As a doctor, day in day out I see people in pain. Some, I see, can tolerate only a little of it, and some a lot. But I am yet to meet another person as tolerant to pain as Radhanath Swami.
Radhanath Swami once had a frozen shoulder. I called our Dr. Chako to be his physiotherapist. Sitting on pins and needles I watched every session of the exercises, in burning anticipation of Chako over-stretching the frozen shoulder, which he often did. And whenever he did, my heart quaked to see Radhanath Swami grimace with pain. I would then jump to rein in the situation. “Chako! This is enough. Don’t stretch the shoulder so much.” But only occasionally did Radhanath Swami himself utter, and every time that he did, it was in favor of Chako’s treatment. Once he said, “No pain. No gain.” Another time he even made a quip. “I am undergoing systematic torture.”
After eight long months of treatment the shoulder recuperated.
A few weeks rolled by and I asked Radhanath Swami, “How’s your shoulder? How’re you feeling now?” He wrinkled his brow. “Which shoulder was it?” I simply smiled. There was no need to answer that question. It looked like the whole eight month experience wasn’t for him—painful enough. If it where, how could the arm that caused it, fade off in his memory? Perhaps this pain was trivial in comparison to the pains, both physical and mental, which he underwent while he was on his spiritual quest, and which he underwent now for helping others in their quest.
— Dr. Girish Rathod
151 replies on “Systematic Torture on Radhanath Swami”
Once Radhanath Swami said “In my life nothing has ever come easy”. By learning from the experiences and realizations of such great souls we can benefit immeasurably!