9 Mins 9 PM – Light up the collective spiritual energy of Bharat

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he will be sharing a video message with the nation of Friday morning the country was abuzz with many speculations. While some thought he would extend the lockdown, the others thought that the lockdown might be lifted with some restrictions in place. Some also anticipated more stringent measures to control COVID-19 pandemic post the deliberations he held with Chief Ministers a day before. However, what the PM spoke of was beyond anybody’s imagination.

PM Narendra Modi asked the country to give him 9 minutes at 9 pm on Sunday. He asked the country to come together to show solidarity and support not only for those who are in the frontlines fighting the pandemic but also for each other. He asserted that “we might be inside our houses in these difficult times but no one is alone in this.”

Asking people to light up candles, diyas and mobile flashlights to express collective unity in fighting the “Corona-contagion” might just appear that the master communicator is bringing all Indians together to make it a people’s movement. He is looking to instil enthusiasm, unity and hope in people. There will be sections in the society who will mock him, criticize him, trend hashtags against him for working on symbolism and not getting real. Well everyone is free to react the way they want.

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What PM Modi's message truly meant

India has certainly performed better than any other country in containing the COVID-19 spread within the same time period. But, I am not writing this to applaud PM Modi for preparing the country well in advance and performing better than multiple advanced countries compared to India. This write-up does not even intend to protect him from comments and reaction of his opponents (he masters the art to handle and ignore them) but this piece has been written to divulge the deep underlying message and meaning of his speech.

The Prime Minister specifically made a clear call to the collective strength of people of India and using that it to repel the darkness of Carona Pandemic and ushering into the light of winning over it.

Referring to the collective strength of people PM Modi said that when the human society faces such crises like COVID-19 “it becomes important to experience the magnanimity, divinity and immensity of this collective strength of people. It is believed that people are the ‘roop’ (form) of God.

Therefore, when the country is fighting such a huge battle then it is imperative to repeatedly keep experiencing the immensity of this collective strength of citizens of our country. This realisation gives us mental strength, objectivity, and energy to attain the same. It also gives clarity of the path which we have to tread to achieves it”

This is no new discovery for anyone that all living beings including humans and even matter are connected through one higher consciousness. Every individual embodies the element of spirit, the element of divinity. This element of spirit and consciousness is connected with higher universal consciousness which connects every being in this creation. सर्वं शक्तिमयं जगत।

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Sense of solidarity holds society together

Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist who crafted some of the most important theories in sociology. He concluded that society exists because unique individuals feel a sense of solidarity with each other. This is why we can form collectives and work together to achieve community and functional societies.

If we look at the current Coronavirus pandemic scenario, only prevention seems to be a sure cure but people are getting desperate due to lockdown. And when none other than the Prime Minister of the country takes an initiative to bring everyone together with positivity & hope, with one thought, one shared goal, in solidarity with each other, does it not become way easier to tide over the situation. Just imagine the state of affairs if people are desperate, is not conscious of togetherness & solidarity, running around hoarding things.

Even after doing what a state can do best to fight an unprecedented pandemic, by maintaining social distancing, implementing lockdowns, readying hospitals, conducting tests, developing indigenous equipment and if it has to face fragmented and anxious people wouldn’t it affect the effectiveness of these measures? Isn’t a hopeful, positive country standing in solidarity with each other has more chances of winning compared to one where people are fearful and disconnected.

History has taught us that the country and societies that were invaded and plundered were those which were not united. My Gurudev Shri Ashutosh Maharaj has always emphasized that, if we have to establish lasting peace in the world then we must toil hard to unite every single human being. Vedas, the oldest reservoir of knowledge, explains that everything in this universe is energy and is sustained by supreme consciousness, which in return finds its reflection in every single being in this creation.

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Unity of all beings of the world

The call for unity by the PM is the manifestation of the Mantra from Rig Veda which calls for unity of all beings of the world –

संगच्छध्वं संवदध्वं सं वो मनांसि जानताम् देवा भागं यथा पूर्वे सञ्जानाना उपासते || समानो मन्त्र: समिति: समानी समानं मन: सहचित्तमेषाम् समानं मन्त्रमभिमन्त्रये व: समानेन वो हविषा जुहोमि || समानी व आकूति: समाना हृदयानि व: | समानमस्तु वो मनो यथा व: सुसहासति ||

saṃgacchadhwaṃ saṃvadadhwaṃ saṃ vo manāṃsi jānatām devā bhāgaṃ yathā pūrve sañjānānā upāsate || samāno mantraḥ samitih samānī samānaṃ manaḥ sahacittameṣām samānaṃ mantramabhimantraye vaḥ samānena vo haviṣā juhomi || samanī va ākūtiḥ samānā hrdayāni vaḥ | samānamastu vo mano yathā vaḥ susahāsati ||

May you move in harmony, speak in one voice; let your minds be in agreement; just as the ancient gods shared their portion of the sacrifice. May our purpose be the same; may we all be of one mind. In order for such unity to form I offer a common prayer. May our intentions and aspirations be alike, so that a common objective unifies us all.

What a wonderful idea! Estimate the strength of a society, a country whose citizens are in agreement in thoughts, prayers, intentions and objective. We must laud PM Modi for harnessing and channelizing the collective consciousness of people towards one single goal.

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How can our collective energies strengthen the fight against Coronavirus?

Sharing the findings of Carl Sagan for everyone, supporters and opponents, to understand how connected we are through energy and consciousness and how our collective subtle energies can strengthen us to fight the adversities.

Carl Sagan famously said: we are "star stuff" exploring the stars. Life is the information pathway by which the universe achieves consciousness and self-awareness, and begins to explore itself, including evolving new modes of experience, creativity, and beauty. In terms of creativity, humans represent a fractal iteration of the creative energy of the Cosmos, as well as of its evolutionary powers.

Because the entire material universe devolves from light, matter and life are a conserved form of the information content latent in the energy of light, expressed primordially through the broken symmetry of light - leading to our "matter-only" cosmos, charge conservation, atoms, the Periodic Table, chemistry, biology, and humanity. The charges of matter are symmetry debts of light (Noether's Theorem), and through these charges, the energy of light is transformed into the information content of the world. Hence it is ultimately through the connection between light and matter (atoms), charge conservation and symmetry conservation, that humans retain their connection to the primordial creative energies and information content of the Universe (and the Multiverse).

(Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. Ref. THE HUMAN CONNECTION: Part I (revised July 2016) JOHN A. GOWAN)

Light - the source of inspiration for all

As for the lighting of candles, diyas and flashlight are concerned it is also an equally deep move. Every culture and civilization on earth has been taking inspiration from the sun - the source of light on the earth. People across the world worship light forms. The element of spirit in every single being on earth is identified in light form. It is to this ethereal light form that we pray to be guided to.

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः तत्सवी- तुवरण्यम भरगो देवसयाह धीमही धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात्-

We concentrate on the glory of the creator, who created this world, who is the embodiment of knowledge and light. We pray to you to guide our minds towards your divine light (‘भरगो’ ज्योति)

Symbols and texts of various faiths and cultures prove the significance of light and its connectivity with human consciousness. In Zoroastrian faith ‘fire’ is seen as the supreme symbol of purity, and sacred fires are maintained in Fire Temples (Agiaries).

• In Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta reveals the eternal truth to Arjun that his eternal ‘Tatva Roop’ is in light form. ज्योतिषामपि तज्ज्योतिस्तमसः परमुच्यते । ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं ज्ञानगम्यं हृदि सर्वस्य विष्ठितम्‌॥
• I am light of lights and beyond the darkness of ignorance. Residing within the hearts of everyone, I am comprehensible by the wisdom gained from the realisation of direct experience.
• In Christianity, light has always been a symbol of holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, grace, hope, and God’s revelation.

In his lecture ‘Soul, God & Religion’ Swami Vivekananda unequivocally revealed the same truth to the world, “Through the vistas of the past the voice of the centuries is coming down to us; the voice of the sages of the Himalayas and the recluses of the forest; the voice that came to the Semitic races;

the voice that spoke through Buddha and other spiritual giants; the voice that comes from those who live in the light that accompanied man at the beginning of the earth — the light that shines wherever a man goes and lives with him forever — is coming to us even now.”

If we, as a human race cannot identify ourselves as one and object to the call to stand in solidarity then we certainly do not have the basic and vital values to be a part of human civilization. If we look on material grounds, then this coming together and lighting of lamps may not be helping directly in treating Coronavirus but the absence of it can certainly make our fight much more difficult.

(Sadhvi Jaya Bharti is a preacher at the Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan)