Coronavirus Attack : Do Prayers, Mantras or Meditations work?

Recently, a reader of the 2016 book “Karmasutra The Karma of Sex” asked me whether in the light of Covid-19 pandemic, all these prayers, meditation, mantras and yantras “have proven to be COMPLETE BULLSH*T?” (italics for the verbatim quote of the reader). After all, in the book (in chapter 11, on page 227 under ‘Mid-course corrections’), I had mentioned about use of prayers, meditation, mantras, yantras (devices/amulets) and other such methods.

I am sure this question is presently running through the minds of millions of believers of different religions. After all, even some clergy and religious people have died. Did they not pray enough?  Do mantras or yantras (for example, taveej - metallic or other amulets etc.)  have any use against this virus?  There are no easy answers, which will satisfy staunch rationalists. However, my answer might be useful for those who are struggling to hold on to their faiths in the light of the severe trauma of this pandemic.

Let us look at some analogies:

When a house is on full blazing fire, is a jug of water sufficient to extinguish the fire?  The answer is no.  Does it therefore imply that water has no use against a fire and therefore ‘complete bullsh*t’ against fire?  Someone who thinks YES, has obviously some level of reduced grasp of the whole situation.

Let us look at another one – Can a small candle light up every corner of a pitch-dark football stadium? The answer is obviously no. However, does it therefore imply that candles are useless in providing light? Again, someone who thinks yes, has some lack of knowledge/understanding.

Hence, what is needed in these dark times, are not doubts about the efficacy of prayers, meditation or mantras, but a deeper understanding of the force and magnitude of the problem.  Taking the example of water and fire, even though a jug of water is ineffectual, can hundreds of jugs of water thrown quickly enough, quell the fire?  (The answer is YES !! …. Although we will keep aside for the time being,  the logistical difficulties of gathering hundreds of jugs of water and the fact that there may be more effective solutions than this …)

(I am keeping this blog short and simple, not going further into the details of ‘hard’ karma and ‘soft’ karma which have been discussed in chapter 2 of the book.  Also, perhaps more specific, nuanced questions can be taken up in comments section.)

For the time being, let us just share this message of hope and strengthen our faith in prayers, meditations, mantras and genuine other cosmic interventions.

©Staju Jacob, 2020.