Nirbal ke Bal Ram – Random thoughts on Gandhi
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
Refer : August 14th The Hindu Open page article:A nation that bypassed its father
Gandhi (1928 Young India) said, the seven sins are “Politics without principles , Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality,Science without humanity,Worship without renunciation of ego” .
2011 August 15th. Eighty three years have passed. These sins have multiplied.Nonviolence, truth, Brahmacharya and abolishion of liquor were parts of national health and reconstruction programmes. Gandhi’s development programmes depended on his greater and broader vision of selfsufficient healthy environment . Gandhi knew spiritual health leads to intellectual mental and physical health
England learned vegetarianism from India . From the discussions and journals of the Vegetarian society of England Gandhi learned its intellectual and mental implications and that taste does not depend on tongue but on mind and intellect . Man has to protect living things and nature for healthy co-existence and survival of all races .Food is for health ,not for mere pleasure . By experimenting Gandhi understood ,How right his mother had been about vegetarianism and how observance made him spiritually,intellectually ,mentally and physically happy and healthy
India had discovered Ahimsa in prehistorical past .It is not just a spiritual religious observance .India’s economy , cleanliness of towns,villages,streams and atmosphere,health , food sufficiency ,protection of natural environment , depended on a lifestyle of vegetarianism . The first planned cities during Indus Valley Harappan times had battle grounds, homes of leathergood professionals,scavengers ,hospitals outside city . Not just for aesthetics but for preventing environmental pollution .In modern cities wastes from hospitals, butcher shops and houses are disposed on roads,rivers ,streams everywhere ; rats ,pests ,bacteria multiply and diseases spread . Successive Governments have tried to stop this and protect health of people but failed. Because,we are increasing pollution, changing lifestyles, and constructing multispeciality hospitals for preventing diseases in an undernourished population . Modern medicine tells us red meat is responsible for several types of cancers and high cholesterol .How much state and individual money is spent on prevention and cure of these diseases?.
Working in the Calicut Medical College Blood Bank Immunohaematology services I came across the problem of HIV –AIDS control programmes. Promoting condoms is indirectly promoting lack of emotional controls .Even animals do have control and mate only while they are in oestrous in seasons. Man is the only animal showing unnatural sex desires .For population control we are promoting abortions which is akin to killing an innocent life and this has become an excuse to kill girl fetuses . Everyone wants free unlimited enjoyment of all physical pleasures at the cost of destroying all values and humanitarian feelings .Householders had laws for controlling desires through vows like Upavasa and brahmacharya during certain days and periods of life.We find all around violent assaults on women and property .We have forgotten how to control our desires.
Brain and neuronal channels work properly ,when we abstain from liquor and drugs .Responsible householders,citizens and national leaders should think of the grassroot level reasons . Psychiatric problems , depression, rapes, crimes increase when citizens have no mental or intellectual control over desires.People say Gandhi is a misfit in today’s world. Why is Gandhi considered misfit ? we want to indulge in sense pleasures, violence,eating flesh , drinking alcohol .Gandhi is an obstacle for these.The personal needs should give way to national goals to grasp the value of Gandhi’s message and foresight ,which unfortunately does not happen . A good leader wants only the best for the entire world . Ultimately people will recognize their folly , realize Gandhi was the only “ Fit” leader for world’s peaceful co-existence . Democracy is not just for making demands . Valuebased education is essential in all strata of society for any nation. Gandhi’s Bhajan music therapy controlled passions during Freedom struggle. Neuroendocrine secretions, increase in T lymphocytes during music sessions make us resistant to pathogens .Simple life ,high thinking, clean environment , agrarian food sufficiency for nutritional requirements –Can we ever achieve these ?.”Nirbal ke Bal Ram . Eswar Allah there naam sab ko sanmathi de bhagavan” The prayer comes out of every heart concerned about the future of the world .
snalapat@yahoo.com
Saturday, September 10, 2011
SUSRUTHA’S OATH AND MODERN DOCTOR’S DILEMMA
SUSRUTHA’S OATH AND MODERN DOCTOR’S DILEMMA
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
Susruthasamhitha says that the Guru should obtain an oath from the disciple before he takes the student as a Medical student.The oath is for sacrificing all his Kaama (likes and dislikes and dualities) greed,anger,ego ,envy ,violence,untruth and dishonesty ,and all his base qualities ,laziness and artificial acting of greatness . Only after testing the Disciple for these and getting an oath from him/her the Guru gives Upanayana to Medical Profession. This was the Forerunner of Hippocratus oath.
Thatho agnim thri:parineeyaagnisaakshikam sishyam brooyaath
Kaamakrodhalobhamohamaanaahamkaarershyo paarushya
Paisoonyaanrithaalasyayasasyaanihithwaa neechanakharomanaa
Suchinaa kashaayavaasasaa satyavratha brahmacharya abhivaadana
Thathparenaavasyam bhavithavyam madanumathasthaanaanagamanasayanaasana
Bhojanaadhyayanaparenabhoothwaa mathpriyahitheshuvarthithavyam
Athonyathaa the varthamaanasaadharmo bhavathi
Aphalaa cha vidyaa na cha praakaasyam praapnothi (Soothrasthaanam 2.6.Susrutha)
According to Hassler who translated Susruthasamhitha to Latin ,Susrutha composed his great work in 1000 BC .When Hippocratus borrowed the code of conduct for the doctors ,he was echoing Susrutha for the welfare of the patient so that the patient is not harmed by the Doctor’s personal dualities,greed,and other base qualities .
When I read D.Balasubramanian’s article in the Hindu ,I thought of this Sloka in Susruthasamhitha. (The Hindu 8.9.2011) He speaks of two hypothetical scenarios studied by a team of sociologists and doctors (Archives of Internal Medicine April 2011)
Scenario 1:- Imagine that the patient/doctor has colon cancer .Two surgical options are available .Both has 80 % success .One had the remaining 20 % persons developing side effects (4 %) and death(16%).
The second has no complications,but failure was 20 % and for every 100 persons operated 20 die.Of 500 doctors interviewed ,242 only responded showing the lack of involvement of the doctors,or their lack of opinion .Majority of doctors chose the second option for themselves. 60 of 242 chose surgery 1 for their patients.So ,there is a dichotomy for what they choose for themselves and for the patients.
Scenario 2: - Imagine a flu epidemic.There are two options. Mode one is simple hospitalization ,bed rest for one week .No intervention at all. There is 10 % mortality. Second is with a newly introduced Immunoglobulin . The adverse effect with Influenza virus is cut to half(only 5 % mortality) but complications due to Immunoglobulin like paralysis (4 %)and death (1%).
1600 Primary care clinicians were asked which options they will take for themselves and for their patients. Of 1600 only 698 responded. 440 doctors opted for hospitalization and bedrest for one week (without new immunoglobulin) for themselves.258 prefered immunoglobulin for themselves. 386 doctors preferred Immunoglobulin treatment for their patients.
In both the scenarios the doctors preferred the option for a high mortality rate for themselves ,to avoid adverse reactions affecting their day to day activity and quality life. But to their patients ,they preferred the other option .
Reasons: 1.Less harm to patients is interpreted as less mortality rate .This may be to prevent law suits.A defensive method
2.Psychological cognitive bias . People when they recommend for others focus on single dimension alternative ,that is typically easier to defend.
3 .For themselves they have several biases coming into play.One is the feeling that intervention to prevent harm is worse than the harm caused by illness itself.(Betrayal aversion)
4.Omission Bias: Harm resulting from an act is worse than not doing it at all. Omission better than commission.Both 3 and 4 are cognitive biases and of the 3 cognitive biases the safe and easy defense is applied for patients(whom they consider as the other) while they take the other option for themselves.
5.It is probable that the doctor thinks that the life of patient is saved first ,with complications,then later on the complication treated slowly with other methods in time .This saves the life.
The dilemma of the doctor is shown perfectly well in the article.The question is if one prefer for oneself is a quality life , and prefer mortality to an invalid existence- why doesn’t one think that the patient also may prefer such a life ,rather than an invalid disabled life at mercy of others? The duty of doctors thus is to inform the complications and the different options-not only in allopathy but in other modes of indigenous treatments available –and respect the patient’s preference for selecting his/her own options for treatment. If this method is adopted and all the different modalities of western and Indegenous medicines are made available in the same Hospital (institution) the integration of Medicine will be perfected and made more efficacious.This is what I envisage when I link and integrate Allopathy,Yoga,Ayuveda through the golden link of Music Therapy .The Integrated Medical practice has to come up for solving several dilemmas the doctors ,patients and the nation face for cost-effective quality healthcare . Integrated Medicine does not mean one branch of Medicine adopting the style and theory and practice of another branch,but it is a client-centered approach where all modalities of treatment are presented to client and his/her relatives under one single roof in a co-operative manner .Therefore there is no need for any branch of Medical knowledge to loose its originality or to fear that the other may take away its practice.This dilemma of practitioners is the main stumbling block at present in integrating the Medical practices efficaciously at present . The nation needs an efficient and cost-effective integrated approach for healthcare and for that each branch of medicine-both western and indigenous-should contribute in co-operative way . The first step for a healthy nation is having best nutrition (for which promotion of agricultural practices according to the geographic peculiarities is essential)for all its children and adults,best education (free education at least upto the higher secondary level) ,the awareness of Nationalaty and a good citizen’s duty along with rights,and a job for at least one member of the family .The other things are control of alcohol,drug intake and other social evils so that the brain of every citizen function normally .What we think we say and do and become. Therefore a healthy body and a healthy mind is needed for healthy intellectual life of the nation.Without these preliminary requirements ,mere multispeciality hospitals as business centers which can cater to only the needs of the wealthy people cannot protect the national health or its health policy.
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
Susruthasamhitha says that the Guru should obtain an oath from the disciple before he takes the student as a Medical student.The oath is for sacrificing all his Kaama (likes and dislikes and dualities) greed,anger,ego ,envy ,violence,untruth and dishonesty ,and all his base qualities ,laziness and artificial acting of greatness . Only after testing the Disciple for these and getting an oath from him/her the Guru gives Upanayana to Medical Profession. This was the Forerunner of Hippocratus oath.
Thatho agnim thri:parineeyaagnisaakshikam sishyam brooyaath
Kaamakrodhalobhamohamaanaahamkaarershyo paarushya
Paisoonyaanrithaalasyayasasyaanihithwaa neechanakharomanaa
Suchinaa kashaayavaasasaa satyavratha brahmacharya abhivaadana
Thathparenaavasyam bhavithavyam madanumathasthaanaanagamanasayanaasana
Bhojanaadhyayanaparenabhoothwaa mathpriyahitheshuvarthithavyam
Athonyathaa the varthamaanasaadharmo bhavathi
Aphalaa cha vidyaa na cha praakaasyam praapnothi (Soothrasthaanam 2.6.Susrutha)
According to Hassler who translated Susruthasamhitha to Latin ,Susrutha composed his great work in 1000 BC .When Hippocratus borrowed the code of conduct for the doctors ,he was echoing Susrutha for the welfare of the patient so that the patient is not harmed by the Doctor’s personal dualities,greed,and other base qualities .
When I read D.Balasubramanian’s article in the Hindu ,I thought of this Sloka in Susruthasamhitha. (The Hindu 8.9.2011) He speaks of two hypothetical scenarios studied by a team of sociologists and doctors (Archives of Internal Medicine April 2011)
Scenario 1:- Imagine that the patient/doctor has colon cancer .Two surgical options are available .Both has 80 % success .One had the remaining 20 % persons developing side effects (4 %) and death(16%).
The second has no complications,but failure was 20 % and for every 100 persons operated 20 die.Of 500 doctors interviewed ,242 only responded showing the lack of involvement of the doctors,or their lack of opinion .Majority of doctors chose the second option for themselves. 60 of 242 chose surgery 1 for their patients.So ,there is a dichotomy for what they choose for themselves and for the patients.
Scenario 2: - Imagine a flu epidemic.There are two options. Mode one is simple hospitalization ,bed rest for one week .No intervention at all. There is 10 % mortality. Second is with a newly introduced Immunoglobulin . The adverse effect with Influenza virus is cut to half(only 5 % mortality) but complications due to Immunoglobulin like paralysis (4 %)and death (1%).
1600 Primary care clinicians were asked which options they will take for themselves and for their patients. Of 1600 only 698 responded. 440 doctors opted for hospitalization and bedrest for one week (without new immunoglobulin) for themselves.258 prefered immunoglobulin for themselves. 386 doctors preferred Immunoglobulin treatment for their patients.
In both the scenarios the doctors preferred the option for a high mortality rate for themselves ,to avoid adverse reactions affecting their day to day activity and quality life. But to their patients ,they preferred the other option .
Reasons: 1.Less harm to patients is interpreted as less mortality rate .This may be to prevent law suits.A defensive method
2.Psychological cognitive bias . People when they recommend for others focus on single dimension alternative ,that is typically easier to defend.
3 .For themselves they have several biases coming into play.One is the feeling that intervention to prevent harm is worse than the harm caused by illness itself.(Betrayal aversion)
4.Omission Bias: Harm resulting from an act is worse than not doing it at all. Omission better than commission.Both 3 and 4 are cognitive biases and of the 3 cognitive biases the safe and easy defense is applied for patients(whom they consider as the other) while they take the other option for themselves.
5.It is probable that the doctor thinks that the life of patient is saved first ,with complications,then later on the complication treated slowly with other methods in time .This saves the life.
The dilemma of the doctor is shown perfectly well in the article.The question is if one prefer for oneself is a quality life , and prefer mortality to an invalid existence- why doesn’t one think that the patient also may prefer such a life ,rather than an invalid disabled life at mercy of others? The duty of doctors thus is to inform the complications and the different options-not only in allopathy but in other modes of indigenous treatments available –and respect the patient’s preference for selecting his/her own options for treatment. If this method is adopted and all the different modalities of western and Indegenous medicines are made available in the same Hospital (institution) the integration of Medicine will be perfected and made more efficacious.This is what I envisage when I link and integrate Allopathy,Yoga,Ayuveda through the golden link of Music Therapy .The Integrated Medical practice has to come up for solving several dilemmas the doctors ,patients and the nation face for cost-effective quality healthcare . Integrated Medicine does not mean one branch of Medicine adopting the style and theory and practice of another branch,but it is a client-centered approach where all modalities of treatment are presented to client and his/her relatives under one single roof in a co-operative manner .Therefore there is no need for any branch of Medical knowledge to loose its originality or to fear that the other may take away its practice.This dilemma of practitioners is the main stumbling block at present in integrating the Medical practices efficaciously at present . The nation needs an efficient and cost-effective integrated approach for healthcare and for that each branch of medicine-both western and indigenous-should contribute in co-operative way . The first step for a healthy nation is having best nutrition (for which promotion of agricultural practices according to the geographic peculiarities is essential)for all its children and adults,best education (free education at least upto the higher secondary level) ,the awareness of Nationalaty and a good citizen’s duty along with rights,and a job for at least one member of the family .The other things are control of alcohol,drug intake and other social evils so that the brain of every citizen function normally .What we think we say and do and become. Therefore a healthy body and a healthy mind is needed for healthy intellectual life of the nation.Without these preliminary requirements ,mere multispeciality hospitals as business centers which can cater to only the needs of the wealthy people cannot protect the national health or its health policy.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
In Today's Hindu I read a very important article :
Results of Sreeramachandra uty project by S.Thanikachalam
8080 persons from Chennai ,Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram studied.Age distribution 25-65 yrs
Males 56 % Females 44%.Maximum income per month :Rs 15,000/month
Between April 2008 and June 2011.
Urban Semiurban Rural
Smoking 25.8% 23.8% 38.3%
BMI (>25) 47.92 53.63 28.34
Body fat %(>25) 81.1 85.44 64.91
Anxiety 20.2 17.5 11.2
Depression 15.3 14.8 11.8
Stress 21.2 20.6 13.7
Qbnormal ECG 31.7 18.8 22.8
Diabetes 19.32 17.82 12.05
High BP (over 140/90 mmHg) 18.64 18.1 15.24
Lipid abnormalities 72.21 61.26 61.17
1/3rd of population has conditions conducive to development of vascular illness-stroke,heart attack,peripheral vascular disease,among others.
Normal reference value for vascular aging among Indians was much higher than Caucasianpopulation.Aging was advanced by at least 10 years ,in comparison with Caucasians(Carmel Mary McEniery ,Uty of Cambridge).Vascular age of 30 yr old Indian is comparable to that of a 40 yr old Caucasian in UK .
S.Ramaswamy,Director of Vasomeditech: This increases the risk of vascular incident at an earlier age than other Ethnic groups .The incidence in semiurban and rural areas also is steadily raising.(Higher fasting glucose ,a prediabetic state )was higher in rural(12.02)and semiurban(9.6) than urban.Glucose tolerance levels also were higher in these groups.This is a disturbing finding because they too are slowly developing the same conditions that exist in Urban life style population.The deficiency of Homocysteine,Folic acid,high oxidative stress,indicate the disease is just round the corner according to Dr Thanikachalam.The team is trying for collaboration to explore possibilities of prevention.They have experiments with Sidha medicine in 73 patients for Diabetes for 6 months and reported that the medicines were effective and safe.(Ref The Hindu .Vascular aging value High in India .Sep 6.2011.page 9)
I think this is a good turn of events.Because the integration of Sidha with Allopathy is a new step taken.
About prevention of stress,stressrelated diseases and the role of Music therapy and Ayurveda in it I had already experiments and proved its efficacy and as a way of life this is a safe and efficient procedure for both prevention and cure of many disorders of the 21st century .
I had done an epidemiological study of Cancer of Digestive tract-Colon ,rectum and stomach- in Calicut Medical college ,and found that the Northern Kerala population has a tendency of developing cancer stomach at an earlier age and the food style is responsible for this .
The Caucasian by nature is a nonvegetarian.But a tropical animal like an Indian is not so.The changing life style from vegetarianism to nonvegetarianism is one factor for development of digestive system cancer as well as high lipid and cholesterol levels and atherosclerosis and the related vascular diseases.
The reason for vegetarianism in India is not religious ,but geographical. If we look at the tropical Indian bear ,it is brown or black and is mainly fruitivorous,eats fruits,nuts ,honey,and if at all a tiny animal once in a way.But a Polar bear ,its cousin ,is very white and is a carnivorous animal and feeds on big seals and this is because of the lack of vegetation in the poles .The tropical monsoons,the abundant green vegetation,forest foods and grains made the early ancestor of tropical man a herbivorous animal and eating meat (especially red meat) was almost unnecessary and not resorted to. This life style changed when we came across other cultures from the more northern latitudes . The Indian ancestral genes which were not acclematised to such life style is showing its lack of adjustment by being prone to diseases at an early age.
The reduction of stress by Music,indigenous way of living ,and food habits and herbal products will help India in overcoming many health problems which are causing high cost for its exchecquer.
Results of Sreeramachandra uty project by S.Thanikachalam
8080 persons from Chennai ,Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram studied.Age distribution 25-65 yrs
Males 56 % Females 44%.Maximum income per month :Rs 15,000/month
Between April 2008 and June 2011.
Urban Semiurban Rural
Smoking 25.8% 23.8% 38.3%
BMI (>25) 47.92 53.63 28.34
Body fat %(>25) 81.1 85.44 64.91
Anxiety 20.2 17.5 11.2
Depression 15.3 14.8 11.8
Stress 21.2 20.6 13.7
Qbnormal ECG 31.7 18.8 22.8
Diabetes 19.32 17.82 12.05
High BP (over 140/90 mmHg) 18.64 18.1 15.24
Lipid abnormalities 72.21 61.26 61.17
1/3rd of population has conditions conducive to development of vascular illness-stroke,heart attack,peripheral vascular disease,among others.
Normal reference value for vascular aging among Indians was much higher than Caucasianpopulation.Aging was advanced by at least 10 years ,in comparison with Caucasians(Carmel Mary McEniery ,Uty of Cambridge).Vascular age of 30 yr old Indian is comparable to that of a 40 yr old Caucasian in UK .
S.Ramaswamy,Director of Vasomeditech: This increases the risk of vascular incident at an earlier age than other Ethnic groups .The incidence in semiurban and rural areas also is steadily raising.(Higher fasting glucose ,a prediabetic state )was higher in rural(12.02)and semiurban(9.6) than urban.Glucose tolerance levels also were higher in these groups.This is a disturbing finding because they too are slowly developing the same conditions that exist in Urban life style population.The deficiency of Homocysteine,Folic acid,high oxidative stress,indicate the disease is just round the corner according to Dr Thanikachalam.The team is trying for collaboration to explore possibilities of prevention.They have experiments with Sidha medicine in 73 patients for Diabetes for 6 months and reported that the medicines were effective and safe.(Ref The Hindu .Vascular aging value High in India .Sep 6.2011.page 9)
I think this is a good turn of events.Because the integration of Sidha with Allopathy is a new step taken.
About prevention of stress,stressrelated diseases and the role of Music therapy and Ayurveda in it I had already experiments and proved its efficacy and as a way of life this is a safe and efficient procedure for both prevention and cure of many disorders of the 21st century .
I had done an epidemiological study of Cancer of Digestive tract-Colon ,rectum and stomach- in Calicut Medical college ,and found that the Northern Kerala population has a tendency of developing cancer stomach at an earlier age and the food style is responsible for this .
The Caucasian by nature is a nonvegetarian.But a tropical animal like an Indian is not so.The changing life style from vegetarianism to nonvegetarianism is one factor for development of digestive system cancer as well as high lipid and cholesterol levels and atherosclerosis and the related vascular diseases.
The reason for vegetarianism in India is not religious ,but geographical. If we look at the tropical Indian bear ,it is brown or black and is mainly fruitivorous,eats fruits,nuts ,honey,and if at all a tiny animal once in a way.But a Polar bear ,its cousin ,is very white and is a carnivorous animal and feeds on big seals and this is because of the lack of vegetation in the poles .The tropical monsoons,the abundant green vegetation,forest foods and grains made the early ancestor of tropical man a herbivorous animal and eating meat (especially red meat) was almost unnecessary and not resorted to. This life style changed when we came across other cultures from the more northern latitudes . The Indian ancestral genes which were not acclematised to such life style is showing its lack of adjustment by being prone to diseases at an early age.
The reduction of stress by Music,indigenous way of living ,and food habits and herbal products will help India in overcoming many health problems which are causing high cost for its exchecquer.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Regulating Medical education
Regulating Medical education
Efficiency and quality are difficult to be defined just by the presence of an individual or an institution in spacetime,unless in the long run ,time proves the outcome of the individual/institution .We can try to quantify by hours of work done by each individual,output from each institution,yet the number of hours does not always depict quality.The same hours of work,in the same discipline done by two different individuals need not be of same quality and efficiency .The workload of teachers of higher education (as shown in page 64. Item 7.57 ,UGC committee 1992 ) is as follows:
ACTIVITY AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK
PROFESSOR READER LECTURER
Teaching 6 8 10
Tests/exam 1 1 1
Tutorial 1 2 4
preparation 6 8 10
research 14 14 10
reading/administration 12 7 5
total 40 40 40
In the case of a pathologist,who is also a medical teacher ,and whose time of work is from 8 AM to 4 Pm (1 hour lunch) the weekly 56 hours have to be divided also for diagnostic,consultancy,discussion and lab work .Therefore ,what we do is ,make an arrangement of division of labour and rotate between the teaching,diagnostics work. Suppose there are only two professors in a pathology department and one of them refuses to take up any teaching /administrative work and opts only for consultancy and diagnostic work what measures should an administration take ? If the other professor is willing to take up entire responsibility of teaching,research and administration,curriculum planning,syllabus and the paraphernalia associated with it ,the administration should be happy to have avoided a strife .But in fact ,a responsible administration should make the professor see that teaching also is part of the work of a professor of an institution of high excellance.
Even when there is division of labour between the professors,they can consult each other regarding difficult problems of diagnostic work, exchange ideas on clinical and clinicopathological work and keep the excellance of the institution high .Quality in administration,in teaching and in consultancy and administration is the total personality development each pathologist strives for and each institution should look for .But usually ,the administration fails to see such overall total quality/personality development .CCharaka ,an ancient Indian medical personality defined human personality development in 16 different ways,7 of them sathwik,6 of them Rajasic and 3 of them thamasic.
Sathwik personality is Kalyanagunavisishta (full of auspicious qualities) rajasic personality is Roshagunavisishta( full of anger which if turned against injustice will help nation,but if directed to persons/group of persons will lead to cruelty and injustice ,wars),and thamasic personality is mohagunavisistha( with quality of desire) and not fit for intellectual quality work. The upward mobility from thamasic to rajasik and from the rajasik to sathwik is possible by proper guidance and guru tries to upgrade the shishya on this ladder of excellance .
1Sathwik :-
A .Brahmasathwa-intellectual,ethical,scientific,philosophic,aesthetic,truthful,control senses ,unselfish
B .Aryasathwa –visionary ,ability to grasp meaning of science,hospitality,controlled senses and unselfish
3 Aindrasathwa-powerful and enthusiastic speech,memory and ability to foresee
4.Yaamyasathwa –mental power to suffer any hardship,to do work without tiredness,memory power
5.Varunasathwa- Calm,bold,do work without getting tired,give to deserving people liberally,love to play in watersports
6 Kouberathathwa-Interested in worldly life,marriage,makes money and lives comfortably,does both religious and secular duties
7.Gandharvasathwa- music,dance,drama,history,storytelling,smell(perfumes),flowers,luxurious ornaments and cloths,life with beautiful women
2 Rajasic –
A Asura(also called daanava since they give alms readily and are having dharmikarosha ).Mahabali rose from this to Aindrasathwa ,and Prahlada to Brahmasathwa ,and Viswamithra first to Aindra,then in order to Arya and Brahmasathwa .
B raakshasa(selfish desires make them do sins)
C paisacha ( heinous crimes are done by them due to intense worldly desires)
D Sarpa( stoop to any low level and do any heinous crime for selfish motives)
E praitya –unfulfilled desires make them wander along thinking of the desires
F saakuna – same type ,the desirous mind flows like a bird
3 Thamasic :
A Paasavan – eat,drink,sleep and makes children .No other interest .Just like an animal( pasu)
B Maatsyan – coward,idiotic,love flattery,fickle,love travels in water /ocean
C Vaanaspatyan- lazy,sits without doing anything ,no intellectual or physical activity at all
At present education is becoming a consumer cost and resultconscious commodity ,especially at higher levels,where student fees have become exorbitant ,and the education is perceived as a provider of services and benefits .This on one hand prevents the equitybased services and benefits to all citizens alike ,and a double type of organizations /institutions are emerging ,along with different type of citizens at two ends of the spectrum . Nation struggles to overcome this and by a series of efforts/discussions come up with solutions to combat them.The success indicator of a nation/institution/individual is a personal/practice development plan and finding out solutions to all problems . The UGC committee report of 1992 had suggested a few solutions (in which the then Finance minister Sri Manmohan singh and HRD minister Arjun Singh had contributed their ideas too) and the current bill in the parliament has to be seen as an extension of the recommendations of that committee .Instead ,most of the states and institutions and individuals view it as if it is a new bill (probably because they are ignorant of the recommendations of 1992 committee ).
1.THE HINDU REPORT :-
The Hindu on Saturday July 10th 2010 (Anand Zachariah,George Mathew,M.S.Seshadri,Sara Bhattacharji,K.S.Jacob) says the complexity of issues related to education in medical and health disciplines demands a separate regulatory authority.The opportunity to recreate the regulatory council for the education of health professionals is historic in its possibilities and potential to address the crisis facing healthcare in India.According to them,the council should address issues like lack of access to basic healthcare due to inadequate numbers,the skewed distribution of healthcare providers,ensuring propriety,increasing efficiency,providing greater synergy among professionals.The new national council for higher education and research (NCHER)bill seeks to include medical education under purview of the proposed council.The regulations suggested are:
Facilitation,coordination,setting of policy by NCHER
Health council to consider syllabi,curricula and exit examinations
The local universities to regulate academic institutions
How NCHER bill address specific requirements of education of professionals not clear.
Concurrently the Government has proposed formation of National council for human resources in health(NCHRH) as a single apex body to oversee all education and practice related to health.It is apparent that there will be an overlap of functions between the two authorities.
A separate regulatory authority for health education and practice is mandatory due to :-
1 Links to health care delivery: Need to provide health service to society demands setting up a system which will sequentially address the following issues.Selection of students from local areas,sufficient training in primary and secondary care hospitals,generalist postgraduate training opportunities,for example family medicine,career opportunities in areas of need and continuing educational support .Such a system will mandate close linkage between educational institutions and healthcare delivery systems.
2.Apprenticeship model of training: At end of training the health professional should get a high level of expertise.Considerable clinical skill,under the teachers in a appropriate service environment.Such a model allows narrowing the divide between teaching,research and practice.It facilitates holistic approach to learning and captures the essence of yashpal committee report .
3.Regulating health professionals : Education and practice of medicine is a continuum and the regulation of education has to be coupled with that of practice.UK first established a dual control(General medical council and Postgraduate medical education and training board) and discarded the model and reverted to single body for oversight of both functions.
The authors ,who are professors of Christian medical college Vellore shows concerns over some certain highlighted issues .Their concerns are :
1.Relationship between health disciplines :The proposed regulatory council includes medical,nursing,dental,pharmacy,paramedical,public health and rehabilitation services.A single regulatory body /authority will result in greater co-ordination and collaboration among these disciplines.
2.Composition of the authority:The new authority should be composed of diverse stakeholders,including patient advocacy groups and social scientists ,in addition to distinguished medical and health professionals so that overall healthcare needs and not narrow professional interests are the focus.The council should not be too small so that the power is concentrated in a few hands.Nor should it be too large so that it is divisive and inefficient
3 Independent accreditation and regulatory functions.MCI handled accreditation and regulation and this diluted and weakened both processes.The authority should have two independent divisions. One accrediting education and the other oversee practice.Lack of self-regulation in past,argues for a watchdog to ensure nd enforce adequate technical and ethical standards in medical practice
4.Model of accreditation: Should focus more on describing broad principles and standards that focus on outcome.This will allow for flexibility ,innovation while maintaining basic standards.A credible and transparent system of assessment ,which balances routine self-report and review with monitoring and on-site inspections needs to be designed.
5 Relationship with government: Need for autonomy and independence of the body is crucial .The authors think that subjecting it to health ministry approval limits its role and delays decisionmaking.Government should have power to provide overall policy directions to the body and the body should serve as consultive body to ministry.
6 Relation with hospitals,universities,specialist associations: Propose a clinical stream which is under specialist associations .AAnd an academic stream upgraded to research degree who remain within universities ,while the clinical stream after degree go for practice.The authors think this will avoid conflicts existing between MCI ,and National board ,increase the number of centers for training clinicians and raise standard of research.
7 Single window: Previous regulatory procedures included separate and independent inspections by MCI ,university and state governments.This resulted in a many-tiered system that lead to huge delays in obtaining approvals,and a single window for accreditation and approval of education is necessary
8 Standardised exams and validation: A common licensing examination for undergraduates and postgraduates to maintain uniformity of defined technical standards.All health professionals should maintain standards of professional knowledge and skill through regular re-validation.System of continued education and credits and regular reappraisals is mandatory
9 Transparency and accountability: To public scrutiny .A record of excellance in one;s field should be the basis of selection to proposed council .The authors propose the Nolan principles-selflessness,integrity,objectivity,accountability,openness,honesty and leadership-to form standards for holding public office and in public service.
The knowledge commission and Yash pal committee which examined higher education identified major lacunae and suggested an overhaul of the system.There is need for broad-based holistic education and dialogues between diverse disciplines and centers of learning .The regulatory councils chould act as facilitator and catalyst for creation of knowledge for society.
NCHER can foster an interdisciplinary research and identify national priorities.It can empower institutions with a proven record to enhance their autonomy as institutes of national importance.NCHRH can serve the goal of improving education in health sciences.It must ensure that education in health science fulfil a social mandate.It should provide a vision to improve healthcare delivery .
2 WHAT I UNDERSTAND :-
What I understand is that NCHER focus on policy and regulation and not on funds .Funding will be with a separate corpus with norms for block grants.The UGC,All India council for technological education and national council for teachers education will be thus replaced .By establishment of NCHRH as single apex body to oversee all education MCI will loose the power of control over medical colleges.The objections are raised already by Kerala,West Bengal and Tamil Nad governments as violation of federal principles.
What clauses do they object ?
1.A new university will get authorization by the NCHER .This is for quality control.
2.VCs appointed from a national registry.NCHER will suggest 5 nominees from a national list .There will be a collagium to recommend names of eligible persons.Quality of the person is to be considered .
Due to objectionfrom the three state Governments ,the reconsideration was done and the second clause on VC appointment was changed .But the first clause for quality was not changed.
Tamil nad Government has moved the supreme court for changing a single national common entrance test .
A national exit examination (screening test)for students graduating from Indian medical colleges is proposed.A national court for accreditation and national medical education and training board that regulate and accredit medical colleges ,prepare a list of the entire health sector,and regulate all streams of education in health sector is to be set up.
In an attempt to make India a global knowledge hub,a draft law for “innovation universities” made and these universities enjoy total autonomy in appointments ,collaborations,and resource generation.The 14 universities selected will be not-for-profit legal entity.Eacg university will be built around a theme or subject ,these universities will enjoy total autonomy in appointments ,nomenclature of degrees.Open to all nationals ,genders,ethnicity,disability ,provided at least half the students admitted to any programme are Indians.There is no mention of caste based reservation.(HRD Ministry) Each university has to endorse a university endowment fund but have the freedom to receive donations ,contributions from alumni,and other incomes as long as 80 % of the annual income is used for development of research and infrastructure.The university will be a not-for-profit legal entity and no part of the surplus revenue will be invested for any purpose except the growth and development of the university.
Many existing universities could be truly innovative if only the autonomy in the draft bill was extended to them.The clarity of seat allotment,reservation for Indian students have to be more transparent.Innovation universities are private institutions.HRD ministry can give grants to develop them .In that case the President will be the visitor and government would have a larger role in their functioning.
Each uty has an independent board of governors empowered to discharge all functions by enacting statutes to provide its administration,management,and operation.The board will delegate powers to academic board,headed by VC that will perform financial,management and administrative functions including appointments and collaborations .The board of studies will specify programmes of study.The faculty of knowledge,manpower assessment to study and assess through research trends in emerging fields of knowledge of relevance and the research council that will interface with the research funding organizations ,industry and civil society .
The government will protect maintain and utilize the publicly funded intellectual property for which the title vests with it and it can give directions for prohibiting or restricting the publication of information to any person or entity which it considers necessary in the interests of the country.The income or royalty arising out of publicly funded intellectual property will be shared by the innovation university with the intellectual property creator in accordance with the peovision.
The 14 universities are expected to set benchmarks for excellance for other institutions of higher learning through”pathbreaking research and promoting synergies between teaching and research”.Each university will stand for humanism ,tolerance,reason and adventure of ideas and search for truth.”It is expected to attempt to provide a path for humankind free from deprivation and seek to understand and appreciate nature and its laws for the well-being of the people.
3.A FEW CLAUSES IN THE UGC COMMITTEE REPORT 1992 (DOCUMENT FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION,PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION ) :-
This I quote for clarifying the point that what the nation suggests is to solve the problem for all ,in an amicable way and if there are any loopholes for injustice,we as citizens can point out them and try to help solve them .
Page 2 item 7:- Augmenting resources (private institutions are encouraged by this) given in detail in chapter 9
Item 9 mentions increasing the resources to meet requirements
Item 10 financial assistance to needy students –frees tudentships,scholarships,student loan for equity in education in detail in chapter 10.
Page 4 .1.11.1 :- At present state funds are mainly for salary,allowances(nonplan) and campus expenditure ,local ,municipal services and not much for plan,academic excellance etc
Page 5:- Two problems noticed:- functional autonomy is not possible in financial decisions by universities .The dual administration and dual funding in some universities ,delay in getting them in time etc
Page 6 has given a few INTERIM Recommendations :- To generate a fund ,keep it as separate fund for achieving objectives of university .To give incentive grants –as matching grants-by UGC to institutions who generate own resources.And 100 % income tax concession on all endowments/contributions and to donors sponsoring selected research projects
Page 7 : Increase the burden on those who can afford financially and from that income provide for poorer sections- tuition waivers,scholarships,etc .
Essential maintainance,development requirements from state itself.Accountability in terms of quality,cost consciousness,costeffectiveness to be achieved.
The committee e noticed that nonplan expenditure is always more than plan expenditure .The universities are struggling to maintain the expenditure and fail to achieve quality.They should be designed to promote quality,efficiency,autonomy ,accountability and relevance.
Equity and social justice (page 17):- Direct support to poor deserving students –Indian situation _1.We have to preserve and promote our national integration
2.Achievement and quality performance comparable to international standards
3 Equity and social justice to poor should be safeguarded
The newly emerging beneficiaries from secondary education should be able to afford an access to higher education (the vulnerable group).
Page 18:- Universities are an
1 Essential input for meeting manpower requirements for national development
2 Critical input to ensure social justice and equity ,upward mobility
3 Input for improving quality of life –higher level of integrated knowledge available to widen base of population and preserving national and cultural heritage
Page 23 :- Scholarships and fellowships should not be reappropriated to any other head of account .Plan fund should not be diverted to nonplan fund either should be added to this clause,I think.
Page 27 : 4.15.The existing system had lead to practices in which an efficient institution is punished and inefficient institution is securing more grants and support .Therefore,universities(as well as people) become more inactive ,no new programmes,no internal generation of funds,no costeffective efficient management –the committee noted .
Page 32:- What have the universities to say ?
1.Delay in sanctioning schemes
2.Irregular release of funds
3.Inadequate delegation of powers I implementation of plan schemes
Cha 5 is on negotiated funding based on last years expenditure
Chapter 6 is proposal for future funds .What are these proposals in 1992 ?
6.5.1:- An internal academic audit system to determine needs and scope for new courses of study(page 39)
6.9.1V- Specified discretionary fund with the VC for promoting excellance in teaching and research without incurring any recurrent liability .(page 42).This is the reason why the quality of VC was specified by the new innovation bill I guess.If the VC is not of excellent character ,what happened with IMC will be repeated and money /funds may be misused .
Chapter 7 page 47 .:- 7.9 Presentation of students in terms of income groups (so that all weaker sections get access to higher education) is a welcome decision.For this allows analysis of income pattern of parents and based on this the support system to be collated and indicated (7.8)
It is interesting that the committee had anticipated resistance from the university community ,in advance (7.16 page 49) and says as in any departure from the past practice this is usual .
Nature of activity of uty/student strength/student-teacher ratio-teaching-nonteaching staff ratio ,stage of development of institution all considered in giving grants .
page 67 says Indian uty system is based on uty system of Britain . I beg to defer ,since it is the other way round .The value system of Indian university system (palkalai kazhakam /gurukula) was the model for British universities of early period.Indian UGC act was formed in 1956 but in UK the till 1980 no audit standards were established .(8.6) and after 1979 election a regulation of public life resulted in an academic standard group,an academic audit group and a university funding council (the successor of UGC )in UK .Joining with UGC ,in consultation with it,CVCP thematically based efficiency studies were designed (8.6.2) and in 1983 the standard of British university were fixed.
Selfdirected exercise by each individual/institution is the best internal audit (I call this a personal and practice development plan ) and for external audit a Guru/a sabha /samithi (committee/councils in modern sense) are set up. Accreditation and audit unit should have in its purview study alone and research is not under its control in UK .page 72(8.14)mentions performance indicators given by Mridula Sharma.
Chapter 9 is on income generation and utilization:-
As I have described the ancient university system of India(see history of Valabhi/Nalanda and other universities of vedic and Budhist India ) primary ,secondary education and care(patient care) should be entirely free or in certain cases with minimum fee /concession.The tertiary higher education and tertiary care institutions can collect fee from the rich and give free service to poor .
Beneficiaries from the first two sectors(students/patients) should get equal access to all sectors is the idea behind this suggestion .How is this possible ?One has to make internal and external audit for efficiency and excellance at each step .
What the 1992 report suggest is given below for generation of income by universities(page 78)
1.Fee from higher income student population .Keep this as a separate fund .Utilise for deserving low income students who prove merit in the previous sectors .Also for betterment of quality of institution to reach international standards
2.Rent out facilities like auditoria,classrooms,computer service,playground,guesthouse,hostels,lawn,mess etc
3 Individual departments to design programmes and short term courses of study.Thus generate resources without adverse impact on main academic activities.These units can retain a substantial amount so earned to support their main academic activities
4.Endowments,contributions,large investments,for academic and infrastructural development
5 Sponsors for research .May be state or central government agencies,public or private sectors,industries etc .These projects proposals should incorporate allocations for reimbursements for staff ,facilities and infrastructure support .Use for strengtheneing infrastructure.
6. Consultative mechanisms: Institute and members as a whole (not management alone) –faculty,students,alumni,nonteaching staff have representatives in this
7.Incentives to inculcate and implement measures –UGC support,encouragements as positive incentives and grants (page 79)
Page 80 (9.23) asks to have a separate fund for keeping high standards of excellance .
9.24 A part of it kept for building up a corpus fund ,the interest of which is for support activities of uty
9.25 a part goes to needy students and for academic improvement
Chapter 10 enumerates the existing financial assistance for scheduled cates/scheduled tribes .
10.2 : Department of welfare gives tuition fee and living expenses for scheduled catses/tribes .But there is delay in getting the amount .UGC suggests the advance grant to be given to uty in April itself (calculating the previous year expenditure and adjusting the amount at final stage of payment ) so that students and uty will have no problem.
10.3 .JRF has a 10 % cut off marks for SC/ST students
Also through open selection without qualifying examination they are being enrolled for higher education seats.
10.4 Bookbanks are functioning for the weaker sections of students
10.12. Of the weaker sections 10 % of entire student population of uty is from economically poor weaker sections.The rest study with concessional rates based on merit .
10.13 Freeship schemes
10.14 existing loan schemes
The newly generated fund is for reducing the financial restraint on state and public fund and make the stronger(financially) sections of society share the funds for the sake of weaker sections and make equity come true from a national point of view .
This is what I have understood ,being part and parcel of Government medical college (teaching and practice )and part of a private institution of excellance which take money from rich and try to help the poor/deserving .The problems of public sector funding and the problem of equity when privatization of higher education happens ,are thus taken into account by the UGC committee (which report I read in 1995 ) and I think it is these recommendations which the current Loksabha has passed as the bills ,as mentioned in the Hindu .
The aims are thus understood.To put it into practice all citizens,all institutions should be willing . It is not laws or committees and recommendations which we lack.It is the right attitude of national integration,and of duty consciousness,a right attitude to achieve personal,institutional,professional and national excellance as a responsible human being which each and every one of us should cultivate.No political party,no religion ,no other sectarian interests or personal selfish interests should bar that ultimate aim of a purely sathwik personality of excellance as Charaka ,our ideal Vaidya justly pointed out.Make us achieve that upward journey to excellance as a single united nation .
Efficiency and quality are difficult to be defined just by the presence of an individual or an institution in spacetime,unless in the long run ,time proves the outcome of the individual/institution .We can try to quantify by hours of work done by each individual,output from each institution,yet the number of hours does not always depict quality.The same hours of work,in the same discipline done by two different individuals need not be of same quality and efficiency .The workload of teachers of higher education (as shown in page 64. Item 7.57 ,UGC committee 1992 ) is as follows:
ACTIVITY AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK
PROFESSOR READER LECTURER
Teaching 6 8 10
Tests/exam 1 1 1
Tutorial 1 2 4
preparation 6 8 10
research 14 14 10
reading/administration 12 7 5
total 40 40 40
In the case of a pathologist,who is also a medical teacher ,and whose time of work is from 8 AM to 4 Pm (1 hour lunch) the weekly 56 hours have to be divided also for diagnostic,consultancy,discussion and lab work .Therefore ,what we do is ,make an arrangement of division of labour and rotate between the teaching,diagnostics work. Suppose there are only two professors in a pathology department and one of them refuses to take up any teaching /administrative work and opts only for consultancy and diagnostic work what measures should an administration take ? If the other professor is willing to take up entire responsibility of teaching,research and administration,curriculum planning,syllabus and the paraphernalia associated with it ,the administration should be happy to have avoided a strife .But in fact ,a responsible administration should make the professor see that teaching also is part of the work of a professor of an institution of high excellance.
Even when there is division of labour between the professors,they can consult each other regarding difficult problems of diagnostic work, exchange ideas on clinical and clinicopathological work and keep the excellance of the institution high .Quality in administration,in teaching and in consultancy and administration is the total personality development each pathologist strives for and each institution should look for .But usually ,the administration fails to see such overall total quality/personality development .CCharaka ,an ancient Indian medical personality defined human personality development in 16 different ways,7 of them sathwik,6 of them Rajasic and 3 of them thamasic.
Sathwik personality is Kalyanagunavisishta (full of auspicious qualities) rajasic personality is Roshagunavisishta( full of anger which if turned against injustice will help nation,but if directed to persons/group of persons will lead to cruelty and injustice ,wars),and thamasic personality is mohagunavisistha( with quality of desire) and not fit for intellectual quality work. The upward mobility from thamasic to rajasik and from the rajasik to sathwik is possible by proper guidance and guru tries to upgrade the shishya on this ladder of excellance .
1Sathwik :-
A .Brahmasathwa-intellectual,ethical,scientific,philosophic,aesthetic,truthful,control senses ,unselfish
B .Aryasathwa –visionary ,ability to grasp meaning of science,hospitality,controlled senses and unselfish
3 Aindrasathwa-powerful and enthusiastic speech,memory and ability to foresee
4.Yaamyasathwa –mental power to suffer any hardship,to do work without tiredness,memory power
5.Varunasathwa- Calm,bold,do work without getting tired,give to deserving people liberally,love to play in watersports
6 Kouberathathwa-Interested in worldly life,marriage,makes money and lives comfortably,does both religious and secular duties
7.Gandharvasathwa- music,dance,drama,history,storytelling,smell(perfumes),flowers,luxurious ornaments and cloths,life with beautiful women
2 Rajasic –
A Asura(also called daanava since they give alms readily and are having dharmikarosha ).Mahabali rose from this to Aindrasathwa ,and Prahlada to Brahmasathwa ,and Viswamithra first to Aindra,then in order to Arya and Brahmasathwa .
B raakshasa(selfish desires make them do sins)
C paisacha ( heinous crimes are done by them due to intense worldly desires)
D Sarpa( stoop to any low level and do any heinous crime for selfish motives)
E praitya –unfulfilled desires make them wander along thinking of the desires
F saakuna – same type ,the desirous mind flows like a bird
3 Thamasic :
A Paasavan – eat,drink,sleep and makes children .No other interest .Just like an animal( pasu)
B Maatsyan – coward,idiotic,love flattery,fickle,love travels in water /ocean
C Vaanaspatyan- lazy,sits without doing anything ,no intellectual or physical activity at all
At present education is becoming a consumer cost and resultconscious commodity ,especially at higher levels,where student fees have become exorbitant ,and the education is perceived as a provider of services and benefits .This on one hand prevents the equitybased services and benefits to all citizens alike ,and a double type of organizations /institutions are emerging ,along with different type of citizens at two ends of the spectrum . Nation struggles to overcome this and by a series of efforts/discussions come up with solutions to combat them.The success indicator of a nation/institution/individual is a personal/practice development plan and finding out solutions to all problems . The UGC committee report of 1992 had suggested a few solutions (in which the then Finance minister Sri Manmohan singh and HRD minister Arjun Singh had contributed their ideas too) and the current bill in the parliament has to be seen as an extension of the recommendations of that committee .Instead ,most of the states and institutions and individuals view it as if it is a new bill (probably because they are ignorant of the recommendations of 1992 committee ).
1.THE HINDU REPORT :-
The Hindu on Saturday July 10th 2010 (Anand Zachariah,George Mathew,M.S.Seshadri,Sara Bhattacharji,K.S.Jacob) says the complexity of issues related to education in medical and health disciplines demands a separate regulatory authority.The opportunity to recreate the regulatory council for the education of health professionals is historic in its possibilities and potential to address the crisis facing healthcare in India.According to them,the council should address issues like lack of access to basic healthcare due to inadequate numbers,the skewed distribution of healthcare providers,ensuring propriety,increasing efficiency,providing greater synergy among professionals.The new national council for higher education and research (NCHER)bill seeks to include medical education under purview of the proposed council.The regulations suggested are:
Facilitation,coordination,setting of policy by NCHER
Health council to consider syllabi,curricula and exit examinations
The local universities to regulate academic institutions
How NCHER bill address specific requirements of education of professionals not clear.
Concurrently the Government has proposed formation of National council for human resources in health(NCHRH) as a single apex body to oversee all education and practice related to health.It is apparent that there will be an overlap of functions between the two authorities.
A separate regulatory authority for health education and practice is mandatory due to :-
1 Links to health care delivery: Need to provide health service to society demands setting up a system which will sequentially address the following issues.Selection of students from local areas,sufficient training in primary and secondary care hospitals,generalist postgraduate training opportunities,for example family medicine,career opportunities in areas of need and continuing educational support .Such a system will mandate close linkage between educational institutions and healthcare delivery systems.
2.Apprenticeship model of training: At end of training the health professional should get a high level of expertise.Considerable clinical skill,under the teachers in a appropriate service environment.Such a model allows narrowing the divide between teaching,research and practice.It facilitates holistic approach to learning and captures the essence of yashpal committee report .
3.Regulating health professionals : Education and practice of medicine is a continuum and the regulation of education has to be coupled with that of practice.UK first established a dual control(General medical council and Postgraduate medical education and training board) and discarded the model and reverted to single body for oversight of both functions.
The authors ,who are professors of Christian medical college Vellore shows concerns over some certain highlighted issues .Their concerns are :
1.Relationship between health disciplines :The proposed regulatory council includes medical,nursing,dental,pharmacy,paramedical,public health and rehabilitation services.A single regulatory body /authority will result in greater co-ordination and collaboration among these disciplines.
2.Composition of the authority:The new authority should be composed of diverse stakeholders,including patient advocacy groups and social scientists ,in addition to distinguished medical and health professionals so that overall healthcare needs and not narrow professional interests are the focus.The council should not be too small so that the power is concentrated in a few hands.Nor should it be too large so that it is divisive and inefficient
3 Independent accreditation and regulatory functions.MCI handled accreditation and regulation and this diluted and weakened both processes.The authority should have two independent divisions. One accrediting education and the other oversee practice.Lack of self-regulation in past,argues for a watchdog to ensure nd enforce adequate technical and ethical standards in medical practice
4.Model of accreditation: Should focus more on describing broad principles and standards that focus on outcome.This will allow for flexibility ,innovation while maintaining basic standards.A credible and transparent system of assessment ,which balances routine self-report and review with monitoring and on-site inspections needs to be designed.
5 Relationship with government: Need for autonomy and independence of the body is crucial .The authors think that subjecting it to health ministry approval limits its role and delays decisionmaking.Government should have power to provide overall policy directions to the body and the body should serve as consultive body to ministry.
6 Relation with hospitals,universities,specialist associations: Propose a clinical stream which is under specialist associations .AAnd an academic stream upgraded to research degree who remain within universities ,while the clinical stream after degree go for practice.The authors think this will avoid conflicts existing between MCI ,and National board ,increase the number of centers for training clinicians and raise standard of research.
7 Single window: Previous regulatory procedures included separate and independent inspections by MCI ,university and state governments.This resulted in a many-tiered system that lead to huge delays in obtaining approvals,and a single window for accreditation and approval of education is necessary
8 Standardised exams and validation: A common licensing examination for undergraduates and postgraduates to maintain uniformity of defined technical standards.All health professionals should maintain standards of professional knowledge and skill through regular re-validation.System of continued education and credits and regular reappraisals is mandatory
9 Transparency and accountability: To public scrutiny .A record of excellance in one;s field should be the basis of selection to proposed council .The authors propose the Nolan principles-selflessness,integrity,objectivity,accountability,openness,honesty and leadership-to form standards for holding public office and in public service.
The knowledge commission and Yash pal committee which examined higher education identified major lacunae and suggested an overhaul of the system.There is need for broad-based holistic education and dialogues between diverse disciplines and centers of learning .The regulatory councils chould act as facilitator and catalyst for creation of knowledge for society.
NCHER can foster an interdisciplinary research and identify national priorities.It can empower institutions with a proven record to enhance their autonomy as institutes of national importance.NCHRH can serve the goal of improving education in health sciences.It must ensure that education in health science fulfil a social mandate.It should provide a vision to improve healthcare delivery .
2 WHAT I UNDERSTAND :-
What I understand is that NCHER focus on policy and regulation and not on funds .Funding will be with a separate corpus with norms for block grants.The UGC,All India council for technological education and national council for teachers education will be thus replaced .By establishment of NCHRH as single apex body to oversee all education MCI will loose the power of control over medical colleges.The objections are raised already by Kerala,West Bengal and Tamil Nad governments as violation of federal principles.
What clauses do they object ?
1.A new university will get authorization by the NCHER .This is for quality control.
2.VCs appointed from a national registry.NCHER will suggest 5 nominees from a national list .There will be a collagium to recommend names of eligible persons.Quality of the person is to be considered .
Due to objectionfrom the three state Governments ,the reconsideration was done and the second clause on VC appointment was changed .But the first clause for quality was not changed.
Tamil nad Government has moved the supreme court for changing a single national common entrance test .
A national exit examination (screening test)for students graduating from Indian medical colleges is proposed.A national court for accreditation and national medical education and training board that regulate and accredit medical colleges ,prepare a list of the entire health sector,and regulate all streams of education in health sector is to be set up.
In an attempt to make India a global knowledge hub,a draft law for “innovation universities” made and these universities enjoy total autonomy in appointments ,collaborations,and resource generation.The 14 universities selected will be not-for-profit legal entity.Eacg university will be built around a theme or subject ,these universities will enjoy total autonomy in appointments ,nomenclature of degrees.Open to all nationals ,genders,ethnicity,disability ,provided at least half the students admitted to any programme are Indians.There is no mention of caste based reservation.(HRD Ministry) Each university has to endorse a university endowment fund but have the freedom to receive donations ,contributions from alumni,and other incomes as long as 80 % of the annual income is used for development of research and infrastructure.The university will be a not-for-profit legal entity and no part of the surplus revenue will be invested for any purpose except the growth and development of the university.
Many existing universities could be truly innovative if only the autonomy in the draft bill was extended to them.The clarity of seat allotment,reservation for Indian students have to be more transparent.Innovation universities are private institutions.HRD ministry can give grants to develop them .In that case the President will be the visitor and government would have a larger role in their functioning.
Each uty has an independent board of governors empowered to discharge all functions by enacting statutes to provide its administration,management,and operation.The board will delegate powers to academic board,headed by VC that will perform financial,management and administrative functions including appointments and collaborations .The board of studies will specify programmes of study.The faculty of knowledge,manpower assessment to study and assess through research trends in emerging fields of knowledge of relevance and the research council that will interface with the research funding organizations ,industry and civil society .
The government will protect maintain and utilize the publicly funded intellectual property for which the title vests with it and it can give directions for prohibiting or restricting the publication of information to any person or entity which it considers necessary in the interests of the country.The income or royalty arising out of publicly funded intellectual property will be shared by the innovation university with the intellectual property creator in accordance with the peovision.
The 14 universities are expected to set benchmarks for excellance for other institutions of higher learning through”pathbreaking research and promoting synergies between teaching and research”.Each university will stand for humanism ,tolerance,reason and adventure of ideas and search for truth.”It is expected to attempt to provide a path for humankind free from deprivation and seek to understand and appreciate nature and its laws for the well-being of the people.
3.A FEW CLAUSES IN THE UGC COMMITTEE REPORT 1992 (DOCUMENT FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION,PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION ) :-
This I quote for clarifying the point that what the nation suggests is to solve the problem for all ,in an amicable way and if there are any loopholes for injustice,we as citizens can point out them and try to help solve them .
Page 2 item 7:- Augmenting resources (private institutions are encouraged by this) given in detail in chapter 9
Item 9 mentions increasing the resources to meet requirements
Item 10 financial assistance to needy students –frees tudentships,scholarships,student loan for equity in education in detail in chapter 10.
Page 4 .1.11.1 :- At present state funds are mainly for salary,allowances(nonplan) and campus expenditure ,local ,municipal services and not much for plan,academic excellance etc
Page 5:- Two problems noticed:- functional autonomy is not possible in financial decisions by universities .The dual administration and dual funding in some universities ,delay in getting them in time etc
Page 6 has given a few INTERIM Recommendations :- To generate a fund ,keep it as separate fund for achieving objectives of university .To give incentive grants –as matching grants-by UGC to institutions who generate own resources.And 100 % income tax concession on all endowments/contributions and to donors sponsoring selected research projects
Page 7 : Increase the burden on those who can afford financially and from that income provide for poorer sections- tuition waivers,scholarships,etc .
Essential maintainance,development requirements from state itself.Accountability in terms of quality,cost consciousness,costeffectiveness to be achieved.
The committee e noticed that nonplan expenditure is always more than plan expenditure .The universities are struggling to maintain the expenditure and fail to achieve quality.They should be designed to promote quality,efficiency,autonomy ,accountability and relevance.
Equity and social justice (page 17):- Direct support to poor deserving students –Indian situation _1.We have to preserve and promote our national integration
2.Achievement and quality performance comparable to international standards
3 Equity and social justice to poor should be safeguarded
The newly emerging beneficiaries from secondary education should be able to afford an access to higher education (the vulnerable group).
Page 18:- Universities are an
1 Essential input for meeting manpower requirements for national development
2 Critical input to ensure social justice and equity ,upward mobility
3 Input for improving quality of life –higher level of integrated knowledge available to widen base of population and preserving national and cultural heritage
Page 23 :- Scholarships and fellowships should not be reappropriated to any other head of account .Plan fund should not be diverted to nonplan fund either should be added to this clause,I think.
Page 27 : 4.15.The existing system had lead to practices in which an efficient institution is punished and inefficient institution is securing more grants and support .Therefore,universities(as well as people) become more inactive ,no new programmes,no internal generation of funds,no costeffective efficient management –the committee noted .
Page 32:- What have the universities to say ?
1.Delay in sanctioning schemes
2.Irregular release of funds
3.Inadequate delegation of powers I implementation of plan schemes
Cha 5 is on negotiated funding based on last years expenditure
Chapter 6 is proposal for future funds .What are these proposals in 1992 ?
6.5.1:- An internal academic audit system to determine needs and scope for new courses of study(page 39)
6.9.1V- Specified discretionary fund with the VC for promoting excellance in teaching and research without incurring any recurrent liability .(page 42).This is the reason why the quality of VC was specified by the new innovation bill I guess.If the VC is not of excellent character ,what happened with IMC will be repeated and money /funds may be misused .
Chapter 7 page 47 .:- 7.9 Presentation of students in terms of income groups (so that all weaker sections get access to higher education) is a welcome decision.For this allows analysis of income pattern of parents and based on this the support system to be collated and indicated (7.8)
It is interesting that the committee had anticipated resistance from the university community ,in advance (7.16 page 49) and says as in any departure from the past practice this is usual .
Nature of activity of uty/student strength/student-teacher ratio-teaching-nonteaching staff ratio ,stage of development of institution all considered in giving grants .
page 67 says Indian uty system is based on uty system of Britain . I beg to defer ,since it is the other way round .The value system of Indian university system (palkalai kazhakam /gurukula) was the model for British universities of early period.Indian UGC act was formed in 1956 but in UK the till 1980 no audit standards were established .(8.6) and after 1979 election a regulation of public life resulted in an academic standard group,an academic audit group and a university funding council (the successor of UGC )in UK .Joining with UGC ,in consultation with it,CVCP thematically based efficiency studies were designed (8.6.2) and in 1983 the standard of British university were fixed.
Selfdirected exercise by each individual/institution is the best internal audit (I call this a personal and practice development plan ) and for external audit a Guru/a sabha /samithi (committee/councils in modern sense) are set up. Accreditation and audit unit should have in its purview study alone and research is not under its control in UK .page 72(8.14)mentions performance indicators given by Mridula Sharma.
Chapter 9 is on income generation and utilization:-
As I have described the ancient university system of India(see history of Valabhi/Nalanda and other universities of vedic and Budhist India ) primary ,secondary education and care(patient care) should be entirely free or in certain cases with minimum fee /concession.The tertiary higher education and tertiary care institutions can collect fee from the rich and give free service to poor .
Beneficiaries from the first two sectors(students/patients) should get equal access to all sectors is the idea behind this suggestion .How is this possible ?One has to make internal and external audit for efficiency and excellance at each step .
What the 1992 report suggest is given below for generation of income by universities(page 78)
1.Fee from higher income student population .Keep this as a separate fund .Utilise for deserving low income students who prove merit in the previous sectors .Also for betterment of quality of institution to reach international standards
2.Rent out facilities like auditoria,classrooms,computer service,playground,guesthouse,hostels,lawn,mess etc
3 Individual departments to design programmes and short term courses of study.Thus generate resources without adverse impact on main academic activities.These units can retain a substantial amount so earned to support their main academic activities
4.Endowments,contributions,large investments,for academic and infrastructural development
5 Sponsors for research .May be state or central government agencies,public or private sectors,industries etc .These projects proposals should incorporate allocations for reimbursements for staff ,facilities and infrastructure support .Use for strengtheneing infrastructure.
6. Consultative mechanisms: Institute and members as a whole (not management alone) –faculty,students,alumni,nonteaching staff have representatives in this
7.Incentives to inculcate and implement measures –UGC support,encouragements as positive incentives and grants (page 79)
Page 80 (9.23) asks to have a separate fund for keeping high standards of excellance .
9.24 A part of it kept for building up a corpus fund ,the interest of which is for support activities of uty
9.25 a part goes to needy students and for academic improvement
Chapter 10 enumerates the existing financial assistance for scheduled cates/scheduled tribes .
10.2 : Department of welfare gives tuition fee and living expenses for scheduled catses/tribes .But there is delay in getting the amount .UGC suggests the advance grant to be given to uty in April itself (calculating the previous year expenditure and adjusting the amount at final stage of payment ) so that students and uty will have no problem.
10.3 .JRF has a 10 % cut off marks for SC/ST students
Also through open selection without qualifying examination they are being enrolled for higher education seats.
10.4 Bookbanks are functioning for the weaker sections of students
10.12. Of the weaker sections 10 % of entire student population of uty is from economically poor weaker sections.The rest study with concessional rates based on merit .
10.13 Freeship schemes
10.14 existing loan schemes
The newly generated fund is for reducing the financial restraint on state and public fund and make the stronger(financially) sections of society share the funds for the sake of weaker sections and make equity come true from a national point of view .
This is what I have understood ,being part and parcel of Government medical college (teaching and practice )and part of a private institution of excellance which take money from rich and try to help the poor/deserving .The problems of public sector funding and the problem of equity when privatization of higher education happens ,are thus taken into account by the UGC committee (which report I read in 1995 ) and I think it is these recommendations which the current Loksabha has passed as the bills ,as mentioned in the Hindu .
The aims are thus understood.To put it into practice all citizens,all institutions should be willing . It is not laws or committees and recommendations which we lack.It is the right attitude of national integration,and of duty consciousness,a right attitude to achieve personal,institutional,professional and national excellance as a responsible human being which each and every one of us should cultivate.No political party,no religion ,no other sectarian interests or personal selfish interests should bar that ultimate aim of a purely sathwik personality of excellance as Charaka ,our ideal Vaidya justly pointed out.Make us achieve that upward journey to excellance as a single united nation .
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
MUSIC AND MEDICINE
MUSIC AND MEDICINE
Power of Music in life and health
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
The humanity of music ,value of musical expression ,contemplation and thought and transcendence of idea as expressed through sound are concepts that regrettably continue to decline in modern world.Music has become isolated from other areas of life,and is no longer considered as a necessary aspect of intellectual development .Just as in Medicine,the music world has evolved into a society of specialists who know more and more of less and less.The musical education has become increasingly specialized and limited .This educative system produce competent instrumentalists and vocalists who possess little knowledge or fundamental ability to delve into,comprehend ,and express essential substance of music.The student is advanced technically in executions essential for a professional musician just as a medical graduate .Nature of music is inexpressible except through sound.From this deep mystery of essential truth,current practice is moving away ,focusing more on the separation of physical dexterity to produce sound on an instrument/or vocalist and dissecting the music structurally and harmonically without concentrating on the active participation or experience of its power on living beings.This is because of overwhelming growth of music as a business in present times ,and I equate this to Medical business.Both requires a new impetus to its goals and deep understanding and an integration of these two disciplines brings about precisely this .
Listening with open ears and mind/heart is the first prerequisite for experiencing the power of music.This in Yoga is called Sradha .One can understand the depth of musical knowledge that allow oneself to enjoy it,(a thoughtful introspection called Manana) and also the intention and originality of the performer ,his/her approach to music and audience and how it is manifested in oneself and on audience behavior as a group/community and how the effect is sustained by the sradha of the listener as well as the genuineness of the perfomer/listener interrelationships.This observance of a public performance,and the continued criticism of effect of it on audience and also an appreciation of its various aspects for social benefit constitute a music therapy programme .Thus it is practical as well as contemplative ,insightful,and is not just a personal reaction to a sense object and its experience but an attempt to enter the heart of music through the performer and his/her motivations and the effects it produce on his/her listeners for improving physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health .The obvious,the literal and readily understandable or graspable things are seen by all.But to have insight into the hidden meanings ,the rare jewels of musical repertoire regarding musical experience is not in the realm of all.It needs to be addressed in communications(books/speeches/media etc) so that everyone can at least have a basic knowledge of the depth of music in everyday life and in health .There are no two aspects of being human that are not related to one another.Therefore music and its relation to every other science and art of the land and to human life and health is essential for this integrated approach .Logic is inseparable from intuition,rational thought is inseparable from emotion ,because our brain is structured in that way .Music has both logic,science,and emotion .If we separate these elements in music ,what we are left with ,is not music but just a collection of sounds .That is why I said in the beginning that the music education for technical excellance is leading us to that realm in modern times.The principle of integration is there in acoustic balance to peace talks .While I was a 14 year old girl ,I was interested in the Four-Power summit meet for global peace and my elders were surprised that I am so much involved in a global peace treaty at that age .(One of my aunt’s letters –My aunt is the Padmabhooshan/Saraswathy Sammaan author BalamaniAmma-expresses that wonder).Probably when a seed germinates its inner qualities are expressed even in the sprout stage to show how it would develop into a tree .Intellectual and emotional balance is the homeostatic thermostatic balance we need as global citizens to enjoy a peaceful co-existence .Music as Saamaveda ,gives us this power .
Music is a cultural field .The interest in music is a dynamic changing phenomenon from infancy to old age as a continuous spectrum of superimposed tastes that develop right from the cradle/or womb .It is our daily life .
Many performers and celebrities are having mood changes and eccentricities recorded by several critics.Glenn Gould’s eccentricities and extraordinary performances are recorded by his fan and critic Edward Said .An intelligent audience cannot be satisfied by a loud and fast playing alone.There is a virtuosity of style,where we feel intellect as well as taste allied with formidable technical command.Premodern music festivals were symbolic rituals connected with agriculture,religion,astronomical events and modern music festivals like Markazhi festival in Chennai is commemoration of of such prehistoric,historic,premodern concepts of humanity .They have now become great commercial and tourist attractions too.Our dim anthropological past and the dazzling modern /postmodern existence are interwoven in such events .The tourists get a musical experience as well as a taste of our anthropological past and an enhanced enjoyment different from the routine life .The aesthetics of such music festivals is due to this integrated past and present in our memory and experience .Bits of original inspired and rare music making adds flavor to the experience for an intelligent and highly attentive listener .The festival music is for the multitudes,in a charming aesthetic locale with an extraordinary past ,at a specific astronomical moment for harvest,agriculture and devotional thanksgiving and worship of the divine.At festivals music is a part of the occasion and a long series of performances at a festival is like many records we have in our library –available,accessible,ready for instant use ..And it is very rare to find teaching and singing rare and new compositions in a festival season except by a few singers .Original performers have to include usual numbers for mass satisfaction and then ,include a rare and lost Krithi /composition for protection of that composition/krithi and for satisfaction of the ardent listeners .Only then we can do justice to the discipline of music ,apart from getting wide publicity as a performer .
New York has a Mozart festival. Guruvayur has a Chembai festival. Thiruvananthapuram has a Swathi festival. And Ohio and Thiruvayyar has Tyaagaraja festivals and so on . The Markazhi festival is different because it is a festival in the name of Markazhi (an astronomical and seasonal event in the subcontinent ) and not in the name of any individual singer .All singers are respected ,celebrated alike in Markazhi festival as torch-bearers of the discipline of Music .It is music that is celebrated and the astronomical anthropological season and hence is beyond regional histories and individual histories,yet encompassing both . This makes Markazhi festival different .This is so in the case of Navarathri festivals also .Each singer ,each piece of music is a homage or offering made by each singer at the feet of the divine Brahma and his consort/sakthi the Goddess of Vidya .There is a sort of Apourusheya vedic aspect in such a festival .In a festival in the name of a single singer this apourusheya vedic aspect may not there .But ,the shishya and the followers of each living Guru starts such festivals in honour of their Guru so that the style of the Guruparampara is not lost to posterity .
The language of music is expressive but mysteriously elusive too.Musicological analysis can describe changes in life,in styles,features of form,tonal palette ,logic and harmonic language of the work as well as the effects it produced for a better life and health .The connections in a meaningful way of the singers and listener’s lives and musical enjoyments and its sustained relationship only can explain the effect of music on a listener .It is a synthesis of all these .
We all know that Mozart’s six children survived infancy and that Mozart was always in precarious health and died in 36th year ,an exhausted ,pathetic man of acute rheumatic fever in December 1791 .Wearing sumptuous and gaudy clothings,inventing Adam as one of his wedding-document names,and a marked antipathy to France and an irrational fear of trumpets till age nine ,Mozart’s life history is far from any therapeutic effect on himself or his family .His relation with son Leopold was of disquieting emotions,rebellious and trying to conceal the wounds and powerless to change the course (pp193 Edward W.Said).
Recently I studied a case study on Beethoven by Dr John Dagga(1933),a musical genius but a man who suffered wide mood swings ranging to maniac-depressive and is said to be bad in everything except music.He was deaf(from 27th year),had continuous chronic intermittent fevers,recurrent musculoskeletal pains and in 1821 he had jaundice .In 1823 he had pain in eyes and photophobia,in 1825 haemoptysis and epistaxis and weight loss.He had severe inflammation of bowels ,a gross abdominal swelling developed with jaundice,pleurisy and diarrohoea and a marked leg swelling .Four time his abdomen was tapped and 12 litres of fluids removed each time.The fluid leaked continuously after one such occasion and Beethoven remembered “Moses striking a rock with staff to bring forth water “.Coma supervened later and even in the last stages of his illness he continued to compose his 10th symphony and he had no tremor in writing out the composition (though the writing trailed off at the right of the page).That is he had no hepatic neuroenchephalopathy .
The deafness was due to otosclerosis.He had skin abnormalities of his face which was scarred and coloured and simulated leprosy and atrophic discrete and confluent scars and tissue thickenings around lose and lower face.Dr Johann Wagner and the famous Dr Rokitansky performed postmortem on Beethoven.Despite the paracentesis there was four quarts of turbid fluid remaining in abdomen.The gut was dilated and gas filled.Liver shrunken half its size and beset with nodules ,the size of a bean.Spleen was double the normal size ,gall bladder filled with gravelly sediments.Pancreas indurated .
Macronodular cirrhosis,splenomegaly and portal tension will be the diagnosis in modern terminology .The guts were dilated due to ileus.Auditory nerves atrophied ,shriveled .But when grave reopened in 1863 and 1888 and skull got in several pieces,the temporal bones were missing .
Interpretations of chronic ulcerative colitis and chronic active hepatitis,sclerosing cholangitis,and an autoimmune multisystem disorder and an abuse of alcohol and Syphilis as cause of his multisystem involvement and autoimmune disease as well as deafness was interpreted .Mozart had a pauper’s funeral but Beethoven had a pompous showy one in Vienna .Beethoven died in his 56th year .In contrast to his genius creativity Beethoven was a physical and emotional wreck .He didn’t even had the good fortune to listen to his own beautiful music .Yet his Olympian musical energy ,imagination and innovation triumphed over it all to enrich music and enjoyment of music lovers.But ,certainly Beethoven did not enjoy the Beethoven effect ,and so was Mozart.In the life of ancient singers of India , this sort of dissociation of personal life from professional musical life is a rarity because for them music was a yogic sadhana ,merged in their lifestyle ,not just a hobby or a commercial passion alone .
This case history I quote ,just to show that being a musician alone does not keep us disease-free (just as being a doctor alone does not keep us disease-free).All the modern musicians have to think over this and learn to integrate the physical ,mental,intellectual and spiritual health in their personality so that both music as a discipline and music therapy for themselves for a better individual life will be of some use . Music is an ocean.Medicine is another ocean .When we integrate these two oceans ,a larger ocean and an ocean which is more than the sum of the two is born within us and I do hope the readers will be able to visualize that peaceful ,waveless,timeless ocean of Vidya within .
Ref : 1.The Healing Arts .An Oxford Illustrated Anthology .Ed R.S.Downie .Oxford University Press.page 60-68 A case Study: Beethoven (Reprint 1995)
2.Music at the limits .Edward W Said:Bloomsberry 2008
Power of Music in life and health
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
The humanity of music ,value of musical expression ,contemplation and thought and transcendence of idea as expressed through sound are concepts that regrettably continue to decline in modern world.Music has become isolated from other areas of life,and is no longer considered as a necessary aspect of intellectual development .Just as in Medicine,the music world has evolved into a society of specialists who know more and more of less and less.The musical education has become increasingly specialized and limited .This educative system produce competent instrumentalists and vocalists who possess little knowledge or fundamental ability to delve into,comprehend ,and express essential substance of music.The student is advanced technically in executions essential for a professional musician just as a medical graduate .Nature of music is inexpressible except through sound.From this deep mystery of essential truth,current practice is moving away ,focusing more on the separation of physical dexterity to produce sound on an instrument/or vocalist and dissecting the music structurally and harmonically without concentrating on the active participation or experience of its power on living beings.This is because of overwhelming growth of music as a business in present times ,and I equate this to Medical business.Both requires a new impetus to its goals and deep understanding and an integration of these two disciplines brings about precisely this .
Listening with open ears and mind/heart is the first prerequisite for experiencing the power of music.This in Yoga is called Sradha .One can understand the depth of musical knowledge that allow oneself to enjoy it,(a thoughtful introspection called Manana) and also the intention and originality of the performer ,his/her approach to music and audience and how it is manifested in oneself and on audience behavior as a group/community and how the effect is sustained by the sradha of the listener as well as the genuineness of the perfomer/listener interrelationships.This observance of a public performance,and the continued criticism of effect of it on audience and also an appreciation of its various aspects for social benefit constitute a music therapy programme .Thus it is practical as well as contemplative ,insightful,and is not just a personal reaction to a sense object and its experience but an attempt to enter the heart of music through the performer and his/her motivations and the effects it produce on his/her listeners for improving physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health .The obvious,the literal and readily understandable or graspable things are seen by all.But to have insight into the hidden meanings ,the rare jewels of musical repertoire regarding musical experience is not in the realm of all.It needs to be addressed in communications(books/speeches/media etc) so that everyone can at least have a basic knowledge of the depth of music in everyday life and in health .There are no two aspects of being human that are not related to one another.Therefore music and its relation to every other science and art of the land and to human life and health is essential for this integrated approach .Logic is inseparable from intuition,rational thought is inseparable from emotion ,because our brain is structured in that way .Music has both logic,science,and emotion .If we separate these elements in music ,what we are left with ,is not music but just a collection of sounds .That is why I said in the beginning that the music education for technical excellance is leading us to that realm in modern times.The principle of integration is there in acoustic balance to peace talks .While I was a 14 year old girl ,I was interested in the Four-Power summit meet for global peace and my elders were surprised that I am so much involved in a global peace treaty at that age .(One of my aunt’s letters –My aunt is the Padmabhooshan/Saraswathy Sammaan author BalamaniAmma-expresses that wonder).Probably when a seed germinates its inner qualities are expressed even in the sprout stage to show how it would develop into a tree .Intellectual and emotional balance is the homeostatic thermostatic balance we need as global citizens to enjoy a peaceful co-existence .Music as Saamaveda ,gives us this power .
Music is a cultural field .The interest in music is a dynamic changing phenomenon from infancy to old age as a continuous spectrum of superimposed tastes that develop right from the cradle/or womb .It is our daily life .
Many performers and celebrities are having mood changes and eccentricities recorded by several critics.Glenn Gould’s eccentricities and extraordinary performances are recorded by his fan and critic Edward Said .An intelligent audience cannot be satisfied by a loud and fast playing alone.There is a virtuosity of style,where we feel intellect as well as taste allied with formidable technical command.Premodern music festivals were symbolic rituals connected with agriculture,religion,astronomical events and modern music festivals like Markazhi festival in Chennai is commemoration of of such prehistoric,historic,premodern concepts of humanity .They have now become great commercial and tourist attractions too.Our dim anthropological past and the dazzling modern /postmodern existence are interwoven in such events .The tourists get a musical experience as well as a taste of our anthropological past and an enhanced enjoyment different from the routine life .The aesthetics of such music festivals is due to this integrated past and present in our memory and experience .Bits of original inspired and rare music making adds flavor to the experience for an intelligent and highly attentive listener .The festival music is for the multitudes,in a charming aesthetic locale with an extraordinary past ,at a specific astronomical moment for harvest,agriculture and devotional thanksgiving and worship of the divine.At festivals music is a part of the occasion and a long series of performances at a festival is like many records we have in our library –available,accessible,ready for instant use ..And it is very rare to find teaching and singing rare and new compositions in a festival season except by a few singers .Original performers have to include usual numbers for mass satisfaction and then ,include a rare and lost Krithi /composition for protection of that composition/krithi and for satisfaction of the ardent listeners .Only then we can do justice to the discipline of music ,apart from getting wide publicity as a performer .
New York has a Mozart festival. Guruvayur has a Chembai festival. Thiruvananthapuram has a Swathi festival. And Ohio and Thiruvayyar has Tyaagaraja festivals and so on . The Markazhi festival is different because it is a festival in the name of Markazhi (an astronomical and seasonal event in the subcontinent ) and not in the name of any individual singer .All singers are respected ,celebrated alike in Markazhi festival as torch-bearers of the discipline of Music .It is music that is celebrated and the astronomical anthropological season and hence is beyond regional histories and individual histories,yet encompassing both . This makes Markazhi festival different .This is so in the case of Navarathri festivals also .Each singer ,each piece of music is a homage or offering made by each singer at the feet of the divine Brahma and his consort/sakthi the Goddess of Vidya .There is a sort of Apourusheya vedic aspect in such a festival .In a festival in the name of a single singer this apourusheya vedic aspect may not there .But ,the shishya and the followers of each living Guru starts such festivals in honour of their Guru so that the style of the Guruparampara is not lost to posterity .
The language of music is expressive but mysteriously elusive too.Musicological analysis can describe changes in life,in styles,features of form,tonal palette ,logic and harmonic language of the work as well as the effects it produced for a better life and health .The connections in a meaningful way of the singers and listener’s lives and musical enjoyments and its sustained relationship only can explain the effect of music on a listener .It is a synthesis of all these .
We all know that Mozart’s six children survived infancy and that Mozart was always in precarious health and died in 36th year ,an exhausted ,pathetic man of acute rheumatic fever in December 1791 .Wearing sumptuous and gaudy clothings,inventing Adam as one of his wedding-document names,and a marked antipathy to France and an irrational fear of trumpets till age nine ,Mozart’s life history is far from any therapeutic effect on himself or his family .His relation with son Leopold was of disquieting emotions,rebellious and trying to conceal the wounds and powerless to change the course (pp193 Edward W.Said).
Recently I studied a case study on Beethoven by Dr John Dagga(1933),a musical genius but a man who suffered wide mood swings ranging to maniac-depressive and is said to be bad in everything except music.He was deaf(from 27th year),had continuous chronic intermittent fevers,recurrent musculoskeletal pains and in 1821 he had jaundice .In 1823 he had pain in eyes and photophobia,in 1825 haemoptysis and epistaxis and weight loss.He had severe inflammation of bowels ,a gross abdominal swelling developed with jaundice,pleurisy and diarrohoea and a marked leg swelling .Four time his abdomen was tapped and 12 litres of fluids removed each time.The fluid leaked continuously after one such occasion and Beethoven remembered “Moses striking a rock with staff to bring forth water “.Coma supervened later and even in the last stages of his illness he continued to compose his 10th symphony and he had no tremor in writing out the composition (though the writing trailed off at the right of the page).That is he had no hepatic neuroenchephalopathy .
The deafness was due to otosclerosis.He had skin abnormalities of his face which was scarred and coloured and simulated leprosy and atrophic discrete and confluent scars and tissue thickenings around lose and lower face.Dr Johann Wagner and the famous Dr Rokitansky performed postmortem on Beethoven.Despite the paracentesis there was four quarts of turbid fluid remaining in abdomen.The gut was dilated and gas filled.Liver shrunken half its size and beset with nodules ,the size of a bean.Spleen was double the normal size ,gall bladder filled with gravelly sediments.Pancreas indurated .
Macronodular cirrhosis,splenomegaly and portal tension will be the diagnosis in modern terminology .The guts were dilated due to ileus.Auditory nerves atrophied ,shriveled .But when grave reopened in 1863 and 1888 and skull got in several pieces,the temporal bones were missing .
Interpretations of chronic ulcerative colitis and chronic active hepatitis,sclerosing cholangitis,and an autoimmune multisystem disorder and an abuse of alcohol and Syphilis as cause of his multisystem involvement and autoimmune disease as well as deafness was interpreted .Mozart had a pauper’s funeral but Beethoven had a pompous showy one in Vienna .Beethoven died in his 56th year .In contrast to his genius creativity Beethoven was a physical and emotional wreck .He didn’t even had the good fortune to listen to his own beautiful music .Yet his Olympian musical energy ,imagination and innovation triumphed over it all to enrich music and enjoyment of music lovers.But ,certainly Beethoven did not enjoy the Beethoven effect ,and so was Mozart.In the life of ancient singers of India , this sort of dissociation of personal life from professional musical life is a rarity because for them music was a yogic sadhana ,merged in their lifestyle ,not just a hobby or a commercial passion alone .
This case history I quote ,just to show that being a musician alone does not keep us disease-free (just as being a doctor alone does not keep us disease-free).All the modern musicians have to think over this and learn to integrate the physical ,mental,intellectual and spiritual health in their personality so that both music as a discipline and music therapy for themselves for a better individual life will be of some use . Music is an ocean.Medicine is another ocean .When we integrate these two oceans ,a larger ocean and an ocean which is more than the sum of the two is born within us and I do hope the readers will be able to visualize that peaceful ,waveless,timeless ocean of Vidya within .
Ref : 1.The Healing Arts .An Oxford Illustrated Anthology .Ed R.S.Downie .Oxford University Press.page 60-68 A case Study: Beethoven (Reprint 1995)
2.Music at the limits .Edward W Said:Bloomsberry 2008
Saturday, September 4, 2010
GURUDINAM
Today is Teacher's day.The day of the Teachers and students.And of the most learned president India had ever seen.
Therefore I thought ,in honour of Him as well all the teachers and students of the world I should share a chapter of my new book on ancient education in Vedic and Budhist India and how Nalanda and Valabhi universities functioned and who were the vicxe chancellors and teachers of these universities who helped in spreading knowledge nationally and internationally.
Visit this link for reading the article:
http://www.mediafire.com/?9cll1hb77445h
I receive 3 newspapers daily.When I opened the Hindu I saw a message from IGNOU ON PAGE 18 LOWER PART OF PAGE WITH 2 BEAUTIFUL QUOTATIONS.
ONE SAYS: a LIFE OF JOY AND HAPPINESS IS POSSIBLE ONLY ON THE BASIS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE. FROM DR SARVEPALLY RADHAKRISHNAN HIMSELF.
THEN A MESAGE FROM IGNOU.
Great teachers dont just teach,they are mentors,advisors,role models,guides,and above all,shapers of great human beings.
Opening The Times of India I find page 10 entirely devoted to teachers and student and changing patterns of relationship of Guru and shishya.
Then I open the Malayalam daily and find no message related to teachers or to education.
What had happened ?Have the Malayalam media forgotten that today is teacher's day and a message of love,compassion,and importance of learning is needed for today's society ? It is sad that people forget the most important things in life and give importance to that which is least important .Education and values are the most important things in life.Without that all other things are wasted .
Therefore I thought ,in honour of Him as well all the teachers and students of the world I should share a chapter of my new book on ancient education in Vedic and Budhist India and how Nalanda and Valabhi universities functioned and who were the vicxe chancellors and teachers of these universities who helped in spreading knowledge nationally and internationally.
Visit this link for reading the article:
http://www.mediafire.com/?9cll1hb77445h
I receive 3 newspapers daily.When I opened the Hindu I saw a message from IGNOU ON PAGE 18 LOWER PART OF PAGE WITH 2 BEAUTIFUL QUOTATIONS.
ONE SAYS: a LIFE OF JOY AND HAPPINESS IS POSSIBLE ONLY ON THE BASIS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE. FROM DR SARVEPALLY RADHAKRISHNAN HIMSELF.
THEN A MESAGE FROM IGNOU.
Great teachers dont just teach,they are mentors,advisors,role models,guides,and above all,shapers of great human beings.
Opening The Times of India I find page 10 entirely devoted to teachers and student and changing patterns of relationship of Guru and shishya.
Then I open the Malayalam daily and find no message related to teachers or to education.
What had happened ?Have the Malayalam media forgotten that today is teacher's day and a message of love,compassion,and importance of learning is needed for today's society ? It is sad that people forget the most important things in life and give importance to that which is least important .Education and values are the most important things in life.Without that all other things are wasted .
Friday, September 3, 2010
Yesudas effect
Everybody thinks of Mozart effect when they hear about Music therapy .They have read about it in internet and therefore are familiar with that term. But what is Mozart effect and how did that term come to stay? Tomatis, a Medical professional tried Mozart in autistic spectrum disorders and found that the children show better response than to other types of western musical forms. And the method is called Tomatis method and the effect as Mozart effect .The greatest blame on this method and effect has been that it does not help develop or improve language in autistic children.
Probably the reason for this is the lack of vocal part in the music he used.
My method is Yesudas effect .It is vocal music based on Indian Ragas I use for my patients/aquaintances/friends/myself.. And it is a whole range of healthy and unhealthy people of extremes of age groups and adults, of both sexes and of at least four different languages affected over four decades that I have at my disposal for demonstration/proof of Yesudas effect . And ,the effect of music is not just for curing an illness ,but for a self healing process of the entire society ,and for being at peace with oneself and the world-the internal and external miliue-the biofield and cosmic field of energy that Indian classical Raaga music is devised. And I use it in such a way .I don’t know whether this can be called Suvarna’s method just as Mozart effect is called Tomatis method who did research and therapy with Mozart effect (If we adopt modern medicine standards.) But ,though I propagate the method ,it had been there for millennia used by our ancestors ,and I know that it cannot be called either my method or Yesudas effect but it is the effect of music ,of raga,of swara rendered in a specific way and utilized in a specific way. That is the Indian way of discoveries and practices in Sruthi.And music is always Sruthi.
What I did and how this started is important because it gives an idea of my method and its evolution over four decades that is ever since Yesudas started his singing career. I have been a born music lover from age 3 as far as I can remember and my first listenings were of M.S.Subbalakshmy,Chembai VaidyanathaBhagavathar, that proceeded to P.Suseela, Latha Mangeshkar and Mohammad Raffi ,not to speak of P.B.Sreenivas,A,M.Raja ,and other stalwarts of the time. .The experiments with music started on me and my study patterns (on concentration, memory) and then on the children (normal) of my own family like my brother, and kids who were given in my care by my cousins and sisters to put to sleep with lullabies. Then when I became a medical student and knew something about the peculiarities of human ear and of acoustics, and the physiology of nervous system I could understand some reasons for the effects of music on me and on children and adults .This became a real research protocol when my son was born and I studied it systematically.
Why people hear music?
The purpose of music listening is many and it is subjective.
1. Timepass
2. use as a background music while doing household chores
3. Hobby
4. Relaxation
5. Professional musicians critically hear to learn and improve
6. Out of genuine love for music.
7. as a research
In my case it started as a music Rasika (music lover) by birth and then evolved as a research due to my inherent nature of questioning and search for truth, and then as a medical professional and a medical teacher and researcher it evolved as a system of music therapy .When you are a doctor naturally the effects of music on physiology and anatomy and neuropsychoimmunology etc will be thought of and understood and experimented with. All these in a teaching profession made me think of a curriculum and syllabus and research protocols for study and treatment and this evolved through my method of Yesudas effect.
I have given these details in four of my books on music.
1. Music therapy for administration, management and education.Readworthy publications
2. Ragachikitsa.Readworthy publications New Delhi.
3. Naadalayasindhu (Raagachikitsaamritham) D C Books Kottayam
4. without a stumble. A book on spirituality of music .Nalapat books
What is important with Yesudas that helped my research protocol: _
One is the range of music he has produced.
Second is the range of languages in which they are produced so that I can do a national level protocol.
Third is that he has popular music, devotional music (in all religions), nonfilm light music and classical Hindustani as well as Karnatic music for use in any range of population speaking any Indian languages .Among the popular music itself I could find people with a range of interests like Romantic, philosophical, poetical, humourous, children songs and devotionals and all these ranges from Yesudas alone. And for autistic children the use of Yesudas music has been of use to language recognition and improving language and communication skills most of the case histories from parents themselves.
The research on Yesudas’ classical music and live kutcheris evolved out of these preliminary studies and free association surveys over several decades. The prospective research on kutcheris started in 1998 (since 12 years) and I have listened to 150 and odd live kutcheris of just this one singer for the sake of a research project on his music in these 12 years. I have a collection of many other stalwarts in classical music on several ragas along with that of Yesudas for this purpose. The reason for hearing live kutcheris of a single musician as many times as possible is that it is essential for any researcher who wants to know about the many aspects of music and certain nuances of a kutchery which one learns not from books .For a person who spent time for time pass or for hearing music as a hobby and relaxation this may not be necessary. But for a researcher who uses the vocal music of a single person and do research on its effect on health of individuals and on society this is mandatory. To follow a musician’s music is to follow his kutcherys and his recorded music as far as possible and have a rapport with him .An almost similar protocol was done on sufi music(khawali) of India and Pakistan by Regula Berkhardt as explained in her book “Sufi music of India and Pakistan”.
The journey started first by understanding how my habit of hearing music for five minutes and then studying for 15 minutes and repeating the cycles regularly helped me to concentrate more and memorise more and what type of music helped me to do so.Later on I understood that the method is actually giving me five minutes alpha waves and then allow my brain to be more receptive again to what I learn in next 15 minutes when my beta waves work .
The use of 72 melakartharaaga for therapy, I base on its mathematical, astrophysical, musical, sine cosine wave functions and also on the philosophy of ayurveda, and yoga in Indian way of life. Thus it is an integration of several sciences and arts. It depends on sine wave and harmonics which is common to music, biocycles like cardiac cycles (which is also 72/mt incidentally) and astronomical cycles. The Doppler effect as described by Sankaracharya and the other scientist/philosophers before him in India had helped them to develop the harmonics of sine waves of music to control sine waves of blood circulation and to develop Naadalayayoga.To prove this a pilot project was done at Amrita hospital and it was successful statistically .
Hence my method use the principles of medicine like:
1. Doppler effect in cardiovascular system flow
2. Principle of EEG in transforming beta waves to alpha waves or meditational waves
3. All stress and strains and tensions of life-professional, domestic and others- cause several disorders which are somatic. All these can be treated and prevented by music which reduce stress and strain
4. Psychoneuroimmunology
5. Immunological parameters
6. Both prevention and cure of disorders
7. At extremes of life and in people with and without mental retardation and with or without memory loss one can use music but the principles of use is different in each
8. In narrative medicine and family medicine
9. In cancer and heart disease and also obstetrics and gynecology
10. in surgical wards
11. in traumatic head injury and coma
12. in educational institutions
13. in professional life
14 In integration of all branches of medicine for proper healthcare of society
15. for world peace
16. in therapy for rapport
17. I think that this can also be used in agriculture for better food production and in animal husbandry since music has no boundaries between anything and anyone. I haven’t done research in that field but assume that it is possible and if anyone from these fields can start a programme of research it would be good.
It is not just an adjunct therapy but a golden thread which integrates all branches of sciences and arts, especially for integration of all branches of medical care
Thus the use is from lullaby to deathbed and the method is cost-effective and without side effects if used judiciously
I understand that God had made me an eternal music lover by birth, and a medical teacher by profession, just for doing good for society, for humanity and for the discipline of music therapy so that I am made to develop this method for education, health and integrated approach for all sciences and arts for peace of individuals, society, nation and the world. In that research protocol of God, my birth at a time when Yesudas lived and sang was probably inevitable.
Everybody thinks of Mozart effect when they hear about Music therapy .They have read about it in internet and therefore are familiar with that term. But what is Mozart effect and how did that term come to stay? Tomatis, a Medical professional tried Mozart in autistic spectrum disorders and found that the children show better response than to other types of western musical forms. And the method is called Tomatis method and the effect as Mozart effect .The greatest blame on this method and effect has been that it does not help develop or improve language in autistic children.
Probably the reason for this is the lack of vocal part in the music he used.
My method is Yesudas effect .It is vocal music based on Indian Ragas I use for my patients/aquaintances/friends/myself.. And it is a whole range of healthy and unhealthy people of extremes of age groups and adults, of both sexes and of at least four different languages affected over four decades that I have at my disposal for demonstration/proof of Yesudas effect . And ,the effect of music is not just for curing an illness ,but for a self healing process of the entire society ,and for being at peace with oneself and the world-the internal and external miliue-the biofield and cosmic field of energy that Indian classical Raaga music is devised. And I use it in such a way .I don’t know whether this can be called Suvarna’s method just as Mozart effect is called Tomatis method who did research and therapy with Mozart effect (If we adopt modern medicine standards.) But ,though I propagate the method ,it had been there for millennia used by our ancestors ,and I know that it cannot be called either my method or Yesudas effect but it is the effect of music ,of raga,of swara rendered in a specific way and utilized in a specific way. That is the Indian way of discoveries and practices in Sruthi.And music is always Sruthi.
What I did and how this started is important because it gives an idea of my method and its evolution over four decades that is ever since Yesudas started his singing career. I have been a born music lover from age 3 as far as I can remember and my first listenings were of M.S.Subbalakshmy,Chembai VaidyanathaBhagavathar, that proceeded to P.Suseela, Latha Mangeshkar and Mohammad Raffi ,not to speak of P.B.Sreenivas,A,M.Raja ,and other stalwarts of the time. .The experiments with music started on me and my study patterns (on concentration, memory) and then on the children (normal) of my own family like my brother, and kids who were given in my care by my cousins and sisters to put to sleep with lullabies. Then when I became a medical student and knew something about the peculiarities of human ear and of acoustics, and the physiology of nervous system I could understand some reasons for the effects of music on me and on children and adults .This became a real research protocol when my son was born and I studied it systematically.
Why people hear music?
The purpose of music listening is many and it is subjective.
1. Timepass
2. use as a background music while doing household chores
3. Hobby
4. Relaxation
5. Professional musicians critically hear to learn and improve
6. Out of genuine love for music.
7. as a research
In my case it started as a music Rasika (music lover) by birth and then evolved as a research due to my inherent nature of questioning and search for truth, and then as a medical professional and a medical teacher and researcher it evolved as a system of music therapy .When you are a doctor naturally the effects of music on physiology and anatomy and neuropsychoimmunology etc will be thought of and understood and experimented with. All these in a teaching profession made me think of a curriculum and syllabus and research protocols for study and treatment and this evolved through my method of Yesudas effect.
I have given these details in four of my books on music.
1. Music therapy for administration, management and education.Readworthy publications
2. Ragachikitsa.Readworthy publications New Delhi.
3. Naadalayasindhu (Raagachikitsaamritham) D C Books Kottayam
4. without a stumble. A book on spirituality of music .Nalapat books
What is important with Yesudas that helped my research protocol: _
One is the range of music he has produced.
Second is the range of languages in which they are produced so that I can do a national level protocol.
Third is that he has popular music, devotional music (in all religions), nonfilm light music and classical Hindustani as well as Karnatic music for use in any range of population speaking any Indian languages .Among the popular music itself I could find people with a range of interests like Romantic, philosophical, poetical, humourous, children songs and devotionals and all these ranges from Yesudas alone. And for autistic children the use of Yesudas music has been of use to language recognition and improving language and communication skills most of the case histories from parents themselves.
The research on Yesudas’ classical music and live kutcheris evolved out of these preliminary studies and free association surveys over several decades. The prospective research on kutcheris started in 1998 (since 12 years) and I have listened to 150 and odd live kutcheris of just this one singer for the sake of a research project on his music in these 12 years. I have a collection of many other stalwarts in classical music on several ragas along with that of Yesudas for this purpose. The reason for hearing live kutcheris of a single musician as many times as possible is that it is essential for any researcher who wants to know about the many aspects of music and certain nuances of a kutchery which one learns not from books .For a person who spent time for time pass or for hearing music as a hobby and relaxation this may not be necessary. But for a researcher who uses the vocal music of a single person and do research on its effect on health of individuals and on society this is mandatory. To follow a musician’s music is to follow his kutcherys and his recorded music as far as possible and have a rapport with him .An almost similar protocol was done on sufi music(khawali) of India and Pakistan by Regula Berkhardt as explained in her book “Sufi music of India and Pakistan”.
The journey started first by understanding how my habit of hearing music for five minutes and then studying for 15 minutes and repeating the cycles regularly helped me to concentrate more and memorise more and what type of music helped me to do so.Later on I understood that the method is actually giving me five minutes alpha waves and then allow my brain to be more receptive again to what I learn in next 15 minutes when my beta waves work .
The use of 72 melakartharaaga for therapy, I base on its mathematical, astrophysical, musical, sine cosine wave functions and also on the philosophy of ayurveda, and yoga in Indian way of life. Thus it is an integration of several sciences and arts. It depends on sine wave and harmonics which is common to music, biocycles like cardiac cycles (which is also 72/mt incidentally) and astronomical cycles. The Doppler effect as described by Sankaracharya and the other scientist/philosophers before him in India had helped them to develop the harmonics of sine waves of music to control sine waves of blood circulation and to develop Naadalayayoga.To prove this a pilot project was done at Amrita hospital and it was successful statistically .
Hence my method use the principles of medicine like:
1. Doppler effect in cardiovascular system flow
2. Principle of EEG in transforming beta waves to alpha waves or meditational waves
3. All stress and strains and tensions of life-professional, domestic and others- cause several disorders which are somatic. All these can be treated and prevented by music which reduce stress and strain
4. Psychoneuroimmunology
5. Immunological parameters
6. Both prevention and cure of disorders
7. At extremes of life and in people with and without mental retardation and with or without memory loss one can use music but the principles of use is different in each
8. In narrative medicine and family medicine
9. In cancer and heart disease and also obstetrics and gynecology
10. in surgical wards
11. in traumatic head injury and coma
12. in educational institutions
13. in professional life
14 In integration of all branches of medicine for proper healthcare of society
15. for world peace
16. in therapy for rapport
17. I think that this can also be used in agriculture for better food production and in animal husbandry since music has no boundaries between anything and anyone. I haven’t done research in that field but assume that it is possible and if anyone from these fields can start a programme of research it would be good.
It is not just an adjunct therapy but a golden thread which integrates all branches of sciences and arts, especially for integration of all branches of medical care
Thus the use is from lullaby to deathbed and the method is cost-effective and without side effects if used judiciously
I understand that God had made me an eternal music lover by birth, and a medical teacher by profession, just for doing good for society, for humanity and for the discipline of music therapy so that I am made to develop this method for education, health and integrated approach for all sciences and arts for peace of individuals, society, nation and the world. In that research protocol of God, my birth at a time when Yesudas lived and sang was probably inevitable.
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