VIVEKANANDA AND PAVHARI BABA

Vivekananda much revered the 19^th Century Hindu saint Pavhari Baba.
 
Pavhari Baba (d. 1898) was born near Guzi, Varanasi into a Brahmin family.  As a youth, he studied Hindu philosophy with his uncle, who lived in Ghazipur.  His uncle was a Naishthika brahmachari, and a follower of the Ramanuja or Shri sect of Hinduism. 
 
After finishing his studies, Pavhari Baba visited many pilgrimages, following which, at Girnar in Kathiawar, he was initiated into Yoga.  He subsequently returned to Ghazipur where he built an underground hermitage, a cave, on a piece of land he inherited from his uncle.  There he practiced meditation and Hatha Yoga.

Vivekananda commented that there was a tradition of Hindu yogis choosing caves or similar spots to practice in, because the temperature there was even, and there were no distracting sounds. 
 
Vivekananda was 27 years old when he met Pavhari Baba.  So impressed was he by him that he wanted to become one of his disciples.  The night before his initiation by Baba, however, Vivekananda had a dream wherein he saw his master Ramakrishna looking at him with a melancholy face.  This dream made Vivekananda realize that no one other than Ramakrishna could be his teacher, and so he abandoned the idea.

Vivekananda always held Pavhari Baba second only to Ramakrishna.  Indeed, Vivekananda delivered a lecture entitled “Sketch of the life of Pavhari Baba,” which was subsequently published as a booklet, and which can now be found on the internet under that title.

As for how Pavhari Baba died, it is rumored to be by self-immolation, when he was 100 years old, “a last oblation to the Lord.”  It is said that he did not come out of his hermitage for several days, and then one day people noticed the smell of burning flesh.  This was in 1898.  There are other sources, though, that maintain he died peacefully in his cave.