Well Prepared for this Covid-19 Lockdown Thanks to Twitter & Sadhguru

The world has gone a bit crazy these past few weeks. A lot of the leading developed countries have gotten into a serious tizzy. The “global pandemic” dreaded for many years, finally happened. And we would never have imagined an India that is so silent and still. As it happens, I found myself well prepared and on top of things. Thanks to two eco-systems that I rely on quite a bit: Sadhguru & Twitter.

Why I was well prepared for this lockdown situation

Twitter is generally ahead of the curve in terms of information dissemination. So, being an active ‘Twitterati’, @priyankawriting, I was well aware of the dire situation of Italy, Washington and New York. It helped that one of my Twitter friends, @amancool5, whose opinion I respect, was really vocal about the situation and sharing a lot of useful media links.

What also helped was that Sadhguru had already started speaking about Coronavirus way back in mid Feb, before Mahashivratri. Chinese delegations had been barred from coming down for the event. Moreover, in one of the sathsangs of that time, he had urged everyone to maintain some basic precautions like sneezing in the elbow and covering the mouth when we cough. There were hand sanitizers everywhere in the ashram.

So both these things alerted me to the Coronavirus situation very early on. Considering that I work from home, social distancing was a fairly easy thing to get on to. I only needed to stock my kitchen.

So, on the day of the Janta Curfew announced by the Prime Minister, I had already been in one week of social distancing and home quarantine. Plus, I had coaxed my parents to head to their Adalaj house and leave Mumbai. The metropolis, I figured, was most likely to see a high number of cases. Thankfully, they were comfortably set in Adalaj when Pune and Mumbai saw a lockdown.

The value of a perspective during challenging times

At this time, on Twitter the narrative was all about the need for testing, hand sanitizing and the increasing number of cases around India. We were still unclear on how this would shape up.

What was the overall picture and where was this heading? We weren’t asking these questions because already the situation was so unusual and unknown especially for my generation. We haven’t seen any war or major drought or anything that comes close. Probably the Surat plague comes to mind, but that was well contained.

On the day of the Janta Curfew, Sadhguru gave a sathsang where I was amazed with his take on the situation. I distinctly recall 4 key points which he mentioned,

1. Everyone will eventually get the virus (whoa, I was thinking about avoiding it!) and develop immunity to it over time
2. But it needs to happen slowly so the healthcare isn’t overwhelmed as it has become in Italy and NY.
3. The elderly and other vulnerable folk need to be kept well and safe. Cause they are most likely to die of it. 
4. We are in for a long haul – at least 12 months. (whoa, didn’t think of that!)

Hitherto, only the UK leadership had spoken about ‘herd immunity’. Unfortunately, it was in such a wrong context. They used it as a reason to take no precautions for the pandemic at all! Only to later consider about the overrun healthcare infrastructure and change their minds. 

Moreover, Finland and Sweden had also raised concerns about WHO’s recommendations on excessive testing. They also seemed to be looking at a different model to tackle this pandemic. (source)

“Instead of stopping the epidemic, Sweden and Finland’s strategy aim to slow it down, in order to “lower the curve”. According to this approach, then the society will overcome the peak of infections and the already infected population will begin to provide protection as a potential new wave strikes.”
Let’s see how this goes.

Later on, other thoughtful people, like my brother, wrote a really interesting piece on Linkedin, with very similar logical conclusions.

So, I was really surprised that Sadhguru had already consolidated the information so well for all of us to understand and accept.

Cold, hard facts are hard to take. It numbs a lot of people. Scares them. And also leaves us in a state of confusion. Especially in India where we aren’t the kind of people to simply listen to the doctor. A lot of us don’t like doctors! And so, how do we make the right choices? Sadhguru helps set a perspective.

And yet Twitter & Sadhguru are often at odds with each other

It’s partly sad and partly a joke that the two eco-systems that I rely on – Twitter & Sadhguru are often at odds with each other.

Quite a few Twitterati accuse Sadhguru of “pseudoscience” even though he is one of the most grounded and sensible people I know for such matters. He is often in touch with prominent scientists and other global leaders before he speaks.

Some Twitterati were mocking a lot of the news channels which interviewed him on this pandemic situation. They wanted experts to talk. But as I mentioned earlier, doctors would give facts. But facts alone won’t help people make the right choices. And facts often don’t help calm people down and give them a proper perspective on the matter.

Sadhguru set the perspective for me really well.

I find that he is very often ahead of the curve when it comes to grasping a situation and communicating about it to his devotees. At the end of day, facts are definitely important but perspective makes all the difference.

I am happy that every evening, during these days of the lockdown, he is live for a sathsang from 6 – 6.40pm. After a chant, he starts off by summarising the situation with facts but also with his perspective. It is very wholesome and balancing.

That’s all for me for now. I will be putting up a weekly video series during these home isolation days. Watch it here.

How’s your Coronavirus situation coming along? Are you safe and well in the lockdown?