Q 3: Does the mental equilibrium of an advanced Yogi get affected when attacked
by some serious disease? How does he react on such occasions?
A: Never. If there is any thought of the body or the disease or the bodily
affliction or something that cannot be tolerated by the fleshy frame, remember
that he is no advanced Yogi or saint or Sannyasin. He who has no thought of
himself or the surroundings or the world, he who is Centered in his own Self or
his beloved Ishta Devata or gracious Guru, and he who is entirely oblivious of
limitations of any sort, and identifies himself with the limitless, diseaseless,
unconditioned, all-pervasive Brahman, is a true and advanced Yogi or Bhakta or
Jnani; and not otherwise. He can have no match in the whole world in the matter
of utter indifference either towards his disease or towards his limited,
perishable body or the whole world. He always remains in his own Self and he
never loses his balance under any circumstance. He firmly believes that he is
the Infinite, the Absolute Brahman. He firmly believes that death awaits all and
snatches away everyone at one time or the other and that the six Urmis Shoka,
Moha, Kshut, Pipasa, Jara and Mrityu– are but common to all the Jivas, not
necessarily mankind, and that he is the deathless, imperishable and eternal
Brahman. Hence there can be no mental upset for him even amidst crucial
tests.
Brahman, or the Absolute, is free from difference of genus, as between a tree
and a rock, between one tree and another, between leaf and flower of the same
tree.
– Sri Swami Sivananda