G. U. Pope / Tiruvachakam / Manickavasagar / Elisha

22nd June, 1936
Talk 215.
Maharshi was reading G. U. Pope’s translation of Tiruvachakam
and came across the stanzas describing the intense feeling of bhakti
as thrilling the whole frame, melting the flesh and bones, etc. He
remarked: “Manickavasagar is one of those whose body finally
resolved itself in a blazing light, without leaving a corpse behind.”
Another devotee asked how it could be.
Maharshi said the gross body is only the concrete form of the subtle
stuff - the mind. When the mind melts away and blazes forth as light,
the body is consumed in that process. Nandanar is another whose
body disappeared in blazing light.
Maj. Chadwick pointed out that Elisha disappeared in the same way.
He desired to know if the disappearance of Christ’s body from the
tomb was like that.
M.: No. Christ’s body was left as a corpse which was at first entombed,
whereas the others did not leave corpses behind.
In the course of conversation, Maharshi said that the subtle body is
composed of light and sound and the gross body is a concrete form
of the same.
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