Vice President's wise words provide food for thought

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has urged the people to introspect on the life during the last few months under coronavirus-induced confinement and assess if they have learned the right lessons and equipped themselves to deal with such uncertainties.

This is, perhaps, one of the sanest advices given to the countrymen by any leader so far. Except for developing fear for coronavirus or ignoring it leaving life to 'Karma', we Indians have done very little, in fact, to overcome the crisis.

Venkaiah Naidu has been engaging with people in the last three months enquiring about their wellbeing and advising them to stay safe. Continuing the same now, he engaged with the people on the causes and consequences of Covid-19 pandemic. He has posted his musing on Facebook titled "Musings of Life in Corona Times". Writing in a conversational format, he posed 10 questions, the answers to which would help in assessing the lessons learned and the transformation brought about by the demands of life in confinement over the last four months.

This 10-point matrix, Naidu said, would also help in knowing if the people have equipped themselves with necessary understanding so as to help prevent recurrence of such adversities in future. A closer look of his musings tells us that it is not a simple perspective from any one angle of life. Naidu had taken a holistic view of the pandemic and life post pandemic and suggested ways and means to fight out the corona blues. The Vice President stressed that the pandemic needed to be looked at not only as a disaster but also as a 'corrector' for making necessary changes in the perspectives and practices of living so as to live in harmony with nature and culture and the attendant guiding principles and ethos.

Life's course needs constant evaluation in all its manifestations and in the totality of context which is a prerequisite for higher living. Corona is pushing us to learn how to define life afresh besides making us revisit the course, nature and pace of modern life with suitable alterations for a harmonious and measured living. The suggestions made by Naidu for anxiety free living include; thinking and acting right like looking at food as a medicine that sustains healthy life; acquiring a spiritual dimension to life going beyond material pursuits; adhering to the principles and practices of right and wrong; sharing with and caring for others; nurturing social bonds and repurposing the life for a meaningful living. We should know that this Earth may not require us, but we need the planet and hence, we cannot claim sole propriety over it. We have upset the natural balance triggering adversities of different kinds.

The matrix suggested for self-assessment further to the experience of living in the pandemic times include, awareness of the causes of the pandemic; willingness to make amends to the ways of living practiced before the corona outbreak and redefining the meaning of life. All this means following the 'Dharma' and being truthful to oneself.