Pt. Varistha Persad, Pundit, Swaha International
BA, MA, PG Dip Ed (UWI), OCT (Intermediate, Senior), DDSB, Durham District School Board, ON (res.), OVS, Ontario Virtual School, ON, T III (English), Ministry of Education, TT (res.)
The present circumstances of isolation and lockdowns are disturbing the masses even more than individual struggles with family, money and health issues, the effects of which society may not be prepared for when life returns to a sense of normalcy.
Throughout the various scriptures and Hindu texts, it is evident that the focus and purpose of the soul, having been spiritually evolved to acquire and experience the senses and discriminatory mind of the human body, should be to spend his or her lifetime on the ultimate goal of achieving moksha or freedom. Our ancestors understood that any inquiry into our purpose is undertaken with the understanding that a higher force is at play in the process, whether one chooses to accept this or not.
An example of a person who is unaware of this reality can be best understood through an analogy: a farmer may appreciate and focus heavily on the importance of the physical labour necessary when ploughing the land, planting the seeds, watering the crops, and finally, harvesting for a successful crop. However, if he pays little attention to the other forces that determine the success or failure of the crop, such as exposure to sunlight, the insects and worms that aerate the soil, the nutrients available in the soil, the time of the year, the season and the effects of the moon, the weather patterns and all other forces of nature, then the farmer could expend all that energy and yet fail in the end. Thus, positioning ourselves at the centre of all the action can cause tremendous problems or mishaps in life. We must accept and adhere to the concept that our reality is an illusion. If we do not do so, then there is no technological and scientific advancement that can save us when the forces of creation are at work.
The quality of life that human beings have been experiencing on a global scale under these shared circumstances, is diminished tremendously and is affecting major life decisions that were traditional, normal or that “just made sense”. Younger people in societies around the world are actively making decisions to reduce the size of their families by removing procreation from the conversation entirely. In other households, people are now living in an existential loop where they wait and wait for things to happen differently. When some persons are asked why indifference and laziness define their existence, it is easier for such people to find comfort in blaming “bad karma” or “bad times”, while they wait for “good times” to return. The life-journey of human beings has become bogged down by the waiting game where essentially, everyone is waiting to finish their education, waiting to get married, waiting to have children, waiting to marry their children, waiting for grandchildren, waiting for retirement and it goes on and on, much like the literary masterpiece, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. This play positions the life of two characters in the same existential loop where they spend their time waiting for someone named Godot who never arrives. Is this now what our lives have become? Most lives resemble such a tragicomedy and, as a result, they exist as insignificant entities in the world, devoid of any real purpose.
It is strongly advised that shifting the focus even for a bit is too much in this age of Kaliyug. Despite any circumstance, including our present circumstances of being in lockdown, we are reminded to keep focused. This age begins with the end of the narrative of Raja Pareekshit who lost all sense of purpose and value when he put his body, his position and his material acquisitions before his mind, his soul and his sense of morality. Placing the dead snake around the neck of a sage caused his eventual demise. Let that dead snake remain a symbol of man’s pride in position and authority or the attitude of being a “living-dead” and the fate he faced by devaluing the higher self, the sage and the journey of enlightenment for eventual freedom from this bondage of sin and suffering. We must change the trajectory of our meaning-making mission and allow into our lives the divine bliss and ecstasy we can experience when God comes first, over and above any and all circumstances.
