"See all women as mothers, serve them as your mother. When you see the entire world as the mother, the ego falls away." ~ Maharaj ji

Neem Karoli Baba, also known to his followers as 'Maharaj-ji', was a Hindu guru and a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman. He is known outside India for being the spiritual master of a number of Americans who travelled to India in the 1960s and 1970s. A few of the famous personalities who visited Neem Karoli Baba Ashram included Steve Jobs, Julia Roberts, and Mark Zuckerberg. 

Maharajji was born as Lakshmi Narayan Sharma, and this was the name given to him by his parents. When he left his home and wandered in search of truth, he came to be known as Lakshman Das. When he did tapasya at Bavania in Gujarat, he was known as Tallaiya Baba.

Later when he lived at the Indian village of Neeb Karori, he was called Neeb Karori Baba by the local villagers. There is a lot of confusion about the spelling of 'Neeb Karori'. Neeb Karori is the phonological translation of the same word from Hindi. Neeb is also sometimes written as Nib and Karori is sometimes written as Karauri. The 'ee' in Neeb is to be pronounced as in 'speed' and the 'o' in Karori is to pronounced as the 'a' in 'raw'. It is to be noted that the name Neeb Karori was taken up by Maharajji himself. He has signed with this name at some places. Neeb (In pure hindi - neev) means foundation and Karori (in pure hindi - karari) means strong. So Neeb Karori means a strong foundation.

However, over the years the name Neeb Karori was transformed in various ways like Nib Karori, Neeb Karauri and it eventually took the form "Neem Karoli". This name became popular among the western devotees and has continued as such. It is true that it must have been by Maharajji's wish that the name took such a form and became so dear to his devotees. But the words 'neem karoli' means very different things. Neem is an Indian tree, and Karoli is a place in India. The western devotees who have eventually learned Hindi and the Devnagari script have acknowledged that the spelling in English should indeed be Neeb Karori.

Enjoy this video on the Maharajji's thoughts: