Keep Calm and Stay at Home – How to Sail Through the COVID-19 Crisis

Questioner: All my family is in Italy. How can we not panic and be calm in this situation? It is very difficult for me to stay quiet.

Sadhguru: I was talking to someone in India that I know very well. Her son is in New York City, alone in his apartment, infected with coronavirus. So she is terrified and was telling me, "Why do we send our children so far away? Can they not be happy and well here, where we are? Now he is infected with coronavirus, and I do not know what to do." I reminded her that ten years ago she was also very far away from her parents. Now she has come back. Maybe he will also come back.

I understand the struggle, that people who are dear to you are elsewhere, particularly in a place which is going through the throes of infection and there are hundreds of deaths per day. Definitely, you will be concerned, but you are not going to solve any problem by worrying yourself to sickness and panicking. That will only double your trouble. Nobody can deny that there is genuine trouble right now for all of us. Shall we deal with the trouble to the best of our capabilities or shall we multiply it in our mind? This is the choice we have. I would advise you, please do not multiply this in your mind. There is enough of a problem in the world already. Let us see how to minimize this problem for ourselves and everyone else around us.

Keep Calm and Stay Healthy

There is substantial data to show that if a person is exuberant, joyful and wonderful, their immune system is always functioning at a better level of protection than those who are depressed and worried about something.

When a situation is serious, you do not have to become serious. “If I am not serious, does it mean to say I am going to be frivolous?” No, you are just going to be joyful, responsible and sensible. Such a human being can deal with situations much better than those who are dead serious about everything. And especially if you are in panic, you are paralyzed. Right now, it is very important that all your faculties are in place and your body and brain function and respond the way they need to. 

Do Not Fight the Virus

In India, just a few people are infected. It may be a few thousand, but still it is few for 1.4 billion people. This is not the time to fight the virus – we must just dodge it. This virus uses us as transportation; we are the carriers, so the only thing you have to ensure is that you do not get infected and you do not give it to anyone else.

When someone is infected, there are medical professionals who will do what they have to do to fight the virus in their bodies. But the most important thing right now is to make sure that there is no seat for the virus to travel in your body, ensuring the distance, separation from people. Panic is not going to help, nor is the callousness of “nothing will happen to me” – with this attitude you could endanger everyone's life. If we do not provide this facility for the viruses to travel from us to someone else, then we can limit the fatalities. Keeping yourself uninfected is the greatest thing that you can do right now.

 

Editor’s Note: In this unprecedented time of crisis, Sadhguru is making himself available via live web-stream for a series of interactive sessions where one has the opportunity to get their questions answered.