Dehra Dun, July 18
Clearly, Baba Shiv Dass made a mistake he would not be able to regret.

A self-proclaimed master of yoga who performed miracles that the people of Ramnagar village seemed to believe in, the baba announced in front of thousands of his followers on July 11 that he would meditate underground for seven days for peace in the world and the good of all.

There was no need to be anxious about his well-being, he told his awe-struck faithful, mostly women, at Sidheshwar temple as television cameras whirred to record the event.

Ramnagar had never experienced a spiritual feat like the baba was about to undertake.

No, they were not worried at all. Their baba had told them not to. They prayed and waited for the seven-day period to end, and, yesterday, gathered at the temple again for the baba to emerge from his samadhi and address them about the mysteries he encountered while locked in the womb of the earth.

Local officials came too. Crowd control, they were instructed, would be necessary once the baba walked the earth again. People might just go out of hand on seeing their guru amongst them. After all, bhajans were already being recited loudly and the tempo was fast becoming feverish.

Spirits, however, began to drop as the appointed hour passed and the baba did not keep his date with them. The devout decided to wait a little longer. Nothing happened.

That was when the administration stepped in. The baba was taking too long.

They samadhi was opened up. The baba was not looking good, slumped to the side.

He was not breathing either.

Baba Shiv Dass, in fact, had died, just as all humans do and must.

His followers refused to believe the baba was gone. They broke into a rhythmic chant: leave him where he is. He would come alive in 12 hours. He had performed so many miracles before, they argued. This time, too, he would do it.

So great was the pressure of the devout that the hospital where his body was taken had no choice but to delay the post-mortem on his body for 12 hours. Just in case…

After this mandatory waiting, the hospital announced that the baba had been dead for three days, no less.

No case had been registered, Ganesh Singh Martoliya, SSP, Nainital, said. The baba had given it to them in writing that only he would be responsible if something happened to him during his samadhi.