HOPE is the centre of today’s Mandala! I remember studying a संस्कृत सुभाषित in school.
आशा नाम मनुष्याणां काचिदाश्चर्यशृङ्खला ।
बद्धा यया प्रधावन्ति मुक्तास्तिष्ठन्ति पङ्गुवत् ॥
This can be roughly translated as
“Hope is the name of a mysterious chain binding men. Those tied to it keep running, but those free from it are stranded as if lame”
As a medical doctor, I have experienced the truth of this, especially in severe illnesses. A patient with a life-threatening disease can survive if he has a strong willpower and his hopes of a recovery remain high. On the other hand, patients with even minor problems can succumb to the illness if they give up Hope. Here I remember a story by O Henry, ‘The last leaf’; in which a young seriously ill patient miraculously starts recovering when his hopes are aroused by seeing that the last leaf on a tree refuses to fall. In the present situation, Hope is very important to maintain our sanity, to ensure that we are not carried away by the flood of unnecessary information. Hope is an elixir that nurtures the Tree of Life. But at the moment, we can see many people who are so bogged down by the onslaught of negative news and doomsday predictions, that they are losing all hope in life. On the other hand, there are sane people who are choosing to stay away from the media and its negativity and they are enjoying Quality time with their families. In the present circumstances, we will have to nurture the seeds of Hope in us, by protecting the seeds from negativity and surrounding them with Joy and Peace. Though this may sound very difficult, I can assure you that it can be achieved if you are aware and taking care! Let us all hope that once this calamity is over, once the whole world has been cleaned of its impurities, we can see a bright future ahead of us and a better world, which is more loving, more grateful and in which all living beings have an equal chance to thrive.
