Soul searching during Quarantine!

The current Covid crisis has been an awakening call for many. It has left a lot of so-called intellects without words. There is no clear understanding nor direction of why we ended up in this stand-still. While there have been even worst pandemics in the history of mankind, this one has clearly broken our Pride. We globally are on “A run”, run to overcome every experience, emotion and possibility. While the situation demands “Still”, and a rethinking of our style we adored and lived,  a vast majority of us are not ready to accept “The Still”, “The peace”, “The Chance” we are given to continue our survival. We are living in an anticipation to Run.

We are on “The Run” with a sense of pride for creating a better life for the future.  But only in the silence of “Still” one could understand that life has everything it already needs to survive. For most,  the stillness in which one can experience life energy can be achieved only when guided by a Guru on to the path of enlightenment.

My mentor, a beautiful soul in one of the conversations discussed the value in understanding how COVID crisis is being handled by communities which were guided in their existence. These learnings may help prompt lifestyle changes for the common people which are beneficial. In this context the names of two communities which were taken was Auroville near Pondicherry and Isha foundation. The name Auroville was refreshing to me personally. It had brought back many childhood memories associated with my visit to Auroville nearly 24 years ago during the final year of my high school.

A little about Auroville

From the home page of Auroville, it is a universal city formed under the guidance of Guru Sri Aurobindo and Mother Mirra with a vison to realize human unity, where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. It was Mother’s vison that “Humanity is not the last rung of the terrestrial creation. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed. It is for each individual to know whether he wants to participate in the advent of this new species. For those who are satisfied with the world as it is, Auroville obviously has no reason to exist.”

Both Sri Aurobindo and The Mother worked all their lives for the manifestation of a mode of consciousness beyond mind, which Sri Aurobindo named “Supermind” or “The Supramental”. The full expression of this consciousness on earth would result not only in a new species, as far beyond the human, as human race is beyond the animals, but also in a modification of the whole terrestrial creation, even more complete than the change brought about by the entrance on the world scene of the human race.

Between humanity and the fully Supramental species there would have to be one or several transitional steps, represented by transitional beings, born in the human way, but able to contact and express the higher consciousness. These transitional beings would prepare the way for the advent of the Supramental Race by establishing suitable conditions.

Living in Auroville today

With an interest to understand how living in Auroville is and with the help of my high school principal, I was able to get in touch with Mr. Rajeev Bhatt who has been Auroville resident for 30 years. He is a teacher by profession in Auroville school and also been a key volunteer for the Ambulance service. He lives about 10kms away from the Ashram. From his words, there are about 4000 full time residents and about 10000 people living in Auroville who may be volunteers, tourists, visitors etc who are not citizens of Auroville but spend considerable time there. The citizens of Auroville are all there, to pursue their goal of contributing towards achieving higher consciousness.  There are many who mainly practice karma yoga or service to everything around them with a pure heart, as the first step towards attaining higher consciousness. The citizens who are in to professional lives like teaching, farming, medicine etc, are serving each other without being driven by economic efficiency. This service attitude from everybody around you brings inner peace and spiritual energy which has to be only experienced by being part of it. There are others following the bhakti yoga, who are associated to the ashram and Matrimandir. The management for these two paths are different. The typical work day is only 6 hrs. A maintenance is paid for the service being offered. There is a lot of freedom in lifestyle. Religion and politics are not part of the living. There are no real sessions or rituals to attain your goal, one has to derive their purpose on their own by experiences. Nobody is forced to do things in a certain way. Auroville is built with a lot of green belt around the city. The houses typically have a lot of place around, to do own gardening. Organic farming, free range dairies, orchards are the common practices. The intention of green belt is to be self-sufficient with respect to food and medicine. It is like living in the middle of nature. There is a wide variety of trees and plants. Children grow up on barefoot and they may be into their footware may be after an age of 20. Growing in the nature gives them a sense of confidence in everything. They grow up not being scared of many things including snakes. Auroville schools have a different teaching style where children after passing their schooling do not attain any degrees but life skills.  The citizens have a choice to send their kids to either Auroville schools or Schools in Tamilnadu or Pondicherry. Although there are no official degrees, as kids shine in any skill of their interest, there are many cases where they have been eligible for higher education or employment outside Auroville based on their portfolios.  There are no restrictions on what one has to wear, eat, watch or listen to on TV. But advised to just do everything with consciousness. There is a big emphasis on sports and physical activity in the schooling. Bicyclists are seen everywhere around the city. Till recent past, horse riding was also a skill kids were trained on. Now as things are getting modernized, there are more bicyclists, motorcyclists. Kids have interests in regular things like any other kids in the country like jewellery, tattos etc.  Nobody has been imposing any restrictions but because of the service oriented lifestyle close to nature, one spends much less amount of time in activities like shopping in near-by malls, movies, eating in restaurants etc. Drugs are strictly prohibited. Being in nature, being physically active, locally grown organic farms and dairies with a consciousness to one’s inner self have all contributed to better health of the city in general. Auroville has two local medical centers in which doctors are from Auroville. They can take care of most of the regular health issues for which the people in the city may need help with.  Inspite of all the good things the city is established on, there are still ups and downs, highs and lows, happiness and sorrow in anyone’s life.  We cannot imagine it as an idealistic society or life but still one can always experience the presence of divine energy around.

COVID Crisis

Coming to the COVID crisis specifically, there are task forces formed with the team of volunteers to handle different aspects of care. As Auroville is partly, part of Tamilnadu and partly part of Pondicherry, all the govt guidelines and restrictions are strictly followed. The four entrances to Auroville from outside are strictly monitored as to who is entering and exiting. Any outsider has to be reported, quarantined, and checked by a doctor. Helpers and business people from nearby villages are very restricted. Sanitizers, soaps, gloves, masks, goggles are prescribed. A government doctor has been appointed by the govt in one of the health center to handle any suspicious cases on COVID. The volunteers from one wing of the task force help to keep the traffic in grocery shops and other places to be limited. Strict social distancing is observed.  There are no known cases so far. People in general have not been feeling very restricted or restless as there is plenty of work to do in and around houses. Matrimandir has been closed as all holy places are demanded to be closed by the govt. The ashram is not closed and still serves the people relevant, with food and necessities but with more precautions. As they are self reliant in farming, there has not been a big need to get things from outside the city.  

The take away I got is, smaller self reliant communities in the aspect of food and herbal medicine have a great advantage of fighting a crisis like COVID.

Mother’s words on Viruses

Prof S Mishra of Sri Aurobindo Ashram has shared in his posts on what Mother explained about virus in 1953, based on her being affected by a terrible flu in Japan, in the year 1919. The following is an excerpt from his writings, “They (the microbes) are forces of disintegration. But they continue to be alive even in their divided forms and this is the origin of germs and microbes. Therefore most microbes have behind them a bad will and that is what makes them so dangerous. And unless one knows the quality and kind of bad will and is capable of acting upon it, there is a ninety-nine per cent chance of not finding the true and complete remedy. The microbe is a very material expression of something living in a subtle physical world and that is why these very microbes (…) that are always around you, within you, for years together do not make you ill and then suddenly they make you fall ill.”

I have been a person of science working on converting concepts of physics to electronics throughout my professional life, but the above explanation was little hard for me to comprehend till I was mentored on these topics.

Learning for better life

One of the first lesson I learnt from my mentor is “Cleanliness is Divine”. Since the onset of COVID, hygiene has been receiving a lot of importance. But some of these habits have became a big part of our lifestyle for sometime even before the onset of COVID. Even though we are not conscious, there is life in all of us which is comprehending everything inside and around us. But when life inside us is not able to comprehend the true intention of the microbes (bacteria, viruses and others) which enter us as guests, waiting for the right time to cast their will, we lose the capability to get rid of them on our own. We depend on a medicine or vaccine to suppress the physical symptoms but not at a capacity to get rid of them and the mis-comprehensions we go through, as a result of hosting them. Even before Corona, we are a host to a lot of these microbes and lost our comprehension which resulted in a wide range of physical and mental ailments. These pre-existing parasites(bacteria ) residing in our bodies may work as vehicles to dangerous ones like Corona virus helping them in fulfilling their will more easily. A clean body and mind are necessary for a true comprehension of life we are bestowed with. Some strict instructions given were, It is utmost important to keep one’s hands clean while cooking. Cooking with clean ingredients, clean process and stable mind (away from the clutter of electronics) is the first step. Cooking has to be considered sacred and make note to clean your hands and appliances every time there is an unnecessary touch. To many, this may sound as an OCD syndrome, but I have personally experienced benefits of incorporating this in to my lifestyle. It has been difficult to work through this. This has greatly restricted us from eating outside in restaurants. But this is a conscious choice for a better life. Nutrient rich ingredients are only one piece of the puzzle while the cooking process, temperature and cleanliness are all equally important for better comprehending life inside and around us. An understanding of what we eat, how we feel physically and mentally, how we handle life in general as a result, has been a “good experience”.

I have said “good experience” and not “great experience”, because I am still only at the starting of this long journey. I am working on my ways to incorporate it into my lifestyle while enjoying the benefits of what I have been practicing. This time it is Corona, we don’t know what waits life in the future, but a clean body, mind and practice is important to gain strength from inside for the comprehension.