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Whisper in The Heart
In the pages that follow, the kind-eyed, lovely and talented Parvati Markus has compiled many, many stories of the Big Maharaj-ji still at work in our human lives. Wild stories, small stories and everything in between. I believe the accounts have the power to comfort and inspire and hopefully even squash any spiritual FOMO for many generations to come. Because it’s true. Maharaj-ji isn’t gone; he’s just changed. —from the Foreword by Pete Holmes
Neem Karoli Baba, a great Indian saint, left his body in September of 1973, but his presence has continued unabated. Even without his physical form, he has appeared to thousands of individuals across the globe, in dreams and visions, in meditation, and out of the blue in broad daylight. He comes to open hearts with a blast of unconditional love, to bring comfort and aid in response to calls for help, and as a reminder that we are, indeed, all One.
But doubt often strikes after an experience in which one feels such profound divine love. It was only a dream. Maybe I imagined it. I never met him in person; how do I know it was him? The mind steps in to discount what the heart knows to be true.
That is why Whisper in the Heart carries an important message—it lets you know that what you have experienced is real. It recounts the stories of over 150 people and the ways in which they “met” Maharajji, as he is fondly known. It could have been while chanting at a kirtan, while at a spiritual retreat or in a temple, while looking at a photo or reading a book, or as in some of the more extraordinary stories, when he shows up on a desperate woman’s doorstep in France, brings years of abuse to an end for a nine-year-old child in Australia, dances on a beach in Miami, or appears to a policeman in Taos, New Mexico.
Ram Dass, who met Maharajji in India in 1967, brought his presence strongly to the West. Until his death in December 2019, Ram Dass shared and spread Maharajji’s vast unconditional love in person and through all forms of media with generations of seekers. Today, the Love Serve Remember Foundation offers access to the storehouse of wisdom left by Maharajji and Ram Dass, and to the ways in which new devotees are experiencing whispers in the heart.
Maharajji himself used to say: When you think of me, I’ll be there. In this book you will get a glimpse of how he is fulfilling that promise.
Neem Karoli Baba is a being who transcends all boundaries, religious classification, preconceived notions of a yogic path, and even death – so why wouldn’t he be as real to those who never physically met him as their own most beloved family members? In this magical and evocative collection of stories, we meet the one Ram Dass called Maharajji in all his variegated beauty, his unconventional holiness, his deep humanity and sublime transmission, his wildness and rootedness. If you didn’t already love this baba before picking up this book, I promise you will fall in love right here, and that such a love will change everything, everything.
— Mirabai Starr author of Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy
People all over the world have had interactions with Neem Karoli Baba since he died in 1973. These stories remind us that the hereafter is here and now, and that love transcends death. That presence and love are never really distant. The influence of such a being is always available, no matter our limited concepts of time and space. The wind of grace is always blowing!
— Rameshwar Das, co-author of Being Ram Dass
Years ago, after hearing me complain about not having the sort of karma that allows you to meet a being like Maharajji in person, Krishna Das put his hand on my shoulder and said, “The Longing is the grace.” This book will fill you up with that kind of grace. Stories of Maharajji are somehow more than just stories. They reach through time and allow you a taste of the sweetness that drew so many people to India just to spend a few moments at his feet. —Duncan Trussell comedian, writer, podcaster, actor Parvati has birthed a beautiful blessing for our world. Listen! This book will amplify the whispers of hope, inspiration, courage, and kindness in your heart.
— Trudy Goodman, PhD, Vipassana teacher and founding teacher of InsightLA
When I first “met” Neem Karoli Baba through chanting with Krishna Das, reading stories of him by the old devotees was the way I learned to understand the feelings that arose. Stories about saints fortify our faith, so I thank Parvati for widening the circle by including these stories of Maharajji’s contact with our hearts through infinite time and space.
— Nina Rao, musical artist and chant leader
In each lifetime, in each moment, He finds us and brings us back home to ourselves…to Himself. Out of His love for us, He wakes us up again and again… life after life. He is the one who is HERE! We are dreamers, asleep in our inner darkness. He turns on the light for us to give us a glimpse of what we truly are.
— Krishna Das, chant master
For many of us who didn’t have the good fortune of being with Maharajji in the physical body, it is the stories that bring us his presence and love. We are always thirsty for the devotees’ memories and stories of him and this book is yet another well of grace to quench our hearts.
— Trevor Hall, singer/songwriter
This wonderful collection of stories about encounters with Neem Karoli Baba is a feast for the Soul. These stories embody the essence of Grace . . . that indefinable blessing of connection with the Divine . . . mystical events that have happened to so many of us, in which we find ourselves stepping briefly out of the mundane and into the Sacred. The experiences so beautifully portrayed in this book will help to stretch your awareness and to see through the very thin veil that separates ordinary experience from the miraculous. Neem Karoli Baba reminds us that every moment is a miracle . . . no matter how mundane it may seem . . . and that miracles often happen through simple events we might overlook if we’re not paying attention . . . with a quiet mind and an open heart tuned to Love.
—Ramananda John E. Welshons, author of One Soul, One Love, One Heart, and Awakening from Grief
In Whisper in the Heart we learn that the veil of death is just that, and that a great being like Neem Karoli Baba removes that veil and touches the hearts and minds of people all over the world. Both while sleeping and waking, he reaches into the mindstreams of people of many ages and nationalities and lights them up with love, wisdom, and humor. What originally impressed Ram Dass, then Richard Alpert, was Maharajji’s omniscience about the death of his mother. But until the birth of this book, we might not have known that Maharajji’s omniscience goes beyond time and space and can still be accessed. What a valuable gift Parvati Markus has skillfully given us, to know this is possible and to bring these stories to the world in these challenging times!
— Lama Tsultrim Allione, author of Wisdom Rising and founder of Tara Mandala
It has been so hard for me to put this book down and return to attending to my daily life. Maharajji’s transmission flows through all of it, with an enormous flood right out of the gate. I found myself in tears many times. I love every one of the shared stories, and there is a sweet flow to all of it. Maharajji just comes through the book.
— Melinda Edwards, MD, psychiatrist and founder of Living Darshan
From the point of view of a devotee, it reassured me tremendously that there are so many others who have experienced Maharajji since he left his body; though each person’s experience was their own, there was a thread that connected all of us. I think that for others who have not been so fortunate as to experience Maharajji yet, this book may very well serve as his invitation!