Does the pure devotee feel pain when the body meets with an accident or undergoes surgery?
Question, does a pure devotee feel pain, for example when there is an operation or there is some other bodily trouble answer as long as the soul is in the body and has a connection with the body any trouble to the body does affect the soul however the nature of the effect will vary depending on the relationship between the soul and the body if the soul is attached to the body at that time the extent of the trouble will be far greater for example if I am attached body is like a car so if I just got a new car and I am very attached to the car and if somebody just hits the bumper of the car I will scream of anger why? because I am so attached I don't want to slight hurt to the car so on the other hand the other extreme could be that I had a car I sold the car and then the car somebody else is driving and then the truck comes and rides through the car and reduces it to power, I will not feel very worried about it, because it is not my car anymore, the same car has been damaged in two cases, one case lightly other case severely but my reaction is different, there is no attachment so if I am driving a car and say it is not my car, I know it is not my car in the sense that I have hired it for some time and I am in that car and that car gets a puncture then for me it is not a matter of pain but it is a matter of inconvenience because that car is essential for me to go to wherever I want to go and now I have to either find another car or repair that car and then I can move forward so these three examples are first is a soul attached to the body, that's a person with a new car getting hit by a car, second is the person who has left the body the soul who has completely physically left the body and for such a person, body is of no importance so that's why when a pure devotee leaves the body and goes to the spiritual world actually the soul leaves happily a conditioned soul has to be dragged out so it leaves happily because it is not going to a better destination back to Krishna, third is the example of a pure devotee or advanced devotee who is in the body right now so the body is breakdown, is like a car getting munctured for a pure devotee that is a matter of inconvenience, it's not a matter of pain, in the sense that the identification between the body and the soul is primarily based on desire purusha prakriti sthohi bhunkte prakriti jan gunan karanam guna sangosti sadasadhyoni janmasu Krishna says in 13.22 in the Bhagavad Gita that the purusha prakriti sthohi, the soul becomes situated in the body because of bhunkte, the desire to enjoy, just as a person watching a movie experiences emotions connected with whatever is happening in the movie because of attachment to the movie, attachment to the primary protagonist, the hero in the movie, similarly the soul experiences emotions in relationship to whatever happens to the body because of attachment so a pure devotee doesn't have attachment to the body in terms of seeing the body as a source of material enjoyment and pleasure at the same time this pure devotee has concern for the body because the body is a source of body is the means for service to Krishna and the body's breakdown is inconvenience so this is from the objective philosophical perspective at the same time we, when we are dealing with other Vaishnavas we don't just deal with based on objective philosophical perspective we also have the Vaishnava culture and the Vaishnava culture is a culture of care so when a pure devotee is having some physical problem we should not be analyzing if the pure devotee is there why is he acting as if he is in pain, we should be thinking that this is the opportunity provided by Krishna for me to render service and we render service to Krishna even by serving the physical body of the spiritual master so we see the example of how Ishwapuri served Bhagavan Adivendra Puri very intimately in his final days and that way Ramchandra couldn't do that service and that's how he had incurred the displeasure of his spiritual master so the philosophical perspective is fine now it's fine as far as it helps us to understand the philosophy but in terms of practical dealings if we start thinking that okay the sufferings come because of one's sinful reactions and if the spiritual master is in great pain we start thinking what sins must the spiritual master have committed so that he has got those reactions, that will be a very offensive thought because we understand the spiritual master also takes the sufferings of the disciples so that's why in general the philosophy should nurture, should soften our heart, not harden our heart especially in our dealings with Vaishnavas and in general our dealings with everyone else so with the spiritual master philosophically we understand there is inconvenience but on a practical level we should try to we shouldn't expect or demand that because you are a pure devotee why are you so concerned about the body we should think that the body of the spiritual master is the means by which that spiritual master is serving Krishna and that body is precious because through that so much service is being done and that's why we should offer whatever care is possible and we should try to avoid all inconveniences from coming to the spiritual master so again whether the spiritual master experiences pain or not it's not exactly a 1-0 situation it's not a digital logic, it's on a continuum so the more advanced the spiritual master is, the more the bodily disturbance will be on the side of inconvenience and for a pure devotee it will just be a matter of inconvenience Tamal Krishna Maharaj writes how on his final day, Shila Prabhupada had stomach upset and he would respond to nature in an uncontrollable way so one time he was dictating bhakti on purports and that time the body's motion started Prabhupada just neglected it and continued dictating the purports so at a physical level the body had certain reactions but Prabhupada's consciousness was not affected by that and Tamal Krishna Maharaj writes in the final days that this is how Prabhupada was actually transcendental to the body. So Prabhupada was transcendental in terms of his consciousness but the devotees who were serving they were focusing on how they can be most attentive in serving Krishna and serving Prabhupada and make things as comfortable as possible for him so there's an objective perspective that the pure devotee basically considers bodily breakdown as an inconvenience but from the devotional perspective we focus on trying to provide as much comfort for the spiritual master's physical body also and not go into analytical mode but stay in a service mode at that time.