On Hindu Philosophy and Applying to Medical School

This is what wrote in my application.

This past year I did something scary: I applied to medical school.

For anyone else that finds themselves in the “pre-med” boat, you know this usually isn’t a spur-of-the-moment kind of decision. I’ve seen friends commit to marriage in less time than it takes to apply to medical school. I, like many of my peers, started college knowing I wanted to become a doctor.

That didn’t mean I had it all figured out.

Being pre-med is choosing to play the college game on hard mode.

The most taxing part of this entire process, however, isn’t taking the eight-hour MCAT exam, acquiring a blemish-free GPA, or even curating exemplary letters of recommendation to match a long list of research projects, internships, and extracurriculars. It’s all very grueling, but finding the “why medicine” and explaining it is the toughest challenge.

Even if I had the intuition that this was the right choice; even if I could point to anecdotes and write essays about significant moments that have convinced me my path is medicine, it wasn’t until I started studying Hindu philosophy that I felt that my conviction was anchored in something bigger than myself.

Here’s what I wrote to one of many medical schools when they asked me what I had to offer.

*I chose to leave out the name of the institution, so please bear with the less-than-graceful redactions.

1. Please write an essay on how you would enhance diversity at [prestigious medical school] and advance the mission [of said institution]. 550 words

I was six-years old when my grandmother came to live with us. She watched many black-and-white films based on Hindu epics, patiently answering my questions about the intricate Telugu dialogues. “What’s shapam?” “Curse.” “Can I cast curses on people I don’t like too?” I thought about the classmates that called me a “cow-worshiper” when I could not eat hamburgers on school field days. If it weren’t for the movie sessions with my grandmother, I might have been ashamed of my heritage.

Indian cinema opened an important door for me to reflect on my identity. In doing so, movies left me with more questions than answers. I moved past films and sought answers from the texts themselves. If the ancient wisdom could solve moral dilemmas on screen, surely, the source books contained the answers about how I could help people.

Little did I know, Hinduism is about the quest of self-discovery, in which each individual finds his or her own truth. In pursuit of discovering my truth, I have learned to question what lies on the edge of what I know. I constantly push myself to learn from others. Formal exchange of ideas and knowledge is called Satsang in the Hindu tradition. After all, all great endeavors require collaboration. I continue to read, discuss, and write in my efforts to explore Vedanta, Hindu philosophy.

My questions are far from being answered, but I have learned some important principles along the way that I believe reflect my philosophy on being a physician.

The first tenet is nishkama karma, which describes working with purpose but without attachment to the outcome. I have control over my actions but not in the outcomes. This does not absolve me from taking responsibility for my actions; rather, it encourages earnestly performing my best work, striving for perfection in every step of the way, while having the humility to learn from the results — even those that fall outside my expectations.

The second tenet is to practice humility over egoism. Humility is not weakness or a low view of one’s abilities. It is an unassuming attitude that fosters constant self-reflection and growth.

While these principles come from ancient wisdom, they resonate with the approach of modern medicine. The standard of care continuously changes in the practice of evidence-based medicine. Thus, I believe it is important to maintain humility, not only understand the limits of current knowledge, but also to be critical healthcare delivery. Physicians often need work with incomplete information or under less than ideal circumstances. Working in these parameters, I must constantly assess what impact I am having on my patients. With the humility to appreciate what is not certain and the nishkama karma to act even when useful results cannot be guaranteed, I am committed to pursuing interdisciplinary scholarship to push the frontier of clinical care.

My exposure to diabetes care from working at [this institution’s] Diabetes Center has led me to appreciate the wealth of contributions of medical educators, nutritionists, pharmacists, and social workers in providing quality healthcare, especially for patients in resource-poor communities. In serving as a physician, the perspective and prescription I provide to improve their diabetes management may not address the unique barriers to wellbeing. By practicing nishkama karma and humility, I hope to reevaluate my work and better determine how I can best advocate for these patients in conjunction with the efforts of other team members.

As I hold these important principles in mind, I look forward to constantly pushing myself to learn from my peers, patients, and mentors as I develop a professional identity. Satsang is a microcosm for the collaborative opportunities in scholarship and innovation I look forward to pursuing at the [highly regarded] School of Medicine.

I submitted this essay to only one medical school out of my list of twenty-three. I was rejected without an interview invite. It matters not. I am glad I wrote this essay.

It took many hours, days, and weeks, but the personal value it holds is priceless. There is power in writing what you believe — to pin down what it is you know in your heart, if only to realize that you have a lot of extra pins.

Here’s to continuing my pursuit of medicine and Vedanta. May this essay remind me that while they may feel like separate paths, both lie in the journey of being a part of a higher truth.

One of service and compassion.

Readers: wishing you all the best of luck on your endeavors, whether you’re applying to medical school or not. May we all search for meaning in our dreams and find happiness working towards realizing them!