Insensibility to Pain is Not Jnana

Sri Ramana Maharshi

D.: Even as the hand is cut off, one must remain unaware of it because Bhagavad Gita declares that the Self is different from the body. 

M.: Does jnana consist in being unaware of the pain of injury? 

D.: Should he not remain unaware of pain? 

M.: Major operations are performed under anaesthetics, keeping the patient unaware of the pain. Does the patient gain jnana too, at the same time? Insensibility to pain cannot be jnana. 

D.: Should not a jnani (a sage) be insensible to pain? 

M.: Physical pain only follows body-consciousness; it cannot be in the absence of body-consciousness. Mind, being unaware of the body, cannot be aware of its pains or pleasures. Read the story of Indra and Ahalya in Yoga Vasishta; there death itself is said to be an act of mind. Pains are dependent on the ego; they cannot be without the ‘I’, but ‘I’ can remain without them.