Something completely invisible has brought humanity to a standstill. With all our economic, military and scientific prowess – something that we have poured trillions of dollars in – we stand helpless against this microscopic intruder in our air. Human activity has gone down significantly as life activity is starting to flourish again! That is the irony of the situation. Humans, especially in the last 100 years, had diverged so far from the basic tenets of life that this virus had to be significantly impactful in delivering a blow to us – in order for us to heed nature’s call.
Almost worse than the global pandemic itself is the fear and anxiety that it has perpetuated in society. It seems to have gone to the extent of altering our very psyche. It has completely exposed our fears and vulnerabilities – this mighty civilization that boasts dreams of inhabiting Mars is running amok at the prospect of being inhabited by an unseen strand of protein! If only our propensity to love and respect all life had been as strong as our fear for our lives, humans may not even have faced this crisis. And now the irony is that our very selfishness has driven us to the point of a survival crisis.
The global scientific community, especially epidemiologists, are running complex models on supercomputers using the latest artificial intelligence techniques to help us to cope and plan better for the coming months and years. Yes, many are saying that this could last years. In the age of social media and global connectivity, everyone with a mobile device has become a commentator, even an expert. Theories are flourishing about the origins of the virus, the supposed hidden agendas, and other motivations for its existence. There are hundreds of potential remedies being served up. Meanwhile, the reality of the epidemic is that the graph keeps rising at an alarming rate in some parts of the world – and threatening many others.
Humanity has possibly not experienced this amount of uncertainty in the modern era. It is because of this that some Himalayan yogis and mystics felt it necessary to impart this message. Generally, they don’t intervene in human destiny as we create and receive the fruits of our own labour – whatever they may be. However, while these yogis have been warning of an impending correction for a long time now (and Ideapod carried some of these messages starting in 2018), now that it is happening, it is natural that their compassion also finds expression in the form of words to help us understand what stands at our doorsteps.
The Yogic tradition is as old as humanity itself. Though it flourished in modern-day India for thousands of years, it doesn’t belong to any country or culture. These are the most evolved of our lot and they have always guided us throughout history, especially when our very existence was under threat. After all, how are we supposed to evolve and learn from our mistakes if we don’t exist! These yogis have evolved themselves to be able to perceive across the dimensions of time and space. They practice a kind of metaphysics that is a subtler science than the physical sciences that we know. One of their many systems is called Tattva Gyan – sanskrit for knowledge of the five elements. These five elements are the building blocks of all nature or physical reality. They are air, water, fire, earth, and ether.
The message that I bring to you today originates from Himalayan Yogi Sri Maharshi. It should be seen in the context of several messages that were sent starting in January 2018. These are readily accessible on Ideapod. I can assure the reader that this global crisis has taken a huge toll on such yogis as Sri. Their sensitivity to life is such that the suffering taking place across the globe is taking a physical toll on their bodies. While they also have the inner strength and resolve to be able to handle it, it has spurred them into going deeper into their beings and emanating stronger prayers meant to assuage people who are directly hit by this.
Sri Maharshi has this to convey at this crucial moment of this crisis. He wants us to understand that this is part of a larger gross disturbance in the five elements that has taken place because our way of living had gone completely against nature. This particular virus is a result of an imbalance in the air element or Vayu in sanskrit. One has to understand that everything that we do impacts the five elements in some way. We ourselves are made of these five elements. If they are imbalanced within us, they create disease within us (this is the basic principle of the ancient science of Ayurveda). Similarly, if the five elements are imbalanced on the planet, they will create disease on a planetary level which then inflicts upon us as inhabitants.
Vayu or air is characterized by movement and therefore there can be a tendency for it to spread with a certain dynamism. Our modern way of life has been infusing this air with fear and anxiety which creates toxicity. And since air permeates everything, this is having a multiplying effect on us through our collective sentiments. Release a mutated virus into this ‘air chemistry’, and the result is potentially catastrophic and this is what we are witnessing today. But we are making it worse by adding even more layers of fear and anxiety, propelled by the same material forces who want to continue to gain from this crisis as well.
Rather, we should be stepping back and retreating into prayerfulness and perhaps even gratitude for the realization of what we have taken for granted. On a collective level, this prayerfulness can impact the air element very positively and thereby help alleviate the situation somewhat. This is the lesson that nature is trying to teach us if we are able to look past ourselves for a moment.
Hence this is a correction, no matter what the source or trigger of the virus. It is nothing short of divine intervention – a strong reminder to us that our needs are limited and so should be our wants. That most human beings today are aspiring for unlimited money, fame or power is a kind of sickness driven by our selfishness that is incongruent to life and its purpose. Every other living creature on this planet is completely in sync with nature and life forces. So if we are not aligned with life, in one way or another, it will force a realignment – after all, we are not mightier than our source. Hopefully, we learn our lesson from this crisis.
As far as the virus itself, it follows a certain geometry in its growth which goes something like 1 X 1, 2 X 2, 4 X 4, 16 X 16, and 256 X 256 – roughly corresponding to five stages. Obviously, each subsequent stage is significantly more lethal but it is also possible for the virus to retreat to a lower stage from a higher stage before even reaching the last stage (fifth stage). We have seen this in different regions from the time the virus was seeded to its peak and then its withdrawal. As I write this, we seem to be peaking in some of the worst-hit areas of the world. Of course, all human efforts are to try and not let the virus reach the fifth stage. And those who are still in the early stages are taking extreme preventive measures to curb the growth or ‘flatten the curve’.
Sri Maharshi also exclaims that this virus has a peak growth lifecycle of seven weeks. That means that it will aggressively grow for seven weeks (though its growth rate may be tempered by human efforts) before it starts to withdraw anyway.
He further states that given the nature of the virus, there is no one magic potion or antidote for it. Ultimately, as something that resides in the air element, only other factors that are detrimental to its existence in that same element can negate it. One of these crucial ingredients is sunlight. There are others and Sri alleges that as this atmospheric chemistry will alter in the coming weeks, this should have a detrimental effect on the virus.
As mentioned earlier, another key factor is prayerfulness. No matter who our God or inspiration, there was a time when we used to remember our source or our creator and feel a sense of gratitude. This has almost completely left modern society. Sri professes that this is very important because the air element has various layers. Prayers, when they are unselfish, or fire ceremonies involving the five elements, or various religious rituals around the world that still have some integrity, have a very powerful capacity of purifying the upper echelons of the air element. This too can have an effect on the virus – no matter how absurd this may sound to modern-day scientists or logicians!
We are subtle and complex beings and everything we embody, feel and act – consciously or unconsciously – echoes in the existence and has an impact on all life including us. The current mood around this crisis is not helping us so it may be advisable to switch off these external noise sources and go within to introspect, contemplate, and re-orient our action.
Sri also largely endorses the measures that are being suggested by world governments as common sense interventions to take the minimum precautions. I will not go into these as they are well established by now but he asks us to respect these basic measures. This is not the time to question motives or expound theories – this is a time to act and be sensitive to the situation.
Now to the endgame. While there is some uncertainty among the scientific community about whether seasonality will affect this, Sri Maharshi indicates strongly that this would be one of the deciding factors of the decline of the virus. In his estimation, there are three factors (mentioned above) that will decide when the virus will become subtle as opposed to its current state of being aggressive (or withdrawal vs. expansion respectively). To conclude, these factors are 1) Stage of growth of the virus 2) Seasonality (we are approaching summer in most of the Northern Hemisphere), and 3) Moving away from fear to a strong sense of prayerfulness and gratitude as well as recognition of our original purpose here on earth.
He also assures us that many in his circle are very concerned about the situation as it stands today. They are doing their part with an unprecedented sense of urgency and this may play a significant role in helping to restore balance sooner. Hence, we should do what we can from taking basic precautions to changing our basic orientation in how we approach this crisis – from fear to prayerfulness, reflection and positive action.
All of this, factored together, in his perception, should see the crisis globally start retreating on April 12, 2020 – especially as seasonality starts to trump where the virus may still be expanding. The withdrawal will continue rapidly until April 24, 2020, after which the virus would have become quite subtle within the air element. By early May, many may be sounding the victory horns. He hopes that any such elation will not prevent us from continuing to heed the lesson that this was supposed to teach us.
So now is the time to resolve and act sensibly – not just in our own self-interest but with a genuine interest in the wellbeing of the entire human fraternity on the planet and life at large.
Sri Maharshi sends his love to all and gently nudges us again to come back to life. He has also shared a prayer that can be offered by people of all faiths – a secular prayer in his own words:
God Will – All Heal
“We do connect our will to God’s Will,
Thy Will – mercy and heal the situation and safeguard humanity,
Our will – surrender in Almighty is the higher medicine for humanity.”