This blog is my take from my teacher Sadhguru’s talk on the Corona Virus… The web of life is complex and layered. Life forms enmeshed within life forms, chains of interdependence, symbiotic harmony is everywhere. Have you seen the egrets riding on the backs of cows? They eat the bugs from the cow’s fur. The cow get relief from the bugs, the egrets get fed. The egrets also scratch through the cow dung looking for maggots and in the process spread the seeds embedded in the dung, helping nature replant the pasture. This web of cooperation and harmony extends from the microscopic to the cosmic. Did you know you are host to trillions of bacteria and viruses? You are their habitat, their home planet.
Most of the viruses and bacteria which enter us and many are within us now, have self adjusted to be of some benefit to us. You see, even bacteria and viruses are part of intelligent life-force which is designed to cooperate with the web of life. So the trillions of bacteria and viruses with in us who are in many ways assisting our life process, not harming us, they were at one time very harmful. At one time, they could have killed us. But they understood if they lived too aggressively within us, they would destroy their own habitat. So they mutate, they adapt over time, into something milder and learn to live with us and we with them. Sometimes an overly aggressive virus comes along and there is a difficult adaptation period. We are experiencing that now.
The Corona virus has been living with other animals comfortably and other animals survive comfortably with the corona virus. This is the nature of life, so many life forms live enmeshed with each other, feed on each other and feed each other. We are that too. Trillions of bacteria and virus living with in us right now. But this one lives too aggressively and in some weaker hosts, it is destroying its own habitat; it is making humans sick and sometimes killing them. It is helpful to recognize that the corona virus itself is in the process of adapting. No host wants to destroy its habitat, right? In its own way it recognizes that if it continues to destroy its habitat, it will not survive. And so as we are protecting ourselves from this aggressive virus, the virus is also adapting to be less aggressive to its host. The timing of this adaptation is up to nature, we cannot control it, but we can find comfort in understanding that this adaptation is part of the flow of life.
Do you remember tuberculosis? Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Like Corona Virus, the TB bacteria usually attack the lungs. Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick. TB is not a big problem any more but the TB bacteria is not gone. It has just cooled its jets. If you test for TB in India, most will test positive because they have substantial amount of TB bacteria within them, but they do not have it as a disease. It does not grow too aggressive. TB bacteria has figured out that if they live too aggressively, as we are living on the planet now, they know they will loose their habitat. They would kill their host. So they mutate themselves to be milder life forms. this is not new rocket science, it has been there for the last 100 years. And yet we humans still don’t seem to see how it might apply to us.
This is powerful symbolism here for us. We are perhaps living too aggressively and killing the very host we rely on. Perhaps the wisdom we gain from this tragedy could include a deeper understanding of our interdependence and the need to soften the harsh way we live that has been destroying our host planet. Perhaps accelerating our human adaptation to honor our host (the earth), might in some way be connected to the accelerated adaptation of the Corona Virus so it stops harming us. Interesting to ponder…
Right now, compassion and compliance are important as we are facing eminent disaster – when governments are using their own armies to control their people – we know this is serious. Collective cooperation and recognition of our unity is vital. But even at a time like this, there is a segment of population living in the illusion of separation. There are those who do not care what happens to the people around them, their nation, or the rest of humanity. They just have their own vitriol and think spreading it is more important than minimizing the suffering from this pandemic. We can hope the virus will cure them of this poison. Perhaps these days of being with themselves will shift them enough to drop the rubbish talk and inspire them to do something useful. This is the time for everybody to stand up and do something, whatever little positive things we can do. This is not ordinary time. This deep adaptation requiring an immense level of unity and harmony with each other and our planet. We have never faced this kind of situation. We have never faced this kind of global emergency. It is bigger than wars. Perhaps it can bring us together and heal the torn fabric of our unity.