This day marks the anniversary of the mahasamadhi of Swami Sri Yukteswar, guru to Paramhansa Yogananda. Maha (great) samadhi (blissful union) refers to the conscious exit of a great master from the physical body and is a day of celebration.
On March 9, 1936 Yukteswar left his body while Yogananda was in India, visiting from America. Yogananda wrote of the last days of his guru in Autobiography of a Yogi:
“As I stood on the Puri train platform the following morning, still hoping against hope, an unknown man approached me.
“Have you heard that your Master is gone?” He left me without another word; I never discovered who he was nor how he had known where to find me.
Stunned, I swayed against the platform wall, realizing that in diverse ways my guru was trying to convey to me the devastating news. Seething with rebellion, my soul was like a volcano. 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 of mystic summoning.
“The Lion of Bengal is gone!” I cried in a daze.”
The morning meditation at the Ananda Portland Temple will focus on Yuketeswar’s mahasamadhi on this day. An evening event may be planned and this calendar will be updated accordingly.
