The Chinese virus Corona has brought the whole world to a standstill stagnant position. Thousands of people have already died, millions of them have been fighting a battle for survival against the jaws of death standing just in front of them and billions have been locked down in their homes. The whole world is suffering from a pandemic that current generation probably never saw it and never dreamt of.
While the whole world is trying to find the ways and means as to how to contain this pandemic, it reminds me of a story from the Great Indian epic Mahabharat. During the war, when Dronacharya was killed, his son Ashwathama became furious and fired a very powerful weapon Narayana Astra. The specialty of this weapon was that its power kept on increasing as the opposing warrior fought against it and it was creating havoc on the Pandava forces. Then Bhagvaan Krishna divulged the secret of Narayan Astra to Pandavas and told them to drop their weapons on the ground and just stand still with folded hands as if you are not fighting the war. Initially, they disbelieved and resisted but finally followed the advice of Bhagvaan Krishna. The Narayana Astra went around the whole of Pandavas army searching for soldiers with weapons in their hands. And now, there was none. After sometime, the power of Narayana Astra got fully consumed and then lord Krishna told his army to pick up their arms and start fighting again.
The basic lesson from this story is that when you come across a situation where you have no control, it may be a better strategy to just stop and take a step back. Wait for the situation to improve and then take your position back. When a mountaineer faces a blizzard on the snow capped heights of Himalayas and is not able to climb further, he just stops and waits for the blizzard to be over. And then he/she commences his/her climb again. The same philosophy is required today to combat the Chinese virus Corona. The total lock down in India and a large number of other countries is exactly the same strategy that is being followed after assessing the characteristics of Corona. It is isolation and maintaining social distance that will make the humanity win this war against the Chinese virus Corona. In fact, we can follow the same strategy in business environment also sometimes. Suppose a new competitor enters the market in a big way and starts an advertising blitzkrieg that you just can't match. In that case, allow him to hog the limelight for sometime and consume all his resources on that while you concentrate on personal connect with your existing clients and ensuring that they continue to have full faith in your product. Their repeat business with you and their recommendations to the new customers will have much more effect than the best of the advertising campaign.
In fact, if we look at the pace with which mankind has been moving ahead for last so many years, it is mind boggling. Our lives had become too fast. Man was fleeting at a speed that it had no time to look back. The man has been exploiting all the natural resources to the extent that Mother Earth was actually crying for a long time. We have been cutting jungles after jungles that has given rise to the dangers of global warming. We have been inhaling polluted air, drinking dirty water and thus have been the target of innumerable diseases never heard of earlier. The wastage created by humans has created mountains of garbage on the outskirts of all the cities in the world. The oceans have also not been spared. Thousands of species have just disappeared.
The man claimed to be the owner of this earth, resorted to merciless killings of billions of animals all over the world for his taste buds. The man while demonstrating his superiority, totally forgot that this planet belongs to those animals also who cannot speak. If we have the right to live, they too have. When we talk of democracy and equal rights for all, how come we forget the animal kingdom. This Earth belongs to them also. They may not have a parliament or a body like United Nations or G-20 etc. Isn't it our duty to protect them and in the bargain protect nature in lieu of exploiting it. The man has been misusing his intellect that God has given to him for his selfish motives.
This Corona should be taken as a warning to the mankind. Now, when we are imprisoned in our flats or bungalows, the animals are roaming free. The chirping of the birds even in our societies and mohallas has increased. The noise pollution from buses, cars, trains and aircrafts is almost nil. The dull and hazy sky is becoming clearer and the blue sky is already back in some areas. The pollution levels have plummeted. Isn't the world becoming more beautiful.
I am imprisoned in my flat. But I am happy that humanity is learning a great lesson. May be those, who will survive and our future generations will cherish a more beautiful, serene, peaceful, pollution free world provided we drastically reduce the exploitation of mother nature. So, let us step back a bit, it will definitely prove to be a step forward.
Veerendra K Jaitly
VK Jaitly is a motivational speaker, a consultant, a coach, a writer and a mentor for the corporate world. He is an ex IITian with 35 years of experience in corporate, academics and defence. His workshops on ‘Business Excellence thru People (BEP)’ have been highly acclaimed for increasing productivity and profitability of organizations.
Jaitly has a number of articles to his credit and has delivered lectures/ presentations at National and International forums and has travelled across the globe. He had been the Leader for an All India Motor Cycle Rally and was Oi/C for a Car Rally from Kanyakumari to Delhi. He loves to trek, plays Golf. His first motivational book ‘We Can! We Can!’ has been getting very good reviews.
