By Tina Krishnan
COVID-19 has crippled the human system and captured our attention. The mystery associated with its origin and nature, and its sudden appearance has brought 'normal' life to a standstill. In this write-up, I will be covering how I use spirituality to cope.
As a practising Hindu, life is centred on my soul and its connection with the ultimate. In my opinion, life is a learning experience for the soul and death is not an end. Although death is inevitable, our body and mind are mere instruments in this learning experience. This thought enables me to view life experience objectively without being thrown about in its tumultuousness, or fearing for my life.
That said, as an embodied being I have learned that I have to take care of myself, my family, friends, and society, through all that I do. I take care of my mind, body, and soul through positive thoughts. Yoga and meditation help; along with practising ‘Universal Love’. Dr. Len's success with Ho'oponopono. A practice that sees the manifested world as a creation of our conceit. By defeating our negativity and healing ourselves, we heal the world. The technique is simple - constantly send these four messages (I'm sorry, Please forgive me, thank you and I love you) out to the Universe.
As someone out of the medical field, I do not fully comprehend the burdens on the strength and patience of our front-liners is challenged with. However, I know enough to respect them and pray constantly for them, along with our well being as a society.
Our thoughts and energies along with our actions are known to shape our life, both as an individual and as a society. For years, we have been blindly seeking worldly success and chased our dreams (for love, money, power and fame) without ever asking ourselves a very fundamental question- why? Why do I need these things? I am not going to carry them with me when I die. Another interesting question we should ask ourselves is - who taught us to have these dreams.
A very long road lies ahead and hopefully, this pandemic will enlighten at least some of us; to focus on what is important in life, such as to think and do good, instead of living a rat race of a life. Hopefully, this will heal society a little. Nevertheless, the battle is not over, we must face this trial with fortitude and resolve (to use Prime Minister Modi's words). If we are able to wipe out the COVID pandemic, we still have much rebuilding to do as individuals and carry forward our experiences when we embark on our normal life.
About the author
A mechanical engineering graduate from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (Kerala University). Above all, a seeker of Truth, who strives to be better, every day.