MahasamÄdhi (the great and final samÄdhi) is the act of consciously and intentionally leaving one’s body at the time of enlightenment.[1][2] A realized yogi (male) or yogini (female) who has attained the state of nirvikalpa samadhi (enlightenment), will, at an appropriate time, consciously exit from their body. This is known as mahasamadhi. This is not the same as the physical death that occurs for an unenlightened person.
Enlightened yogis take their mahasamadhi during their final practice of samadhi: and they expire during this final sadhana practice. Therefore, mahasamadhi occurs only once in a lifetime, when the yogi finally casts off their mortal frame and their karma is extinguished upon death.
An enlightened or realized yogi is one who has attained the nondual state of nirvikalpa samadhi where duality of subject and object are resolved and the yogi becomes permanently established in the unity of full enlightenment.
Each realized yogi enters and prepares for mahasamadhi in a unique fashion. Sushila Blackman (1997) furnishes a number of examples.
————————————————————————–
Graceful Exits: How Great Beings Die: Death Stories Of Tibetan, Hindu And Zen Masters – Sushila Blackman
Here is the book:
http://libgen.net/view.php?id=745817
——————————————————————————
Swami Rama wrote in his book “Living with the Himalayan masters” about four kinds of attaining mahasamadhi:
1. Self-burning within a fraction of a second, by meditating on the solar plexus
2. Opening the top of the skull in the “perfect position”
3. Stopping one’s breath in the deep waters of the Himalayas
4. Freezing in the state of Samadhi
2 comments
added the book link
http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/2458/is-suicide-through-thought-possible