On 9th September 1959, a piece of 3 Acre Land was gifted by Shrimati Rani Bhuwaneshwari Kuer W/o Shriman Raja Bahadur Harihar Prasad Narayan Singh of Amawan, out of her devotion, love and affection, to The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry for the propagation of the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in Ayodhya. From the year 1959 to 1986 the land was being taken care of and maintained by Late Babaji Sri Ramkrushna Dasji who got the inspiration for the construction of Sri Hanuman temple and a shrine to house the sacred relics of Sri Aurobindo which were installed on March 29, 1989. From the year 1986 to 2013 Shri Shiv Kumar Khetan was instrumental in carrying out the work of building the necessary structures along with a guest house to accommodate the devotees expected to come at the time of the installation of Sri Aurobindo’s sacred Relics. It was from the year 1986 onwards that Sri Shiv Kumar Khetan arranged, by the Grace of the Mother, all the needed resources and supervised the actual development and management of the Ayodhya Centre till sometime in the year 2013 when the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust Puducherry began to look after the Centre directly.
Speaking about Babaji Sri Ramkrushna Dasji Padma Bhushan Prof. Manoj Das said : “He was extraordinary in several ways. Born on the 14th of August 1908, in a village named Rairpur in what is now Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa, circumstances obliged him to take up a job in the Settlement Department of the Government at the age of sixteen. But inwardly he remained engrossed in the spiritual lore right from the time he had been able to read. One day he bade goodbye to his milieu and, in search of a guide for his Sadhana, reached the holy city of Ayodhya and was accepted as a disciple by a renowned Guru. Probably it was at this time that his original name, Krushnachandra Routray, changed into Ramakrushna Das, as demanded by tradition, indicating the end of one’s old conventional identity and the beginning of a new life…
Before long, even though he never wished to be a Guru, seekers, attracted by his most amiable personality and transparent faith, were drawn to him. Among them were princes, judges and educationists of eminence. While he became a great support in their search for light, his own quest never stopped even with what we believe to be realisations of lofty planes of mystic reality. It is this blessed and rare quality of Ramakrushna Das—who could have easily presided over an ever-growing circle of disciples—that introduced him to the world of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, either through some of their works or through some authentic articles on them. It did not take his mature psyche long to recognise in them the ultimate he sought. Without the slightest hesitation he broke away from his hermitage and came over to Pondicherry and joined the Ashram on the 2nd of February 1945.
…As time passed, his old admirers traced him to his new abode. Among them were the Raja and Rani of the principality of Ambawa. While Babaji Maharaj was at Ayodhya, they had offered him a precious gift of a large tract of land adjacent to the most celebrated spot in that city of unique antiquity, Ram Janmabhoomi or the sacred Birthplace of Lord Rama. Now the royal couple was keen to effectuate its resolve. Babaji advised them to offer the land to the Mother, which they happily did and the Mother graciously accepted it.
We can imagine the difficulty for one steeped in the traditional ideas of asceticism-oriented spirituality and occupying a position of mentor for numerous others, to join as one among so many sadhaks of Sri Aurobindo Ashram conforming to a radically different life-style, accepting the Mother as the supreme Guide and offering one’s services in any field chosen by Her. For the greater part of his life in the Ashram, Babaji or Babaji Maharaj as he came to be lovingly called, worked in the Ashram Dining establishment, washing dishes. He rarely absented himself from the regular programme of physical education as a member of his group. But, with a keen sense of discipline and an exemplary hold over time, he devoted himself to study, writing, answering questions from visitors whose number kept growing, and replying to a bulging volume of letters…”
