Neville describes retiring early (a Saturday night, 1926) at a private club in Larchmont, New York, where he was the manager's guest and so not permitted to join the young members' dance. Reading a life of Buddha in bed, he fell into a deep trance; when he woke the next morning the book was undisturbed on his chest, proving he had not stirred. In the trance he experienced himself as an infinite sea of vibrant, living light -- no universe, no stars, nothing but himself as the light of the world -- before returning to 'the contraction of the little body called Neville.' He retold this Larchmont light experience in at least four separate lectures.
Date (happened)
1926
stated · preferred
Why
A Saturday night per the fullest telling, but no month or day is ever given, so the date cannot be narrowed further than the year.
Reasoning
Five independent tellings across four lectures converge on 1926: two state it cleanly ('back in 1926 when I was twenty-one'; 'In 1926... I was only 21 years of age'), one hedges 'or 27' but then resolves it in the same breath ('that year I was only 21, in 26 I was 21 years old'), and the remaining hedge ('1926 it was, or 27... I was either 21 or 22, for I was born in 1905') is consistent with 1926 as one option. The age arithmetic (born 1905, age 21) independently confirms 1926 over 1927.
Told / reported
9 October 1967
stated · probable
Reasoning
The catalogue claim is preferred but rated doubtful and contradicted by the schedule-fit tie-breaker; the chrome-dateline claim, though only probable, is the better-supported of the two.
1971
stated · probable
Reasoning
The lecture's sole delivery claim gives only the year 1971 at probable confidence (legacy_unreviewed, provisional source); no month or day is recorded.
between 14 February 1972 and 20 February 1972
bound · probable
Reasoning
The more precise of the two delivery claims for this lecture is a bounded week (14-20 Feb 1972), inferred from an internally-referenced letter; used in preference to the bare year-only catalog claim.