| Pilot Baba | |
| Birth Name: | Kapil Singh |
| Birth Place: | Sasaram, Shahabad district, Bihar Province, British India |
| Death Place: | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Occupation: | |
Wing Commander Kapil Singh (15 July 1938 – 20 August 2024), known as Pilot Baba, was an Indian spiritual guru and pilot with the Indian Air Force.[1]
Kapil Singh was commissioned in the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a fighter pilot in 1957. He participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, rising to the rank of Wing Commander.[2]
During the Sino-Indian War in 1962, Singh reported an apparition of Gorakhnath that guided his plane to a safe landing after he lost all contact with his base. Ten years later, he become a guru under the moniker "Pilot Baba" following his retirement from the IAF.[3] Pilot Baba was known for his claim to enter lengthy samadhi, or death-like bodily states, often under the ground.[4] [5] [6] He also claimed that he could control and manipulate the elements. His samadhi demonstrations led to fame and donations. In 1980, he reportedly attempted a similar stunt with one of his devotees, collecting hundred of thousands of rupees from devotees to sponsor him. However, after being buried ten days underground, the devotee was unearthed and found to be dead, and Pilot Baba disappeared with the donations. After his return, Pilot Baba was found to have faked some of his escapades: in both a 1992 demonstration where he stayed underwater for five days and a 1996 burial for the same amount of time, it was reported that he actually employed secret compartments that allowed him to avoid danger.[6] He was also exposed for money laundering on a TV program, offering a sting investigation a 30% commission to route the equivalent of 1.2 million pounds of black money through the ashrams accounts.[3]
Pilot Baba set up ashrams in India and Japan.[3]
Ashrams in India include:
Pilot Baba died in Mumbai, Maharashtra on 20 August 2024, at the age of 86.[7]
Books written by Pilot Baba include: