In 1918 while he was at Varanasi, Vijnanananda visited Sarnath, about six miles away. Sarnath is a historical site where Buddha gave his first sermon. Vijnanananda once mentioned to a professor from Sarnath that the images of Buddha and other deities looked beautiful and living when they were first excavated. But when they were later preserved in the Sarnath Museum, those images lost some of their solemnity and charm. Even so, these divine images are always inspiring. The swami described his visit to Sarnath and his experience:
Once, during my morning walk, I decided to visit Sarnath. I had no previous plan to do so. After arriving there on foot, I looked around. While I was there, a guide informed me that there was a stone image containing carvings of Buddha’s entire life story from his birth to mahaparinirvana [death]. The guide accompanied me there. While looking at the image I had a wonderful vision. I saw a formless ocean of light, and the whole universe was gradually merging into it. Like a speck, I was watching that blissful glow with wonder, standing on the shore of the ocean of light. I was beside myself. Then in the twinkling of an eye the universe completely disappeared; and from the ocean of pure consciousness the compassionate, loving form of Buddha appeared. What a joy! Even now while describing it, I feel that joy. I was in that state for some time. Then I heard the guide’s voice, “Let us go forward — let us go forward.” Gradually I regained my normal consciousness. The guide thought that I had fallen asleep. I followed the guide, but I was extremely intoxicated. In the afternoon when I returned to the centre, the monks asked where I had been and said that lunch had been saved for me. I didn’t tell them where I had been: I only said, “I don’t feel like eating now.” I quietly went to bed. That blissful intoxication continued for three days.
Later, when I went to visit the temple of Vishwanath in Varanasi, I thought to myself: “Why have I come here? To look at a stone?” Then the same vision opened up. It was as if Vishwanath were telling me, “The light is the same here as there — Truth is one.” (Source: God Lived with Them)