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and achievement. His followers believe that Śrīmad believed to have achieved an advanced religious state by practising harsh austerities and meditation. As well as displaying comprehensive understanding of the liberation process, he was seen to practise and benefit from this process. In death, Śrīmad has gained an even greater spiritual status, as it is generally believed that he is now experiencing his final embodied incarnation prior to liberation.
As stated, Śrīmad is worshipped by his followers principally because he achieved samyak darśana. However, the factors described here collectively contributed to his status as a religious icon by bringing him into the public eye and adding credibility to his claims of religious advancement. We must assume a disparity between devotees approaching Śrīmad now, as a religious icon, and those disciples who enjoyed a personal relationship with him. Today, followers cannot have direct contact with Śrīmad, but associate with him through the legacy of his life-work instead. In addition to his personal example, when Śrīmad died he also left his photographs and his writings. Śrīmad's photograph provides his followers with an image before which to worship. His writings provide a canon of scripture which expound his philosophy and religious teachings.
Photographs
Despite frequent requests from disciples, Śrīmad consistently declined to be photographed. Eventually he conceded. Two studio photographs were taken whilst he was recuperating from ill health at Vadhavan Camp in Gujarat. This turned out to be Śrīmad's final illness and he died in Rajkot on 9 April 1901 only a few weeks later. As a consequence, the photographs picture him in a highly emaciated condition, giving the images an almost ethereal quality. In each photograph he has adopted a meditative position: one standing, arms down, palms facing forward, in the kayotsarga position; the other sitting crossed legged in the lotus (padmāsana) position.
The originals of the two photographs are lost. The oldest copy of the photograph depicting Śrīmad in the standing position, blown up to a larger than life size, hangs in the prayer
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