Ramesh Babaji Maharaj

Ramesh Babaji Maharaj was born Rameshwar Prasad Shukla in 1938 in Prayag (Allahabad, now Prayagraj), in the United Provinces of British India. His parents were Baldev Prasad Shukla and Hemeshwari Devi, known in the family as Mata Ji. Maan Mandir's biography records his birth at 12 noon on Paush Krishna Saptami (the seventh day of the waning fortnight of Paush) in 1938; Wikipedia gives the Gregorian date as 13 December 1938, which has not been confirmed by news reports.

His father, called "Shukla Bhagwan" by local people, was a noted astrologer and palmist who, the trust says, gave consultations without charge and distributed inherited land to poor farmers. The couple's first child, Tarkeshwari Devi (Didi Ji), was born in 1930. The family account says they prayed at Tarakeswar and then at Rameswaram for a son, and that on seeing the newborn his father foretold that the boy would renounce worldly life. His father died when he was five, and after his sister married he lived alone with his mother.

According to Maan Mandir, he was an exceptionally bright student and had completed college by the age of 16. He was also a talented singer whose voice is said to have impressed the Hindustani classical vocalist D. V. Paluskar, who asked his mother to let him train the boy. He learned several percussion instruments, including the pakhavaj, khol, mridanga, dholak and tabla. Music, and above all congregational singing of the divine names, became a central part of his spiritual practice and teaching.

He tried twice to leave home for Braj and turned back because of his mother's attachment to him. On the third attempt he left openly. He spent a period in the forests of Chitrakoot, associated with Rama's exile, before travelling to Barsana. News reports date his arrival to 1953 or 1954, in his mid-teens; Dainik Jagran says he came at 16 and played the mridang at the Radha Rani temple.

In Barsana he accepted the guidance of Shri Priya Sharan Ji Maharaj, a saint and scholar of the Radha Sudha Nidhi and the Mahavani. He settled at Maan Mandir on Brahmachal hill in the Gahvarvan forest, then a ruined shrine said to have sheltered bandits, and served its deity, Thakur Maan Bihari. Under him it became a centre of kirtan, Bhagavata katha and three daily satsangs. Some of the students trained there became well-known narrators of the Bhagavata.

From Maan Mandir he launched the Radha Rani Braj Yatra in 1968, a free pilgrimage of about forty days around the 84-kos circuit of Braj. He promoted nama-sankirtana processions that the trust says now run in more than 35,000 villages. He campaigned against mining in the Braj hills, inspired the restoration of more than 36 sacred ponds and large tree-planting targets, and supported the movement to restore the flow of the Yamuna. In 2007 the trust founded Shri Mataji Gaushala under his inspiration. In March 2024 Brajsharan Das Baba was appointed his successor as mahant of Maan Mandir.

Ramesh Baba lived as a celibate renunciate (virakta sant) and never married. He made a vow never to leave the land of Braj, and Hindustan Times recalls that on a march to Delhi for the Yamuna he turned back at Hodal in Haryana, the boundary of Braj. Maan Mandir says he did not leave Braj for more than six decades. He did not formally take disciples, saying he was not qualified to be a guru, and he refused to collect money personally for the projects he inspired.

His teaching centred on devotion to Radha and Krishna, the singing of the divine names, residence in Braj and selfless service. He saw the hills, forests, ponds and river of Braj as sacred places of Krishna's pastimes, so protecting them was for him a religious duty: if you want to preserve the history of a holy site, the trust's biography summarises, you must preserve the site itself. He taught that devotees should not beg from people but rely on divine grace while doing practical service, and he valued devotion above skill as a speaker, wanting his students to become devotees rather than polished narrators.

Ramesh Baba leaves behind Maan Mandir Seva Sansthan, the annual Radha Rani Braj Yatra, Shri Mataji Gaushala and a long record of environmental campaigning in Braj. Reports at his death described Mataji Gaushala as sheltering 60,000 to 65,000 cows, among the largest cow shelters in India and described by local media as the largest in Asia. Dainik Jagran credits his campaign with the 2008 Supreme Court order stopping mining in the Braj hills, and dozens of restored ponds across the region bear witness to his efforts. Fellow Braj preachers, including Indresh Upadhyay and Pundrik Goswami, spoke publicly about his passing, and the district administration of Mathura paid tribute to him at Barsana.

In January 2019 he was named among the recipients of the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, in the category of social work (animal welfare). The Times of India described the 80-year-old seer from Mathura as honoured for his work for cows, and Times Now listed him among the animal welfare and environmental crusaders recognised that year.

Works associated with him include Braj Bhaav Malika, Swar Vanshi Ke Shabda Noopur Ke and Rasia Raseshwari, as well as a Hindi translation of the Radha Sudha Nidhi. He is credited as a songwriter, with Madhavas, on the devotional song "Radhe Kishori Daya Karo" released in 2020. Maan Mandir's YouTube channel holds many recordings of his satsangs, kirtans and the Braj Yatra, as well as an interview he gave after the Padma Shri announcement.

Ramesh Babaji Maharaj died on Tuesday 6 October 2026 at Maan Mandir in the Gahvarvan area of Barsana, Mathura district. Reports said he had been unwell for some time; no specific cause of death has been made public. His death fell on Indira Ekadashi during Pitru Paksha. Ages reported ranged from 88 (Hindustan Times, Dainik Jagran, Navbharat Times) to 90 (Times of India, Aaj Tak). Mathura district magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh and SSP Shlok Kumar paid tribute to his mortal remains. Maan Mandir trust secretary Sunil Singh said his last rites would take place in Gahvarvan on the morning of Wednesday 7 October 2026.