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A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi
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he had a nasty accident. One of his favourite squirrels ran across his path as he was descending the stone steps near the Ashram Dispensary. This was being chased by the Ashram dog who was in full pursuit. Bhagavan pushed forward his stick in front of the dog to try and delay it, slipped and fell down the steps and broke his collar bone. This naturally caused a lot of pain. He was treated by a local bone-setter and was entirely cured within two weeks, but, while it lasted, it was a most anxious time for all of us.
In 1947 he was given some medicine for his rheumatism but it had little effect except to bring on a violent attack of hiccups which lasted for many days and the doctor seemed quite incapable of even relieving it. This should never have occurred as the medicine jacket warned that the patient must be carefully watched for such reactions. But though afterwards Bhagavan said that he had noticed that his urine had become very yellow, and this had been one of the principal symptoms to be looked for, nobody had noticed it. We were all much alarmed at the time, but at last the attack subsided of its own accord. While it lasted the Ashram was in a high state of tension as we all felt quite helpless to do anything.
On February 5th 1949 the tragedy of the final illness had its inception. Bhagavan had been frequently rubbing his left elbow which was causing some irritation. His attendant inspected this to see what was the trouble and found a small lump the size of a pea. This he duly reported to the then Ashram doctor. The doctor decided that it
