Sitaram Baba the man with “the most best friends!!”

Born, Jagarnath Mahato, the son of a poor farmer, Baba grew up in Nepal just 10 miles from the border with India. Although he was recruited by the Gurkhas; Baba decided this life was not for him and took his vows at his local ashram under his beloved guru, Bengali Baba and became a Tiagi Baba, renouncing all worldly possessions, shaving his head and receiving his death rites, as is the custom. He lived at his guru’s ashram for 12 years studying ayuvedic medicine, practising yoga and going on many pilgrimages to sacred sites in Nepal and India.

He met his first wife at the 1989 Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, India. They travelled together to the UK, where, years later, he secured his British citizenship; a proud moment for him. He lived in various places in the England but when he came to Glastonbury in 1991 he knew it was the place he could never leave! He loved living in Glastonbury and got to know just about everyone who lived or even visited Glastonbury.

Baba’s life mission was to preserve his ashram in Jeetpur for the community, so it could remain a place of peace and sanctuary where everyone was welcome for advice, food, and shelter. He managed to go and come about 15 times over the years and although he would probably have preferred to leave his body in his ashram, his karma dictated that he would pass in his beloved Glastonbury.

We are a group of his old friends and we want to do the right thing by Sitaram Baba. Please help pay for his body to be cremated here and we will arrange for his ashes to be returned to Nepal and finally home to the River Ganges. Any left-over funds raised will be sent to his family to perform a ritual at his ashram in his memory