Question: Is pain useful to the soul's growth, or is the liberal use of pain-medicine (pain-killers) all right?

Guru replied that again since the disciple-nurse is not a realised soul, she cannot tell if the experience of pain is necessary or not for that person. The doctor's job is to relieve the physical pain as well as possible. If the experience of pain is necessary, the person will experience mental pain, for which there is no easy cure. When we have pain, it is the Supreme who is experiencing pain in us and through us, not as pain, but rather as joy. We humans also have that capacity.

When Guru was fifteen or sixteen, he underwent a serious operation and was smiling at the doctor because he had the capacity to capture the pain, holding it and turning it into joy.