Death Demonstration

Then Baba got up and we followed Him to the room where the dead body of the sadhaka lay, a testimony to the tranisory nature of all existence.

Baba stood apart from all the rest of us and instructed us not to touch Him until the demonstration was over.

Baba stood near the head of the body. His toe touched the crown of the sadhaka’s head, at the site of sahasrara cakra. He spoke to the dead body: “Open your eyes”.

The eyes opened. We were thunderstruck With His foot still touching the subject’s head, Baba asked, “Who are you?”

“I am Shyama Charan Lahiri” replied the body.

Startled because we had expected to hear Kishto Pal speak his own name, we felt let down at first.

Maybe the demonstration had wiped out his memory we thought.

If he had lost his mind, then the demonstration was not going to turn out as we had hoped.

Somehow he seemed to think he was one of modern India’s greatest yogis who had passed away in 1895.

We did not comprehend the subject’s confusion about his identity.

“Why are you here?” asked Baba.

“I am the bodiless soul, and You have instructed me to protect this body”, came the words from the sadhaka’s lips.

Then we understood: the dead body was the medium, and the entity speaking through it was the bodiless soul of Shri Lahiri Mahasaya.

“Very well”, said Baba. “Now that you are here, do some work for us”.

“I am ready”.

Many a time on field walks with Baba I had besieged Him with questions about the world we live in.

My curiosity was endless, not only about this earth and its neighbouring planets, but about the wise cosmos.

Sometimes Baba replied at length, but other times He cut it short, saying, “I will show you later”.

Now, it seemed, ‘later’ had finally come.

“Go to the planet Mars”, commanded Baba.

A few seconds elapsed, and the bodiless soul replied,”Yes. I am there”.

“Is there any life there?”

“I do not recognise any life here”

“What do you see there?”

“It appears to be marshy land all around. Algae or weedlike growth seem to be present”.

“All right”, said Baba. “Now go to the earth’s moon”.

Shortly the bodiless soul responded, “I am there”.

“What do you see there?”

“Vast, dead deserts and mountains”.“Is there any life form?”

“No. There is no oxygen here”.

“Now go inside the land”, directed Baba. “Do you recognise any familiar substances?”

“Yes. There is gold in the soil”.

These exchanges filled us with wonder. At no time since entering the room did Baba break contact between His right toe and the sahasrara cakra of the subject.

Soon Baba instructed the bodiless soul to go to the planet Venus.

“Is there any life form on Venus?” asked Baba.

“Yes, but it is very different from ours. They are highly developed spiritually.

Their complexion is somewhat reddish. Even the most ordinary life form here is more advanced than the spiritually advanced people of the earth”.

Baba then recalled him back to earth and directed him to a Himalayan cave, where a yogii conversed with Baba through the bodiless soul. Baba also sent him on missions to Washington D.C. and Moscow.

For political reasons, it is better that I not disclose details of those journeys, but within days we were to see events in world news that we related directly to this incident.

With that, Baba brought the demonstration to a conclusion.

“Remember”, cautioned Baba, His eyes stern, “No-one is to tell this sadhaka what has happened here”.

Solemnly, our gaze fixed on Him, we acknowledged His instructions with our silence.

The eyes of the dead body closed as Baba gave the bodiless soul of Shyam Charan Lahiri leave to depart.

The mouth of the subject was open. The sight of the corpse before us caused us some anxiety. The atmosphere was tense but quiet.

Baba broke the silence with a commanding voice: “Wherever may be the soul and prana vayu of this person in the great Void, let it come down to this earth immediately!”

After a moment, Baba said, “From the earth let it come to India. In India, let it come to Bihar state. From Bihar let it come to Jamalpur town of Monghyr District and then enter the Quarter Number 339EF of the Railway Colony of Rampur”.

As Baba directed the sadhaka’s soul to the very room in which we sat, the suspense was phenomenal.

We hardly dared to exhale. Not knowing what might happen next, not wanting to miss a thing, we watched without blinking our eyes.

In the breathless silence, Baba’s voice ordered the soul and prana vayu to enter the dead body of the disciple. Shri Kishto Pal opened his eyes. A cry of amazement and joy broke from the mouths of the onlookers.

In rapid succession, Baba commanded all vayus to enter the body, and He established balance amongst them.

Then and only then, did Baba withdraw His toe from touching the sahasrara cakra of the subject.

Baba sat down on the wooden cot and uttered a mantra of some sort in the direction of the subject. The sadhaka sat up.

At once our tension fell from us and melted away.

The atmosphere lightened, and we all felt excited and happy.

The subject appeared very dull and absent-minded, as if he had just awakened from a long sleep.

“Why do you look so distracted?” asked Baba.

“I feel thick-headed”, answered Kishto Pal, scanning the room with glazed eyes and a bewildered expression.

Baba had eradicated his memory of having gone through the death process, and he had no idea of what he had just experienced.

“It’s all right”, Baba assured him.

“Do not take any solid food tonight. Just have a glass of hot milk before going to bed. You will feel better by morning”.

At the end of this demonstration, two questions plagued my mind:

1. Why was this person chosen for the demonstration?

2. What happened to Baba when He left the dead body and went into the adjoining room, and why did He ask us all to massage Him vigorously?

The demonstration was over, and the crown dispersed. When Baba got up and left for His home, some of us followed Him.

On the way, one of the disciples told me that he knew the sadhaka who had been the subject of the demonstration.

He said, “This morning when I went to Baba’s house, Shri Kishto Pal was already there. Baba was very angry with him, and He severely scolded and punished him in front of me. Then Baba told him to leave and to come to the demonstration in the evening”.

Animated by curiosity, I encouraged him to continue. He knew something that might reveal the answer to my first question.

“When he left Baba’s house, Baba told me, ‘I had forbidden him to marry, but he got married anyway. He has a very short life, and that is why I told him not to marry. He did not listen to me and has now created problems for himself and his family’. Then I knew why Baba was angry with him”.

What did this tell me? I thought a moment – and there it was !

In the course of the demonstration, Baba had subjected this disciple to death in a controlled environment a the right moment in time.

Thus had Baba had fulfilled his samskara of death, and gave him new life again for his won sake and that of his family.

To facilitate in this discharge of his samskaras, Baba had also given him severe punishment that same morning.

Further evidence that the subject for this demonstration was specifically chosen was the fact that he was not a resident of Jamalpur.

Baba had called him all the way from Calcutta to give him new life.

The following day I went to Baba’s house. I did my sastaunga pranam and respectfully stated that I had some questions about the demonstration.

Baba said, ”I will not answer any questions about the demonstration”.

“Fine”, I said, “But I have a question about You, not the demonstration”.

Baba chuckled. “All right. I will allow that”.

“What happened to You after You left the dead body of the subject and went tothe next room? Why were You so quiet when You lay down and why did You ask us to massage You vigorously?”

Smiling, Baba asked, “Have you never seen me like that?”

“No”, I replied.

“My mind was withdrawing into the state of nirvikalpa samadhi”. He explained.

“If I allowed that to happen, it might have taken me a few hours to come back to the normal conscious state, and there was a possibility of the decomposition of the subject’s dead body. Your vigorous massage disturbed me enough so that I did not enter nirvikalpa samadhi”.

After these demonstrations when I next went for Baba’s darshan, Baba said in somewhat a serious mood, “You had a strong desire to see these demonstrations. I have therefore shown them. In future if you would like to see I would only show one demonstration: when I would say, ‘the earth exists’, the earth will remain, and when I would say, ‘the earth does not exist’ neither the earth would be there nor you nor I will remain”.

I said, “Baba it does not matter whether I remain or not, but Your existence on the earth is so much necessary. The whole creation will be blessed by Your presence”.

Baba again said, “Your curiosity and eagerness had increased so much that these demonstrations had to be shown. People take them to be miracles; which is not good”.

It is so true. I had been in the habit of questioning Baba on such matters all the time.

By this I understood that Baba meant that I should no longer continue with such questions.

I, therefore, never asked such questions again.