“A statue of Jesus Christ in Rome standing in the gyan mudra (wisdom) pose”, “Showing the index finger to a bottle gourd flower stunts the fruit’s growth” and “How the previous life can influence one’s present thinking” — since March, the “students and employees burdened by work” at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi have been discussing some of these topics as part of the institute’s ‘Science and Spirituality’ lecture series.
While participation in these sessions is not mandatory, many faculty members, resident doctors and MBBS students have been attending these talks, which are held on campus by doctors, gurus and spiritual leaders. Acharya Vikrmaditya, the director of Vivekananda Nature Cure Hospital in Delhi, which runs under the aegis of Vivekanand Pratishthan Parishad; Kamlesh “Daaji” Patel, a spiritual guru from Gujarat, 2019 Padma Bhushan awardee and the founder of Heartfulness Institute in Hyderabad; and Madhusudan Sai, a spiritual leader from Karnataka and the founder of the Sri Sathya Sai University, were among the speakers at these lectures. AIIMS officials said the speakers are not paid for these sessions.
Kamlesh “Daaji” Patel, a spiritual guru from Gujarat, 2019 Padma Bhushan awardee and the founder of Heartfulness Institute in Hyderabad, with Dr M Srinivas of AIIMS, New Delhi. AIIMS signed an MoU on “research and training programmes” with Patel’s Heartfulness Meditation Worldwide in March. (Photo: AIIMS)
Besides these speakers, several doctors who worked with AIIMS earlier and are now associated with other institutes have given presentations during these lectures on “research being done on topics connected to spirituality by experts from centres run by these spiritual gurus”.
“The department (AIIMS Medical Humanities Initiative) is working on different projects with different departments in AIIMS. In order to improve the treatment process, spirituality is being introduced for prevention and post-surgical impact,” said Dr KP Kochhar, head of the physiology department at AIIMS and the head of the AIIMS Medical Humanities Initiative, under which these talks are being conducted.
Eight lectures have been held so far:
March 1: Kochhar spoke about ‘Redeeming Spirituality And Joy in Healthcare’.
March 29: Patel spoke on ‘Navigating Higher Consciousness: Nurturing Spirituality Beyond Genetics’.
April 5: Dr Chandrakant Pandav, a former professor at AIIMS, spoke on ‘Science, Society And Spirituality’.
April 23: Brahma Kumari Sister Asha spoke on ‘Yog-Naturopathy: An Integrative Medicine’.
May 3: Ramesh Bijlani, former professor and head of the physiology department, spoke on ‘Modern Medicine As It Should Be, Could Be And Would Be’.
June 7: Vikrmaditya spoke on ‘Yogic Mudras For Healthcare Workers’ and Dr Ashwani Kumar Mishra on ‘Lessons From Our Scriptures’.
June 14: Sai spoke on ‘Heart-To-Heart Interaction’.
July 5: Rishi Kumar Das, the vice-president of ISKCON Temple, East of Kailash, spoke on ‘Guru Shishya Parampara And Soul Therapy’.
In his lecture on ‘Yogic Mudras For Healthcare Workers’, Acharya Vikrmaditya said, “We need research on the Indian medical system… A statue of Jesus Christ in Rome is standing in the gyan mudra pose… It makes me wonder where we were in our research and science. But if I tell you, I will be asked to prove it scientifically.”
“Conditioning of my previous life… influences my present thinking and that is why in Hindu shastras we talk of sanskaram,” Patel said in his lecture on ‘Navigating Higher Consciousness: Nurturing Spirituality Beyond Genetics’.
The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) on “research and training programmes” was signed with Patel’s Heartfulness Meditation Worldwide in March. As per the MoU, AIIMS said, research will be done in collaboration with the meditation centre in fields like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and other diseases. The research, AIIMS added, will cater to areas of preventive, curative and palliative care, with the objective to improve the quality of life of the patient and their family.
A statement issued by AIIMS said the purpose of the MoU with Heartfulness Institute was to make “Heartfulness meditation and relaxation techniques specifically related to health and medicine and to put to best use and apply each party’s infrastructure and capabilities to conduct research, education at universities, institutions, corporate houses, schools and colleges, government departments, medical professionals etc, and other related activities in collaboration”. The statement, dated March 29, added, “Research will also involve areas like epigenetics, intuition and infertility related issues. Both the parties will also submit joint proposals and white papers to Government or private agencies or organisations when opportunity arises and present final research papers at events and seminars jointly organised.”
The second MoU was signed between AIIMS and Sai on June 14. During a “heart-to-heart” interaction, a 15-minute video showcasing the works of Sai and his university was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Auditorium, Teaching Block, AIIMS. During his lecture, Sai spoke about the Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SMSIMSR) and the Sri Sathya Sai Rajeswari Memorial Block in Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March.
Stating that the decision to begin the spiritual lecture series was started after a talk with the Brahma Kumaris, Kochhar said, “Director sir (Dr M Srinivas) told us that we could have these talks during our lunch hour. We have been doing this for about four months now.”
She added that AIIMS started the medical humanities initiative a year ago, under which programmes on access to health care, destigmatisation, and workplace violence were conducted. “In 2023, we are focusing on having a (spirituality) centre in place in AIIMS. Our goal is to develop a national resource centre for value-based medical education,” she said, adding that MoUs are being signed to prevent brain drain and to see that the best brains that come here remain engaged.
“Somewhere along the way, we have lost touch with our spirituality and compassion. Through these lectures, we wanted to revisit the paradigm we have lost. These MoUs (with these spiritual centres) include free exchange of ideas, and common conferences and programmes. Our faculty and students will visit the centres. We can have common degrees and common programmes, etc., too,” she said.
Kochhar said there are plans to include a course on spirituality in the AIIMS curriculum for MBBS students. “We have plans to do it but first, we will have a conference on ‘Humane Healthcare and Values for Excellence In Medical Education’ at the end of August. It will be held under the aegis of G20. It will be followed by a proposal to develop a centre on spirituality and excellence in healthcare at AIIMS,” she said, adding that students will also be encouraged to write their theses and dissertation on research work on some domains of spirituality and healthcare.
Madhusudan Sai, a spiritual leader from Karnataka and the founder of the Sri Sathya Sai University, with Dr M Srinivas of AIIMS, New Delhi. An MoU was signed between AIIMS and Sai on June 14. (Photo:AIIMS) 
Kamlesh “Daaji” Patel, a spiritual guru from Gujarat, 2019 Padma Bhushan awardee and the founder of Heartfulness Institute in Hyderabad, with Dr M Srinivas of AIIMS, New Delhi. AIIMS signed an MoU on “research and training programmes” with Patel’s Heartfulness Meditation Worldwide in March. (Photo: AIIMS)
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