wanlk all along the
banks of Ganges, moving from one place
to another. Udiya means one who hails
from Orissa. Baba means a Sadhu.
Sometime during 1937-38, he came to
Vrindavan and an ashram named Shri
Krishna Ashram (also known as Oriya
Baba Ashram[1]) was constructed by his
disciples as a place for his permanent
stay. He was a contemporary of the very
well known Hindu saints - Anandamayi
Ma[2] and Shri Baba of Mokalpur.[3]

Birth
He was born at Jagannath Puri in 1875 of
Vikram Samvat, on Bhadrapada Krishna
Saptami, on Monday, at noon. That was the
day of Krishna Janmashtami for Smartas.
The year was 1875.[4] His father's name
was Shri Vaidyanath Mishra who was a
direct descendant of Shri Kashi Mishra
who lived during the time of Chaitanya
Maha Prabhu and was an ardent desiciple
of the same. His childhood name of was
Artatrana, which is one of the names of
Lord Vishnu meaning 'protector of those in
distress'.

Education
From the age of four to twelve, he learnt to
read and write Oriya language,
mathematics as well as some knowledge
of Sanskrit at home. He was enthusiastic
to learn more so one day he left his home
without informing anyone and reached a
place called Balyabeda, where he studied
Sanskrit for five years and passed a
course of Kavya-teertha.[5]

Penance for a social cause

Orissa had a severe famine. Thousands of
people were dying due to starvation. He
therefore decided to serve the needy, but
soon realized that in spite of his herculean
efforts, he could not improve the situation
much. He felt deeply saddened by his
inability to help people at large. It was then
that he thought of obtaining the
mythological Akshaya Patra. A bowl which
can yield unlimited supply of food and
which is inexhaustible. Akshaya Patra is
also called as Annapoorna Siddhi, which is
believed to be bestowed by Annapoorna
devi, the Hindu mythological goddess of
food and nourishment, and his devotees
believed he possessed this mystic
power.[6] One finds the description of such
magical bowl in the epic Mahabharata.
Krishna had gifted it to Draupadi during
her exile with the Pandavas. To obtain
such a bowl he decided to do penance i.e.
tapasya. He left his home on the 5th day of
Chaitra month, of 1951 Vikram Samvat era,
towards goddess Kamakhya temple in
Guwahati in Assam.[7] During his stay
there, he happened to listen to a discourse
on a treatise of Advaita Vedanta called
'Viveka Chudamani'. Inspired by the
knowledge of Nondualism his views were
transformed and he started to question
the very motive of his penance. He
thought, what will he gain even if the
goddess granted him his wish of obtaining
the Akshaya Patra. How many people
would he be able to benefit, and how long
would he, for that matter, going to live on
this planet, besides would all the problems
of people be solved by finding food
alone?? Therefore, he discontinued his
penance and traveled to Kashi and then
back home to Jagannath Puri.

Vow of celibacy
After coming home, he met and persuaded
Swami Shri Madhusudan Tirth who was
the Jagadguru and Shankaracharya of
Govardhana Peetham at Jagannath Puri,
to give him Naishthik Brahmacharya Diksha
i.e. initiation into lifelong celibacy. Then he
was given a new name of Brahmachari
Vasudeva Swarup. His age was 22 years
old.[8]

Pilgrimage
Soon he decided to take a pilgrimage for
searching an accomplished 'siddha' or
Guru. He wandered and searched out
entire India from Benares i.e Kashi to
Rameshwaram. During this journey, he
experienced many miracles and spiritual
wonders, met many sadhus, mahants and
spiritual men. After staying in
Rameshwaram for 10 days, he visited
Pandharpur, Poona, Mumbai, and then
reached Haridwar and Rishikesh. But no
matter where he searched, he could not
find any true siddha. After such a long
pilgrimage which he throughout did
walking, he returned to Govardhana Math
in Jagannath Puri.[9]

Vow of renunciation
He accepted Sannyasa from Swami Shri
Madhusudan Tirth, the Jagadguru and
Shankaracharya of Govardhana Peetham
at Jagannath Puri, at the age of 32, in 1964
of Vikram Samvat. Then he received a new
name as Swami Purnananda Tirtha, since
he was also carrying a staff, he was called
Dandi Swami Purnananda Tirtha.[10]
Teachings
Udiya Baba would teach people according
to their natural inclinations. He would
teach a follower of Bhakti the secrets of
devotion as well as to a follower of Jnana
by helping him understand the true nature
of Brahman. He would keep the students
of these two paths separate, saying that
one should proceed in whatever path one
is naturally inclined to. He would say it was
difficult for common people to understand
texts like Yoga Vasistha, therefore for such
people, he would make arrangements for
Ramayana, Bhagvad Gita, Bhagavatam.
Along with Vairagya i.e dispassion, he
would stress the importance of practice or
Sādhanā. Regarding practice, he would
say, referring to his own experience that
what is only the Pure Consciousness
appears, to be a hard physical body due to
constant wrong thinking. This is the effect
of practice! Therefore it is necessary to
constantly practice the opposite thinking.
He used to say, there are three stages of
practice, first understanding oneself to be
different from the physical body. When this
practice becomes perfect, one develops
the identification with the subtle body.
Second, after this, experiencing the
detachment from the objects of senses.
As a result of this practice, the vision
shifts from the subtle body and abides in
the causal body, then thirdly comes the
experience of separation from pain and
pleasure. With this practice the vision or
identification shifts from all the four
functions of the mind and abides in the
Self. He always said one must accept
everyone as he or she is, without any
desire to change anyone in the
slightest.[11]

Death
In the afternoon of Chaitra Krishna
Chaturdasi of 2005 Vikram Samvat, the
date being 8th May 1948, he was fatally
assaulted by a deranged man named
Thakur Das.[12] His mortal body was given
a Jala Samadhi i.e. immersion in the holy
waters of Yamuna.

Further reading
Sanatanadev, Swami. Shri Udiya Babaji
Ke Sansmaran Part 01, Shri Purnanada
Trust Samiti Publications, Vrindavan,
Mathura, 2014 Edition, available online
Sanatanadev, Swami. Shri Udiya Babaji
Ke Sansmaran Part 02, Shri Purnanada
Trust Samiti Publications, Vrindavan,
Mathura, 2014 Edition, available online
 Siddheshwarashram, Swami.
Gitatatvalok by Shri Udiya Baba Ji
Maharaj, Shri Purnanada Trust Samiti
Publications, Vrindavan, Mathura, 2007
Edition, available online

References
1. Das, R. K. (1990-01-01). Temples Of
Vrindaban . Sandeep Prakashan.
ISBN 9788185067476.
2. Lala, Chhaganlal (1986-01-01). Bhakti in
Religions of the World: With Special
Reference to Dr. Ṣri Bānkey Behāriji . B.R.
Publishing Corporation.
ISBN 9788170183716.
3. Brent, Peter Ludwig (1972-01-01).
Godmen of India . Quadrangle Books.
4. Swami Sanatanadev, Br. Shivanand
'Anjaneya' (2014-08-16). Hamare Shri
Maharaj Ji . Vrindavan, Mathura, India: Shri
Purnanda Trust Samiti. p. 37.
5. Swami Sanatanadev, Br. Shivanand
'Anjaneya' (2014-08-16). Hamare Shri
Maharaj Ji . Vrindavan, Mathura, India.: Shri
Purnananda Trust Samiti. pp. 46–47.
6. Bhaktivijay, Sadhu; Suri, S. N. (1995-01-
01). The Splendour of Vrindavan, Saint
Ushaji . Vraj Nidhi Prakashan.
7. Swami Sanatanadev, Br. Shivanand
'Anjaneya' (2014). Hamare Shri Maharaj Ji .
Vrindavan, Mathura, India..: Shri
Purnananda Trust Samiti. pp. 52–53.
8. Swami Sanatanadev, Br. Shivanand
'Anjaneya' (2014-08-16). Hamare Shri
Maharaj Ji . Vrindavan, Mathura, India.: Shri
Purnananda Trust Samiti. p. 59.
9. Swami Sanatanadev, Br.Shivanand
'Anjaneya' (2014-08-16). Hamare Shri
Maharaj Ji . Vrindavan, Mathura, India.: Shri
Purnanada Trust Samiti. pp. 65–89.
10. Swami Sanatanadev, Br.Shivanand
'Anjaneya' (2014-08-16). Hamare Shri
Maharaj Ji . Vrindavan, Mathura, India.: Shri
Purnananda Trust Samiti. p. 99.
11. Anubhavananda, Swami (2012-07-11).
Chinmayi . Swami Anubhavananda.
ISBN 9781938843013.
12. Swami Sanatanadev, Br.Shivanand
'Anjaneya' (2014-08-16). Hamare Shri
Maharaj Ji . Vrindavan, Mathura, India.: Shri
Purnananda Trust Samiti. pp. 588–589.

External links
Life And Teachings Of Udiya Baba PDF
(English)
Shri Udiya Babaji Ke Upadesh PDF
(Hindi)
Shri Udiya Babaji Ke Sansmaran 01 PDF
(Hindi)
Shri Udiya Babaji Ke Sansmaran 02 PDF
(Hindi)
Gitatatvalok by Shri Udiya Baba Ji
Maharaj (Hindi)
Shri Udiya Baba Ji Maharaj Jeevan
Charitra (Hindi)
Very Rare Footage of Shrimat PP Shri
Udiya Baba Ji Maharaj
Retrieved from
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title=Udiya_Baba&oldid=813042850"

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