Hariakhan Baba was a teacher who taught throughout northern India near the Himalayas between 1861 and 1924.

Babaji, as he is referred to, is discussed in the book Hariakhan Baba: Known and Unknown by Baba Hari Dass. Several additional accounts were also written about his guru by an Indian holy man named Mahendra Baba—a long term disciple, who identified him as being the same person as Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal master who initiated Lahiri Mahasaya into Kriya Yoga in 1861.

Roy Eugene Davis, a direct personal disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and former minister of the Self-Realization Fellowship Phoenix Temple, professed a similar belief in his book Life Surrendered in God: The Philosophy and Practices of Kriya Yoga by recounting Baba Haridass' story of Hariakhan Baba as recorded in Hariakhan Baba: Known and Unknown and including a full-page photograph of Hariakhan Baba, lifted from the same book, with the label "Mahavatar Babaji."

Mahavatar Babaji is the name given to an Indian saint by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples who met Mahavatar Babaji between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramhansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), including a first hand telling of Yogananda’s own meeting with Mahavatar Babaji. Another first hand account was given by Sri Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science. All of these accounts, along with additional meetings with Mahavatar Babaji, are described in various biographies of those mentioned by Yogananda.

Mahavatar Babaji’s given name and date of birth are not known, so those who met him during that period all called him by the title first given to him by Lahiri Mahasaya. "Mahavatar" means "great avatar", and "Babaji" simply means "revered father". Some of the encounters included two or more witnesses—discussions between those who met Mahavatar Babaji indicate that they all met the same person.

There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition by Marshall Govindan. According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagaraj (king of serpents) by his parents.

Haidakhan Babaji, simply called "Babaji" or Bhole Baba (an epithet for Shiva) by his students and devotees, was a teacher who appeared in northern India (Uttarakhand) and taught publicly from 1970 to 1984. The spiritual teacher Leonard Orr wrote about his encounters with Haidakhan Babaji, and together with Sondra Ray, promoted him as being Mahavatar Babaji.

Haidakhan Babaji suffered several illnesses in his last years and died in 1984.

Babaji taught that the Sanatana Dharma or "Eternal Religion" was to lead a life based on truth, simplicity and love. Although he taught from a Hindu perspective, he claimed that all religions were good and helpful. He also taught that karma yoga and japa, the repetition of a mantra, was the best path for most people to follow. He particularly stressed the mantra "Om Namah Shivaya" claiming it was "more powerful than a nuclear bomb."

One of his more radical teachings was that some type of great disaster was coming, though he did not say what it was or when it would come. He did say that it would be a worldwide catastrophe. In some countries he predicted a survival rate of 5% or lower, saying that the highest survival rate in any country would be 25%, while some countries would be completely destroyed. The only way to survive this was to pray to one's chosen deity or chant Om Namah Shivaya.

Shiva Shankar Manandhar was a singer, music composer of Nepali songs and the chief actor in the first Nepali movie, Aama. For nearly a half century beginning from 1950 to late 1990, his name has probably been mentioned more often in books, journals, lectures and conversations about Nepalese music than any other musicians.

Singing and composing music for songs of love, tragedy, devotion (bhajan) and patriotism, he pioneered many of the genres of the modern Nepali songs. He has composed music for around 1,200 Nepalese songs. He himself sang about three hundred songs. For these contributions Shankar was bestowed with dozens of prestigious national awards.

Shankar was recruited to the service of the state-owned Radio Nepal in 1951 by Bal Krishna Sama, the pre-eminent playwright of Nepal. Soon he was assigned with duty to explore and mentor new musical talents, supervise, and quality control the songs being recorded in the studio for radio broadcast. Together with his colleague Nati Kaji, he made Radio Nepal an institution for breeding modern Nepalese music and songs. All Nepalese singers and musicians of the later half of the twentieth century came into prominence through this institution. Radio Nepal fostered not only the in-country musical talents, but also motivated several prodigious musicians of Darjeeling (India), to blossom in Nepal. They included Ambar Gurung, Gopal Yonzan, Aruna Lama and several others.