Pain

D: People practicing meditation etc., are said to get new diseases; at any rate, I feel some pain in the back and front of the chest. This is stated to be a test by God. 

Will Bhagavan explain this and say if it is true?

B: There is no Bhagavan outside you and no test is therefore instituted. What you believe to be a test or a new disease resulting from spiritual practices is really the strain that is now brought to play upon your nerves and the five senses. 

The mind which was hitherto operating through the nadis to sense external objects and thus maintaining a link between itself and the organs of perception is now required to withdraw from the link and this action of withdrawal naturally causes a strain, a sprain or a snap attendant with pain, which people term disease and perhaps tests by God. 

All these would go, if you would but continue your meditation bestowing your thought solely on understanding your Self or on Self-realization. 

There is no greater remedy than this continuous yoga or union with God or Atman. There cannot but be pain as a result of your discarding your long acquired vasanas.

D: Hatha Yogic practices are said to banish diseases effectively and are therefore advocated as necessary preliminaries to Jnana Yoga.

B: Let those who advocate them use them. It has not been the experience here. All diseases would be effectively annihilated by continuous Self-enquiry.

- Crumbs from His Table