Why Corona and What next

The Coronavirus has brought the world to the threshold of an unparalleled and unprecedented positive disruption. Technology has been preparing and empowering the world gradually, now, its time for a big shift. COVID-19 has reminded everyone of their humanness – feeling out of control and helpless, the world of leadership is being put to test. Our future will be shaped by our response to this crisis. As a race, we have lived through wars, diseases, financial depression etc. Human beings have the resilience and creativity to rise like a phoenix. We can exert our free to either complain or contribute. Today, the strength of money and power are getting eroded. Globally, the fear of unknown is gripping many.

Play of life

Spiritually, the law of cause and effect is applicable to every event in life. Our choices are responsible for outcomes. Given the global spread of Coronavirus, we are collectively responsible for the advent of Coronavirus. Our desires have reigned supreme for too long and suppressed our fundamental human need to live an integrated life of co-existence with Nature and each other.

Through the force of circumstances, Nature repeatedly tries to awaken us to the play of life. The play of life is designed perfectly for human beings to evolve and be released from the captivity of the ego or external identifications. Yet, we resist the reality of oneness and interconnectedness because of our identification with our individuality.Life force, the core of creation, is all-knowing, all-pervading and all-powerful. Human beings as a form of Nature possess all these attributes and are governed by the Laws of Nature. COVID is an opportunity offered to the world at large to contemplate and rise beyond external identifications and live life authentically.

Overcome our attachment to identifications?

Our inherent nature is Sat (truth or eternal being), Chit (consciousness or awareness), Ananda (bliss or joy). When we go against the law of Nature, we suffer. We can choose our state of mind by taking responsibility of our thoughts. The world is not responsible for our happiness, we have to take charge of our state of mind. Prayer or contemplation has the power to help us withdraw our sense of individuality and reconnect with our core. When we sit in contemplation and turn our attention inwards, we are able to pierce through our veil of conditioned thoughts and listen to our inner voice. This union of the individual energy field with the core of creation is called Yoga.

What obstructs us from accessing our inner voice?

Our emotions are a powerful tool that alert us to the existence of life through a sense of knowing, instinct, feeling, sensation or intuition. Unaware of their role and home, our unanchored emotions or Manas project externally to seek a sense of belonging and safety. As we engage externally, we gather information and form perceptions. Our Vasanas or desires propel us outwards to take actions according to our perceptions and acquire possessions, relationships, titles etc. As we go through this cycle of life, we get attached to different identifications – home, job, title, relationships, objects etc. Here starts the play of individuality. The projected emotions that get attached to different identifications develop a sense of righteousness and doership, the Ego or Ahamkara. It is our ego that obstructs our ability to access our inner voice. When the ego gets tired of seeking for joy externally and turns inwards to seek answers, the ego gradually withdraws and reconnects with inner voice, an expression of the Universal Love. Fear of unknown and death belong to the ego. We are born to evolve by waking up to the other side of the coin, love.

How can we establish a relationship with our inner voice?

Our entire body is like a finely tuned equipment that can be used as a tool to live with awareness. We can use our thoughts or emotions or body or breath or energy flowing within, as a vehicle to turn inwards and develop awareness of our inner voice. Religions and spiritual communities have provided us with the knowledge to awaken us the existence of life within and techniques to anchor our emotions internally. We can shed our conditioned thoughts by using our Chitta, memory to understand our thought patterns and develop our Buddhi, the intellect, the faculty which observes, discerns and learns. When we anchor internally, we can harness circumstances as opportunity to evolve. A person whose is anchored in awareness can act in alignment with the inner voice.

Move forward as authentic leaders

When we anchor internally and embrace our true reality, we grow into authentic leaders. We can emerge out of this crisis through shared leadership across peers. The foundation of peer leadership rests on authenticity.

Authentic leadership facilitates leaders to trust and delegate to the team with awareness, and let go of execution and focus on strategic matters. Staying emotionally connected through frequent communication to develop relationships of trust will facilitate agility. A few other things that can help leaders move forward are planning and prioritizing to stay focused on what’s urgent; meeting the team frequently to take swift decisions and prepare alternative plans to adapt as the situation evolves. Let’s use this slow down like a reset button. Make up for lost time with family and loved ones. Lets use this time as an opportunity to serve another and ourselves by taking responsibility to design a structure in this unstructured environment to balance emotional, physical, work and family needs.

(This article was published on the Speaking Tree)