From Bombay, Turiyananda and Brahmananda went to Mount Abu, Pushkar, Jaipur, and Vrindaban. In Vrindaban they practised severe austerities for six months. According to Indian custom, a monk begs for his food from door to door. Turiyananda had to beg from nearly thirty houses to get one meal. One day, he thought: “What am I doing? I am a vagabond. Everybody is working, producing something, whereas I am doing nothing.” He was hungry and exhausted, and fell asleep under a tree in the Keshi ghat of Vrindaban. There he had a vision: He saw himself outside of his body, and he was looking at himself while he slept. He saw his body expanding and expanding, until there was no end to it. The body became so large that it covered the entire world. Then he addressed himself: “Oh, you are not a vagabond. You are one with the universe. You are the allpervading Atman.” So thinking, he jumped up and felt very happy. His despondency was at an end. (Source: God Lived with Them)
During his brief stay in Deoghar, Shivananda caught a chill that developed into a bad cold accompanied by asthmatic spells. One night the swami could not sleep. The next morning, in spite of his sickness, he cheerfully greeted everyone as usual. He told them his experience:
I suffered a great deal last night. I felt almost suffocated. The passages of my nose became stopped up because of my cold, and the asthma was very much worse. I did not feel at ease whether sitting, reclining, or lying down… . Gradually I felt as if all my senses would stop and life would leave the body. Being at a loss what to do, I started meditating. It being the meditation of an old man [which came from his lifelong practice], my mind soon became absorbed within. I noticed then that there was no pain or suffering and the mind became quiet and placid. The storm and stress of the outer world could not reach there. After remaining in that state awhile my mind came down to the external world.
Curious, a monk asked: “What is that, Maharaj?” The swami replied: “That is the Atman.” Shivananda’s experience substantiates this verse of the Katha Upanishad: “The Purusha, not larger than a thumb, the inner Self, always dwells in the hearts of men. Let a man separate him from his body with steadiness, as one separates the tender stalk from a blade of grass. Let him know that Self as the Bright, as the Immortal” (Katha Upanishad 2.3.17). (Source: God Lived with Them)
Note: A Similar Incident happened in the life of Swami Vivekananda