April 8, 2020
The prophets of doom are announcing a message of gloom around us and people are overpowered by anxiety, fear, worry and stress. There are reports of people committing suicide just to flee away from the awful disease of coronavirus. What should be the right attitude towards this pandemic? How should we respond to this unexpected and unwanted evil?
One among the most significant potential abilities of human beings here on earth is their cognitive power gifted by the Creator to give meaning to realities of life. At the face of it, the current pandemic due to coronavirus or Covid -19 is presenting us a very meaningless absurd plight of humanity. Human beings have become so vulnerable, that they are unable to see no other perspective, but the fear of becoming victim to the dreaded disease.
Such being the case, it is useless to become armchair critics and raise questions like, ‘Why this virus? Why so people have to die? Who is the cause of it?’ and the like. Finally, we have our protector God, so we can ask, ‘Why God is not acting now on our behalf? If he is loving, merciful, benevolent a Divine Power why is he so silent?’
The whole cosmic order has been established under firm, definite, invincible laws of nature, with which God will never interfere. Our pleas to God interfere with them is totally unreasonable and it only manifests our own stupidity. It is we the human beings due to our arrogance attempted to interfere with the cosmic order of the world and now we have bear the consequences of it. We know the Newtons Law: “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. Virus is a human action manufactured by us and the reaction is evident: the untold misery and deaths all over the world. It is natural and logical that we humans become victims as a normal reaction to what we have done. Yes, being fragile individuals, we are not able to face the consequences of some arrogant humans who interfered with the law of nature. So there is so much of dread, stress, anxiety, fear, hue and cry. Some even trying to take the easiest path of suicide.
Sarvam duhkham, sarvam anityam, (All is sorrow and everything is transitory) declared Lord Buddha in 6th century BC. He also discovered the law of suffering by affirming that it is the ‘desire’ which causes suffering and sorrow. It means the human desires first of all, should be self regulated and secondly they should be subjected to basic ethical principles. Otherwise the humanity cannot exist joyfully, nations cannot survive peacefully and nature will become a holocaust and humans will becomes the victims of overwhelming greed of few.
Where shall we find a way out? Only through providing a meaning to what happens to us. It actually means the arrogant should repent and do penance to obtain the forgiveness for their evil designs. The righteous should come forward in charity to support the downtrodden and to alleviate the sufferings of vulnerable and homeless. The society in general should open its eyes and submit in obedience to follow the norms promulgated by the authority in charge. And all without exception should learn to accept one another in love and friendship with mutual concern and care for his neighbour. This is the time to become good neighbours. This is the hour to show our authentic humanity. And this is the moment to make meaningful our own coexistence. If we are determined to do that certainly coronavirus can never become invincible. It will be humbled and made to surrender.
Our scientists are powerful enough to combat the virus with antivirus and provide the humanity with a weapon of vaccine which will put to flight the enemy without delay. The world will change, people will see each other with new perspective. Those who are in house arrest will shout from the top of their terraces, ‘God is Great’ and all will embrace the nature and environment, professing with renewed vows to observe its laws.
This is the time and hour to understand the contingent nature (anityam) of our being. To accept our little place in this vast universe, and never dare to poke our nose in the affairs of the divine nature. Let our warfare, let our research, let our developments and all out future plans and projects be undertaken with deep reverence to the rights of the nature, rights of each nation and rights of each human person. Let us embolden ourselves and equip ourselves by putting on the ‘whole armour of God’ (Eph 6:10).
Let us not give up, but let us march hand in hand towards our destiny, without sorrow and without anxiety, but with confidence, hope and belief in ourselves and in our Creator.