Love Everyone: The Transcendent Wisdom of Neem Karoli Baba Told Through the Stories of the Westerners Whose Lives He Transformed

During the time period covered by this book, I was living off-grid on a small New Mexico homestead, a refugee from the city and the disturbing political events of the time. At Lama Foundation, a brand-new spiritual community founded by friends of Ram Dass, people we were close with helped to create the prototype for Be Here Now. Not only did we receive the original box set, including recordings, etc., but one of the artists, Dwarkanath, traveled with Ram Dass on his return journey to India, eventually mailing us a letter with a small black and white photo of Neem Karoli Baba. He told us, “It is very difficult to think of anything when massaging Babaji’s feet, but I managed to think of you folks there!” This photo resided for years atop my very first altar, a large rectangular rock in the exact center of our hand-built home, and the blessings started to flow. Not only have they continued, but so many incredibly intimate, funny and ultimately liberating experiences unattributable to anyone but this all-seeing Higher Guide have transpired along the way, through dreams and other means. In 1973, I was using a chalkboard to communicate, to help control the mind, a yogic practice I learned of from Haridas Baba, a servant of Babaji who had come to the west to teach. I remember attending a friend's birthday party at a home on the Rio Grande, and preparing to leave when a sudden torrential downpour occurred as we ran for cover to the truck. It was like nothing any of us had seen, and I remember all of us just laughing out loud at the extreme sudden change of weather, in which it was impossible to go anywhere, and which lasted a good five minutes. Afterwards, commenting to others who lived nearby about the freak storm, NO ONE else nearby had experienced it. Weeks later, we received a letter from India telling us that on that very day, Maharajji had passed, and then we felt we understood. . . others had similar experiences, so we were not alone. Our heart connection was the all-important linkup. Miracles abound when God is around!

I strongly recommend this book to all spiritual seekers. Neem Karoli Baba has been my guru since the early seventies even though I never met him in his physical body. As I read through the stories in this book of the westerners that were there with him in India in the late sixties or early seventies, I had the feeling that I was there with them as part of the satsang. It was like I was actually present for all of the events that were described in the book. I was overcome by tremendous emotion as my heart was opened by the author's exquisite storytelling skills. Parvati Markus has given a gift to the world in the book "Love Everyone." Within these stories of the young people who traveled to India all those years ago to be in the presence of this great Indian saint, is a lesson that is true today for those of us who were not able to be there before he left his body. His darshan can be accessed today just as much as it was 45 years ago by the devotees whose stories are chronicled in "Love Everyone". Parvati Markus is a messenger of the love that is Neem Karoli Baba. It is a story of God's love for humanity. To be held by that love is all that we could ask for in life.

When the man we have come to know as Ram Dass left India the first time, his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, told him not to talk about him in the West. Nevertheless, he is all Ram Dass did talk about, resulting in many young seekers from the U.S. going to India and becoming devotees of “Maharaji.” Parvati Markus is one of those who went and received a new name. I read Ram Dass’s books, Be Here Now, The Only Dance There Is, and How Can I Help some years back, but this collection of stories from over sixty of those bright youngsters (now aging adults) who went to India from 1968 to 1973 (the year Maharaji died) impressed me in a way my previous reading did not. It is difficult to discount the miraculous things this person knew and did. But like Jesus, he treated lightly that aspect of his life. The important thing to all of these followers is the profound experience of love they had just being in his presence. There is a short bio of each contributor to this book and I am also impressed at what an influential group they are. They have obviously taken to heart Maharaji’s mantra: Love Everyone, Serve Everyone, Remember God.

Every story is wonderful, this is a very sweet collection of devotees stories! Highly Recommended!! A lot of life lessons unmissable!!

I grew up in the '60s, hearing stories about the people who had gone to India. We didn't know what to make of them--crazy? drug-addled? blind followers? This book is filled with the real stories of who went, what they did, what they found--and I'm profoundly moved by it! Neem Karoli Baba's presence leaps off the pages, and I find myself to be a follower, too--even though he's no longer on this plane! Go figure. It's a book I couldn't put down. I'm grateful it's there.

Enjoyed immensely. The feeling of being there comes through the stories

For those of us guided by 'be here now' during our spiritual awakenings, and were, by grace, set upon the bhakti trail, this book is a beautiful reminder of the limitless possibilities of a heart truly opened. in this age where atheism is in vogue i often think to myself, if only, under the right circumstances, they could meet a great saint like neem karoli baba, would they still think the universe was merely a set of mechanistic reactions?of course the stories are just fingers pointing at the moon, but nonetheless serve to reawaken that feeling of living from a center within us other than our minds. i'm grateful for the candor and honesty in the stories as well, since all to often religions are born thru the polishing and embellishment of the Truth.many thanks to the seekers for sharing their stories, and namaste.