TREATMENT TO SRI
BHAGAVAN - AN ACCOUNT
Dr. Shankar Rao
Dr.Shankar Rao, a retired D. M. O., who was attendingon Sri Maharshi almost from the start of his illness, details in
this article an intimate and vivid picture of the Maharshi's
ailment and the way he bore with it.
TO HAVE SERVED Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi as a
doctor for over a year is no ordinary privilege and no
ordinary experience. It was an education of the highest type, a
training of a unique character. It provided me with vivid glimpses
into the human as well as the superhuman and godlike
personality of Sri Maharshi.
For one whole year I watched the ailment sapping the
strength and vitality of the physical frame of Sri Maharshi with
cruel success. It failed to affect his detachment and composure
and I found for the first time that this disease with its brood of
pain and suffering had somehow met with an ignominious defeat.
This will be borne out in the following account of the history
of the ailment which culminated in the Maharshi shaking off
the mortal sheath.
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I first came to Sri Ramanashram in the second week of
December, 1948. At that time Sri Bhagavan had a small nodule
under the skin behind the elbow about the size of a split pea.
When I asked him about it he said that it might have been due
to a fall he had some three months back. On pressing, it used to
be painful. Within a month it grew to the size of a small marble.
Sri Bhagavan used to feel pain whenever he put his elbow on
any hard surface and so I suggested its removal. It was removed
on 9th February 1949. The wound completely healed up during
the course of a week.
In the first week of March, it was again noticed to be
growing. About the middle of March, Dr. Raghavachari of
Madras came with his assistants and removed it completely,
together with a good deal of surrounding tissues and also the
skin over it. A microscopic examination revealed that it was a
sarcoma.
Sarcoma is a malignant tumour of the flesh which occurs
generally in young people, while older ones get cancers which
are growths from the skin or mucous membranes. These
malignant tumours are not enclosed in sheaths or capsules like
simple tumours. Even small microscopic cells anywhere in the
tissues surrounding the tumour could start to grow into another
tumour. Some cells may be carried through the blood vessels to
other parts of the body and produce similar secondary tumours.
The wound, after the second operation, did not heal and
after a few days, a new growth appeared and this started bleeding
profusely. Doctors and radiologists came from Madras and
applied radium to afford temporary relief. They advised that
amputation of the limb, a couple of inches above the tumour
alone could cure the disease. The consensus of opinion amongst
the devotees of Sri Bhagavan was against amputation. Sri
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Bhagavan also said that it was not necessary. The idea of
amputation was given up.
The tumour growth subsided a little as a result of radium
treatment but in July 1949 it again began to grow. Some of the
devotees wished that ayurvedic treatment should be tried and a
local ayurvedic physician started treatment. Sri Bhagavan's
health deteriorated, sepsis set in and the tumour continued to
grow very rapidly.
Surgeons from Madras were again requested to come. They
advised an operation as the only remedy and the tumour together
with the white area of tissues all around were removed with a
diathermic knife. Radium was then applied. This was on 14th
August.
The result appeared to be very favourable in as much as
no tumour growth appeared for three months and even scrapings
taken from the raw surface of the wound were reported to be
negative. Early in December 1949 however, there was a
suspicion of a small nodule appearing in the middle of the arm,
several inches away from the site of the original tumour growth.
Then again doctors from Madras came and having diagnosed it
as a secondary growth and that too a very small one, they
expected to remove it easily.
On 19th December the growth was operated on but when
the deeper tissues were cut into, for removing the tumour, it
was found that the growth had spread deep into the muscles.
A much larger operation became necessary and in spite of
this, the surgeons felt that the chances of recurrence could
not be ruled out.
As the surgeons had given up hope of a cure, homeopathy
was tried. By about the middle of February, the tumour again
started growing on the upper end of the operation wound and
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as the homeopath who was treating Sri Bhagavan was unable to
prevent recurrence, an ayurvedic physician from Malabar was
sent for and he started treatment. This too having been
unsuccessful, Kaviraj Jogendranath Sastry from Calcutta was
invited by one of the devotees to treat Sri Bhagavan. During all
this period the general health of Sri Bhagavan continued to
deteriorate and the tumour growth increased rapidly.
By about the 2nd of April I felt that the end was near. On
the night of Sunday the 9th of April the pulse became very
feeble and gradual deterioration of the functions of the heart
brought about exhaustion. Sri Bhagavan who, until that day,
had been able to walk to the adjoining bathroom could not do
so and was confined to bed.
Since February the blood pressure of Sri Bhagavan started
dropping. A fortnight before the end it was 88/48, the lowest
point reached being 66/36. The expected end came at 8.47 pm
on 14th April.
Sri Bhagavan's attitude towards his body was one of complete
detachment. Disease and pain left no impression on his mind. If
he allowed himself to be treated for the ailment, it was more
because his devotees wanted it than because he desired relief. His
attitude was always supreme indifference to bodily ailments.
So he was an ideal patient implicitly undergoing any
treatment that was decided upon by his devotees. Whenever he
allowed any change in treatment his only concern was that there
should be an agreement amongst his devotees about which
particular type of treatment should be given a trial. As far as he
personally was concerned, he did not care.
To everyone who was by his side, the way in which he
bore with pain, which was at times of an extremely excruciating
nature, without even showing the signs of suffering on his face,
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was a wonder. On one occasion during the later stages of the
ailment when he was having shooting pains down his limb, a
gentlemen who had come for his darshan bowed down and said
that he was leaving Tiruvannamalai. Sri Bhagavan gave him his
usual gracious look and smile as if there was nothing wrong
with him at the time. And it was only after the gentleman left
that Sri Bhagavan admitted that the pain was severe and allowed
himself to be treated for it.
The tumour in the later stages of his illness grew to such
proportions that even medical men who were used to those
sights were shocked when they saw it. When it was being dressed,
Sri Bhagavan used to look at it and often make jokes about it.
He even helped the doctors to adjust the bandage.
On one occasion when the skin around the tumour was
being cleaned with rectified spirit, some of it bathed the rest of
the arm and fell on the body also. Sri Bhagavan jokingly said
that he was having a spirit bath and quoted the last stanza of
Atma Bodha by Sri Shankaracharya. It was not only a joke but
also carried with it a profound spiritual teaching.
One night when there was heavy bleeding from the tumour
as it was being dressed, two or three bhaktas couldn't conceal
their emotion. He looked at them and said, "Where will l go?
And where can I go?" And whenever he said `I', with emphasis,
he always meant the Atman.
Some time ago when treating the tumour it was suggested
that Sri Bhagavan should have a sun bath and the tumour was
exposed to the sun for a few minutes. To prevent flies, some
incense was put in an oven and placed just below the chair
upon which he sat. Sri Bhagavan jokingly said that we were
offering worship to the tumour to go away by burning incense
and waving lights (dhoopam and deepam) before it.
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One of my friends took photographs of Sri Bhagavan one
afternoon. During the night when we both went together and
I was dressing the wound, Sri Bhagavan referred to the photos
and gave a profound spiritual discourse using the science of
photography as an illustration. Said Sri Bhagavan,
"When taking a picture the silver salts are coated over a
film in the dark and when the film is exposed in the camera,
you get an impression caused by light outside. If the film is
exposed to light before you put it in the camera there can be no
impression on it. So is it with our jiva [?]. When it is still in darkness,
impression can be made on it by the little light that leaks in.
But when the light of knowledge has already flooded it, there is
no impression of external objects to be obtained." In a similar
fashion, he used to entertain his medical attendants with jokes
interspersed with profound spiritual education.
Throughout the period of illness, his desire not to embarrass
his medical attendants in whatever system of medicine they
belonged, resulted in a perfect code of medical etiquette that could
not be excelled. When he was having treatment of a particular
system of medicine such as ayurveda or homeopathy, if any one
suggested a remedy for the intense pain he was having, he would
always refer him to the doctor that was in attendance and ask him
to get his consent. On one occasion when the surgeons who operated
on him had confessed that nothing short of an amputation could
cure Sri Bhagavan, a devotee of many years' standing, brought an
eminent physician of another system of medicine. This gentleman
saw Sri Bhagavan and had a talk with him. Sri Bhagavan received
him with his usual gracious smile and the new physician believed
that Sri Bhagavan wished him to treat him.
It was characteristic of Sri Bhagavan -- and this was
observed by many of his devotees -- that when each individual
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went to him, he returned with a feeling that the Master had
poured his grace on him alone and that he was the most loved
amongst his devotees! I knew this and therefore took this
physician to Sri Bhagavan and asked him to obtain his consent
for the treatment. Sri Bhagavan smiled at this and said, "Do
you know doctor so and so who is now treating me? Have you
had a talk with him and what did he say?" The gentleman was
nonplussed and had to go.
To watch Sri Bhagavan and listen even to his day-to-day
talk was an education to those who were near him. There was
no need to read books on religion or philosophy. His whole
philosophy and the philosophy of ages were in Sri Bhagavan's
life. For his life was an exposition of the highest philosophy. He
did not lecture. He did not write books for the edification of
learned scholars outside but by living the life of perfection, he
gave to those that came in contact with him, a greater education
than any books could provide. With the passing of the greatest
spiritual personality of modern times, the world has lost a living
teacher, a guru in its highest sense.
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