Ramana Maharshi Says Insensibility To Pain Cannot Be Jnana

Once a devotee said:

Even as the hand is cut off, one must remain unaware of it because,Srimad Bhagavad Gita describes that the Self is different from the body.

Bhagavan Ramana: Does Jnana consist in being unaware of the pain of injury?

Devotee: Should he not remain unaware of the pain?

Bhagavan Ramana: Major operations are performed under anaesthetics keeping the patient unaware of the pain.Does the patient gain Jnana too at the same time? Insensibility to pain cannot be Jnana. Physical pain follows only the body consciousness.Mind, being unaware of the body, cannot be aware of the pains or pleasures. Read the story of Indra and Ahalya in Yoga Vasishta.

There death itself is said to be an act of mind.Pains are dependent on the ego. They cannot be without the "I".But "I" can remain without them.

Source: Arunachala's Ramana. Boundless Ocean of Grace.Volume 3. Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.