By M L Satyan

Bengaluru, March 30, 2020: The earth is a tiny dot in a vast, cosmic arena. The human history has seen many wars and crusades for capturing land, wealth and properties.

Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become ‘momentary masters’ of this tiny planet. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. Until recently how frequent were our hatreds and misunderstandings; how we were cheating one another and how eager we were to kill one another.

Today’s world remains deeply unfair. In all societies, long-standing forms of inequality persist while gaps are opening in new aspects of life. The economic gaps have continued to grow as the very richest have amassed unprecedented levels of wealth. In a complex global economy the space for inclusive policies have been squeezed at all political levels. The policy decisions of the last decades have created structural advantages for global companies and corporate giants that are hollowing out democratic institutions, all at the expenses of ordinary people.

We have been boasting of our science, technology, military and weapon power. Our human pride, our imagined self-importance, status and power, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe now is being challenged by a tiny, unseen and deadly virus.

All these years, human beings ruled over the animals, birds and insects that were caged in the zoos. Sadly, today the human beings are caged and forced to remain indoors. The animals, birds and insects look at the caged human beings and laugh at them. What a shameful situation for the human beings!

In the process of ‘artificial development’ human beings forgot that they were equal only to dust particles in the vast universe. Hence they wanted to conquer the whole world for which they ran, flew and roamed everywhere, including visit to other planets. But today the fear of a small virus made the human beings realize that they are in no way better than the animals, birds, insects, trees, mountains, rivers and seas that enjoy a great freedom.

Human brings converted Gods into commercial commodities and transacted business in all the worship places. Today the doors of all the worship places are shut for human beings. However, the elephants and holy cows are safe inside the temples. Is it not a shameful situation for the human beings?

Today people say that the world has come to a standstill. Yet, the sun rises and sets as usual; rain falls as it wishes; the waves of the sea are quite enthusiastic. Waterfalls are lively. Deer are dancing; elephants walk around freely; rabbits are playing around; frogs are jumping repeatedly; fish of all varieties, including dolphins, feel safe and come till the seashores; birds of all varieties are flying freely in all directions of the vast sky; insects of all types move around everywhere without any hesitation.

Most stray dogs used to venture out to the streets in the urban areas only between 10 pm and 6 am. Now they are out on the streets during the day and play around freely without any fear. Their ‘barking’ sounds like ‘mocking’. Have we not become worse than dogs?

Today skies seem cleaner as the air pollution has come down drastically. The water bodies – ponds, rivers, underground water, seas and oceans – are purer and less contaminated. The annoying honking noises of vehicles, loud music, shouting and yelling by people have been replaced with the birds chirping, trees waving, voices of insects and leaves rattling.

Much needed space and time are given to the nature for the healing process. We have saved natural resources (water, minerals, forest etc.) and fuel (petrol/diesel). We have become self conscious about cleanliness and personal hygiene. We have realized that health is the real wealth and prevention is better than cure.

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In all this vastness there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. We may be able to visit other planets but may not settle there.

For the moment, the earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. Hence it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish all on the earth, the only home that we have now to live.

Pope Francis in his “Urbi et Orbi” on March 27 spoke in detail about our “erratic lifestyle.” For our selfish enjoyment we have plundered the nature and natural resources. We have deviated from the normal natural life. We have failed to live in harmony with nature. Our self-centered life was indeed a clear expression of our human pride.

Today one small tiny virus has pricked the human pride. It has challenged our science, technology, medical advancement, wealth, popularity, military, weapons and powerful positions. We have lost and are losing millions of precious lives since we are not fully “capable” of saving them. Please remember that the coronavirus infected person has to be away from family, relatives and friends and die a ‘lonely death’ if he/she is not cured. Do we deserve this?

We all need to remember that the world is one and it is to be shared by all. The time has come now to make a paradigm shift from “I, My, Mine” mindset (Self-centered) to “We, Our, Ours” mindset (Other-centered). The urgent call today is: Live in harmony with nature, get rid of the pride and become humble and humane.

“Loka Samastha, Sukhino Bhavanthu!” – “O Lord, let all the creations be happy and healthy!”