(a) A lady aristocrat related this story of her uncle who was dying as the result of an accident. He found himself out of the body. It was a delicious experience, but he was told that it was not the time for his exit and although he had lost the desire for earthly life, he found himself back in the body again. He recovered and lived. (b) Another woman of high social standing related that while in deep meditation she passed into a visionary condition in which she found herself out of the body. The condition was satisfying in the highest degree. But she was told that she still had something to do on earth and unwillingly had to return. She felt that with a little effort on her part she could prevent return, but destiny was stronger. (c) An Austrian female homeopath developed the practice of meditation and eventually had an experience of leaving the body and feeling intensely happy as the result. She wanted to stay like that but then remembered her responsibility towards her daughter and came back into the body again. (d) A Jewish lady who had been miraculously saved from death in the gas chambers with her mother while at Auschwitz camp began to practise meditation after being rejected when applying for admission to a convent as a nun. She successfully reached great peace and bliss, but became too sensitive to associate with the world. She had a vision of leaving the body during meditation. She felt as if she were in heaven. She prayed not to have to go back to the world, but she was intuitively told that it was her duty to do so. She accepted it as God's will and is now trying to adjust herself to conditions here.
-- Notebooks Category 9: From Birth to Rebirth > Chapter 1 : Death, Dying, and Immortality > # 118
