Evolution of love

Anandamayi, Her Life and Wisdom

Closer observation of Anandamayi in samadhi, as experienced by a devotee in 1929, the period when such states were frequent:
"I came to learn that Anandamayi had passed into a deep samadhi sometime during the night, and there was no sign of her regaining her normal consciousness soon. I observed her for a long time in the company of a doctor friend. She appeared to be in a deep sleep, but she was not sleeping, for her eyes were half open and drawn within. They seemed to have lost all lustre and to be wholly oblivious of the world of the senses. The outer form was lying there and the inner spirit detached form its garb seemed in holy communion with the world-spirit.
Hours passed. The sun crossed the meridian. It was about 1pm. All felt hungry, but even Anandamayi's aged father did not take anything without first feeding his divine daughter. He began to utter divine names loudly, close to her ear. No response for about 15 minutes. Four or five of us, including Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj, were in the room. The chanting of divine names continued and now a slight change could be noticed in her features. Her eyes began to show signs of life and she wept profusely. Her face was bathed in a radiant glow.

At once I thought of the satvic signs: ashru (tears), pulak (joy), kampa (trembling), and said in an undertone to Kavirajji that the next thing to manifest could well be kampa. No sooner said than Mataji began to shiver violently. All these states appeared and reappeared one after another. Then commenced a sort of tug-of-war between the sensuous and the suprasensuous aspects of her life. No sooner had physical consciousness dawned in the body than it withdrew and she was again lost to the senses. The process continued til outer consciousness reasserted itself. She opened her eyes and tried to speak, but failed. Some eatables were placed before her, not so much for her as for the sake of others, as they wanted her prasada. With great effort she could utter a word or two expressing her inability to eat anything. Then she lay quietly for some time.
I had seen others in samadhi, but never before had I witnessed a samadhi of this type. Such a long period of supraconsciousness - no sign of life, so to speak - and above all, the wonderful states that accompanied the regressive process of climbing down to normalcy. I have seen the snow clad Himalayas touching the sky, the source of the sacred Ganges babbling over pebbles and the sun rising from a blue sea, but I have not seen a sight so touching in its majesty as Anandamayi's samadhi. I may forget everything else, but I can never forget what I saw at Hardwar in 1929. It was sublime. It surpasses everything."