“Give my greetings to Babaji. Say Ram Ram to him,” he said, “now you can go.” He pushed me out of his lap, and gave me a whack on my bum. I prostrated and walked back to where I was sitting, somewhere in the last row. That night, I stayed at the ashram. Someone kindly provided me with food and accommodation. However, I could not sleep the whole night. I was in deep meditation. In the morning, I left the ashram after bowing down to Neem Karoli Baba from a distance. The blissful meditation lingered.

Before dinner the previous night, I had heard many wonderful stories about Baba, but the one that truly impressed and amused me was the LSD story. Those were the days of the hippies and flower children and a lot of them had been attracted to Neem Karoli Baba, thanks to Richard Alpert, who later changed his name to Ram Dass.

One day it seems, Baba saw a westerner pushing a small bottle surreptitiously into his pocket.

“What’s that?” he asked.
“What’s inside?”
“Medicine,” said the hippie.
“What medicine?”
“LSD, Baba.”
“Give it to me.”
“But, Baba this is strong medicine ….”
“Give it to me, now.”

Trembling with fear and apprehension, he handed over the bottle. Baba opened the lid and popped all ten or so LSD tablets into his mouth at one go. All the westerners who knew about the fatal consequences of an LSD overdose, gaped at Baba helplessly.

In a minute or two, Baba suddenly began to behave strangely. He roared, screamed, rolled his eyes, put out his tongue and swung his body in circles. The hippies thought that the drug had begun to take effect and expected the worst. Instead, the Baba’s strange behavior ceased as suddenly as it started. He gave a big laugh and said “Kuch nahi hua (nothing happened). No LSD. Say Ram Naam, chant Ram Ram.”

To the westerners, what happened was indeed unimaginable; a true demonstration of ‘mind over matter,’ a miracle.

Source: Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master, A Yogi’s Autobiography