God is omnipresent and omniscient. It is time that we woke up to the reality of God being very much in the picture, says AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI
Are we not living in denial of the rightful owner of the creation? I am not going into the controversy of what one is, that is faithful, atheist, agnostic, ignorant, etc. Whatever one maybe, it is time that we woke up to the reality of God being very much in the picture. How can we not do that when we are aware of Him being omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient? These are not some loose adjectives like we use for someone we love very much. I am also not referring to some landlord, who has rented his property to us, because that landlord’s ownership is limited by time, either by change of ownership in his lifetime or his death. This ownership of God of the creation is permanent.
And He has entrusted the mankind to exploit it in a proper way for the benefit of all its inhabitants, which include animals, birds, etc. And what have we done? We are indiscriminately cutting forests. Why? We need more land to grow grains. Don’t we have enough to feed the humanity? We do but we prefer to eat meat! All excuses about nutritional advantages of eating meat are highly exaggerated.
Cutting/burning forests has harmed the ecosystem in a very serious way. Wild animals, who live there, have been displaced. We did not stop there, we began eating them as if the meats available to us were not enough. So what happened? Dangerous viruses, who live in these animals, came into human beings. God could have prevented their spread like He did with SARS-COV, but humans just considered themselves lucky; they did not learn any lessons. God had enough by now. Therefore, He allowed the spread of Coronavirus, and the whole world is struggling now. Who can we blame for it? This insatiable desire for luxurious living, which does not respect any limits is an affront to the Master of the universe. We have definitely harmed our cause vis-Ã -vis God. Just imagine a tenant, who does not take care of the rented properly, rather causes damage to it. How will the owner of the property feel? I am sure he will be quite mad. God is not like us human beings given to extreme emotions, but our large scale mistreating animals, birds etc., who are souls just like us, has definitely displeased the Lord. These lower species have also right over the land, which is given to us.
It is not wise to venture an opinion where God is involved, but whatever I can see there is a solution on the personal level not world-wise just now. This solution entails many changes in the way we live, think, etc. These changes are on three levels. The first is about our behaviour. As human beings, we are expected to behave well generally and we know what that means. We must be more relaxed too; being super-active is not human-like behaviour. This has enormous health benefits, as we have experienced recently. We should turn vegetarian as much as possible. There should be better civic sense. Not only should we protect ourselves but ensure that we don’t pass on our infections to others. Better social distancing will ensure that. Obviously, we must practice better hygiene to avoid infections; all necessary precautions must be taken.
The next two levels relate to personal immunity and getting protection from God. Personal immunity will come from improvement in general health both physical and mental, the later with help from God. And protection from God is ensured when we take His shelter. All these are not too difficult to practice, if we set our minds on them. Not only will we be able to face the immediate threat but we will be better prepared for future challenges as well, which will definitely come. Finally, I am not going to second-guess God, that is, what He is likely to do next, but I have a lot of hope of securing myself, my family and those around me, if I follow what has been suggested.
Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com