Q: People taking up meditation are said to be prone to illness. At any rate, I feel some pain. They say it is a test of God. Is this true?

Ramana Maharshi: There is no Bhagavan outside you and no test is therefore instituted. What you believe to be a test or a new disease as a result of spiritual practices is really the strain that is now put on your nerves and the five senses. The mind, which was hitherto operating through the nadis (a channel through which energy flows) in order to sense external objects, and had thus maintained a link between itself and the organs of perception etc., is now required to withdraw from the link. This action of withdrawal may naturally cause strain, a sprain attendant with pain. If you continue your meditation, your one thought being on understanding yourself or Self-realization, all these will go. There is no greater remedy than this continuous yoga or union with God or Atman.

The message is from the book Conscious Immortality, Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Recorded by Paul Brunton and Munagala Venkartaramiah and published by Sri Ramanasramam.