What is a ‘sutra’?

What is a ‘sutra’? Sutra is a Sanskrit word, which literally means string or thread. But in the literary context, sutra is a concise i.e. using few words and meaningful expression of a truth. All vedic knowledge is in the form of Sutras. To put it simply, a sutra is a sentence or a statement, which has a complete meaning by itself. Every word in a sutra is non deletable, every word is a chapter by itself. For example, a sutra to create awareness about child sexual abuse can be as follows: “Child sexual abuse, evident or suspect, is a common, preventable, punishable, acute medicolegal emergency.” • ‘Child’ means any person below the age of 18 years • ‘Sexual’ means sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography as defined in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 • ‘Abuse’ means unwelcome/uninvited behavior - involvement of all senses, touch, remarks, gestures, showing pornography, etc. • ‘Evident’ means obvious or clearly visible • ‘Suspect’ means to consider to be true • ‘Common’ means both boys and girls can be victims • ‘Preventable’ means avoidable • ‘Punishable’ means imprisonment along with fine • ‘Acute’ means of extreme importance, urgent • ‘Medicolegal’ means the police has to be informed • ‘Emergency’ means immediate action is required; stressful Public education is an important part of health care and doctors have a duty to educate not only their patients, but also the community about the significance of a healthy lifestyle. Sutras can be effectively used in health communication for dissemination of health messages as they are easy to remember. Credible health sutras convey scientific information in a simple language, making it easy for the patient as well as the public to understand and adopt in their daily life. This is how I teach. I often use sutras and formulas as a module to educate the general public about important health issues. Some examples of these one-line health messages, which are evidence-based and I have successfully used are as below: • Any food of plant in origin does not contain cholesterol. • Any fat that is liquid at room temperature is saturated fat. • Any fat that is solid at room temperature is unsaturated fat. • One percent increases in cholesterol increases the chances of heart attack by 2%. • One percent increase in good HDL cholesterol decreases the chances of heart attack by 3%. • High BP, blood sugar and blood cholesterol can remain silent for up to a decade. • Longer the waist line, shorter the lifeline. • Even one whiff of cigarette, active or passive, is not health-friendly. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this write up are entirely my own.