“The COVID crisis has made mankind acutely aware of the value of a single breath. Blessed if that breath is a lungful of clean air, or then doomed to a horrific end if the breath is contaminated with the coronavirus,” says Dr DEEPAK RANADE.

The COVID crisis has really moved and shaken mankind from his spell of pompous omnipotence. No one had ever imagined that the third world war would  be waged against a microbe. A microbe that’s just a few microns has brought the most powerful species to its knees. And it is a microbe, that was perhaps man-made, or then again, it was possibly a natural mutation; we will never know.

What we do know, however, is the effect that this microbe has had on every single being inhabiting this planet. It is that which has become a truly a global phenomenon. It has made mankind impotent, rendering all his achievements, technological advances and intelligence, futile.

Nature will always have the upper hand in this duel. Nature will also evolve along with man. Evolution is not the holy jurisdiction of man alone. Just that this evolution is far more subtle and operates on the macrocosmic as well as the microcosmic scale. Nature will always walk a step ahead. One could philosophically term this catastrophe as the unfolding of man’s destiny. A destiny, that he sculpted with his own hands.

Dr Deepak Ranade

Or perhaps, destiny might just be a euphemism for the assertion of complete control by his creator. Civilisation had  degenerated, to an insane insatiable indulgence. A bourgeois ideology that stratified mankind into hierarchies of haves, have nots and subclasses between. His quest for ‘More’ had mutated from a need-based, progressive, constructive ambition, to a greed-based, destructive, regressive, carnal lust to consume.

The lockdown, its restrictions and social distancing have served to make man realise how basic his needs are, and the importance of releasing the throttle of gluttonous hedonism. Life had to have a greater meaning than just seeking pleasure, gratification and wallowing in abject materialism. Social distancing has paradoxically served to reconnect and bring him closer to himself.

This enforced renunciation has reintroduced the virtues of restraint and minimalism. Needless extravagance, flamboyance, and vulgar affluence were toys of engaging the devious, restless mind and pandering to the whims of his megalomaniacal ego. Value systems, temperance, prudence, and compassion were sacrificial goats mercilessly slaughtered on the altar of the Demigods of wealth and power. Pleasure seeking had become a career, a way of life and more dangerously, the very purpose of life. This microbe has inoculated mankind with a dose of austerity, which will control the disseminated infection of avarice and self-centred intemperance. It has made mankind acutely aware of the value of a single breath. Blessed if that breath is a lungful of clean air, or then doomed to a horrific end if the breath is contaminated with the virus.

Mortality, which was obscured by his quest for eternity, had come knocking on his door with each breath. Victory in this war against the microbe will leave no victors, only survivors. The euphoria of overcoming this microscopic scourge will be reduced to a pathetic Pyrrhic victory. The threat of losing life was never so close at our heels. Or just a breath away. Perhaps, this was the only way to instil in mankind, the value and importance of minimalism and correct the course of his life from brazen indulgence to a more enlightened effulgence.

The virus is certainly mutating. From an agent of his nemesis, to an epiphany of salvation. 

Pune-based, Dr Deepak Ranade is a consultant neurosurgeon with a great desire to unravel the mysteries of the universe. He is also the author of The Inner Universe, a collection of his spiritual writings published in the Speaking Tree.