It was a spiritual awakening that brought Baba Gobind Ram Ji to Mineola.
In 2012, when he was living in California, he got a message from his teacher, Maharaj Ghasita Ram Ji Kant, calling him to set up a center in the U.S. for their spiritual tradition, Mahraz Darshan Das Charitable Trust.
Mahraz Darshan Das founded the tradition in India in 1971. It was originally known as Sachkhand Nanak Dam before its name change.
With guidance from Maharaj Ghasita Ram Ji Kant, Baba Gobind Ram Ji, known to his followers as Baba Ji, found a home for the practice at 115 Jericho Turnpike, the former home of the Italian Society of Mineola, where he helped open the Ashram-Kant Darshan Darbar in 2013.
The center has established a base of followers and gotten involved in community service since then, sponsoring events such as its annual blood drive on Nov. 19.
But large crowds are not its primary goal, Baba Ji said — he and practitioners of Mahraz Darshan Das Charitable Trust rather aim to help people find inner peace and carry it into the world, he said.
“We are not here to grow ourselves,” Baba Ji said. “We are here like any person from any faith or any religion — whoever is suffering in his or her life.”
Mahraz Darshan Das Charitable Trust has thousands of followers worldwide who attend spiritual services at nine centers in India and one each in the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S.
The Mineola center is the only one in the U.S., Baba Ji said.
Before it opened, followers would host services, or “spiritual discourse,” in their homes, he said.
People come to Ashram-Kant Darshan Darbar from around Long Island, as well as Queens, Staten Island and New Jersey, said Sushil Kumar, a volunteer at the center.
Practitioners of Mahraz Darshan Das Charitable Trust believe spirituality is separate from any religion, Baba Ji said.
Most who come to the center are Indian, but it draws people from a wide range of religious backgrounds, he said.
The center hosts two services a week that begin with chanting and singing of “holy verses,” leading into Baba Ji’s weekly spiritual discourse — a message he said he receives from With guidance from Maharaj Ghasita Ram Ji Kant and passes on to the congregation.
Services are usually conducted in Punjabi and Hindi, but the center recently had one in English when Scott Strauss, mayor of the Village of Mineola, came as a guest, Baba Ji said.
“Spiritual practice is never related to any culture,” Baba Ji said. “When you speak about culture or religion then you’re trying to bind yourself.”
Mahraz Darshan Das Charitable Trust teaches that spirituality emerges from the soul inside each person’s body and an almighty supreme power, Baba Ji said.
Many followers paint red vertical lines on the center of their foreheads to symbolize the marriage between the feminine soul and the masculine almighty, he said.
The tradition aims to show people how to find peace internally rather than looking to the world or other people, Baba Ji said.
Without peace, he said, relationships deteriorate and negativity prevails.
“The positive energy, which appears during the spiritual discourse, that also helps people to get healed, internally, their problems,” Baba Ji said.
Ashram-Kant Darshan Darbar is a registered nonprofit organization run primarily by volunteers, and community service is part of its presence in Mineola.
In addition to the blood drive, the center collects and donates more than 100 blankets in the winter and holds food and toy drives around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, Baba Ji said.
Referring to the Almighty, Babi Ji said, “We all are here just for the betterment, for the universe which he created.”
