A devotee’s question: Is there any spiritual insight into how we should handle or think about such a major global event like the coronavirus pandemic?
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: Basically, there are three things you should think about.
Number one: Don’t worry. This is maya. Ups and downs happen all the time in maya, and there are always little or big calamities happening over and over, one after the other. In a person’s life, on a national scale, on a global scale, there are always bad things happening. This is just the nature of the world. Don’t worry about it.
Whoever is bound to die at what time is going to die exactly at that moment. The moment of death cannot be changed. It’s already decided at the time that you’re born exactly what moment you’re going to die.
So, knowing that the time of death is fixed, and that our life is getting shorter every second, we should do devotion with a sense of urgency. But we shouldn’t worry,
“When am I going to die, and how am I going to die?”
That’s going to happen when it’s going to happen, whether it’s because of the coronavirus, or because of an accident, or because of some natural health problem. It doesn’t matter. Death comes at the appointed time, so why worry about it? That’s number one.
Number two: Nonetheless, we still have to follow the rules. We shouldn’t look careless, like, “Oh, I don’t wear a mask. If I’m going to get coronavirus and die, it’s going to happen whether I wear a mask or not. What does it matter if I spread coronavirus to everybody else by not wearing a mask? They’re going to die, they’re going to die.”
That’s an incorrect application of the philosophy. The correct application is,
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.”
But nonetheless, we still have to be good citizens. Whether we have this background in devotional philosophy or not, we still have to be good citizens. We can’t be careless and just flaunt our not caring,
“Oh, I don’t follow your rules.”
No, we should follow the rules, be good citizens, be good ashram vasis, and obey all the protocols for limiting the spread of the virus. That’s just good sattvic living.
Devotees are also supposed to maintain a sattvic outlook, and that means things as simple as getting up early, making your bed, keeping your room clean, keeping yourself clean. These are all sattvic things.
Someone would say, Well, I’m Raganuga Bhakta. I don’t have to follow any rules. You’re right that those rules have no bearing on how you do your devotion to Radha Krishna, but they still affect your mind.
By not observing these basic sattvic good-living protocols, we’re actually allowing our mind to get careless, and that ends up spilling over into devotion eventually. And then we become careless in devotion.
So we shouldn’t think that just because we’re following the path of Raganuga Bhakti, where the only rule is remember Radha Krishna all the time, that we don’t have to follow these protocols of good living or protocols according to the restrictions during these times of the pandemic.
So, follow the rules. That’s number two. But number one, don’t worry. Zero worry, but 100% follow the rules.
Number three: Look at the benefits that we’ve received devotionally. Almost every time I talk to a devotee in a different place around the country, every single person is saying,
“I’m doing so much devotion now because of this.”
Why?
“My life slowed down. My life got so much more simple. I’m not going around here and there doing this and that, meeting this person and that person. My life is just down to the bare necessities: work, get enough food to eat, take care of the minimal family responsibilities.”
Then what? Then do devotion. So all of a sudden, people have lots of time for devotion.
I talked to a 19-year-old recently who said ever since the beginning of this, they’ve been at home and tuning in to our evening satsang each and every day - the whole hour and a half: arti, Maharaji’s lecture, kirtan.
Somebody from Milwaukee wrote me a handwritten letter saying,
“Please, even after the epidemic stops, don’t stop the evening telecast because I only started doing daily sadhana during this time because of this.”
So I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve told me that before the coronavirus hit, I didn’t do daily sadhana, and now I’m doing daily sadhana. And most - 99%- are not out of fear. It’s because their life is simple; they’re more focused; they realize the importance of doing devotion. But I even talked to someone who just yesterday told me that a relative who knew about the philosophy, but wasn’t someone who practiced daily devotion, got very sick with the coronavirus. The whole family was sick. They took the opportunity to go and say,
“Well, if you’re going, you want to start doing daily sadhana with me?”
And they started doing daily sadhana. And as it happened, it wasn’t their time to go, any of those family members. But then even after they got better, they continued doing daily sadhana.
So what I’m saying is, God’s grace comes in many forms. So, knowing that everyone is going to die still at the appointed time, what does it matter if there’s a coronavirus or there isn’t?
But this whole sweeping epidemic. Look how it’s changing the way people live their lives and encouraging people to do devotion. So these are three basic points on how I think about this huge situation. It looks like a calamity, but just keep these three things in mind:
Don’t worry.
Follow the rules.
And look at how much devotional benefit so many people are getting due to the lifestyle changes.
