Holy Trio-Sayings: September 8

Holy Trio-Sayings: September 8

Swami Abhedananda Leaves His Body

On his seventy-third birthday he said to one of his disciples: 'I am only an instrument in the blissful sportive play of the Master, and the moment my life's mission is over, I shall not wait even for a second longer. Abhedananda had played his part in the divine drama of Sri Ramakrishna. Gradually the great yogi made himself ready to return to his beloved guru. One day he said to a disciple, "My body belongs to the Master." Towards the end he indicated that his body should be cremated at the Cossipore cremation ground after his death. In the morning of the 8th September 1939 he felt a little better, and asked his attendant to give him a glass of water. He sat on his bed and lay down after drinking the water. Swami Abhedananda passed away shortly after, at 8:16 a.m. on Friday, 8 September 1939.

(p.482, God Lived With Them)

Whenever a religious organization fell, the root cause was the absence of spiritual practices, renunciation, austerity, and so forth. In this organization also, we have nothing to fear and it will all run smoothly so long as detachment and dispassion shine bright; and so long as each member of the organization believes that God-realization is the only goal of life and accordingly engages himself in spiritual practices and austerity...The monk should remain detached under all circumstances and keep the attitude of austerity flaming within for ever. One need have no fear so long as the ideal remains unadulterated. It is only the inner consecration to ideal that counts.. When one performs work as service to Him, one gets rid of the impurities of the mind; there can be no doubt about that. Of course, you have to undertake other forms of spiritual practice along with this, and that intensely.

(p.170-1, For Seekers of God, Swami Shivananda's advice to a monk on 8th September 1923)