I realized that she too had witnessed the luminous blaze through
which I had instantly recovered from a usually fatal disease.

One of my most precious possessions is that same photograph. Given
to Father by Lahiri Mahasaya himself, it carries a holy vibration.
The picture had a miraculous origin. I heard the story from Father's
brother disciple, Kali Kumar Roy.

It appears that the master had an aversion to being photographed.
Over his protest, a group picture was once taken of him and
a cluster of devotees, including Kali Kumar Roy. It was an amazed
photographer who discovered that the plate which had clear images
of all the disciples, revealed nothing more than a blank space in
the center where he had reasonably expected to find the outlines
of Lahiri Mahasaya. The phenomenon was widely discussed.

A certain student and expert photographer, Ganga Dhar Babu, boasted
that the fugitive figure would not escape him. The next morning,
as the guru sat in lotus posture on a wooden bench with a screen
behind him, Ganga Dhar Babu arrived with his equipment. Taking every
precaution for success, he greedily exposed twelve plates. On each
one he soon found the imprint of the wooden bench and screen, but
once again the master's form was missing.

With tears and shattered pride, Ganga Dhar Babu sought out his
guru. It was many hours before Lahiri Mahasaya broke his silence
with a pregnant comment:

"I am Spirit. Can your camera reflect the omnipresent Invisible?"