Physician (Books)

Expressions researched:
"physician" |"physician's" |"physicians"

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

The spirit of Bhagavad-gītā is mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā itself. It is just like this: If we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to follow the directions written on the label. We cannot take the medicine according to our own whim or the direction of a friend. It must be taken according to the directions on the label or the directions given by a physician. Similarly, Bhagavad-gītā should be taken or accepted as it is directed by the speaker Himself. The speaker of Bhagavad-gītā is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is mentioned on every page of Bhagavad-gītā as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān.

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 16.11-12, Purport:

Their plans for life are never finished, and they go on preparing plan after plan, all of which are never finished. We have personal experience of a person of such demoniac mentality who, even at the point of death, was requesting the physician to prolong his life for four years more because his plans were not yet complete. Such foolish people do not know that a physician cannot prolong life even for a moment. When the notice is there, there is no consideration of the man's desire. The laws of nature do not allow a second beyond what one is destined to enjoy.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.3.8, Purport:

He gives direction to the diseased men of the world how one's present engagement can lead one to the path of spiritual emancipation. The physician directs the patient to take treated milk in the form of curd for his sufferings from indigestion due to his taking another milk preparation. So the cause of the disease and the remedy of the disease may be the same, but it must be treated by an expert physician like Nārada. The Bhagavad-gītā also gives the same solution of serving the Lord by the fruits of one's labor. That will lead one to the path of naiṣkarmya, or liberation.

SB 1.5.15, Purport:

A patient suffering from a particular type of malady is almost always inclined to accept eatables which are forbidden for him. The expert physician does not make any compromise with the patient by allowing him to take partially what he should not at all take. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is also said that a man attached to fruitive work should not be discouraged from his occupation, for gradually he may be elevated to the position of self-realization.

SB 1.5.33, Purport:

An expert physician treats his patient with a therapeutic diet. For example, milk preparations sometimes cause disorder of the bowels, but the very same milk converted into curd and mixed with some other remedial ingredients cures such disorders. Similarly, the threefold miseries of material existence cannot be mitigated simply by material activities.

SB 1.9.41, Purport:

So, after being invited, all the kings and great learned sages of the world assembled in the capital of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. The learned society, including the great philosophers, religionists, physicians, scientists and all great sages, was invited. That is to say, the brāhmaṇas and the kṣatriyas were the topmost leading men in society, and they were all invited to participate in the assembly.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.1.13, Purport:

According to the moral instructions of Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, "What is the use of a son who is neither a learned man nor a devotee of the Lord?" If a son is not a devotee of the Supreme Lord, he is just like blind eyes—a source of trouble. A physician may sometimes advise the extrication of such useless eyes from their sockets so that one can be relieved of the constant trouble.

SB 3.20.35, Purport:

These so-called yogīs are actually enjoyers of the world garbed as yogīs. Bhagavad-gītā, however, recommends that if one wants to enjoy life, then it cannot be with these gross senses. A patient is advised by the experienced physician to refrain from ordinary enjoyment while in the diseased condition. A diseased person cannot enjoy anything; he has to restrain his enjoyment in order to get rid of the disease.

SB 3.30.18, Purport:

He does not know where he is going, but even at the time of death he is anxious about how his family will be maintained. Sometimes it is seen that a dying man requests the physician to increase his life at least for a few years so that the family maintenance plan which he has begun can be completed. These are the material diseases of the conditioned soul. He completely forgets his real engagement—to become Kṛṣṇa conscious—and is always serious about planning to maintain his family, although he changes families one after another.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.21.30, Purport:

Pṛthu Mahārāja therefore indicated that in spite of having rich parents, children are sometimes not happy. Similarly, in spite of valuable medicine administered by a competent physician, sometimes a patient dies; or in spite of having a big safe boat, sometimes a man drowns. We may thus struggle to counteract impediments offered by material nature, but our attempts cannot be successful unless we are favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 4.21.31, Purport:

In India, one can actually see that a person who takes a bath in the Ganges waters daily is almost free from all kinds of diseases. A very respectable brāhmaṇa in Calcutta never took a doctor's medicine. Even though he sometimes felt sick, he would not accept medicine from the physician but would simply drink Ganges water, and he was always cured within a very short time. The glories of Ganges water are known to Indians and to ourselves also.

SB 4.28.16, Purport:

It is not infrequent for a person overly attached to the material body to request a physician to prolong his life at least for some time. If the so-called scientific physician is able to prolong one's life for a few minutes through the use of oxygen or other medicines, he thinks that he is very successful in his attempts, although ultimately the patient will die. This is called the struggle for existence. At the time of death both patient and physician still think of prolonging life, although all the constituents of the body are practically dead and gone.

SB 4.29.62, Purport:

Karma is the aggregate of fruitive activities conducted to make this body comfortable or uncomfortable. We have actually seen that when one man was about to die he requested his physician to give him a chance to live four more years so that he could finish his plans. This means that while dying he was thinking of his plans. After his body was destroyed, he doubtlessly carried his plans with him by means of the subtle body, composed of mind, intelligence and ego. Thus he would get another chance by the grace of the Supreme Lord, the Supersoul, who is always within the heart.

SB 4.30.38, Translation:

Dear Lord, by virtue of a moment's association with Lord Śiva, who is very dear to You and who is Your most intimate friend, we were fortunate to attain You. You are the most expert physician, capable of treating the incurable disease of material existence. On account of our great fortune, we have been able to take shelter at Your lotus feet.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.8, Translation:

Therefore, before one's next death comes, as long as one's body is strong enough, one should quickly adopt the process of atonement according to śāstra; otherwise one's time will be lost, and the reactions of his sins will increase. As an expert physician diagnoses and treats a disease according to its gravity, one should undergo atonement according to the severity of one's sins.

SB 6.1.8, Purport:

The dharma-śāstras like the Manu-saṁhitā prescribe that a man who has committed murder should be hanged and his own life sacrificed in atonement. Previously this system was followed all over the world, but since people are becoming atheists, they are stopping capital punishment. This is not wise. Herein it is said that a physician who knows how to diagnose a disease prescribes medicine accordingly. If the disease is very serious, the medicine must be strong. The weight of a murderer's sin is very great, and therefore according to Manu-saṁhitā a murderer must be killed.

SB 6.1.12, Translation:

My dear King, if a diseased person eats the pure, uncontaminated food prescribed by a physician, he is gradually cured, and the infection of disease can no longer touch him. Similarly, if one follows the regulative principles of knowledge, he gradually progresses toward liberation from material contamination.

SB 6.9.50, Translation:

A pure devotee who is fully accomplished in the science of devotional service will never instruct a foolish person to engage in fruitive activities for material enjoyment, not to speak of helping him in such activities. Such a devotee is like an experienced physician, who never encourages a patient to eat food injurious to his health, even if the patient desires it.

SB 6.9.52, Purport:

Come back some time later." When the Aśvinī-kumāras left, Indra, the King of heaven, approached Dadhīci and said, "My dear Muni, the Aśvinī-kumāras are only physicians. Please do not instruct them in spiritual science. If you impart the spiritual science to them despite my warning, I shall punish you by cutting off your head." After warning Dadhīci in this way, Indra returned to heaven. The Aśvinī-kumāras, who understood Indra's desires, returned and begged Dadhīci for brahma-vidyā.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.2.40, Purport:

For instance, Prahlāda Mahārāja said that a child is certainly dependent on his father and mother, but in spite of their presence, the child is harassed in many ways. Sometimes, in spite of a supply of good medicine and an experienced physician, a patient does not survive. Therefore, since everything is dependent on the free will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, our only duty is to surrender unto Him and seek His protection.

SB 7.2.55, Purport:

The real fact is that if the Supreme Personality of Godhead protects one, even though one be motherless and fatherless, one can be maintained by the good will of the Lord. Otherwise, if the Supreme Lord does not give one protection, one must suffer in spite of the presence of his father and mother. Another example is that sometimes a patient dies in spite of a good physician and good medicine. Thus without the protection of the Lord one cannot live, with or without parents.

SB 7.9.19, Translation:

My Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva, O Supreme, because of a bodily conception of life, embodied souls neglected and not cared for by You cannot do anything for their betterment. Whatever remedies they accept, although perhaps temporarily beneficial, are certainly impermanent. For example, a father and mother cannot protect their child, a physician and medicine cannot relieve a suffering patient, and a boat on the ocean cannot protect a drowning man.

SB 7.9.22, Purport:

Therefore, in the previous verse, Prahlāda Mahārāja prayed to the Lord, "But for Your Lordship, no one can save me." Prahlāda Mahārāja has also explained that a child's protectors, his parents, cannot save the child from the onslaught of birth and death, nor can medicine and a physician save one from death, nor can a boat or similar means of protection save a person drowning in the water, for everything is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.16.22, Purport:

A disciple must first decide that he should worship the Supreme Lord, and then the spiritual master will give the disciple correct directions. One cannot dictate to the spiritual master, just as a patient cannot demand that his physician prescribe a certain type of medicine. Here is the beginning of worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.3 Summary:

When the heavenly physicians the Aśvinī-kumāra brothers once visited Cyavana Muni, the muni requested them to give him back his youth. These two physicians took Cyavana Muni to a particular lake, in which they bathed and regained full youth. After this, Sukanyā could not distinguish her husband.

SB 9.3 Summary:

Cyavana Muni then engaged King Śaryāti in performing the soma-yajña and gave the Aśvinī-kumāras the privilege to drink soma-rasa. The King of heaven, Lord Indra, became very angry at this, but he could do no harm to Śaryāti. Henceforward, the Aśvinī-kumāra physicians were able to share in the soma-rasa.

SB 9.3.11, Translation:

Thereafter, some time having passed, the Aśvinī-kumāra brothers, the heavenly physicians, happened to come to Cyavana Muni's āśrama. After offering them respectful obeisances, Cyavana Muni requested them to give him youthful life, for they were able to do so.

SB 9.3.11, Purport:

The heavenly physicians like the Aśvinī-kumāras could give youthful life even to one who was advanced in age. Indeed, great yogīs, with their mystic powers, can even bring a dead body back to life if the structure of the body is in order. We have already discussed this in connection with Bali Mahārāja's soldiers and their treatment by Śukrācārya.

SB 9.3.13, Translation:

The great physicians, the Aśvinī-kumāras, very gladly accepted Cyavana Muni's proposal. Thus they told the brāhmaṇa, "Just dive into this lake of successful life." (One who bathes in this lake has his desires fulfilled.)

SB 9.3.26, Translation:

Although the Aśvinī-kumāras were only physicians and were therefore excluded from drinking soma-rasa in sacrifices, the demigods agreed to allow them henceforward to drink it.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.4.27, Purport:

Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes (sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1)), but one who has no connection with Kṛṣṇa is disturbed by immediate causes and cannot restrain his vision of separation or differences. When an expert physician treats a patient, he tries to find the original cause of the disease and is not diverted by the symptoms of that original cause. Similarly, a devotee is never disturbed by reverses in life. Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇaḥ (SB 10.14.8).

SB 10.10.19, Purport:

When a sādhu chastises or punishes someone, he does not do so for revenge. Mahārāja Parīkṣit had inquired why Nārada Muni was subject to such a spirit of revenge (tamaḥ). But this was not tamaḥ, for Nārada Muni, in full knowledge of what was for the good of the two brothers, wisely thought of how to cure them. Vaiṣṇavas are good physicians. They know how to protect a person from material disease. Thus they are never in tamo-guṇa. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Vaiṣṇavas are always situated on the transcendental platform, the Brahman platform.

CC Preface and Introduction

CC Foreword:

The chief historical sources for the life of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya are the kaḍacās (diaries) kept by Murāri Gupta and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī. Murāri Gupta, a physician and close associate of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya's, recorded extensive notes on the first twenty-four years of His life, culminating in His initiation into the renounced order, sannyāsa. The events of the rest of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's forty-eight years were recorded in the diary of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, another of His intimate associates.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 5.20, Purport:

A diseased person who has become diseased because of a certain bad habit must be ready to follow the advice of the physician, and as a natural sequence he must attempt to give up the cause of the disease. The patient cannot indulge in the bad habit and at the same time expect to be cured by the physician. Modern materialistic civilization, however, is maintaining a diseased atmosphere.

CC Adi 7.45, Purport:

Therefore although Śrī Candraśekhara was a clerk from a kāyastha family in upper India, he was considered a śūdra. Similarly, vaiśyas, especially those of the suvarṇa-vaṇik community, were accepted as śūdras in Bengal, and even the vaidyas, who were generally physicians, were also considered śūdras. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, did not accept this artificial principle, which was introduced in society by self-interested men, and later the kāyasthas, vaidyas and vaṇiks all began to accept the sacred thread, despite objections from the so-called brāhmaṇas.

CC Adi 10.49, Purport:

Śrī Murāri Gupta wrote a book called Śrī Caitanya-carita. He belonged to a vaidya physician family of Śrīhaṭṭa, the paternal home of Lord Caitanya, and later became a resident of Navadvīpa. He was among the elders of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Caitanya exhibited His Varāha form in the house of Murāri Gupta, as described in the Caitanya-bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa, Third Chapter. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu exhibited His mahā-prakāśa form, He appeared before Murāri Gupta as Lord Rāmacandra. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu were sitting together in the house of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Murāri Gupta first offered his respects to Lord Caitanya and then to Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu.

CC Adi 10.49, Purport:

Lord Caitanya accepted some water from the waterpot of Murāri Gupta, and thus He was cured. The natural remedy for indigestion is to drink a little water, and since Murāri Gupta was a physician, he gave the Lord some drinking water and cured Him.

CC Adi 10.50, Translation:

Śrīla Murāri Gupta never accepted charity from friends, nor did he accept money from anyone. He practiced as a physician and maintained his family with his earnings.

CC Adi 10.50, Purport:

A vaiśya can accept agriculture or general trade as an occupational duty. Since Murāri Gupta was born in a physician's family (vaidya-vaṁśa), he practiced as a physician, and with whatever income he earned he maintained his family. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, everyone should try to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the execution of his occupational duty.

CC Adi 10.51, Purport:

Murāri Gupta was an ideal gṛhastha, for he was a great devotee of Lord Rāmacandra and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. By practicing as a physician he maintained his family and at the same time satisfied Lord Caitanya to the best of his ability. This is the ideal of householder life.

CC Adi 10.51, Purport:

Murāri Gupta could treat both bodily and spiritual disease because he was a physician by profession and a great devotee of the Lord in terms of spiritual advancement. This is an example of service to humanity. Everyone should know that there are two kinds of diseases in human society. One disease, which is called adhyātmika, or material disease, pertains to the body, but the main disease is spiritual.

CC Adi 10.51, Purport:

The living entity is eternal, but somehow or other, when in contact with the material energy, he is subjected to the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. The physicians of the modern day should learn from Murāri Gupta. Although modern philanthropic physicians open gigantic hospitals, there are no hospitals to cure the material disease of the spirit soul.

CC Adi 10.84, Purport:

In the Madhya-līlā, Chapter Nineteen, the device adopted by Sanātana Gosvāmī to get free from government service is described. He served a notice of sickness to the Nawab, the Muslim governor, but actually he was studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with brāhmaṇas at home. The Nawab received information of this through a royal physician, and he immediately went to see Sanātana Gosvāmī to discover his intentions. The Nawab requested Sanātana to accompany him on an expedition to Orissa, but when Sanātana Gosvāmī refused, the Nawab ordered that he be imprisoned.

CC Adi 10.152-154, Translation:

The prominent devotees at Vārāṇasī were the physician Candraśekhara, Tapana Miśra and Raghunātha Bhaṭṭācārya, Tapana Miśra's son. When Lord Caitanya came to Vārāṇasī after seeing Vṛndāvana, for two months He lived at the residence of Candraśekhara Vaidya and accepted prasādam at the house of Tapana Miśra.

CC Adi 11.22, Translation:

The physician Raghunātha, also known as Upādhyāya, was so great a devotee that simply by seeing him one would awaken his dormant love of Godhead.

CC Adi 11.29, Purport:

The descendants of Parameśvarī Ṭhākura took many disciples from brāhmaṇa families, but as these descendants gradually took to the profession of physicians, persons from brāhmaṇa families ceased becoming their disciples. The family titles of Parameśvarī’s descendants are Adhikārī and Gupta. Unfortunately, his family members do not worship the Deity directly; they have engaged paid brāhmaṇas to worship the Deity.

CC Adi 11.39, Purport:

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura writes in his Anubhāṣya, “Sadāśiva Kavirāja and Nāgara Puruṣottama, who were father and son, are described in the Caitanya-bhāgavata as mahā-bhāgyavān, greatly fortunate. They belonged to the vaidya caste of physicians. Text 156 of the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā says that Candrāvalī, a most beloved gopī of Kṛṣṇa's, later took birth as Sadāśiva Kavirāja. In texts 194 and 200 it is said that Kaṁsāri Sena, the father of Sadāśiva Kavirāja, was formerly the gopī named Ratnāvalī in Kṛṣṇa's pastimes.

CC Adi 11.51, Translation:

The fifty-eighth great devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Kaṁsāri Sena, the fifty-ninth was Rāmasena, the sixtieth was Rāmacandra Kavirāja, and the sixty-first, sixty-second and sixty-third were Govinda, Śrīraṅga and Mukunda, who were all physicians.

CC Adi 17.103, Purport:

Brāhmaṇas generally used to become astrologers, Āyur-vedic physicians, teachers and priests. Although highly learned and respectable, such brāhmaṇas went from door to door to distribute their knowledge. A brāhmaṇa would first go to a householder's home to give information about the functions to be performed on a particular tithi, or date, but if there were sickness in the family, the family members would consult the brāhmaṇa as a physician, and the brāhmaṇa would give instruction and some medicine. Often, since the brāhmaṇas were expert in astrology, people would also be greatly inquisitive about their past, present and future.

CC Adi 17.103, Purport:

The greatest benefit was that a householder could save a great deal of money from being spent on doctor bills because the brāhmaṇas, aside from explaining the past, present and future, could ordinarily cure all kinds of diseases simply by giving instructions and some medicine. Thus no one was bereft of the benefit of a first-class physician, astrologer and priest. The important members of ISKCON should give careful attention to our Dallas school, where children are being taught Sanskrit and English to become perfect brāhmaṇas.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 2.19, Translation:

(Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī spoke thus, in distress due to separation from Kṛṣṇa:) “Oh, what shall I say of My distress? After I met Kṛṣṇa My loving propensities sprouted, but upon separating from Him I sustained a great shock, which is now continuing like the sufferings of a disease. The only physician for this disease is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He is not taking care of this sprouting plant of devotional service. What can I say about the behavior of Kṛṣṇa? Outwardly He is a very attractive young lover, but at heart He is a great cheat, very expert in killing others' wives.”

CC Madhya 9.4, Purport:

When these contaminations pile up, they are counteracted by the visit of great personalities like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His strict followers. Many kinds of patients come to a hospital, which may be infected by many types of diseases. Actually the hospital is always infected, but the expert physician keeps the hospital sterilized by his expert presence and management. Similarly, places of pilgrimage are always infected by the sins left by the sinners who go there, but when a personality like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu visits such a place, all contaminations vanish.

CC Madhya 15.120, Translation:

“Mukunda dāsa externally appears to be a royal physician engaged in governmental service, but internally he has a deep love for Kṛṣṇa. Who can understand his love?

CC Madhya 15.120, Purport:

A Vaiṣṇava may be engaged in governmental service or in a professional business so that externally one cannot understand his position. Internally, however, he may be a nitya-siddha Vaiṣṇava—that is, an eternally liberated Vaiṣṇava. Externally Mukunda dāsa was a royal physician, but internally he was the most liberated paramahaṁsa devotee. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu knew this very well, but ordinary men could not understand it, for the activities and plans of a Vaiṣṇava cannot be understood by ordinary men.

CC Madhya 15.121, Translation:

“One day Mukunda dāsa, the royal physician, was seated with the Muslim King on a high platform and was telling the King about medical treatment.

CC Madhya 15.124, Translation:

“The King, fearing that the royal physician had been killed, personally descended and brought him to consciousness.

CC Madhya 15.163, Purport:

A person may be relieved from sins once, but it is a practice among Christians to confess sins and yet commit them again. By getting freed from sins and again engaging in them, one cannot attain freedom from the pangs of material existence. A diseased person may go to a physician for relief, but after he leaves the hospital he may again be infected due to his unclean habits. Thus material existence continues. Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta wanted to completely relieve the conditioned souls from material existence so that they would no longer have an opportunity to commit sinful acts.

CC Madhya 17.82, Purport:

The word maṇi means "jewel," and karṇikā means "from the ear." According to some, Lord Viśvanātha is the great physician who cures the disease of material existence by delivering a person through the ear, which receives the vibration of the holy name of Lord Rāma.

CC Madhya 17.92, Translation:

Candraśekhara happened to be a friend of Tapana Miśra's, and he was long known to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as His servant. He was a physician by caste, and by profession he was a clerk. At the time he was living in Vārāṇasī.

CC Madhya 17.185, Purport:

Thus on the material platform animalistic leaders are worshiped by animals. Sometimes physicians, psychiatrists and social workers try to mitigate bodily pain, distress and fear, but they have no knowledge of spiritual identity and are bereft of a relationship with God. Yet they are considered mahājanas by the illusioned. Self-deceived persons sometimes accept leaders or spiritual masters from a priestly order that has been officially appointed by the codes of material life. In this way, they are deceived by official priests.

CC Madhya 19 Summary:

Giving this excuse, he sat at home and studied Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with learned brāhmaṇa scholars. The Nawab Hussain Shah first sent his personal physician to see what the real facts were; then he personally came to see why Sanātana was not attending to official business. Knowing that he wanted to resign his post, the Nawab had him arrested and imprisoned. The Nawab then went off to attack Orissa.

CC Madhya 19.20, Translation:

The Nawab said, “I sent my physician to you, and he has reported that you are not diseased. As far as he could see, you are completely healthy.

CC Madhya 20.90-91, Translation:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then said, “I have already deliberately considered this matter. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa is very merciful, He has nullified your attachment for material things. Why should Kṛṣṇa allow you to maintain a last bit of material attachment? After vanquishing a disease, a good physician does not allow any of the disease to remain.

CC Madhya 21.137, Translation:

“My dear Sanātana, the sweetness of Kṛṣṇa's personality is just like an ocean of ambrosia. Although My mind is now afflicted by convulsive diseases and I wish to drink that entire ocean, the repressive physician does not allow Me to drink even one drop.

CC Madhya 21.137, Purport:

The three elements are the beauty of Kṛṣṇa's body, the beauty of His face, and the beauty of His smile. Stricken by these three beauties, My mind goes into convulsions. It wishes to drink the ocean of Kṛṣṇa's beauty, but because I am undergoing convulsions, My physician, who is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, does not even allow Me to take a drop of water from that ocean.” Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was ecstatic in this way because He was presenting Himself in the mood of the gopīs.

CC Madhya 22.14-15, Translation:

“In this way the conditioned soul becomes the servant of lusty desires, and when these are not fulfilled, he becomes the servant of anger and continues to be kicked by the external energy, māyā. Wandering and wandering throughout the universe, he may by chance get the association of a devotee physician, whose instructions and hymns make the witch of the external energy flee. The conditioned soul thus gets into touch with devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in this way he can approach nearer and nearer to the Lord.

CC Madhya 25.196, Purport:

This is another instance of Hindu custom. One brāhmaṇa would give advice condoning a particular fault, and another would give advice to the contrary. Typically, lawyers and physicians differ, giving one kind of instruction and then another. Due to the brāhmaṇas' different opinions, Subuddhi Rāya became further perplexed. He did not know what to do or what not to do.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 5.1, Translation:

I am infected by the germs of material activity and am suffering from the boils of envy. Therefore, falling in an ocean of humility, I take shelter of the great physician Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 2:

"You have submitted sick reports," the Nawab told Sanātana Gosvāmī, "but I sent my physician to see you, and he reported that you have no illness at all. Since I did not know why you were submitting sick reports and not attending to your service, I have personally come to see you. I am much perturbed by your behavior. As you know, I completely depend on you and your responsible work in government. I was free to act in other matters because I was depending on you, but if you do not join me, your past devotion will be spoiled. Now, what is your intention? Please tell me."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 10:

Before Kṛṣṇa's beauty, the devotee sometimes stays immersed in this ocean of transcendental convulsions without receiving treatment, just as a patient suffering ordinary convulsions may be prevented by a physician from receiving a drink of water for relief.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 11:

Diseased and conditioned, the living entity transmigrates all over the universe. Sometimes he is situated in the upper planetary system, and sometimes he travels in the lower planetary system. In this way he leads his diseased, conditioned life. His disease can be cured only when he meets and follows the expert physician, the bona fide spiritual master. When the conditioned soul faithfully follows the instructions of a bona fide spiritual master, his material disease is cured, he is promoted to the liberated stage, and he again attains to the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa and goes back home, back to Kṛṣṇa.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 24:

Mahārāja Nanda and other elder members argued that without satisfying the predominating god one cannot derive any good result simply by material activities. This is actually the fact. For example, it is sometimes found that in spite of first-class medical help and treatment by a first-class physician, a diseased person dies. It is concluded, therefore, that first-class medical treatment or the attempts of a first-class physician are not in themselves the cause for curing a patient; there must be the hand of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, a father's and mother's taking care of their children is not the cause of the children's comfort. Sometimes it is found that in spite of all care by the parents, the children go bad or succumb to death.

Krsna Book 29:

Although the father and mother are expected to protect the children, there are many children who are suffering for want of food and shelter. There are many good physicians, but when a patient dies, no physician can revive him. There are many means of protection, but when one is doomed, none of the protective measures can help, and without Your protection the so-called sources of protection simply become sources of continued distress. We therefore appeal to You, dear Lord of all lords: please do not kill our long-cherished desires to have You as our supreme husband.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 28, Purport:

The process of such engagement in the service of the Lord is what the sages call cikitsitam, or "well treated." If we have some kind of trouble in the stomach from drinking milk, the physician prescribes the same milk in the form of yogurt, which is nothing but treated milk. Similarly, the temporary creation of the material world is undoubtedly full of miseries, but when accepted in terms of its relation with the Supreme Lord, the whole thing becomes as well treated as the yogurt.