Mahasamadhi: Preparing for the Final Exam

When Paramhansa Yogananda returned to India in 1935, it was at the summons of his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar. 

Whether that call came telepathically or by ordinary means, we cannot say. Likely there were many reasons for his return: his family, especially his father; his disciples and gurubhais; and the fledgling work he had begun in India, including the school he founded.

Yogananda’s arrival created quite a stir. Newspapers — the “internet” of their day — followed his travels throughout the country. Hailed as India’s favorite son returning home, he was welcomed wherever he went.

From Chapter 42 of the “Autobiography of a Yogi” (Yogananda’s life story), one might think he never imagined that Sri Yukteswar would leave this world. But sometimes the soul — or Divine Mother — veils from our conscious mind what might otherwise seem obvious. Enlightened beings do not “overthink” the way we do, coloring everything with anxiety or fear. Instead, guidance flows to them as a steady stream of intuition, as natural as eating or drinking.

Stories of individuals who know the time of their departure from this world are uncommon but not unheard of. Yogananda himself gave many hints of both his future passing and (later) its imminence. Someone once asked me whether mahasamadhi was a kind of spiritual suicide. I laughed at the absurdity. A master does not leave this world out of disgust or disappointment. More importantly, an enlightened master no longer functions from ego-desire. The time, place, and manner of his passing may be intuitively known, but it is not an act of personal will. Rather, it is in harmony with the greater flow of divine will.

According to disciples’ accounts, both Sri Yukteswar and Lahiri Mahasaya were momentarily taken aback when the awareness of their impending departure surfaced in the conscious mind. Even a master may need to take brief refuge in the Self when the “news” arrives from above. We have no such report from disciples regarding Yogananda’s passing on March 7, 1952, however.

A dear friend of mine is now in hospice at Ananda Village. We knew each other briefly before either of us — independently — found Ananda and became disciples on this path. Recently we reminisced about his full and eventful life. He is ready for his astral airplane trip, and he hopes he might have a chance to see Swami Sri Yukteswar on Hiranyaloka, even if only briefly. Hiranyaloka is a very high astral world, where Sri Yukteswar is said to be preparing highly advanced souls for their final entrance into Cosmic Consciousness. I suspect Nakin may not be eligible to stay, but perhaps his sincere wish to see that realm — and to see Sri Yukteswar — will be granted.

Yogananda tells us that those who faithfully follow the spiritual path to the end of life will be greeted by him or one of the masters upon entering the astral world. I pray that my friend’s wish is fulfilled. And I pray for myself, and for each of us, that we may be spiritually and emotionally prepared when our own final exam arrives. My friend has always been straightforward, positive, energetic — a “Say yes, and make it snappy” kind of devotee.

As we celebrate the soul’s power over life and death — our own immortality — demonstrated by the conscious exit of both Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Sri Yukteswar, let us also reflect on our own departure. The Bhagavad Gita and other great scriptures remind us that the thought at the moment of death has a profound influence on our experience in the astral world and on our next birth.

Let us not spend those final moments dwelling on regrets or unfulfilled desires. Instead, let us offer ourselves joyfully and unreservedly into the arms of Divine Mother, eager to meet the master’s loving embrace. The soul is untouched by karma. Freed from the physical body, we are closer to the soul, which in the astral world is only one step from the causal body of pure ideation.

The more we live intuitively — quieting the static of the restless mind so we can hear the whispers of eternity — the more natural our transition will be when the physical body is shed and we awaken in the astral body of light. Without the human brain and nervous system, we will function with greater clarity if, in this life, we learn to live more in the astral body of calm intuitive feeling, open to higher guidance moment by moment.

Let us prepare for our own astral balloon ride into the astral world. And as we do, we will find far greater inspiration, joy, and harmony than the ever-anxious, ever-grasping ego could ever offer.

Blessings to you on the anniversary of the Mahasamadhis of Paramhansa Yogananda (3.7.52) and his guru (3.9.36),

Swami Hrimananda