On the 13th December 1940, Shri Babaji Maharaj left his mortal frame and mingled into his Formless Divine Self. This was ten months after the birth of Pran Nath.
Shri Nathji was fortunately in Lahore during the last days of Shri Babaji Maharaj on earth.
There was a close devotee of Shri Babaji Maharaj who came for his darshan every morning without fail. He would enter Shri Babaji’s room and immediately open all the windows, and wrap up Shri Babaji’s quilt. This resulted in exposure and a chill, which took the form of pneumonia.
When Shri Babaji Maharaj became seriously ill, the doctor sought to administer medicine. But Shri Babaji Bhagwan had already begun to consider leaving the world. He refused the medicine.
But you are ill, said the doctor.
If I were, I would have the desire to get well!
Babaji, you are dying, said the doctor.
If I were, I would have the desire to live! said Shri Babaji Maharaj.
Very soon he went into a deep unconsciousness. The doctor examined his heart and marvelled at its strength even in the midst of such agony. Surely the heart belonged to a great and powerful personality. Shri Nathji sat by Shri Babaji’s pillow.
Shri Babaji Maharaj opened his eyes but once, and looked at Shri Nathji. And then he closed his eyes forever, and went into a deep meditation from which he was never to emerge. And thus, one of the greatest of saints who ever came to this earth, left his mortal frame. His legacy to the world was Shri Nathji–the Avatar of the age.
The world could not but be poorer for the loss of Shri Babaji Maharaj. And Nathji’s verse would ring out:
Jo baadaakash thhe puraane wo uthhte chale jaate hain
Kaheen se aabe bakaaye davaam le Saaki!
They who knew of thy secrets are leaving the world–
O Saki, bring forth thy wine of Eternal Life!
Shri Nathji said:
Shri Babaji Maharaj has merged into a state where there is neither Life nor Death, where there is neither sorrow nor joy, profit nor loss, neither honour nor disgrace. It is a state where there is neither day nor night, neither truth nor untruth. He, who was, once, could not mingle into nothingness; he merged into his real, divine self! The wave of the divine ocean of nectar settled down into the ocean and became one with it.
R.R.Khanna came to Shri Nathji and said:
We might have had Shri Babaji Maharaj longer amongst us if only he had been better looked after.
Eulogies were paid to Shri Babaji Maharaj by some of the greatest saints and sages of the day as well as the intellectuals, the judiciary and the Rajas and Maharajas of the time who had been the recipients of his Divine Grace.
Despite the knowledge that Shri Babaji Maharaj was immortal, yet everyone wished he could have stayed in the world longer.