anonymous

1st April 2019

MANTRA FOR SCORPION STING? - 11

MANTRA FOR SCORPION STING? - 11

DR R.D. LELE

Mantra for Scorpion Sting

Scorpion sting is a common occurrence in villages and it can occasionally be fatal. I would get at least one or two patients, young and old, every day with scorpion sting. A small local infiltration of procaine would dramatically abolish the pain and the patient who came crying and shouting would, within less than five minutes, go back smiling and pain-free. Unfortunately, the stock of procaine in government-run taluka dispensaries would hardly last 3-4 months and there was nothing to offer in the next eight months till the new annual indent came in. Exasperated, I thought of alternative approaches. An elderly school master offered to teach me a mantra which I would have to learn standing in a riverbed during the lunar eclipse. I did all that and learned the mantra and lo and behold, I had dramatic success. The patient who came shouting went back smiling after my 'mantric treatment'. Since I had no delusions about possessing any supernatural powers, I decided to do what is known in medical science as a "controlled trial”—which means doing the same procedure without actually reciting the mantra—and the results were the same! This was then a typical placebo effect - patient's expectations and beliefs and doctor's expectations and beliefs, and a trusting patient-doctor relationship will bring many successes from any ritual or an inert placebo! My 'mantric' career came to an end when my wife got a scorpion sting and my mantra did not work on her!