Written by London Swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

Date: 17  September 2018

Time uploaded in London – 8-59 am (British Summer Time)

Post No. 5439

Pictures shown here are taken from various sources including google, Wikipedia, Facebook friends and newspapers. This is a non- commercial blog.

A doctor met a saint and asked whether he could learn Mantras from the websites or You Tube.

The saint said ‘No’.

Next, the doctor asked whether anyone one could recite a Mantra .

The saint said ‘No’.

Expecting at least one ‘Yes’ answer from the saint he quizzed him more.

“Can anyone teach Mantra to another person?”

The saint patiently, but firmly said ‘No’.

“Okay, suppose I put saffron cloth on me tomorrow, can I do all the above things?”

The saint smilingly said a big ‘No’ and then interrupted him, when he was about to ask more questions.

The saint said, “please wait, I wanted to ask you a few questions. Please answer them truthfully”.
Doctor was very happy when he heard it.
“At last the saint has recognised me”, he thought.

“Ok now it is my turn,” the saint started bombarding him with some questions

“Can I give a medical prescription, I mean allopathic medicines, by looking at websites?:

Doctor was surprised to get such a stupid question from a leaned Saint .

Doctor said,
“Oh Swamiji, Dont you know that it is against law and moreover dangerous?”

“Hang on, I am ready to learn from social media and websites.

Can I treat my disciples with allopathic medicines?”

“Oh, Swamiji, unless a medically qualified person prescribes it, you can’t treat any one with the medicines that you get from any Tom Dick and Harry”
‘Why?’ asked the saint.

“Each patient is different.
You have to know his/her case history, ethnicity
age, weight, height, sex, his/her other medications
Whether s/he is allergic to any substance etc

“Ok, ok. Now I understand. If I put on a white coat and a stethoscope around my neck and behave like a doctor, can I do all the above things?”

“Swamiji!  I am shocked to hear such things from you.

How is it possible ? Certain medicines have very serious side effects which may result in serious consequences. Every medicine bottle or carton have a long list of side effects. Don’t you know all these things? People may even abuse certain things”.

“You need to study for at least five years and practise as a house surgeon for a while and then practise under the supervision of experienced seniors. It is like a lawyer practising like a junior in a legal office”.

Swamiji felt very happy when he heard that. “It is good that you said all the things necessary to become a good doctor”.

“That is exactly an ascetic also does. After several years of penance and learning scriptures, he goes to a senior Guru, who watches him for several years and then teaches certain Mantras . He
also looks at various things before doing that . Like you take into account the ethnicity, age, sex, height, weight, previous medications, allergy factors, family history of certain illnesses, we also look at various factors before teaching Mantras. Like you don’t like people practising medicine via website and social media knowledge we also don’t like people learning secret Mantras from websites.”

Like certain medicines are available over the counter without prescription for headaches, cough, cold etc. we also have simple hymns and Bhajan songs which you can learn from any one”.

“Earlier you beautifully explained the side effects and abuse of medications. Mantras also have side effects if they are wrongly used or mispronounced. If someone like Ravana or Pasmasura gets it  may be abused”

“In short, a saint’s work is similar to the work of a doctor”.

The doctor was convinced with his answer and made a big salute to hime and let with ‘prasad’.

-Subham-