Open The Door To Receive God’s Love

In times of crisis, it is crucial to increase trust, for which, visualizing God is a very helpful and almost necessary requirement. To worship this nucleus of trust, or God, we have designed so many refined rituals that create a relationship with God. The institutions that maintain trust are our places of worship. What is the benefit arising from keeping these places closed, especially in a time when they are most useful to us?

We are all witness to how the COVID-19 pandemic has brought social and economic activities to a grinding halt, all over the world. Some countries bravely tried to resume working, but soon saw that the virus reappeared. Now, they find themselves in a dilemma. Stopping the world’s business has given rise to a whole new financial problem affecting every one of us. This has become a chakravyuha, or a catch-22 situation, the fear of the virus on one hand, and battling financial problems on the other. People are being overwhelmed and may be unable to cope. In such a time, it is extremely important for us all to learn to be calm. The one solution to all these problems is to have trust and keep faith. I will recover. I will get better. Someone will help me out of this. Someone will cure me.

What is the solution to the fear of the virus? We have implemented, one after another, four periods of lockdown and then created zones of containment and red, orange or green zones for safety and movement. This has continued for a while but it does not seem like it is a resolution of the problem, which is only taking us to deeper waters - like a man drowning in the middle of an ocean. No matter how much he tries to swim, it is unclear whether he will reach the shore. What does a person do in such a situation? Have trust in God. We can have faith in administrators, accomplished scientists, Nobel prize winners and leaders. But it is not possible to place 100% trust in any man. That is why man places his trust in God. God is not seen, and yet we accept Him with trust, that He exists and is there for us. This is our faith. This faith is in line with progress. I would say that, in fact, those countries or societies that have kept real faith, have seen the best progress. In our personal experience, we have seen that when I have put up YouTube videos of stotras and mantras in order to spread trust in God, these have received the best response from people immediately.

In times of crisis, it is crucial to increase trust, for which, visualizing God is a very helpful and almost necessary requirement. To worship this nucleus of trust, or God, we have designed so many refined rituals that create a relationship with God. The institutions that maintain trust are our places of worship. What is the benefit arising from keeping these places closed, especially in a time when they are most useful to us? It is not that alcohol is bad per se, but if in this time, alcohol shops can remain open, and alcohol even home delivered, why should a person be restricted from going for darshan? Visiting a house of God helps him stay reassured and may be the only thing keeping him calm and strong enough to withstand these times. We have made careful arrangements for food grains and vegetables for our hunger. But what will help us get rid of fear? Have we built immunity physically, or an attitude of strength, to be able to fight and overcome? Everyone in society has been taking care and trying to follow the recommended rules. It is only the careless or those with agendas, who are crowding the streets, sometimes purposely, to disturb the rest of society. The common man is afraid of illness and has been acting with caution.

Our factories and industries have been shut and money seems to be disappearing quickly. The rains are around the corner. Earthquakes, tornados and forest fires have increased. It seems like Nature is expressing her anger. We human beings need support. Why should we keep those centres closed where people are able to experience or feel closer to God’s reassuring presence? We need to be in an environment where we feel taken care of, secure and speak to God so he can say to us ‘I am with you.’ What is the point of closing down all our temples? Is it not possible to maintain social distancing and allow only 4-5 people in at a time? People can wait to enter in a line and we can have severe penalties for those who break rules. There seems to be no issue in having all places of worship open every day under police supervision. But if that seems challenging, we could easily open Shri Ram’s temple on Sundays, Mahadev temples on Mondays, Shree Ganesh temples on Tuesdays, Shree Dattatreya’s temples on Thursdays, Mahalakshmi temples on Fridays, Shree Hanuman and Shanidev temples on Saturdays and so on. Feeling the presence of their Gods will go a very long way in calming the minds of people.

Hundreds of thousands walk barefoot, for miles on end for days, to visit Panduranga at Pandharpur every year. Their trust, that Panduranga is with us, is renewed and strengthened. He is open, there for everyone, and provides the belief to go on. It is unfortunate that He is being kept away from His worshippers. Even if people want to perform small rituals and pujas at home, they can follow social distancing and their priests can conduct the proceedings. What is the point of making rules like people cannot gather for satsang? As long as they comply with social distancing, it should be fine. How will we go on if all the activities that bring relief to people’s minds are stifled? Only when the cloud over people’s hearts is lifted will they find inner strength and the confidence to win this battle against coronavirus.

How did a massive killer, a pandemic like coronavirus, manage to come into existence like this? Before people could understand what was happening this virus spread throughout the world, and gave rise to a deep fear. The World Health Organisation, the world’s largest health institution, and many gifted and accomplished scientists in many developed nations constantly conduct tests in the most well-equipped labs and lead the advance of medical science. Isn’t it surprising that five months into the spread of this virus we do not know enough about what exactly it is, how to stall its spread or cure or counter its effects in the body? The only thing we are able to treat, by and large, are the symptoms of the disease that show up on the patient. The health industry is in chaos over the discovery of a medical cure. There is a system apart from this, the ancient Ayurvedic science, which has been offering good, holistic health for thousands of years and still provides fantastic results to millions of people on a regular basis. Ayurveda is not even being considered strongly for a possible solution.

Those who have lower immunity are more susceptible to communicable diseases, like coronavirus. So it is clear that we have to increase the immunity of all people in the world, to be able to overcome diseases like this one. In this atmosphere of dread and doubt, how will our immunity increase? Immunity requires nourishing food and therapies that strengthen the mind. Yoga, meditation, mantra chanting, these are all mind related therapeutics and have a resonance with us through use over generations. Whether these fall in the understanding of modern science is not as important as the fact that they actually work and have huge acceptance among people. If anyone is using them to fool people it is also easy to find out and stop them. But sidelining these therapies because of some fraudsters achieves no point because human society has no replacement for these fantastic techniques. What do we reject these and push society towards even more fear and no solution for it? Finally, fear leads to even lower immunity.

There may be some social obstructions, and some administrative ones, but obstacles can be overcome. Like drawing lines every couple of metres in front of shops to mark where people should stand, or using a bus to only half its capacity, and quarantining people who come from far away or in flights, people can also be controlled while going for darshan in a mandir. If they want to perform pujas that help their state of mind and increase confidence, rules can be followed and these imperative activities can be resumed.

After the discovery of quantum science, it has been accepted that waves, and subtle vibrations, unseen by us or many instruments, can have more power and importance than physically seen forces. These are field effects. Vibrations affect us very strongly. With culturing, done through our trust-building rituals, individuals and society both become careful, aware, accepting of situations and consider everyone’s comfort in their decisions. People become loving and have strong faith in themselves. Ayurveda recommends medicines in the form of tablets, powders and decoctions, but also in the way of fragrances, herbal smoke recipes, mantra singing and music. Even these therapies are much needed today. Beyond the understanding of physical sciences, the energy and potential in the environment, the effect of the atmospheric vibrations, and the presence of every particle and object in the world - rivers, trees, mountains – everything has an effect on all of us all the time. These vibrations lead to many results around us. Even modern science is researching these phenomena now.

A positive and constructive energy-field, that gives life to the smallest insects and right up to a human being, that life-energy, or praan, must be flowing from some source. This is clear to all. The positivity of a temple or place of worship has been experienced by everyone. A person bows his head before God in a temple and accepts that God will now listen to me and help my condition. This is the same trust that the vaarkari has in Pandharpur. Some go once a year, some go all year long. They return with the energy of trust. This is the enormous function that temples have in human life. There is no time when they have been more important than now. Let us open their doors and receive strength.

The author is founder of Atmasantulana Village, a world-renowned holistic healing centre.