"...until my task is done..."

[luthien-elvenprincess]

Yes, HerenIstarion, you are right. Of course, Gandalf's physical body would have stayed in ME with all his effects. I didn't think about him leaving ME in the spiritual sense. I think I got mixed up thinking about his physical body being changed from grayish to white, and began to conjecture a somatic trip for him instead of a spiritual journey. You have answered my question. Thanks.

Gandalf's words, "naked I was sent back..." can be understood as a returning of his spirit when you compare text with Luthien's words to Sauron in The Sil.

Luthien came to (Sauron), and said that he should be stripped of his raiment of flesh, and his ghost be sent quaking back to Morgoth; and she said: 'There everlastingly thy naked self shall endure the torment of his scorn...'

Obviously, the naked self spoken of here is the spirit, not the naked physical body.