Dr. Mohit Sharma Clinical Professor. Specialist in for Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Burn Surgery, Ear Reconstruction, from Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences spoke about his life and passion.
Dr Sharma started with his experiences in school. He said that all through his life he always wanted to improve and do something better. Through an anecdote from childhood, he advised that it is important to be straightforward and simple and express clearly without hesitation. He explained that being straightforward and simple is one of the divine qualities mentioned in the Gita. He spoke of his experiences in a camp during his fifth grade where he learned that to do service to country one needs “tan, man and dhan’’, i.e. body, mind and wealth. It is not wrong to earn money righteously to help others and help our country. His interest in medicine kindled when he read magazines about heart surgeries and heart transplants. Despite his interest, he said he was an average student with an aversion towards Maths, and he decided to overcome it and wanted to get rid of the label of not being up to the mark, and during his 10th grade, he worked hard in his studies, especially Mathematics. His hard work helped him get a distinction in his exams. He said that it is essential to have a single-pointed focus and that helped him focus during his twelfth class on biological sciences and do well in these subjects. He was especially inspired by the shloka that says that God’s grace can make a mute speak with eloquence and a lame person climb high mountains. He felt he can do something incredible if he has faith in God.
According to Dr Sharma life is 90% grace and 10% effort. He advised that when one serves elders and teachers their blessings comes back as grace. Understanding his strengths and weaknesses he put in the right effort to get into the medical college. Grace helped him do well in the entrance exams and he got admission for MBBS.
His advice for students was that they should join medicine only out of love for the subject, not out of compulsion, without passion the pressure becomes stressful and difficult to manage. He also mentioned that hard work alone is insufficient, intelligent hard work is important. He recollected a piece of advice from a doctor that branches are not important but persons are important. If people are good, then that branch flourishes. He advised the students to take the branch based on interest and not based on its popularity, short gains or an easy life. Passion made him pursue surgical sciences.
While doing his MS he got acquainted with Swami Ranganathananda and other saints. Once a Swamiji took him to Amma. During the program, he was called by Amma, and Amma asked him to join AIMS after completing studies.
After completing MS, he started preparing for Plastic Surgery entrance exam. Since he did not do as well as he expected, he was at the top of the waiting list. However, his passion for plastic surgery drove him to meet the Head of the division at the University of Delhi to allow him to observe his surgeries without pay. Within four months he was allowed to scrub in and assist in these surgeries. His passion and perseverance and being available gave Dr Sharma the right opportunity in plastic surgery. He tried the entrance again, however, the second time it was much tougher. Due to the grace of God he got through this time. Through this experience, he demonstrated to the student how one should fight through challenges to do good to humanity.
After his training, he joined AIMS Kochi in the plastic surgery department. He spoke of one surgery he performed in AIMS when they reconstructed the tongue of a patient affected by oral cancer. This groundbreaking surgery took him to England for a couple of fellowships. He then spoke of the successful hand transplants performed by his team. Throughout his talk, he gave examples of how grace helped him get through obstacles; “If you have tremendous self-effort and grace of God, all success will follow”, he concluded with these beautiful words.
Feedback
I learnt that failure is the stepping stone to success. – Pankajam T
As my ambition is to become a doctor I really enjoyed and imbibed the secrets of his success, his dedication and determination. -Ananya G
Dr Sharma showed us how to stay dedicated to one’s work and to always remember that without God’s grace, nothing is possible. – Abhinav Saikrishna Maddipati
He helped more people to attain their happiness so I also want to be a source of happiness like him. -Keerthana G
He is a living example who learnt and applied the Bhagavad Gita. He connected his life to the slokas of Gita. -Aadarsh Kalyaan S
Win over your own fear and that we have to be clear about our goals. -Sannidhi
I learnt that you are the one to lift yourself and so you should always have a single point focus. -U Shriram
Showed us that dedication and ultimate surrender to God can help us achieve miracles. -Aditya R
He is one of the most inspiring personalities I have ever seen. The dedication to his work is very inspiring. -Anupama K Patil
Dr Mohit Sharma’s life was an eye-opener & as I understood how important the grace of God is, the blessings of family, teachers and friends are, to help us soar and that it is actually the key to balance in one’s life. -Amrit Subramaniam
The thing which I liked is that he never stopped learning. I liked him as he was not too smart at first and then he became a person who could help the handless people, get another persons’ hand and thus lead a normal life. -Amruth Ganesh Jm
The importance of the belief in God and his blessings is proved by his journey. The lesson of loving oneself and that we are our best friend and the worst enemy is something which I learnt from his speech. -G Sripujitha
I learnt that if we enjoy the work that we do, then we won’t feel bored while doing that work and that we will be happy doing it. -Yashas Kumara Adi
From his speech, I learnt that we can achieve anything through hard work. -U V Thanushya
He inspired me to have faith in myself and god. -Ramyadevi V
It was an inspiring session and I came to know the miracles he did which made me think more creatively. -Pavithra M
His commitment and passion for his profession and how he rose against all the odds was inspiring. -Anagha Manoj
Mind-blowing. Really deepened my passion for medicine and service to the world. Really felt my life surge through with his words inspire me to the core. -Vidya Suresh
Learnt that just hard work doesn’t help, you need to have grace as well. -Radha S Navada
Be ready to help the people around, have good friends and always listen to your grandparents. -Praneshwaran V
Interesting. I learnt to be straightforward in my life. We have to be open-minded -Sachin Kurup
I learnt that if we fail one time, we have to try again and again. -Buvana Varthani
Enjoyed the presentation and learned a great deal about the life of a surgeon and how Gita helps to live it right. -Sriram Ganesan
To become successful in life, teamwork is very important. –Dhanushree Ramakrishna
Dr Mohit Sharma taught me that through hard work, simplicity and discipline you can do anything. He derived a lot from Gita using it in the correct way and I wish to do that too. -Kushagrika Marwaha
