Grandfather Bhismadeva is in his position on the deathbed and it is said that he was feeling pained by the arrows piercing his body. He was a yogi, but it does not mean he did not know that he had pain. There are so many examples wherein Srila Prabhupada also transcended pain.When Srila Prabhupada would take prasadam, he would sit on a mat with a little table in front of him. On one particular occasion in Delhi, after taking prasadam, he walked to the place to wash his hands. There was some water on the floor and his foot slipped. His whole body went up in the air and he landed on his back, right on the side of the table. Prabhupada did not make a sound, he looked this way and that way, got up and washed his hands. He was eighty year old at that time! Another time, Srila Prabhupada had a big infected tooth. It was swollen and it was very painful. Srila Prabhupada just tolerated the pain and did not go to a dentist. Some days later, the swelling had gone down and his servant asked if he was fine. Srila Prabhupada then pointed to the tooth in the drawer of his desk and gave to his servant! Srila Prabhupada had trouble with one of his kidneys and had difficulty digesting food. One of his continuing health problems was that the one kidney which was functioning had excess uric acid. So, periodically Srila Prabhupada's hands and feet would swell and he just tolerated it. Part of the purpose for the massage that he took was to let the swelling go down and to relieve the fluids in the body, as it is painful.Every now and then, unless he had an extreme case of difficulty, he would just go on with his intense schedule of translating and travel. One time, at 1.30 am in the morning, he called his servant and said in a grave voice, "Too much pain that I can't translate". Srila Prabhupada was disappointed because of not being able to translate, not because of the pain. Srila Prabhupada was always in pain, but he tolerated it. It was his transcendental way. Srila Prabhupada had the capacity like that of grandfather Bhismadeva.The next time we have a little ache or pain, we can think of grandfather Bhismadeva and Srila Prabhupada. The technique is to withdraw the consciousness from the temporary and invest the consciousness in the eternal -- specifically Krishna.From a lecture by HH Romapada Swami on 'Srimad Bhagavatam 1.9.1-12' titled 'Teachings of Bhismadeva Part 1' delivered in Hyderabad, India on March, 2005.Source: http://www.romapadaswami.com/node/6225
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