Retold by D.K.M. Kartha
अमन्त्रमक्षरं नास्ति नास्ति मूलमनौषधम् ।
अयोग्यः पुरुषो नास्ति योजकस्तत्र दुर्लभः ॥
amantramakṣaraṃ nāsti nāsti mūlamanauṣadham ।
ayogyaḥ puruṣo nāsti yojakastatra durlabhaḥ ॥
A legendary physician in the Jataka tales, Jeevaka, was taking his final examination after a protracted period of discipleship under his guru AatREya.
For the practicals, AtREya gave his students the following task: Bring all those plants and animal products and minerals that have no medicinal value at all from the heavily wooded Sarlaka hills in the medical school's vicinity. They had a week to fulfill the task and to present the answer for the guru's scrutiny.
AtREya's students left for the hills carrying the tools necessary for digging, uprooting, de-barking, cutting, peeling, de-husking, cleaning, drying, etc., and disappeared into the vastness of the woods.
After a week, one by one they all returned to the medical school. A couple of the students had collected cartloads of leaves, roots, flowers, pollen, barks, seeds, resins, animal secretions, and raw mineral masses which they had found to be totally devoid of medicinal value.
A few had basketfuls of such material. All the class except Jeevaka brought at least a handful. Jeevaka alone came back from the Sarlaka hills empty-handed.
Jeevaka's classmates were curious: Had Jeevaka dropped out of the examination? They all turned to Aatreya who had risen to question Jeevaka.
The teacher asked, "Jeevaka, how come your hands are empty? Did you decide not to take the examination or did you not find anything that wasn't medicinal?"
Jeevaka replied, "Revered AtREya, I did go around and perform the task at hand. I have done similar searching and experimenting throughout my long studies with you. I found out today as I have done before that everything in Sarlaka and in fact elsewhere as well -- everything in nature - is filled with medicinal power. Not only he plants and animals and minerals, but also the wind and the sunlight and the birdsong and flower smells and river sounds and cloud shadows heal. Some heal humans, some heal animals. Some cure physical sicknesses and others cure mental sicknesses. The omnipresence of healing is what I discovered today as I have done before. Please evaluate my work on the basis of this answer."
The rest of the story can easily be guessed. AtREya had of course known the answer always, but he wanted to test his students practically and individually, and Jeevaka gloriously passed the test. In later life, Jeevaka went on to become a most illustrious and compassionate healer of everyone from King Bindusaara, father of the Indian Emperor Ashoka, on down to ailing animals in the kingdom of Magadha.
It is perhaps this story that led to the creation of the following Sanskrit aphorism well-known in the healing circles of India:
अमन्त्रं अक्षरं नास्ति, नास्ति मूलं अनौषधम् |
अयोग्यः पुरुषो नास्ति, योजकस्तत्र दुर्लभः ||
There is no syllable without mantric power; there is no person without good qualities; similarly there is no root [herb] without medicinal power. But rare is the one who can discover these powers and put them to good use.