Talk 343.
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.