For a long time I experienced this motion picture
of my body in the dimly lighted theater of my own
bedroom. Despite the many visions I have had,
none was ever more singular. As my illusion of
a solid body was completely dissipated, and my realization
deepened that the essence of all objects is light,
I looked up to the throbbing stream of lifetrons and
spoke entreatingly.
“Divine Light, please withdraw this, my humble
bodily picture, into Thyself, even as Elijah was drawn
up to heaven by a flame.”
This prayer was evidently startling; the beam disappeared.
My body resumed its normal weight and sank on the
bed; the swarm of dazzling ceiling lights flickered
and vanished. My time to leave this earth had
apparently not arrived.
“Besides,” I thought philosophically,
“the prophet Elijah might well be displeased
at my presumption!”
{FN30-1} This famous Russian artist and philosopher
has been living for many years in India near the Himalayas.
“From the peaks comes revelation,” he
has written. “In caves and upon the summits
lived the rishis. Over the snowy peaks of the
Himalayas burns a bright glow, brighter than stars
and the fantastic flashes of lightning.”
{FN30-2} The story may have a historical basis; an
editorial note informs us that the bishop met the
three monks while he was sailing from Archangel to
the Slovetsky Monastery, at the mouth of the Dvina
River.
{FN30-3} Marconi, the great inventor, made the following
admission of scientific inadequacy before the finalities:
“The inability of science to solve life is absolute.
This fact would be truly frightening were it not for
faith. The mystery of life is certainly the most
persistent problem ever placed before the thought of
man.”
{FN30-4} A clue to the direction taken by Einstein’s
genius is given by the fact that he is a lifelong
disciple of the great philosopher Spinoza, whose best-known
work is ethics demonstrated in geometrical
order.
{FN30-5} I Timothy 6:15-16.
{FN30-6} Genesis 1:26.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SACRED MOTHER
“Reverend Mother, I was baptized in infancy
by your prophet-husband. He was the guru of my
parents and of my own guru Sri Yukteswarji. Will
you therefore give me the privilege of hearing a few
incidents in your sacred life?”
I was addressing Srimati Kashi Moni, the life-companion
of Lahiri Mahasaya. Finding myself in Benares
for a short period, I was fulfilling a long-felt desire
to visit the venerable lady. She received me
graciously at the old Lahiri homestead in the Garudeswar
Mohulla section of Benares. Although aged, she
was blooming like a lotus, silently emanating a spiritual
fragrance. She was of medium build, with a slender
neck and fair skin. Large, lustrous eyes softened
her motherly face.
