flesh from a funeral pyre and sit on the lap of a young naked woman. During both occasions, Ramakrishna went into samadhi and performed the taboo practices in a state of unconsciousness. During the later stage of his life, when he became famous as a spiritual guru among the young intellectuals of Bengal, often he was asked to perform his samadhi in front of educated men. He was always reluctant to do so, he never performed this act as a mere display for sceptics or posing for photographs. The famous three photographs of Sri Ramakrishna were indeed taken when he was in such trance states, Samadhi. He was known to go into trance at the touch of money too. Reportedly, his hand would twitch, and he would feel excruciating pain. Once the coin was removed, he would return to normalcy. Medical examinations Mahendralal Sarkar, a physician of Calcutta who treated Ramakrishna during his final days, is one of the first-hand witnesses who examined Ramakrishna during his samadhi. Sarkar reportedly was a rationalist, who did not share the religious views of Ramakrishna, nor did he see him as an avatar He was present during several ecstasies of Ramakrishna and studied them from a medical point of view. Later he wrote a book called 'On the Physiological Basis of Psychology' and provided scientific explanations for Ramakrishna's samadhi and various other psychological anomalies as per medical knowledge known at his time. Rolland mentions in a footnote in his book that it is said that stethoscopic examination of the heart and the condition of the eyes during samadhi show all the symptoms of death, but it is merely mentioned as a myth Ramakrishna's devotees believed without any direct indication that Sarkar himself proved this by any clinical examination. Somnath Bhattacharyya, a psychoanalyst and psychologist, claimed that Ramakrishna's samadhi states were accompanied by very profound inward withdrawal of consciousness, and remarkable physiological changes, consistent with the highest stages of meditative absorption as documented in Hindu Tantra, Yoga and Buddhist literature. Bhagavan Rudra was another who treated Ramakrishna. During one of his visits, Ramakrishna asked a devotee to bring a rupee coin. When he held it in his hand, the hand began to writhe, and he reported feeling pain. His breathing also stopped. After the coin had been taken away, he breathed deeply three times and relaxed his hand. Rudra ascribed this behavior to "action on