________________
Life And Works Of śrīmad Rajchandra but still he could always sit erect in Padmāsana for hours together. Even in such state of a very weak body, his face was always very serene, pleasing, joyous and jubilant, and this was because he was intimately connected with his soul, which is the real source of all happiness and joy and also because he was, as he has written so many times, in Avikalpa samādhi, an internal state of an aspirant where one's mind is very steady and firm, and where there are no passions, no thoughts, no desires and no body-consciouness. In spite of his being totally disinterested in mundane affairs, he, often, took part in worldly activities. But he did all that only as a part of his worldly duty towards parents, family and some others, but without any attachment whatsoever and with a view to seeing that his.near relatives were not hurt because of his non-participation in such functions.
Though he was doing business in Bombay, he took away time for sādhanā and went away every year to distant places and that too for months together and did his Sādhanā and worked for his goal of self-realization. Whenever he decided to go in seclusion and quiet places, he tried to keep himself totally secluded. Sometimes he preferred to stay in jungles and mountains to secure seclusion. Even when he was in Vavaniya, his native
69
