The 150th
birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi starts today and gives us an opportunity to
recall the four fundamental principles that Mahatma Gandhi taught: Truth (satya),
non-violence (ahimsa), welfare of all (sarvodaya) and peaceful
protest (satyagraha). These principles can hold people together and
hence form the backbone of dharma, which means “to hold together”.
Satya means oneness in your thoughts, speech and actions. Gandhi believed that
“there is no religion higher than truth”. The Yoga-shastras as well as the Yoga
Sutras of Patanjali propagate truthfulness as one of the main components for
living a disciplined life.
Gandhi preached the concept of “experimenting with
truth”, a phrase that also formed the subtitle to his autobiography. He taught
how to learn through trial and error, often admitting to mistakes and changing
one’s behavior accordingly. Non observance of truthfulness is the root cause of
any corruption in the society.
Ahimsa teaches us
the path of non violence. It should be practiced not only in actions but also
in thoughts and speech. Ahimsa also forms the basis of Jainism and
Hinduism as a religion.
The third
principle is sarvodaya or welfare for all. The basic fundamental
teaching of the Vedic science is also based on sarvodaya. It talks
about “bahujan hitay-bahujan sukhay” - “the good of the masses, the
benefit of the masses”. Gandhi found in it a composite concept of social
welfare and economic justice. Any action, which is aimed and seems to be aimed
at the welfare of the people will be accepted by all.
Satyagraha is
protest based on satya (path of truthfulness) and non violence and
includes peaceful demonstrations, prolonged fasts etc. i.e. a non
violence-based civil resistance. It is based on the law of persistence.
Satyagraha is formed by two Sanskrit words satya (truth) and agraha
(holding firmly to or firmness). Gandhi said “Satyagraha is a weapon of the
strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatsoever; and it ever
insists upon truth”. He said that if you are firm in the truth in the long run
you are going to win.
These are
basic principles that doctors should also follow as doctors not only need to be
scientifically and legally correct, they also should be morally and ethically
correct. Non-maleficence (do no harm) and beneficence (do good) are the pillars
of medical ethics
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
President
Elect Confederation of Medical Associations in
Asia and Oceania (CMAAO)
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President Heart Care Foundation of India
Immediate Past National President IMA
No comments:
Post a Comment