20. कीर्तनीयगुणोज्ज्वलः Kīrtanīya-guṇojjvalaḥ

One who shone with qualities worthy of veneration

This nāma states that His Holiness was ujjvala, radiant, with guṇas, qualities, that were kīrtanīya, fit to be venerated, praised or celebrated. This implies that His Holiness possessed certain qualities that could be only wondered at and not fathomed, only worshipped and not possibly emulated.

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His Holiness suffered an attack of angina in 1982, with severe pain in the chest and dull pain in His left arm. He was administered an intramuscular injection of morphine. Soon, He was in a state of semi-torpor. Only two of His close disciples were in the room with Him. Though hardly conscious of what He was saying, His Holiness muttered a verse, ending with the words, “mati-kṛta-guṇadoṣā māṁ vibhuṁ na spṛśanti (The meritorious and faulty doings of the intellect do not touch me, who am all-pervading.)” This was the affirmation of His being centred in Brahman, that came from His Holiness even while experiencing intense pain and being just semiconscious.

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It was not just that His Holiness could attain and regulate His meditative state and also the duration of His nirvikalpa-samādhi at will (as can be gleaned from nāmas 15, 27 and 40), but He also had the power to bestow samādhi on others at will. Not just this, He could do so without even being physically present and using another as an instrument.

Once a disciple mentally requested His Holiness to give nirvikalpa-samādhi to a certain youngster. His Holiness appeared in a vision and agreed. The disciple and the boy sat facing each other, and the disciple mentally asked His Holiness what should be done. His Holiness appeared before the disciple and asked him to place his left thumb in the space between the person’s eyebrows and right palm on the centre of the person’s chest. He then instructed the disciple, “Now concentrate and resolve strongly that he should get samādhi.” The disciple acted accordingly and found that the person began to close his eyes and slowly his breathing rate decreased. The disciple simultaneously noticed a sort of vibrating sensation in his right hand and also the feeling of a great śakti flowing through it into the person’s chest. The disciple’s palm became increasingly warm but His Holiness urged him to concentrate more. At a point His Holiness’s instructions came through clearly: “Concentrate even more and then you yourself go into nirvikalpa-samādhi.” The disciple obeyed.

After some time the disciple emerged from samādhi and opened his eyes. The person had his eyes half closed, did not have any noticeable breathing, and was about nine inches completely off the ground. He seemed oblivious of his surroundings and was an epitome of tranquility. His Holiness instructed the disciple to press the person’s thighs down. On the disciple doing this, the person gradually came into contact with the āsana spread on the floor. His Holiness then said, “He is now in nirvikalpa-samādhi.” After the lapse of some time, His Holiness finally decided to bring him out of samādhi. He told the disciple that He would be erasing the memory of the samādhi because the time was not yet ripe for the state, which He had granted in response to the disciple’s wish. He said further, “He will feel as if only a few minutes have elapsed and that he never went into any firm concentration at all, for he continuously heard other sounds.”

When the person came out of samādhi, what the person expressed as his experience was exactly as His Holiness had stated. Thus, His Holiness was not only able to bestow the highest state through someone else, but also to withhold its memory.

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