~ 9th March - Mahasamadhi Anniversary of Paramguru Sri Sri Swami Yukteswar Giri ~
Letter from Master to Rajarsi dated March 17th [1936], written in Ranchi just 9 days after Sri Yukteswar left his body.
”On March 9, 7 p.m., our Guruji left his body; and about that time he intimated to me of his departure. Also on the train I saw two tunnels of light and his astral self telling me of his departure. Though since his departure I have been seeing him all of the time, practically, still it is a great, great shock that I won’t ever be able to show you and Mt. Washington devotees Swami Sri Yukteswarji in body. He had told me, “If I live through March (Bengali Chaitra month), I will live longer.” When I had asked him to see an American lady from California, he replied, “I won’t see her now, nor anyone else in this life.” I know there would have been a great battle if I was present at the time of his passing. I wrote a letter to him asking him not to give up his body, but the people through whom I sent it did not read it to him. Guruji was slightly feverish for five days. His fever left in the end; and while his body seemed perfectly well, he left in samadhi.
“If there were words, I would write to you how I feel about the material disappearance of Master. Imagine, the Lord God did not want me to pray lest He have to grant my prayer or deny it. The lion has left his cage, the lion whose roar of wisdom kept me undergoing a thousand privations and demands of organization work. If I could weep, I would feel relieved. If I would cry, the gods would cry with me. If I had a thousand mouths, I would say India lost one of the greatest in wisdom. But the saddest of all is I could not show him you.”
~~From Autobiography of a Yogi~~
By the time I reached the Puri hermitage I was nearing collapse. The inner voice was tenderly repeating : “Collect yourself. Be calm.”
I entered the ashram room where Master’s body, unimaginably lifelike, was sitting in the lotus posture - a picture of health and loveliness. A short time before his passing, my guru had been slightly ill with fever, but before the day of his ascension into the Infinite, his body had become completely well. No matter how often I looked at his dear form I could not realize that its life had departed. His skin was smooth and soft; in his face was a beatific expression of tranquillity. He had consciously relinquished his body at the hour mystic summoning.
“ The Lion of Bengal is gone!” I cried in a daze.