Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur (1899-1983), also known as Babuji, was a yogi from Uttar Pradesh in northern India. He spent most of his life developing a method of Raja Yoga meditation called Sahaj Marg. He founded an organization called Shri Ram Chandra Mission in 1945, dedicated and named after his teacher, who was also called Ram Chandra.[1]
Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj (Babuji)
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| Title | Founder, Shri Ram Chandra Mission |
| Personal | |
| Born | Ram Chandra (1899-04-30)30 April 1899 |
| Died | (1983-04-19)19 April 1983 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Spouse | Bhagwati |
| Organization | |
| Institute | Shri Ram Chandra Mission |
| Founder of | Shri Ram Chandra Mission (1945) |
| Philosophy | Sahaj Marg, Raja Yoga |
| Senior posting | |
| Successor | Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari |
| Website | Babuji |
Ram Chandra was born on 30 April 1899 in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.[2][3] His family was well off: his father Rai Bahadur Shri Badri Prasad held the position of Honorary Special Magistrate 1st Class. He left school after his matriculation, and worked in the local court for thirty-one years as a record keeper.[4] In June 1922, at the age of twenty-three, he met the spiritual teacher Ram Chandra, who lived in Fatehgarh.[2][1]
He learnt the Raja Yoga meditation practice from Ram Chandra of Fatehgarh. He developed the method with the intention of making it more applicable in the contemporary world. He founded and registered a non-profit organization called Shri Ram Chandra Mission in 1945 to teach this new method, which he called Sahaj Marg (a name which was subsequently changed to "heartfulness meditation"), and he wrote a number of books about it.