A young man had just died. His body had been carried to the cremation grounds and the mourners were preparing to light the fire, when suddenly an old man came running, crying out, "Stop! Don't do it, I will use that body." As soon as he said this, the man's aged body dropped lifeless to the ground, and the young man got up from the pyre and ran off toward the forest. The old man was a great saint; he had simply not wished to interrupt his devotions by taking rebirth in an infant's helpless body. Quoted after: Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.209.
Last updated: 2001/11/04