With IIT Patna: More Viruses and More Waves — How to Cope?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner (Q): The pandemic situation has been very hard for us physically, mentally, and emotionally too. Many of us have lost our near and dear ones. This situation has changed our perspective on life and death and made us see that many of the things we consider important are actually meaningless. All in all, the pandemic has hit us all hard and continues to challenge us every day. We got to know that you were also infected by COVID-19 quite recently. How did you manage it? How can we maintain mental composure during these turbulent times?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The first thing is to not get infected, not only for your own personal sake but also for others as well. Because if you get infected, there is a chance that you will infect a few others as well, or maybe many others as well — there are super-spreaders. So, that is the first thing. Second thing is, that we ask for remedies or solutions only when trouble strikes us hard, but that often is not the right time to take corrective action. The window of opportunity is not open at that moment, right?

For example, if you get a heart attack and then at that moment you ask, “What to do, what not to do?” there is not much left to do. Now the utmost that can be done is that an ambulance can be called and you can be rushed to the emergency. Now whatever is to be done the doctors will do. You probably won’t even remain conscious to do anything; now the doctors will take care of the situation.

Similarly, once you are infected, or once you are affected by the COVID situation in any way — be it joblessness or depression or economic losses or the effect of COVID on your studies, as students are — at that time if you ask, “What to do?” then the remedial measures would not be very strong or effective. The thing then, obviously, is to live and lead the right life before and after COVID.

Think of the heart patient. He has just got an attack and you tell him that “You should not take fats and oils and sugar, and you should jog daily.” The fellow has just had a heart attack and you are telling him to go jogging. Not much use, right? He should have gone jogging for the last two years; that is when it would…