For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Medical Science in Perspective of Mahatma Gandhi

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. - 09404955338, 09415777229

E-mail-dr.yadav.yogendra@gandifoundation.net; dr.yogendragandhi@gmail.com

Medical Science in Perspective of Mahatma Gandhi

Medical is a science. Mahatma Gandhi knew it very well. Actually he wanted to become a doctor. But he had gone to England for study of law because advisor of his home Mr. Mavji Dave advised for it. He suggested his family to become a prime minister of Porbandar. For it he had study of law. During discussion with Mavji Dave, he told that he could not become a doctor? So in his whole life he practice for medical and study its related books. “According to medical science, hard bedding is to be preferred. If we, therefore, adopt the practice of using hard bedding at home, we will not find it difficult to get used to the kind of bedding available in jail. A bucket of water was provided in the cell, and another bucket placed on a large tray served for a chamber-pot, for no prisoner was allowed to leave the cell at night. Everyone was provided, according to his needs, with a little soap, a homespun towel and a wooden spoon.”1

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Medical science is the concentrated essence of Black Magic. Quackery is infinitely preferable to what passes for high medical skill.”2 “What services will an army of doctors render to the country? What great things are they going to achieve by dissecting dead bodies, by killing animals, and by cramming worthless dicta for five or seven years? What will the country gain by the ability to cure physical diseases? That will simply increase our attachment to the body. We can formulate a plan for preventing the growth of disease even without the knowledge of medical science. This does not mean that there should be no doctors or physicians at all. They will always be with us. The point is that many a young man who gives an undue importance to this profession and wastes hundreds of rupees and several years qualifying for it, ought not to do so. We must know that we are not, nor are we going to be, benefited in the least by allopathic doctors.”3

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “And yet, medical science is itself based on inconclusive experiments. Most of it is quackery, as I have shown. With so much of it about, if these chapters are also reckoned as such, no great harm will be done! They have been written from a worthy motive. The intention is not to recommend what medicines to take after the onset of a disease. The more immediate purpose, rather, has been to show how sickness may be averted. A little thought will show that the steps for prevention of diseases are easy enough. No specialized knowledge is necessary for this. The difficulty lies in taking to that way of life. I have felt it proper to write on certain diseases, but only in order to show that most ailments have a common origin and, as a result, the treatment also should be common to them all. Moreover, despite all precautions, the diseases mentioned in these chapters do occasionally occur. Some remedies for these, one finds, are known to all. If my experience is added to these, nothing is likely to be lost.”4 “I was making may indeed receive a great setback, but an experiment in medical science is no affair of the spirit. The ideal of self-control and the spiritual intention behind the renunciation of milk have remained quite unaffected. With the passing of days, friends become more insistent. Dr. Mehta goes on sending telegrams. Thousands of other Indians are extremely agitated over my illness. Though Ba is not always weeping and grieving over my illness, yet I know that her soul is in torment. What should I do under such circumstances? The question can have only one answer.”5

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “And yet we are always pointing out their faults to the British and will continue to do so. This is what the Congress has mainly done. Speakers who do this are as numerous as leaves on a tree. I believe, therefore, that it will be more fruitful to try and see our own faults than to dwell on those of the British. The saying “If we are good, the entire world is good” is not to be lightly brushed aside. There is much force in it. If we remain upright, nobody will be able to corrupt us. It is a principle of medical science that so long as one’s blood is free from impurity, the poisonous air outside can have no effect on it. That is why, during an epidemic, some people are attacked while others are not. Likewise, had we been incorruptible, the East India Company could have done nothing and at the present time, too, officers like Michael O’Dwyer would have lost their jobs.”6 “Modern medical science having ignored the condition of the permanent element in the human system in diagnosing diseases has ignored the limitations that should naturally exist regarding the field of its activity. In trying to cure a body of its disease, it has totally disregarded the claims of sub-human creation. Man, instead of being lord and, therefore, protector of the lower animal kingdom, has become its tyrant and the science of medicine has been probably his chief instrument for tyranny. Vivisection in my opinion is the blackest of all the blackest crimes that man is at present committing against God and his fair creation. We should be able to refuse to live if the price of living be the torture of sentient beings. It ill becomes us to invoke the blessings in our daily prayers of God the Compassionate, if we in turn will not practice elementary compassion towards our fellow creatures.”7

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I am hoping that this college will try to remedy this grave defect and restore Ayurvedic and Unani medical science to its pristine glory. I am glad, therefore, that this institution has its Western wing. Is it too much to hope that a union of the three systems will result in a harmonious blending and in purging each of its special defects? Lastly I shall hope that this college will set its face absolutely against all quackery, Western or Eastern, refuse to recognize any but sterling worth and that it will inculcate among the students the belief that the profession of medicine is not intended for earning fat fees, but for alleviating pain and suffering. With the prayer that God may bless the labours of its founder and organizers, I formally declare the Tibbi College open.”8 “When, therefore, young Parsi men and women started taking part in non-co-operation, I was delighted. One of the intentions behind non-co-operation may be to defeat the Government, that is injustice, but I wish to impress upon the hearts of Parsi men and women the chief motive underlying it. Non-co-operation means self-purification. It is a principle of medical science that disease-carrying germs cannot infect a person whose blood is quite pure. Healthy blood itself destroys such germs. Likewise, if we ourselves become pure and just, how can anyone oppress us? It is a wrong policy to fight the oppressor. The right course is to suffer, to bear his ill-treatment without submitting to his injustice. Once we have stood such an ordeal, nobody can use violence against us.”9

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “We, food reformers, have a way of arguing somewhat loosely. I do not think our observations about the 1 of salt on the system are really accurate or in any way complete. Not those doctors are much better but there are scientists amongst them who have undoubtedly made great researches and the testimony in favour of salt as a necessary article of diet is overwhelming. As it is not producing an evil effect on me, I do not feel justified in revising the advice of those doctors for whom I have very high regard. The spiritual value of abstaining from salt is undoubtedly great and on that account I do not feel inclined to write anything to correct what I had written in my booklet on diet. But as to its effect on the body, my view is shaken. If I was young, I would enforce the desire, such as never thought out in me sic to study medical science and then support the conclusions that we hold through that science. That, however, must be left to the future reformer. Even as it is, I omit salt very often. But for religious abstention, you will have to give me more convincing arguments than you have done.”10 “If the doctor has specially recommended olive oil I do not wish to argue against it; otherwise I think it would be best to give it up. The olive oil which I get locally did not agree with me at all. I don’t mean olive oil produced in India; the country does not produce any. That which we get here is imported from Italy or Spain and it is rarely fresh. Besides, it is also found that oil and ghee do not require the same length of time for digestion and also that the processes through which they are digested are different from each other. It may, therefore, be better to discontinue olive oil. Indeed, what you say about a vaid’s drugs is true. It is a kind of quick remedy. It seems you use the language of Sidney Smith when you say that Dr. Talwalkar has not received respect “from us”. By “us” you mean both the writer and the person addressed, don’t you? Or do you mean “you”? If all you mean is that he has not received due respect from me, you have needlessly dragged in Sidney Smith. Well, I plead guilty to the charge, my reason being that I have great respect for Dr. Talwalkar himself, but not for his knowledge. I have, therefore, called Kanuga every time. Between the two I would place my life in Kanuga’s, hands. Dr. Talwalkar has gone crazy over “tubercle”, as I have over the spinning-wheel. He sees tuberculosis in everyone. And I do not know why, but I simply cannot put faith in his injections. He has read extensively in medical science but I always felt that he has not digested what he has read. What should I do in these circumstances? He was here about ten days ago, when I expressed to him my lack of faith in his approach. He promises to convert me if I give him sufficient time. But how can I spare all that time? So maybe, I ought to give up my scepticism. But the truth is that I have little faith in doctors as such, i.e., in the medical profession itself, and my distrust is daily increasing. They fail to discover the right remedies because they hunt for the laws of the body without any reference to the soul.”11

“The Bhagavad Gita traces all maladies to their one source. A physician treats different diseases with different remedies. But, on the basis of researches in medical science, physicians are now coming to the conclusion that, though diseases seem different from one another, in the final analysis they are one. The cause is one, and so is the cure. Similarly, Shri Krishna says that there is only one spiritual evil, with only one cause and one remedy. To explain this oneness, an extreme example is used. If one’s kinsmen deserve to be killed, they ought to be killed; and one must not hesitate even if the entire world were likely to be destroyed in consequence. It is not only Arjuna’s right but his duty to act in this manner. To his question whether one ought not to make an exception in regard to relations, he gets an unambiguous answer. The principle, thus, admits of no exception, just as there can be no exception in the matter of following truth, for truth is God and, if exceptions were admitted in regard to it, God also would be sometimes truth and sometimes not-truth. Thus the rule in this instance admits of no exception.”12 “I do believe that whilst the jury was right in acquitting Dr. Blazer, considered from the strictly moral point of view Dr. Blazer was wrong. My correspondent in his utilitarian zeal has overlooked the frightful consequences and implications of the doctrine he lays down. Indeed his doctrine would belie his own profession. What would he say if a young practitioner chloroformed to death a patient whom he, the junior practitioner, considered to be incurable and therefore a useless burden to society and whom another as a senior subsequently found to be a case quite capable of cure? Is it not the boast of medical science to treat no case as finally incurable? As for myself, well, I do expect my countrymen to support me when I become a useless and burdensome article, assuming of course that I shall still want to live. What is more, I have full faith in my countrymen supporting me if that event comes to pass. I wonder whether my correspondent will have all the lepers, the blind, the deaf, one fine night to be chloroformed to sweet, everlasting sleep. And yet Damien was a leper and Milton was a blind poet. Man is not all body but he is something infinitely higher.”13

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “As you have taken so much interest in my health, I thought I owed you the information of the change I have made and the reason why I will not take the medicine so thoughtfully sent by you. I wish Indian medical men would make original researches and explore the possibilities of dietetic changes. It may be that the general body of people will not take to what may be called austere ways of treating diseases, but may not poor fanatics like myself have a corner in the minds and hearts of medical men? Has Indian medicine no fresh contribution to make to the medical science? Or must it always rely upon the patented nostrums that, together with other foreign goods, are dumped down upon this unfortunate soil? Why should the West have a monopoly of making researches?”14

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “My second suggestion is that some restriction should be placed on the quantity of vegetables served. Whatever the vegetable that is cooked, the quantity per head should not exceed 10 tolas. According to medical science, more than this quantity of green vegetable is not required. I hear that attendance at prayers is again becoming thinner. It should not be necessary for me to explain at this hour of the day that no one should expect someone else to stimulate his or her interest in prayers. The interest should be felt within. As the body needs food and feels hungry, so the soul needs and feels hungry for prayer. Prayer is a form of communication with God. So long as our need for attendance at prayers is not the same as that for attendance at meals, for which we require no one to goad us, so long our faith in God is weak; or, though we subscribe to the rules of the Ashram we do not observe them and to that extent we are unfaithful to it and violate the vow of truth. Anyone who realizes this will not remain absent at prayers whether morning or evening without some strong reason.”15

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “This was also the time when my wife was expecting a baby,—a circumstance which, as I can see today, meant a double shame for me. For one thing I did not restrain myself, as I should have done whilst I was yet a student. And secondly, this carnal lust got the better of what I regarded as my duty to study, and of what was even a greater duty, my devotion to my parents, Shravana having been my ideal since childhood. Every night whilst my hands were busy massaging my father’s legs, my mind was hovering about the bed-room—and that too at a time when religion, medical science and common sense alike forbade sexual intercourse. I was always glad to be relieved from my duty, and went straight to the bed-room after doing obeisance to my father.”16 “Such cleanliness is quite essential no doubt, but Western medical science has taught us that all the functions, including a bath, can be done in bed with the strictest regard to cleanliness, and without the slightest discomfort to the patient, the bed always remaining spotlessly clean. I should regard such cleanliness as quite consistent with Vaishnavism. But my father’s insistence on leaving the bed only struck me with wonder then, and I had nothing but admiration for it.”17

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “But who is to teach this art to the people? It is a task essentially for our national workers who must go and settle in the villages in their midst, win their confidence by dint of selfless service, identify themselves with them in their joys and sorrows, make a close study of their social conditions and by degrees infect them with their courage and determination to do or die. But for silent, patient, constructive work of this kind by a band of workers who buried themselves in the villages of Bardoli, even the matchless leadership of Vallabhbhai might have proved of no avail. No general, however capable he may be, can fight a battle single-handed. He can fight only with the help of his weapons and the only true weapons of a general are not rifles and guns but loyal, disciplined soldiers, who would be content to work silently and unostentatiously and carry out his orders without demur even at the cost of their lives. The instances of oppression recounted by Mahadev Desai are by no means isolated phenomena. More probably than not, they have their replicas in other parts of the country also, only we do not know them. It is a well-established principle of medical science that all the diseases that the human system is heir to have a common origin and therefore, a common cure. Even so, beneath the surface, variety of ills which our body politic displays today, there is a fundamental unity of cause. It is that we must trace out and tackle.”18

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “My resolve to continue the experiment has been considerably strengthened by reading Dr. Muthu’s great work on tuberculosis and Colonel McCarrison’s instructive and carefully-written food primer. The former contains an illuminating chapter on diet and the latter which is dedicated to the children of India is popularly written and gives in a very concise manner all the information on nutrition that a layman need possess. It is a book which needs to be read with caution. It puts, naturally for the author but unduly according to my experiences, much emphasis on the necessity of animal food such as meat or milk. The unlimited capacity of the plant world to sustain man at his highest is a region yet unexplored by modern medical science which through force of habit pins its faith on the shambles or at least milk and its by-products. It is a duty which awaits discharge by Indian medical men whose tradition is vegetarian. The fast-developing researches about vitamins and the possibility of getting the most important of them directly from the sun, bid fair to revolutionize many of the accepted theories and beliefs propounded by the medical science about food. Be that as it may, both these authors seem to me to agree that it is best to take all foods in their natural state if we are to derive the highest benefit from them and especially if we are not to destroy some of the important vitamins they contain. They opine that fire destroys some of the vitamins and the most essential salts and vitamins are removed when the covering of wheat is removed for the attainment of extreme fineness or of rice for its policy.”19

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “The he-buffalo can be put to use in Konkan. Both the cow and her calf can be useful. Even medical science can demonstrate that the product of the buffalo cannot be put to as many uses as those of the cow. All that I wish to say is that it is our supreme dharma to protect the cow. If we on our part afford this protection to the cow, its protection will be brought about automatically. The Hindu can save the cow throughout the world. It is because we are steeped in our selfishness that we fail to see that which is there right before us. So long as we do not castrate the bull, we shall be unable to protect the cow. We could protect the cow only if we put it to full use. By regarding hide as untouchable, we encourage the untouchables to eat beef. We have lost the use of bone manure. If this is made available free of charge, all farmers will make use of it. There is not a single tannery functioning in India where only the hides of dead cows are being used. I am the only one running such a tannery. I have engaged a person in the Ashram specially to help me master this trade and am gaining proficiency in it. If the cow is to be protected, her progeny should be developed through castration. If her offspring are healthy, we can obtain a minimum of 20 seers of milk from each cow. I have seen a cow in Bangalore which yields 80 pounds of milk. But it is fed adequately. No buffalo can yield 80 pounds of milk. As many as five or six years would pass before we could obtain even 20 pounds of milk from the cows we have. Breeding bulls should be secured and taken to various breeding centers. That is the duty of the State as well.”20

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Notwithstanding Dr. McCarrison’s claim for medical science I submit that scientists have not yet explored the hidden possibilities of the innumerable seeds, leaves and fruits for giving the fullest possible nutrition to mankind. For one thing the tremendous vested interests that have grown round the belief in animal food prevent the medical profession from approaching the question with complete detachment. It almost seems to me that it is reserved for lay enthusiasts to cut their way through a mountain of difficulties even at the risk of their lives to find the truth. I should be satisfied if scientists would lend their assistance to such humble seekers. I am thankful for Dr. Mc Carrison’s more accurate statement about vitamins.”21 “Medical science is altogether imperfect and much of it is based on hypotheses. Since the body of every person is a unique organism, we do not at all exaggerate in saying that there are no remedies which are universally applicable. About Sharda, I think that we know the remedies but they have not all been tried. She also may be partly responsible for this. You should gently persuade her to try them.”22

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I was delighted to see a letter from you after so many days, I mean so many months, but I was also pained to read it. I hold that the remedies you are adopting for attaining self-realization are not right. If anybody stitches up his lips in order to observe silence, his silence would not be the real thing. One can observe silence even by cutting off one’s tongue, but that also will not be real silence. He is truly silent, who, having the capacity to speak, utters no idle word. The type of tapas which you are practicing is described by the author of the Gita as tamasi tapas, and I think that is correct. You eat uncooked flour, but that is against medical science. Shastras never enjoin anybody to do so. If you have decided to eat nothing but uncooked things, you can eat only fruits, etc. You may add milk or curds that would be complete food. I think it would be better if you gave up this unnatural effort completely.”23 “I hope you are keeping well. Know it for certain that you are making a big mistake if you are spending too much time with the doctors. Medical science is not the greatest need of the people of India or that of the world. Perhaps you are aware that common experience does not prove that people are more healthy and freer from diseases where there are many doctors. But they are healthier when they strictly observe the laws of nature, i.e., cleanliness. There was a Turkish woman here. She said that in Turkey villagers were told to shun six things and one of these was doctors. This does not mean that one should not make use of the knowledge one has obtained. It only means that it should be used very sparingly and even while doing that people should be taught to prevent diseases.”24

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “But the West attaches an exaggerated importance to prolonging man’s earthly existence. Until the man’s last moment on earth you go on drugging him even by injecting. That, I think, is inconsistent with the recklessness with which they will shed their lives in war. Though I am opposed to war, there is no doubt that war induces reckless courage. Well, without ever having to engage in a war I want to learn from you the art of throwing away my life for a noble cause. But I do not want that excessive desire of living that Western medicine seems to encourage in man even at the cost of tenderness for subhuman life. However, I like the emphasis the Western medical science places upon prevention of disease.”25 “I have your letter. What a letter! Why this despondency? You have not failed and left me. Why do you allow yourself to be affected by what other people may say? That is not scientific thinking. A good doctor should be of steadfast intellect. Hence, you will truly be an M.D. when you develop a sense of detachment and do not let yourself be affected by anything whatever. This is also something that medical science has to deal with. You will not find any cure for if in the Materia Medica. You have to discover it yourself. You are now making up for your previous inadequate study for the examination. You are surely going to study well this time. If you remain disturbed and do not concentrate on your studies like a true seeker, not only you but I too will have to lose face. Hence, prepare yourself. Get rid of the despondency and concentrate on your studies. As for a medical job, I certainly advise you to take permission to spend three months at Lahore. I am not in the least troubled that you will give up your job to gain experience in different hospitals. Let me bear the expenses whatever they may be. It will be no burden to me. After all in the end you have to work for me.”26

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I earnestly endeavour to fulfil this wish of mine and to this end I try to conserve as much of my energy as I can. Whether I succeed in my desire to live to 125 years will not depend on doctors or medical science, though in my own way I have used the aid of both a good deal. It will depend on my ability fully to translate into practice the principles of truth and ahimsa. My experience of ahimsa has taught me that even in the work of service the pace should not be too fast. I confess that in this I have been only partially successful. I cannot regulate my pace sufficiently. Old, settled habits are not overcome all at once. I know undue haste is bad; it impedes work instead of facilitating it.”27 “Medical science has been too much abused. Doctors and vaidyas have been exploiting it for fleecing their patients. In many instances they have even killed their patients. Through advertisements of drugs making false claims, people are made to pay at times even with their lives. But only the abuse needs to be stopped. From this it does not follow that medical science has been intended as a way of cheating and fleecing people.”28 Basically we can say that Mahatma Gandhi was a doctor because he practiced on it whole life.

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