Date Posted:11:38 Author: ketch - 10 Jun 2001 Subject: Re: Taking the Discussion Further In reply to:
Mike Drake - 8 Jun 2001
's message, "Re: Taking the Discussion Further" on 11:37
Is it standard practice for an enlightened being to opt to expire publicly, during a ceremony, after giving an (ostensibly) unrelated speech? Does that even make any sense?
It is not without precident. Swami Pranabananda for example left his body after feeding around 2000 people at a special festival, and giving a speech on the infinite. There are other examples.
In the case of Yogananda he had said to his disciples many times that he wanted to die with his boots on, speaking of God and India. This is according to his disciples (several of them speaking independantly) but I do not know of any account of this that we could reliable confirm was written before his passing.
His final speech has been widely quoted, and it is clear that he had just finished the speech when he died. This is remarkable timing for a heart attack. According to eyewitnesses he finished his speech, turned his eyes upwards and fell to the floor. By the time people went to attend to him all the vital signs of life had gone. This does not sound like a heart attack to me.
On a minor point I did not say that the accounts of the newspapers should be accorded more weight than disciples accounts. That would depend on whether or not the reporters were actually present to witness these events themselves.
Of course there will never be any proof of whether or not Yogananda's death was in fact Mahasamadhi. It seems that there is rarely any concrete proof of these things. It may be that this is part of the divine play. People have to have the freedom to either believe or disbelieve. God does not provide us with definite proof of his existence, unless we are prepared to look hard in the right place.
