Selections from a Letter by Laldi M. Ghose | Notes by H.P.B.
The death of our dear Brother Babu Jogendra Nath Basu Sarbadhikary, was the most curious death ever witnessed by any one, and I give, as desired, a few additional facts relating to it. . . . Jogendra Nath lived and died a holy man . . . As given in his obituary, [he] got a fever while doing his duty on Thursday . . . on Friday he was better. On Satuday he got a relapse. On Sunday the attack was trifling, and on Monday—he died. . . . neither I nor any other experienced doctor could be of any service to him, as we came too late. . . . At 12 noon he suddenly spoke to his mother thus:—“Mother! Do not think that I am dying, but the Mahatmas from the Himalayan Mountains have come to take me. They are present in my room. I will presently accompany them to their home to learn Yog” . . . The change that is coming over me will look like death in your sight—but it will be so only in appearance. . . . Making his father come very close to him, he whispered to him:—“Father! I have never revealed my mind to you, and so you thought me a Pashund (wretched, sinful) son. . . . But I am not a Pashund—but a dutiful son . . . Dear Father! I am Narayan—you are very fortunate, that I should have been born your son.” (Here he thrice repeated “I am Narayan”).1
1. Which only means “I have become a spirit (purusha),” i.e., a disembodied man. The sacred formula: Om namo Nârâyanâya taught in the Nârâyana Upanishad (64) has a secret meaning known only to the initiates.
. . . Now he repeated several times the following mantras of his jap, putting his hand over his head “Narayana para Veda—Narayana parakshara—Narayana para Mukti—Narayana para gatih.2
2. Our brother may be now repeating, for all the scoffers know, the formula taught in the first two adhyayas of the Chhandogyopanishad. We mean the two missing genuine adhyayas out of the set of ten which composed originally this Brahmana, of which the world knows only eight.