Coronavirus Must Stay, and Lock-down Must Continue: Let Us Pray Together for This!
Prayers for More Calamities and Misfortunes?
Srimati Pritha and her family were almost killed by a poisoned cake, a great fire, uncouth cannibals and even a nuclear weapon. They suffered great many misfortunes and calamities during their exile in the forest. The aunt of Sri Krishna, and the mother of the valiant Pandavas and Karna, Sri Pritha, had however made a curious imploration to God: in Srimad Bhagavatam 1:8:25, she asked the Lord of the Universe, the granter of all boons, to give her, of all things, the self-same troubles and problems (=vipadah); not once, but again and again (sasvat).
That is definitely not a favour that anyone, much less people in the 21st century, would ever ask of God. Why, then, did she do that? As she herself had volunteered the explanation in the scripture, "so that she would get to receive causeless God's benedictions". Bestowal of God's benedictions by His giving her untold tribulations and insufferable sorrows? Incredulous.
Each time the mother of the Pandavas had to go through the concatenation of reverses of fortune, tragedies and miseries, and when things came to a head, she was coerced to think of God. She had to solicit His intervention. She importuned Sri Krishna to interpose to restore peace. Disaster, afflictions, woes and trials in Sri Pritha's life became a catalyst for precipitating His Grace and several appearances, in other words.
If truth be told, it is the setbacks, adversities and blows that helped turned her mind, which was naturally. given her situation, anchored in the affairs of the world, towards God, the reliever of the cycle of births and deaths. The only way to break free from the stranglehold of material existence, she realised, was to attach the mind to God, who disentangles all minds of his own eternal energy, maya's exertions.
Therefore, the mother of the Pandavas, besought God to make her remember Him by giving her pains and troubles.
How is it apposite to our prayer for the coronavirus to stay?
If one notices, everything has changed; in some people's lives, almost immediately. It all seems like some phantasmagoria: everything has altered, just the way it did to many people's lives during the great wars of the 20th century, and the Great Depression, which sent Wall Street into a panic, wiping out millions of investors.
Today, however, with the virus, there are of course no runs on foods, essentials and necessities; but there are no guarantees that something similar might not occasion them. Anything is probable in this volatile world that has, since the turn of the year, transformed many common-or-garden things of life, which we had, hitherto, taken for granted, namely, eating in public, shopping freely, travelling abroad, leisure, free time, freedom and liberties. These are the basics that cannot be taken away from us, or so we thought. But they have been --- not by human agencies but by Nature; by a Force that we never thought could possess such powers of control over our daily lives.
The No-Time Perennial Excuse
People who are always in the habit of imputing every blame to "Time" have now no excuse to say "No time". They have "no time to read", they "hardly have time to do sadhana (=spiritual practice)", their quotidian duties and responsibilities have "occupied every minute of the day of their day that they hardly have any time for thoughts about God", they have "no time to spend time with the loved ones", "no time to do housework", "no time to tidy up their rooms", "no time to do groceries", "no time to talk to their parents", "no time for their children", "no time to do what they like", "no time to unclutter their laptops" --- no time for anything and everything. "No time" has been everyone's mantra and refrain.
We now have --- not extra time --- rather, all the time on earth. We have all the 24 hours to ourselves. Will we want to give ourselves the reason that we have no time. Let's see.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
Nature is Much Happier Now
1. Reduction of Carbon Emissions
One of the main impacts of the coronavirus outbreak has been a significant drop in air pollution in many parts of the world. Most notably seen in developed, or developing, industrial nations like China and in Europe, the drop shows just how much industrial activity has been shut down as of late.
Satellite imagery from the likes of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has been seen by many experts as "the largest scale experiment ever" in terms of reduction in emissions around the world. Data from satellites like the ESA's Sentinel-5P Satellite over the last few weeks have shown a significant drop in polluting gases like nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
NASA released satellite images taken in conjunction with the European Space Agency's pollution monitoring satellites that show a significant decrease in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over China. The agency reported that the reduction of nitrogen dioxide was due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Nitrogen dioxide is mainly produced by car engines, power plants, and other industrial processes, It is believed the be the cause for a myriad of health problems, especially respiratory illnesses like asthma. One of the largest drops in the gas has been seen in Wuhan, Central China. The city has been under strict lock-down since January.
The reduction of carbon emissions due to current events related to the coronavirus disease proves we are capable of doing much more for climate issues than we are already doing.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
2. Animals Are Happier
Thanks to India going into lockdown, along the coast of the eastern state of Odisha, over 475,000 endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles have come ashore to dig their nests and lay eggs – all sixty million of them, according to The Mind Unleashed.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
3. The Skies are Clearer; Cleaner Air.
Everywhere skies have cleared within a span of about four months. Singapore's PSI today, compared to what it was the same time last year, has improved a lot.
Researchers have found that there has been a 5- to 10% drop in air pollutants like carbon dioxide in New York. Methane emissions have also dropped significantly.
Traffic levels are also significantly down, with some estimating in the region of 35%. Carbon monoxide emissions have also dropped by somewhere in the region of 50%.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
4. Domestic energy use rising, commercial use is falling further reducing emissions
As more and more people are put under lock-down around the world, energy consumption profiles in buildings are being disrupted. With many people now working from home domestic energy consumption is predicted to have risen sharply.
It has been predicted that this has risen somewhere in the region of 6 to 8% in the U.S. alone. Conversely, with fewer people in commercial or educational buildings, their energy consumption should plummet by as much as a quarter to 30%.
This will ultimately save energy as the increase in domestic use is more than compensated by the larger drop in commercial and educational building uses. It also has the knock-on effect of reducing the consumption of polluting fuels in power stations as demand falls.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
4. Traffic at YouTube channels and podcasts where e-books are has increased manifold. People are being less smombies. It has been estimated that if this continues, people who have been addicted to Netflix, cable TV and social media, would soon find a better alternative to engage their mind: reading.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
5. Bored people are exercising more now. People, everywhere around the world, have been said to have taken to exercise: they can either be seen outdoors, or have been discovered to exercise at home. Overall, there is an increase in the awareness that exercise is crucial.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
6. Bored people are now spending more time doing things that they had failed before: spring-cleaning, renewing acquaintance with the family, and engaging in activities that they thought they would not have the time to do.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
7. People have now become, within just two months, more reflective and introspective. WhatsApp messages are abound with philosophical musings and ruminations.
8. People who have now been disenchanted with the "prowess" of science and technology turn to God for meanings.
9. There are now more savings now.
10. Living on bare minimum has become the order of the day. (Millennial call this minimalism).
11. People appreciate things that they took for granted: rights of movements, rights to breathe, rights of space, even rights to exist.
For all the above, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
Sources:
https://www.cosmopolitanme.com/life/coronavirus-is-having-a-really-positive-impact-on-the-environment
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-coronavirus-has-helped-the-planet.html
Srimati Pritha and her family were almost killed by a poisoned cake, a great fire, uncouth cannibals and even a nuclear weapon. They suffered great many misfortunes and calamities during their exile in the forest. The aunt of Sri Krishna, and the mother of the valiant Pandavas and Karna, Sri Pritha, had however made a curious imploration to God: in Srimad Bhagavatam 1:8:25, she asked the Lord of the Universe, the granter of all boons, to give her, of all things, the self-same troubles and problems (=vipadah); not once, but again and again (sasvat).
Each time the mother of the Pandavas had to go through the concatenation of reverses of fortune, tragedies and miseries, and when things came to a head, she was coerced to think of God. She had to solicit His intervention. She importuned Sri Krishna to interpose to restore peace. Disaster, afflictions, woes and trials in Sri Pritha's life became a catalyst for precipitating His Grace and several appearances, in other words.
If truth be told, it is the setbacks, adversities and blows that helped turned her mind, which was naturally. given her situation, anchored in the affairs of the world, towards God, the reliever of the cycle of births and deaths. The only way to break free from the stranglehold of material existence, she realised, was to attach the mind to God, who disentangles all minds of his own eternal energy, maya's exertions.
Therefore, the mother of the Pandavas, besought God to make her remember Him by giving her pains and troubles.
How is it apposite to our prayer for the coronavirus to stay?
If one notices, everything has changed; in some people's lives, almost immediately. It all seems like some phantasmagoria: everything has altered, just the way it did to many people's lives during the great wars of the 20th century, and the Great Depression, which sent Wall Street into a panic, wiping out millions of investors.
Today, however, with the virus, there are of course no runs on foods, essentials and necessities; but there are no guarantees that something similar might not occasion them. Anything is probable in this volatile world that has, since the turn of the year, transformed many common-or-garden things of life, which we had, hitherto, taken for granted, namely, eating in public, shopping freely, travelling abroad, leisure, free time, freedom and liberties. These are the basics that cannot be taken away from us, or so we thought. But they have been --- not by human agencies but by Nature; by a Force that we never thought could possess such powers of control over our daily lives.
The No-Time Perennial Excuse
People who are always in the habit of imputing every blame to "Time" have now no excuse to say "No time". They have "no time to read", they "hardly have time to do sadhana (=spiritual practice)", their quotidian duties and responsibilities have "occupied every minute of the day of their day that they hardly have any time for thoughts about God", they have "no time to spend time with the loved ones", "no time to do housework", "no time to tidy up their rooms", "no time to do groceries", "no time to talk to their parents", "no time for their children", "no time to do what they like", "no time to unclutter their laptops" --- no time for anything and everything. "No time" has been everyone's mantra and refrain.
We now have --- not extra time --- rather, all the time on earth. We have all the 24 hours to ourselves. Will we want to give ourselves the reason that we have no time. Let's see.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
Nature is Much Happier Now
1. Reduction of Carbon Emissions
One of the main impacts of the coronavirus outbreak has been a significant drop in air pollution in many parts of the world. Most notably seen in developed, or developing, industrial nations like China and in Europe, the drop shows just how much industrial activity has been shut down as of late.
Satellite imagery from the likes of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has been seen by many experts as "the largest scale experiment ever" in terms of reduction in emissions around the world. Data from satellites like the ESA's Sentinel-5P Satellite over the last few weeks have shown a significant drop in polluting gases like nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Nitrogen dioxide is mainly produced by car engines, power plants, and other industrial processes, It is believed the be the cause for a myriad of health problems, especially respiratory illnesses like asthma. One of the largest drops in the gas has been seen in Wuhan, Central China. The city has been under strict lock-down since January.
The reduction of carbon emissions due to current events related to the coronavirus disease proves we are capable of doing much more for climate issues than we are already doing.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
2. Animals Are Happier
Thanks to India going into lockdown, along the coast of the eastern state of Odisha, over 475,000 endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles have come ashore to dig their nests and lay eggs – all sixty million of them, according to The Mind Unleashed.
3. The Skies are Clearer; Cleaner Air.
Everywhere skies have cleared within a span of about four months. Singapore's PSI today, compared to what it was the same time last year, has improved a lot.
Researchers have found that there has been a 5- to 10% drop in air pollutants like carbon dioxide in New York. Methane emissions have also dropped significantly.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
4. Domestic energy use rising, commercial use is falling further reducing emissions
As more and more people are put under lock-down around the world, energy consumption profiles in buildings are being disrupted. With many people now working from home domestic energy consumption is predicted to have risen sharply.
It has been predicted that this has risen somewhere in the region of 6 to 8% in the U.S. alone. Conversely, with fewer people in commercial or educational buildings, their energy consumption should plummet by as much as a quarter to 30%.
This will ultimately save energy as the increase in domestic use is more than compensated by the larger drop in commercial and educational building uses. It also has the knock-on effect of reducing the consumption of polluting fuels in power stations as demand falls.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
4. Traffic at YouTube channels and podcasts where e-books are has increased manifold. People are being less smombies. It has been estimated that if this continues, people who have been addicted to Netflix, cable TV and social media, would soon find a better alternative to engage their mind: reading.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
5. Bored people are exercising more now. People, everywhere around the world, have been said to have taken to exercise: they can either be seen outdoors, or have been discovered to exercise at home. Overall, there is an increase in the awareness that exercise is crucial.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
6. Bored people are now spending more time doing things that they had failed before: spring-cleaning, renewing acquaintance with the family, and engaging in activities that they thought they would not have the time to do.
Therefore, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
7. People have now become, within just two months, more reflective and introspective. WhatsApp messages are abound with philosophical musings and ruminations.
8. People who have now been disenchanted with the "prowess" of science and technology turn to God for meanings.
10. Living on bare minimum has become the order of the day. (Millennial call this minimalism).
11. People appreciate things that they took for granted: rights of movements, rights to breathe, rights of space, even rights to exist.
For all the above, let us pray that the coronavirus must stay, and lock-down must continue for another five years at least.
Sources:
https://www.cosmopolitanme.com/life/coronavirus-is-having-a-really-positive-impact-on-the-environment
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-coronavirus-has-helped-the-planet.html
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