NAMASTE Was surfin about Teachers and BABAS that are in the U.S. and Canada and came across this.Moved me a great deal.had to pass it on.
Called Milk Baba because this Hindu ascetic has reportedly eaten nothing but milk for years, this "guru" spends most of his time in a one-room cell in the Pashupatinath complex of Katmandu. With lakshanas, or spiritual markings, on the sole of his feet, he may in fact be visiting the US right now. Baba predicted the assassinations of both Gandhis, so he is seen as a seer, a prophet.
The purpose of the bona fide Guru is to lead the student to God. Does he do this, or just display mystic powers? Those who simply display mystic powers are yogis, not gurus.
I read about him. He sounds like a cool being. It was said that someone wanted to donate milk to him but he would only drink the milk from a family of local cows. He's not a guru per se, as he did not go out seeking chelas. One becomes a guru when chelas come seeking one out and finding what they seek in the master. At any rate, he is the master of his passions, and that makes him greater than myself.
I looked at the "lakshana's" and it seems to me that anyone who sits cross-legged for any extended period of their life will get wrinkles and creases like the one's Ram Krishna Das has on his feet. I've had 5 trips to India staying in ashrams, and the number of ways of identifying guru is about the same as the number of guru's! Funny that.