On 26 December 1895, Shyama Charan Lahiri was extremely sick and was lying down. He was surrounded by his intimate disciples and was explaining to them some of his favourite verses from the Bhagavad Gita. All of a sudden he stood up and said, “What am I doing here? Why am I wasting time? It is high time for me to go home to my real home.”

A few hours later, on the same day, three of his intimate disciples at different places saw his luminous spiritual body consoling them. They did not know of his passing; they knew only that he was extremely sick. But when they went to their Master’s ashram, they found that he had died. His physical body was dead, but he had traveled to visit them in his spiritual body.

Commentary:

When the soul-bird comes out of the body-cage, it can be easily visible to those who want to see it. At that time the limitations of the body disappear and the infinite expansion of the soul appears. When a sincere seeker enters into the ignorance-life, he says to himself, “What am I doing here?” When the same seeker enters into the aspiration-world, he says to himself, “Why do I not remain here all the time?” Our earthly home embodies the desire-life; our heavenly home embodies the illumination-life.

Sri Chinmoy