Pilot Baba's Japanese aide completes 72-hour samadhi for world peace

Ardh Kumbh Nagar, Jan 21 (UNI) Keiko Aj-kawa, a Japanese woman and a follower of 'Pilot Baba' today completed her 72-hour-long Samadhi, which she undertook for world peace.

Dressed in light clothes, Keiko was pulled out of the tin box which was placed in a pit and covered with sand. Cheers by Indian and foreign followers of the Baba filled the atmosphere, when she came out of the samadhi.

Soon after her 72-hour penance, she was conferred with the title of 'Mahamandaleshwar' by the Baba.

This was reportedly her 24th samadhi.

The Baba said Keiko underwent intense meditation inside a 9 by 9 feet pit for the last three days in her bid to achieve enlightenment.

The Yogmata, as she is popularly called, was given half an hour to control her breathing before being covered inside the pit.

In this process, one has to turn inwards. The breathing process needs to be controlled by changing it from exhalation to inhalation only, the Baba had said.

In her mid-forties, Keiko spent the last 72 hours without food and water.

Rechristened 'Yog Mata' after becoming a disciple of Maha Yogi Hari Baba 15 years ago, Aj-kawa went into the underground 'Samadhi' at a camp here at 1300 hrs on January 18 in the presence of a curious crowd that included over 50 Japanese devotees.

The whole thing was done at the camp of Pilot Baba -- a former Indian Air Force (IAF) officer, who is known to have mastered the 'art of death' - by practicing 'samadhi'. ''He has successfully taken Samadhi 110 times, including a 14-day samadhi in water at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, two decades ago,'' Pilot Baba's spokesperson Neelu Maharaj told UNI here.

After becoming the disciple of Hari Baba 15 years ago, Yog Mata successfully completed her vow of taking Samadhi at every Kumbh mela for world peace.

''She has successfully come out alive in the previous Kumbh using yogic powers.'' The Pilot Baba describes Keiko as his 'guru sister' -- as both are disciples of the same Guru.

Pilot Baba, whose original name is Kunwar Kapil Singh, had resigned from the IAF after the 1971 India-Pakistan war and has a huge following and the rush in his camp justifies it.

Pilot Baba had travelled the Himalayas for seven years in search of peace. He was given the name ''Pilot Baba'' by late BJP MP Vijaya Raje Scindia.

When asked about his 'art of death', Pilot Baba said, ''You have to re-enlighten your consciousness to fight the oneness away from five particular elements and then only something begins.'' During Baba's discourses at his camp, he tells his disciples that ''if one is in the right frame, he can have 'samadhi' anywhere.'' Today's Samadhi, however, has also exposed the lack of preparedness of the authorities who had assured recently that they will not let the exercise take place.

''We are not going into the merit and demerits of the 'samadhi' but we will not allow it to happen in the mela area,'' Allahabad Divisional Commissioner R N Tripathi had told UNI recently.

Pilot Baba's spokesperson Neelu Maharaj, however, said ''We did not break any law, but a written declaration where Yog Mata has declared that she is undergoing Samadhi at her own risk has already been submitted with the authorities.'' UNI