December 31, 1983 at 5 a.m., the entire North-West of India was rocked by a severe earthquake. Gurudev was to learn later that it was precisely the moment when Baba Gangainathji had left his mortal body. In a conversation with his disciples many years later Gurudev said this about the incident, “Sometimes when an enlightened being leaves his mortal body, even earth is shaken by his departure and this (earthquake) is how it expresses its grief.”
A few days after this incident, when Gurudev was walking down the road, a local youth called out to him. What he told Gurudev sounded very strange. The youth said Baba Gangainathji had been pestering him to get Gurudev to visit his Jamsar SamÄdhi site (type of funerary monument or mausoleum). When Gurudev countered that Baba was no longer alive and that he could not therefore have met him, the youth said Baba had been appearing in his dream to give him the command. Taking this for a divine call, Gurudev visited Baba’s SamÄdhi and offered prayers there.
A cardinal principle in Vedic thought is that the soul is eternal, and that it is the body that perishes when a person passes away. While an unenlightened person dies due to a culmination of his karmas, an enlightened being consciously and intentionally leave their body at a particular time and place. Such a Siddha Guru continues to guide his disciples even after leaving his mortal body. The Samadhi site of a saint is therefore revered as the fount of divine blessings.
