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consulting myself in cases of illness, who moreover is my pupil, and who is devoted to me, as only an Indian sishya can be devoted to his Guru. I translated your letter to him, and showed him the medical history-sheet. After having heard the translation and read the sheet, he said: "Without carefully examining myself His Holiness, I am not able to say with certainty, what his illness is, nor would any other doctor. One thing is certain, viz, that His Holiness is very ill. But the description given by Mr. Deshpande admits of several explanations. Possibly His Holiness is suffering from a heart disease; but from the description given it is equally possible, that his disease is a cancer of the liver. In both cases, treatment must, of course, be quite different and without having examined the patient niyself, it would be a crime on my part to prescribe any treatment, or to give him any medicine. For in case of error, I should injure the patient, instead of helping him. This is the reason, why no German doctor is allowed to treat any patient without having examined him personally. He would be punished for doing so.
In order to help His Holiness, Dr. Eichler gives the following advice. You should send for the very best English doctor you can get, not for a surgeon, but for a doctor who is a specialist for internal diseases. This doctor must, at all events, examine himself the patient. Till his arrival, the patient should not be given too many purgatives, as these purgatives weaken the body.
When I asked Dr. Eichler, which of the two maladies mentioned above he thought the more probable one in the case of your Guru, be answered. “The heart disease" He concludes
to it from the congestion of the liver, to which, he says, Dr. Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat www.umaragyanbhandar.com