The Lessons of the Crisis

A Wake-Up Call

A crisis, whether individual or collective, brings into attention the point of weakness through which the forces that brought about the crisis enter. They show us the chinks in our armour, the spots that we should focus upon in our journey towards making our individual and collective life perfect. If we learn the lesson and seal grow in the wisdom that comes through the dark door of adversity then the crisis not only vanishes for now but returns no more. But if we simply tinker the surfaces and stave over the difficult period without any fundamental change within us then we are just entering a phase of calm before the storm brews again. We may also say that the more frequent the crisis the greater the urgency to learn the lesson. This is what we can see today. The epidemics that were fewer and far in between seem to be coming closer and closer almost knocking at our doors relentlessly to draw our attention to something we have missed through the previous episodes. It is as if nature, the great mother wants us to wake up and learn something really fast. She is in a hurry to leap forward and she wants us to take the leap with her. Those who still refuse to learn the lesson, those who still refuse to see the obvious are the ones who will be simply left behind when the final leap is taken.

Nature Preparing for a New Leap

Nature is indeed preparing for a new leap, a new creation. She is striving to give birth to a new species, a new being, a being of compassion and light, a being of love and delight, a being of wisdom and peace out of our old and ailing humanity that is indeed sick in many ways than one. A million years at least we have trailed through every possible passage upon earth and sky and water and land. A million years we have been searching and seeking in every possible corner just a drop of certitude, a drop of security, a drop of true love, a drop of lasting truth and unmixed bliss. A million years we have roamed through the forests and cities and markets and malls, visited churches and temples and gurudwaras and mosques, fought ruthlessly and relentlessly for the domination of one idea and ideology, one religion and cult over others. But all these spaces where we stood in conflict are locked down now. There is no more anywhere outside to go.

A Look Inside

It is here that we must look towards that little corner that is inviting us since millenniums and ages. It is this little corner within us, the inner temple where the One True God resides, the God who does not fight from His own supremacy since He knows Himself as the One, a God who dwells in the heart of all creation and bids us to look upon all creatures, from the tiniest of ants to the formation of galaxies as His dwelling places, His beautiful or terrible masks, His robes of  darkness or light. It is time to look within and undertake this unprecedented adventure of consciousness and delight that awaits us. It is time to search the indwelling Universal within; it is time to find the One who is the All.

The Lesson to Learn

The question to be asked now is not when will be get over this crisis but when will we wake up to the true Light, to the Source and core of all things human and divine. The question is not what methods we have found to get over the present problem but rather what is the lesson it has come to teach us and whether we are willing and ready to learn it still.

Dr Alok Pandey
Pondicherry, March 20, 2020