Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Should doctors smile while talking to their patients?

Should doctors smile while talking to their patients?


Bhagavad Gita 2.10: tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ, prahasann iva bhārata, senayor ubhayor madhye, viṣīdantam idaḿ vacaḥ
SYNONYMS: tam — unto him; uvāca — said; hṛṣīkeśaḥ — the master of the senses, Kṛṣṇa; prahasan — smiling; iva — like that; bhārata — O Dhṛtarāṣṭra, descendant of Bharata; senayoḥ — of the armies; ubhayoḥ — of both parties; madhye — between; viṣīdantam — unto the lamenting one; idam — the following; vacaḥ — words.
TRANSLATION: O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krishna, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.
The answer comes in Bhagavad Gita, the first text book of counseling. When grief ridden Arjuna approaches him he starts his counseling in happy and smiling mood.
Arjuna was grief-filled, sad and rebellious. Yet Krishna smiled. The word in the Gita is prahasann, which means to smile before laughing (beginning to laugh).
It was not a weak or full smile or a sarcastic grimace, but a very positive smile.
Half grief is over is a patient sees his doctor smiling or the relations see a smile on the face of a doctor coming out of operation theater.
In a situation like in Bhagavad Gita, it also gives confidence to the patient (Arjuna) that his doctor (Krishna) has understood his problem fully and has a solution to his problem.
Buddha is also shown smiling and Goddess Kushmanda is also shown with a smiling face.

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