SRI BHAGAVAN'S
BODILY HEALTH

---

K. Lakshmana Sarma

AN INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE of Bhagavan's state
as a jivan mukta, permanently established in the egoless
State, was that he could not claim any rights, even the right to
choose what shall be done or not done to his body, because
from his point of view, that body was not his. Also, he was so
full of compassion, that he could not bear to hurt anyone's
feelings. Anyone that came to him offering edibles or medicine,
was sure of its being accepted, though he did not want it. Once
he said, "Nature cure is right. But...." And he did not complete
the sentence.

Yet he showed his real view of drugs by implication. When
a quantity of a drug had to be taken for a certain period, he
would take only one dose and would never take a second; that
is, he would not follow the prescription as one who believed in
the goodness of the drug would do, so as to benefit by it.

The same was the case when an operation was proposed.

He submitted to the operation only to please the person who
wanted to do him good.

On the last occasion, when a number of doctors and
surgeons who came from Madras wanted to operate on him to
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remove the cancer he was having, he first very gently suggested
that it was not necessary. He did that because he knew the future,
that the end was near. The doctors did not take the hint. They
insisted on operating and hence Sri Bhagavan submitted to the
operation without an anaesthetic. The operation lasted for nearly
three hours and produced a severe shock, from which the body
never recovered.

When all these medical efforts had failed, a number of
devotees came to him and prayed to him to use his spiritual
powers to heal the disease. Bhagavan replied, "I did not want
any treatment. It was you that wanted it." After a brief pause he
added, "In two more days it will become all right". What he
meant was that the end would come then. And it came exactly
as he said.

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