Neem Karoli Baba: How a Himalayan Saint Became Popular Among Hippies and Tech Titans
Neem Karoli Baba never travelled outside India, yet his teachings reached the US through Ram Dass and the counterculture movement, attracting spiritual seekers and later Silicon Valley figures.
The success of the film Hanuman Ansh has brought Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Maharaj-ji, into the spotlight. Born in Uttar Pradesh in the early 20th century, he was a Hindu spiritual leader and devoted follower of Lord Hanuman. While he is widely revered in India, his influence also spread to the United States, despite the fact that he never travelled outside the country.
Neem Karoli Baba was known for teachings focused on love, selfless service and devotion. He established the Kainchi Dham Ashram in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district, which later became a major spiritual destination for his followers.
Much about his early life remains unclear, adding to the mystique surrounding him. He died on September 11, 1973, and his death anniversary is observed on the same date each year.
The story of how his teachings reached the US is closely connected with the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
During those decades, the United States was experiencing major social and political upheaval. Civil rights debates, racial inequality and opposition to the Vietnam War fuelled widespread unrest. At the same time, the hippie movement emerged as a rejection of many aspects of conventional Western society.
The movement was associated with alternative lifestyles, rock music, communal living and the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD. For some young Americans, the rejection of mainstream culture also led to an interest in Eastern philosophy, meditation, yoga and spirituality.
India became an important destination for Western travellers seeking these alternative spiritual traditions. Although interest in Indian philosophy and Hinduism had existed in the US before the hippie movement, the counterculture era brought these ideas to a much larger audience.
One of the Americans who travelled to India during this period was Richard Alpert, a Harvard psychologist who had worked alongside LSD researcher Timothy Leary. Alpert arrived in India in 1967 and met Neem Karoli Baba, who gave him the name Ram Dass.
Ram Dass later became an influential Western teacher of Indian spirituality. His writings described Neem Karoli Baba as a deeply spiritual figure whose message revolved around love, service and devotion. A teaching associated with the Baba was: “Love everybody, serve everybody, and remember God.”
After returning to the US, Ram Dass published Be Here Now in 1971. The book chronicled his spiritual journey and experiences in India and became an influential work of the counterculture era. It introduced a wide Western audience to meditation, yoga and Eastern spirituality while helping establish Neem Karoli Baba as a mysterious and revered spiritual figure.
Accounts shared by Ram Dass and other devotees also contributed to the Baba’s legend. They described him as having unusual abilities, including allegedly reading people’s thoughts, predicting events and performing miracles. Ram Dass also recounted an episode involving a large dose of LSD that, according to his account, appeared to have little effect on Neem Karoli Baba.
Over time, Kainchi Dham became a destination not only for American spiritual seekers and members of the counterculture but also for influential figures from the technology world.
Among those associated with visits to the ashram were Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founder Larry Page and eBay co-founder Jeffrey Skoll.
The ashram also had a connection with Larry Brilliant, a physician who spent time there and later led Google’s philanthropic organisation. Brilliant credited Neem Karoli Baba with encouraging him to leave the ashram and contribute to the fight against smallpox.
Steve Jobs is among the most widely discussed visitors linked to Neem Karoli Baba. Jobs travelled to India in 1974 hoping to meet the spiritual teacher, but arrived after his death in 1973. Years later, Mark Zuckerberg visited Kainchi Dham during a difficult phase for Facebook, reportedly following advice from Jobs.
Neem Karoli Baba died more than five decades ago, but his influence continues across India and the United States. What began with a relatively small circle of Western spiritual seekers eventually extended into technology, philanthropy and popular culture, helping turn Kainchi Dham into an internationally recognised spiritual destination.
