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Sri Yukteswar's health was excellent; I never saw him unwell. 12-14 He permitted students to consult doctors if it seemed advisable. His purpose was to give respect to the worldly custom: "Physicians must carry on their work of healing through God's laws as applied to matter." But he extolled the superiority of mental therapy, and often repeated: "Wisdom is the greatest cleanser." "The body is a treacherous friend. Give it its due; no more," he said. "Pain and pleasure are transitory; endure all dualities with calmness, while trying at the same time to remove their hold. Imagination is the door through which disease as well as healing enters. Disbelieve in the reality of sickness even when you are ill; an unrecognized visitor will flee!" Master numbered many doctors among his disciples. "Those who have ferreted out the physical laws can easily investigate the science of the soul," he told them. "A subtle spiritual mechanism is hidden just behind the bodily structure."

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 This passage from Autobiography of a Yogi beautifully shows how Sri Yukteswar tried to balance three domains that are often treated as opposites:

• the physical,

• the mental,

• and the spiritual.

What is striking is that he does not reject medicine outright. In fact, Yogananda specifically notes that Sri Yukteswar allowed and even encouraged medical consultation when appropriate. That detail matters because it separates his teaching from simplistic anti-medical mysticism.

His statement:

“Physicians must carry on their work of healing through God's laws as applied to matter”

frames medicine itself as part of divine order rather than something opposed to spirituality. In this worldview:

• doctors work through physical law,

• yogis work through subtler laws of consciousness,

• both are dealing with different layers of the same reality.

But Sri Yukteswar clearly places greatest emphasis on the mind and consciousness. The line:

“Wisdom is the greatest cleanser”

suggests that ignorance, attachment, fear, and false identification are deeper causes of suffering than purely bodily conditions.

Several key yogic principles appear here.

1. The body is temporary, not ultimate

“The body is a treacherous friend.”

This reflects a classical spiritual discipline found in Hindu, Buddhist, Stoic, and Christian ascetic traditions:

• care for the body,

• but do not become enslaved to it,

• because bodily states constantly change.

2. Equanimity amid duality

Pain and pleasure are described as “dualities” — shifting opposites that dominate ordinary consciousness. Sri Yukteswar advocates inner steadiness rather than emotional dependence on favorable conditions.

This resembles:

• Stoic philosophy,

• Buddhist non-attachment,

• the Bhagavad Gita’s teaching on sameness amid opposites.

3. Imagination affects physiology

The most psychologically interesting statement is:

“Imagination is the door through which disease as well as healing enters.”

Today, that sounds surprisingly modern in some respects. Contemporary science recognizes many mind-body interactions:

• stress affecting immunity,

• emotional states influencing inflammation,

• placebo and nocebo effects,

• psychosomatic illness,

• nervous-system regulation through thought and perception.

Sri Yukteswar extends this much further metaphysically, implying that consciousness fundamentally shapes bodily reality.

Of course, from a modern medical standpoint, one should not literally deny serious illness or avoid necessary treatment. Diseases have biological mechanisms independent of belief alone. But psychologically, his advice can also be read as:

• do not mentally surrender to illness,

• avoid identifying yourself entirely with suffering,

• cultivate inward strength alongside treatment.

The final statement is especially important:

“A subtle spiritual mechanism is hidden just behind the bodily structure.”

That sentence summarizes much of the yogic worldview:

• the body is visible machinery,

• beneath it lies energetic and conscious structure,

• spiritual practice investigates that hidden architecture directly.

It also explains why Yogananda repeatedly uses scientific language. He and Sri Yukteswar present yoga not merely as religion, but as an experimental inward science — a systematic exploration of consciousness analogous to how physics explores matter.

What makes Sri Yukteswar compelling in these passages is his unusual combination of:

• practicality,

• austerity,

• psychological insight,

• and metaphysical boldness.

He speaks neither like a conventional doctor nor like an ecstatic preacher, but like someone attempting to describe an integrated theory of human existence.