saadhu.com : The Healer and The Drug Pusher

The Healer

Saadhu.com :: The healer and the drug pusher :: Sample Chapters :: Chapter 3 - The Healers

He heard voices, coming from far away, strange voices, in a strange tongue. Was it the middle of the night? He did not feel the burning sun on his face. Yet he did not feel cold either. Was he dead? Was he in another world, another life? He tried to open his eyes, but felt his eyelids were sticky, so he tried to wipe them with his hand, and found that he could not move them, or even his fingers. He must be dead. This would be what it was like, after death. Then the voices must be of other dead souls, or angels. Was this the heaven that he had heard of, but why could he not see anything? He would not be able to see anything, even if he could open his eyes. He was blind. If he was to be blind even after death, what use would it be, to go to heaven. All these thoughts flashed through his mind, as he heard a voice coming closer.

"He is waking up". The words, spoken in Tamil, seeped through his sleepy mind.

He was not dead and he was not in another world and he was still blind. A hand touched his wrist, the fingers closing on it to feel his pulse. He felt his fingers twitch.

A soft wet cloth touched his parched and swollen lips. The moisture seeped into his parched mouth. He tried to smile, but grimaced in pain. The hand that was holding his wrist, slowly lowered it. He felt the fingers lifting his right eyelid. He felt the eye lid opening, but he could not see. Was it night? He felt them opening his left eye, again he could see only darkness.

Bring a light he heard another voice close to him. At first he thought that it was his own, but realized it was that of the person standing near him. The warmth of a flame fell on his face and grew into a faint glow over his right eye and then over the left, moving in circles.

He has lost his vision he heard the voice close to him.

Would he have been blind when he got into the boat? it was a different voice, or could it be due to exposure to the sun?

He wanted to explain, but his lips would not move.

It is too early to say yet. Before we do anything we have to bring his health and strength back.

He had no idea of the time or the place, except for what he had gathered from things he heard during his very brief periods of consciousness. In addition to Tamil, the people around him were speaking in another tongue, which he could identify as Sinhala. Since they spoke in Sinhala and Tamil, he must be somewhere in Sri Lanka. He could at least be happy that he had bothered to learn a little of both tongues during his previous visits to the island.

One day when he woke up, he found that he could open his lips and move his tongue without difficulty. He tried to say something. Where am I? he asked, in a throaty voice.

You are in a hospital. This is a part of the Buddhist monastery at Badakara, in the north of Lanka he heard an elderly but kind voice close to him.

You can drink this first and then tell us about yourself he heard another voice and felt someone lift his head up from the bed and bring, cup to his mouth.

I am the physician in charge of this section of the hospital. The Mahawedna is also here with us My name is Mitra, I am from Persia he said.

We knew you were from a country towards the West. How is it that you can speak in Tamil? he was asked.

I have been working in trading vessels for many years. I have spent a lot of time in ports in this region and met a lot of traders and seamen who used Tamil or Sinhala. He explained slowly. His lips still hurt when he talked, and noticing this, the physician told him that they could talk later.

Mahawedna examined him the next morning and said that they could begin the immersion therapy the following day. The junior physician explained that it was for the treatment of his sun- burnt skin and to bring his fever down. He explained how it was done.

The immersion bath was carved out of a block of granite. The cavity was half-moon shaped at one end to receive the head, slightly higher than the depression supporting the rest of the body, the shoulders and the back. It was shaped to support the buttocks, to accommodate the legs and there were two small depressions for the heels at the other end.

The bath was placed in a spacious room with half walls on two sides and a high roof, to provide sufficient ventilation and light. There was a drain around the platform of the bath, to take the water used for washing the bath. Another stone slab was fixed to one wall, which was used for the patient, for him to be washed and also to rest in-between immersions.

The bath had been filled with a herbal preparation of a sour gruel made from boiled rice, with alcohol, milk, ghee and whey.

In an emergency, or in case you are in a region where you cannot obtain the correct ingredients, there are also certain substitutes which could be used the Mahawedna explained to the three students who were with him.

In some cases, essence of meat has to be used in the preparation, and if it is not available, you could use boiled raw stalks of the rice plant mixed with old bones of cattle he continued. If milk is not available, you can make a decoction of aralu, bavila, sirivedi bavila, and undu by boiling with a little milk.

The patient was then brought to the room on a stretcher, because he was still not strong enough to walk. He was placed on the stone slab and sesame oil and sour milk was applied all over his body. His ears were plugged with cotton wool, mixed with a paste of bavila and undue. Then they waited for a signal from the Mahawedna. He had to be lowered into the bath at the astrologically auspicious time, which in this case had been a problem, because there were no data available about the patients birth, place, date and time. As a compromise, the general auspicious time of the day had to be taken.

When Mitra was first lowered into the bath, he was scared, but the warmth of the liquid on his skin made him immediately relax and then he found it very difficult to keep himself awake.

If you are sleepy, it is perfectly safe to go to sleep. Dont worry, we are all here he heard the wednas pleasant voice.

He was kept in the bath for a predetermined period of time and carefully lifted over on to the slab. A measured quantity of a new mixture was poured in and after the temperature in the bath had reached the desired level, he was immersed again. The process was repeated three times. Between each immersion, he was fed a small quantity of a broth of herbs and rice gruel.

Afeer the final immersion for the day, the patient was washed in fresh milk and then warm water. He was wrapped in a sofe cloth, before he was taken back to his bed.

The treatment was continued for five days, until his skin had been completely healed and his fever had gone down.

His visitors were Minda and a few of the villagers, and Sankar, who became a close friend. They talked about Persia and Lanka and specially about the North, Nagadipa. Mitra practiced his Tamil and Sinhala whenever he had the opportunity. He learnt that Sankar was the Demala Adikari, in charge of the Demala gambim and that he headed the volunteer ved-hal kamiyan.

The young physician monk looking after him, stopped by his bedside when he had any free time, to talk to him. The physician too was curious to learn about his experience of traveling all over the world, and about Persia and India and all the other places that Mitra had visited. Mitra in turn would ask endless questions about Buddhism and the Monastery and about the country and the people. Mitra found that the questions he was asked, and the things he heard from Sankar and the wedna were of so different areas, and that their thinking and their viewpoints were so different.

What I had heard was that Indian medicine was practiced by the Hindu Brahmins. I didnt know that Buddhist monks practiced medicine one day he told the young physician, Channa.

Medicine was developed and practiced by the Buddhist monks long before the Hindus adopted them. Ancient Indian medicine during the early Vedic period was partly magic and partly religious. They believed that most diseases were caused by demons and so the cure was potent charms or magical rituals.

Those who practiced medicine in ancient India were looked down upon by the Brahmins, mainly because they considered them polluted from contact with impure people. Any Brahmin who practiced medicine was excluded from sacrificial rituals as they were polluted, Channa told him. What do you mean by impure people

Those people who are considered to be of lower casts. These early physicians were mostly wondering ascetics. They treated people wherever they went, and also met and exchanged their knowledge and experience, getting into discussions and debates and thus went on accumulating all the medical lore into a huge store of medical information When did hospitals like this come up?

As healing became a part of Buddhism, all the medical knowledge began to be collected in early monasteries, so it became institutionalized, then developed into infirmaries attached to the monasteries and grew into hospitals.

That would mean Buddhist monasteries had opened the first hospitals in the world? Mitra asked.

I think so. Medicine was included in the curricula of the monastic universities. I learned my medicine at this university. I may have a chance to go to the hospital at Missaka Pabbatha for further studies soon.

Medicine has been very close to Buddhism. There are some teachers who believe that the Four Noble Truths were based on medical theory of suffering, its cause, its suppression and the method of its elimination, which seem so similar. Can this be true?

I dont think so. Buddha would not have borrowed from medicine. This analogy would have been used later for the sake of illustration, when preaching to laymen.

Then how did the Brahmins take charge of Ayurveda?

When the Brahmins saw the influence of the Indian medicine, they manipulated the Hinduization of this heterodox knowledge. They claimed that the healing process was passed down by Brahma, through Prajapati, the Lord of beings, to Indra who taught it to Danavantari. It was then written in to the Susruta Samhita by Susruta. Probably the Susruta Samhita is a collection of all the knowledge that was accumulated by the wondering ascetics, and not the work of just one person. The Brahmins incorporated the medical practices with their rituals and vedic practices, convincing people that the rituals have to go hand in hand with medical treatment for effective cures. To improve the efficacy of the healing plants, they created a plant goddess, Arundati and a god, Kushta.

Sometimes their talk would drift towards religion.

Buddhism became the offficial religion of Lanka during the reign of Devanampiya-Tissa. A sapling of the sacred Bo tree at Bodhigaya was brought to this country by Sangamitta who landed at Jambukola, a port close to this hospital. A vihara was built there. Today it is in need of renovations. Are there many other temples around here?

It is like the question that was asked by Mahinda, from Devanampiya Tissa? Channa said.

Will you tell me about it Mitra asked, and Channa told him the story of how King Asokas son, Mahinda, had come to Lanka, appeared before King Tissa at Missaka Pabbata and to test the kings intelligence had asked several questions about a mango tree and about other mango trees. Was it Mahinda who brought Buddhism to Lanka?

Officially yes. But Buddhists have lived here from the time of the Buddha. Most of the people who had come here from different parts of India had been Buddhists.

Then there are Buddhist temples, which would have been built before that?

I dont think so. It was during King Asokas reign that statues and paintings of Buddha were made. The wedna had to leave, since he had to check on other patients.

You didnt tell me yesterday about other temples in Nagadipa Mitra told the wedna the next evening.

I am sorry. You distracted me by asking about the arrival of Buddhism. There are several temples. Devanampiya-Tissa himself built Tissamahavihara and Pacinarama. There are very many large and smal temples all over Nagadipa.

When I was in Suvarnapura I heard that Buddhism in Lanka was different from that of China, is it true? Mitra asked him.

It is not easy to explain it in a few words. First I would have to explain to you what Buddha preached, in the first place, and then only I would be able to explain the different schools of thought.

I would like to learn about Buddhism, if you have the time to teach me.

I would try to find the time somehow. If I were to answer your question regarding how the people in the villages practice Buddhism, then I dont think I could show you much of a difference between what is termed the Theravada and Mahayana. It is only among the monks, and specially among the scholar monks, that all these differences and debates occur. For most of the lay Buddhists, it is all one religion Channa sat down by Mitra and began a brief introduction to Buddhism.

When Mitra was strong enough to get out of bed, he was allowed to go into the open inner courtyard and walk around in the early mornings and evenings.

When he first stepped out of bed, he felt dizzy and had to hold onto the bed for a little while. Then he picked up his walking stick and made his way slowly out of the room. He had expected it to be easy, the short walk from the room to the courtyard, since he had been walking around on a ship, sometimes even on very rough seas. Yet he found himself unsteady and unsure of himself, as if it was the first time he was trying to walk after he lost his sight.

He somehow managed to step down into the courtyard and felt the sun-warmed smooth sand under his feet, tingling his soles. He felt a new energy seeping through his whole body. The evening breeze brushed his face and hair.

How do you feel to be outside once again? he heard the voice of Sankar, and felt him coming close to him.

I feel as if I am born again Mitra said with a smile.

It is a nice day to be outside. I wish I had a little time to walk around with you, but I have to attend to some urgent work. I will see if anyone is free to go for a walk with you.

Please dont bother. I just want to stand here and enjoy the open sky. I dont think I can walk far today Mitra said.

Tomorrow we will go for a walk in the evening. I will come and call you Sankar left Mitra standing in the courtyard.

Mitra did not want to walk very far, standing outside in the late afternoon sun was enough for him. As he stood there in the garden, with his walking stick, as if in meditation, a few patients and staff who walked across the garden stopped by him, for a moment, to congratulate him on his improvement and to greet him. Though he did not know most of these people, he knew that they had heard all about him and that their concern was sincere.

Next day Sankar came as promised and they went outside the building complex. Sankar guided him out of the courtyard in to the garden, where they could walk on the well tended grass lawn. They could hear a few voices.

Some of our students are playing a game called Astapada Sankar told Mitra. I have not heard of a game like that. May be you have heard of it as Chaturanga.

I know a game called Shatrang, that we play in our country.

I think it is the same, because I have heard that Chaturanga was introduced to Persia long ago. The story is that a Chaturanga Board was carried as a gift by an embassy that had gone from India to Persia several hundred years ago. The Ambassador had asked if the Persian King could solve the secret of the game, and all the wise men in the kings assembly had tried and failed. In the end the kings minister had taken it home and discovered the secret in a day and a night.

I can play this game then, there should be elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers.

Yes, thats right. Chatur Anga is also applicable to real armies.

If only I could see the board Mitra said after a pause.

It will not be long. I am sure you will regain your eye-sight Sanka assured him. When?

Cheer up son. You must learn to think positively. I will tell you a story about this game, and Sankar related the story, to take Mitras mind away from his frustration.

You have heard of the epic Mahabharata. This game is mentioned as one which had been played by the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The eldest of the Pandavas, Yudhistira had placed his bets on his kingdom, his wife Draupadi and everything else he possessed, and then lost the game to the Kauravas. Dushasana, one of the evil Kaurava brothers, grabbed Yudhistiras wife, Draupadi, and tried to disrobe her, before all the gathering. The Pandavas were helpless, because they had lost the bet. Draupadi then prayed to Lord Srikrishna, and a miracle happened. A continuous stream of clothes appeared from nowhere, to cover her body, as Dushasana kept on removing her clothes. In the end, the evil man fell unconscious, after a long struggle against Lord Srikrishna. Draupadi was saved from humiliation and the Kauravas gave up their claim to her. But in return the Pandavas had to give up their kingdom for fourteen years and go into exile in the forest. Then they returned and won their kingdom back from the Kauravas, after a devastating war.

That means this game had been played a long time ago, as well.

The Mahabharata would have been related over 2000 years ago. But at that time probably it was a game played with a dice. The modern game is said to have been developed among the Buddhists, as a substitute for war, since killing for any reason was wrong. I dont know how far it is true.

What is the meaning of the other name you used?

Astapada. It means eight steps. There are eight steps on each side, making altogether sixty four steps.

They walked back to Mitras bed, when he became tired of walking. Sankar promised to go out with him again the next day.

They will not be able to keep you in the hospital for long. Your health has improved and there is nothing the physicians here could do about your eyes Sankar told him a few days later, as they were taking theit evening walk, which had become a part of their daily routine.

I know Mitra replied.

They would have discharged you sometime ago, if you had a place to go or someone to look after you, Sankar added.

I know that also. I want to ask them to release me from hospital soon.

Where will you go?

I will find my way to Mahatitta and wait for a ship Mitra replied.

You will not find a captain who would take a blind man on a ship. They consider it bad luck, as you know already, and you dont have the money to pay your way Sankar told him, realizing that he had to bring Mitra to understand the reality of his situation.

I will find a way Mitra said.

You can come and stay with us, till you decide what you are going to do. In the meantime lets try to find some treatment for your eyes. I am sure that you can regain your sight.

How can I trouble you and your family? I dont even know them, and they may not like to have a total stranger in the house. I am too much of a burden for any household. About treatment, I thought you did not want to give me false hopes.

I am not giving you false hopes. All I said was that I will keep inquiring. Anyway, you have no choice, I have already told Mahawedna, that he can discharge you to my custody, Sankar said, as he left Mitra's bedside.

Mitra listened to his departing footsteps, trying to imagine what Sankar looked like. Was he tall, lean, did he have a beard or a mustache, was he dark or fair. Mitra did not know and he had no way of finding out because he could not ask Sankar, or anyone else. He thought it was not polite. All that Mitra knew was Sankars footsteps and his voice, which was soft and kind . A man who had such a voice had to be tall, lean, fair and handsome, Mitra had already decided.

Would you like to have a steam bath? Wedna came and asked Mitra one morning.

I dont know. If you say it is good for me, I would like to. Then lets go.

Mitra found himself being led from his room out of the building, through the open ground and to another building a little distance away, which was identified by the wedna as the Janthaghara.