In childhood, we might have read a story Which said that in Medieval Europe, whenever there was an epidemic or a disease breaking in Even before it entered the city, a few Christian monks stood at the city outskirts guarding it. And before that illness entered the city They would stop it and ask - How many people will you take from the city? Often, the illness would not be alone. It would have two companions - Death and Fear. The monks would ask the illness, death, and fear How many people will you take with you? The illness would say - I will take these many people. Death would say - I will take half the number of people which the disease will take. And when fear was asked how many people it would take Fear would say - I will not take anyone. After this, all three would be allowed to enter the city. After the epidemic would spread completely And after these three were taking back people What the monks saw was that The illness was taking away a few people. Death was also taking away as many people as it had promised earlier. But fear was taking away the maximum number of people. So the monks asked fear You had promised not to take anyone. Why is it that the maximum number of people are behind you? So fear answered - I am not taking them. They are voluntarily coming behind me. Today there is a similar environment getting created Fear is overpowering us right now. How should we handle the situation? Let's try to understand. We have with us Brahma Kumari Sister Shivani. Namaste, Sister. Om Shanti. We are seeing today that The situation is perceived to be a helpless one by many people. What is to be done and why is it happening? We can't understand. Since it is happening, an inevitable question arises What should we do now? Over the last few days, things have happened all of a sudden. In life, there are a few things which you know that they might happen. Even though you may not like them. For example, somebody's death in the family. Or an accident. Or a loss of job. Or a failure in some aspect of life. Or a relationship fallout. These are things which we know can happen. Because we are seeing them happening around us. Yet we feel it cannot happen with me. But we have the knowledge that it is happening in the world. And then suddenly if something like that happens in our own life We are often unable to face that situation. We feel a little down. We feel low because of anxiety, fear, doubt, stress. All these get created. And we start believing that the situation is such that It will have an effect on our state of mind. And it doesn't apply only to such big challenges. It happens even in small scenes throughout the day. Suppose you leave for work from your house. You are aware that there will be more traffic. You know the that traffic jam is a reality. These are situations which we know. Yet when we get stuck in traffic, we get a little irritated. Even though we get stuck everyday. Some people can get stuck every single day. They can get stuck in the morning while going to work. They can get stuck in the evening. Everyday they get stuck. Which means, that situation which we are aware of, and it happens in life. A situation which happens everyday Even then we get disturbed in that scene. And now we have a situation which we were not even aware of. We didn't know that there exists such an illness. We didn't know how to treat it. And we didn't even know that it can spread across the world. It is perhaps the first such situation Which has hit the whole world at the same time. Generally if there is a natural calamity It occurs in one place. Even if it is a man-made terror, it happens in one place. Even if it is a war, it is waged in one region. Perhaps there has hardly been any one incident Which has disturbed the whole world at the same time. So when we can get disturbed even in a traffic jam Or when we can feel sad even at one word which someone says to us Or when we can create fear if our child doesn't return one hour after the stipulated time In situations which we know, that they can happen Today we have a situation in front of us Which we had not even imagined. So the effect it has had on our mind is something which we have not yet understood. How much it has impacted each and every mind. The other situations we spoke about were affecting only a few minds. This is a situation which has simultaneously affected almost every mind in the world. So the impact is something which we have not even yet registered. The effect it would have has not yet sunk in. Because it is not affecting only the present moment. It seems to have a long term effect. Because its implications are huge. So the first equation that we need to create right today Not just for this situation but for every situation in life That the situation is here Whether it was a traffic jam Today it's a virus. Both are situations. Of course this is very big and that was small. Yet both are situations which are outside. Our state of mind is inside. The equation which we have been carrying for several years now Because of which today worry and fear have increased The equation was As will be the situation So will be my state of mind. Which means when there is such a huge problem, getting disturbed is normal. Feeling stressed is normal. Creating fear is normal. So we called negative emotions as normal. And we said, bigger the situation Greater tension and anxiety are normal. We have lived with this belief system probably since childhood. And perhaps the whole world is living with this belief. Suddenly there came a situation Which we said is an epidemic, it's a disaster all over the world. So remaining peaceful at this time Remaining stable and fearless We are not even thinking about it. Because we are not even conceptualizing That someone can remain peaceful, stable and fearless at this time. We say obviously there is fear. Obviously there will be worry. And everybody is saying it. In fact, if someone is not scared, they are asked - Aren't you worried? Don't you understand? How can you not be tensed or scared? So we are making sure that everybody should get stressed. Because of only one equation that - Our state of mind is dependent on situations. Because I learnt this from my childhood. Nobody taught me another way of thinking. So first of all we need to re-check that equation today. Situation is outside and my state of mind is mine, it's inside. Situation does not create my state of mind. My state of mind 100% influences my situation. When we remember this and revise it everyday Then we will first be changing our vocabulary. Which means vocabulary of our thoughts and words We need to change our language. We cannot say I feel like this because of the situation. Instead we will say - Yes, there is a situation. But I will take charge of what I should think here. For example, we have been learning for so many days What to do to protect ourselves, our family, our country and our world from this virus. And we are repeatedly hearing about it. We have heard, understood and we are all taking care. But we did not think about What we need to do here in the mind to save ourselves and other people. Because we thought virus is physical. It hits the body, affects health. And you mentioned about three things - disease, death, and fear. We are thinking, speaking, and discussing about disease and death. Everyday we are checking statistics. Regarding the third factor of fear, we said it is natural. Since we called it natural We did not even think whether we can do something about it. We are only thinking that If we meet this person I should know whether he or she is infected Because if they have it And if I am within one or two feet distance from them I can also get affected. We know it. So we take care. Let's now check that whoever we meet during the day Are they in fear? If they are in fear And we are sitting one or two feet away from them That fear will get created even in me. And most importantly, probably I had fear even earlier. Which means that virus of fear is already within me. It's in the other person also. It's in the four people at my home. It's there in the 130 crore people in our country. It's also present in the 700-800 crore population of our world. And we feel this is normal. Let's look at the impact of that fear. Can it do anything to us? Doctors are telling us that fear hits at our immunity system. And this is not a fear we have newly created today. Fear has always been a part of our life. But we would fear only sometimes. Fear if there is a challenge or a pressure in life. Fear for a few days and then we were fine. And yet our immunity system is not very strong. There are not many people who can say they are not under any medication and their body is perfect. And now age is no more a barrier for illnesses When it comes to this virus, we say young children and the elderly are more prone to it. Which means 65 and above, as well as 10 and below They need to be more careful because they can get infected or it can leave a bigger impact in them. However it can infect anyone else also. But today let's check immunity system Is immunity system low only specific to this age group? No. Because immunity system is not just dependent on the age of the body Immunity system is also dependent on state of mind. Someone can be 80 years of age and extremely powerful in their state of mind. Body is aged but soul is powerful. They have never created a wrong or negative thought. Even now they are not scared, they are very strong. They are emotionally and spiritually strong. They may be physically fragile but are very strong internally So I am sure that their immunity system is stronger Someone else who is 20 or 30 years old But if they are in constant fear and anxiety The immunity system of the elderly can be stronger than this person's. The thoughts we are creating here, where all are they impacting? If we take care of that, then we will start checking our thoughts. Every thought we create And we are creating thousands of thoughts in a day On a normal day with a normal routine Science says we can create anywhere between 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts in a day. But during a crisis, with constant information Just imagine how the percentage of our thoughts would have increased at this time. That create a question, about the information we need today. Because we fear the unknown. And we believe it's easier to deal with the things we know. We live in an era where there is no dearth of information And today we staying at home and many people are working from home. Children are at home. We have housewives and working mothers at home. Most people are at home. So watching TV is a common option because we cannot go out. TV is continuously feeding us with updates about the virus. Even on the Internet and social media people are getting constant information about it. There is an information overload. When I have so much information and when such inputs are going inside me How can I think of anything else? There is an information overload. But the quality of information remains a question mark. Sometimes you can take an overload of positive information also. Suppose throughout the day You heard, read and watched only positive information. It can be an overload but it is still good for you. You are listening and reading a lot of things But whatever is getting inside, is making you healthy. Because the information going inside is influencing your thoughts. Generally we say - What to do? Negative thinking is normal. How to think positive? Because we are not aware of the source of our thoughts. Source of our thoughts is information. It's like health of our body is the food we eat. So the nutrients present in whatever we eat Create the health of our body. The health of our mind and our every thought is affected by information. So information is the raw material or the food which is going inside. And our thoughts are created on the basis of this information. So throughout the day the amount of information and quality of information. As will be the quality of information, so will be the quality of our thoughts. The intention of people giving us information is pure. They want to keep us informed. They want to teach us. One is to teach and other is to repeatedly consume that information. It's like, when I go out on the road I know that I need to drive my vehicle carefully. And we drive carefully because we are given that information. When we got our licence we were given instructions of how to drive. So we have the information. But just for one day, if we take the statistics of the number of accidents per day How many accidents in the world each day, how many in this country... How many deaths in the last few hours in this country... Just flood your mind with information of accident for one day. One week and then one month. After that, driving a vehicle? It becomes impossible. So we are aware that accidents do happen. We have the information of how to drive carefully. We need to pay attention. But if we constantly fill our mind with the same information Whether or not accident happens is secondary. But fear and anxiety here increases manifold That each time we want to drive the vehicle That fear and anxiety can paralyze me To an extent where the chances of me meeting with an accident increases. Because it's here. Probability of an accident is 0.0001%. Everyday when we go out We do not take our vehicle out with a thought Hope I don't meet with an accident. You will not take your scooter out of the parking lot with this thought Hope there's no accident. When you board the flight you do not create a thought - Hope the plane will not crash. When you board a train you not create a thought - Hope it does not derail and cause an accident. Even though it happens very often. But today what kind of thoughts are we creating throughout the day? Because we are flooded with so much information about it. Not just news channel or social media What messages are we sharing with each other throughout the day? Every 10 minutes, if you check just the messages on your phone There will be messages from a well wisher, with the purest of intentions But they are sharing a message of the figures What happened in this state, how many deaths in that city ... Is this really needed to be shared so much with everybody, every single minute? What are we doing? It will be telecast in the news and we watch it for 15 minutes a day. We will be aware of what's happening in the world. But if you listen to the statistics after every 15 minutes? If you watch those visuals? If you keep thinking only about it? And discuss about it for the next one hour? Then all your energy will be focused only on Disease, death, panic, anxiety. And that's why that story was very nice. Fear will take everybody. We have information but how much of it should be consumed? It's our choice. If we remember that information creates our thoughts If we continuously take in such information Then our fear will increase. We need to pay attention to what information we can take in. We have already consumed a lot. That is basic. If someone tells us there is one more thing for us to take care of We can get such inputs. Information about how to take care of ourselves. It should not be continuous information about the damage that's happening. You can take that information also for may be 10 minutes today. So you know the seriousness of the situation. That's it and that's the only thing. But if we continuously watch it and read about it If we get similar messages 4 times and we hear about it 4 times. We not only read and hear, but we share it to others. We forward those messages to others. This is going to create a ripple effect of fear and anxiety. The virus does not by itself create so much fear and anxiety As much as the fear and anxiety created by this information exchange. We need to remember that, to be protected from that virus And to eliminate that virus We need a strong mind and a strong body. And this constant information exchange Is hitting our mind And our mind is hitting our body. And when both our mind and body have become weak The chances of getting affected by the illness will go up. When we are exchanging messages about precautions The biggest precaution should be this one. To take care of the mind. Because your mind is impacting your body. The biggest precaution should be - Do not consume constant information. The message from doctors and the government will come to us as a small note. But exchanging so many videos, audios and statistics? We don't need to know the updates after every few minutes One more in this state, five more in that state... No. That's not how we live life. Because it does not contribute to the protection of our country or our world Risk factor will increase further. Because fear is the epidemic right now. But we do not call fear as an epidemic. Because we feel fear cannot do anything and it is natural. Actually fear is an epidemic right now. Because fear is deteriorating our emotional health. Many people say fear is a natural instinct. But it's become a constant natural instinct. Why did it become a natural instinct? Suppose you are driving and another vehicle comes suddenly across. There's a jerk. You create fear because you just missed an accident. But for how long will it last? 5 minutes. Or it may be on your mind for 1 hour at a maximum. Or you may not forget it for one day. That's it. But in this case nobody is letting us forget the matter at all. Even if you try to forget about that virus for a few minutes But within 10 minutes someone or the other will very lovingly remind you of it. So people are not allowing each other to forget about it. So if we continue to keep thinking and speaking about it Then it resides here on the mind. Once that emotion becomes constant Fear, anxiety, stress and panic - once they become constant Since almost a month they have become constant Its first direct effect will be on our mental health. We need to understand Depression is an epidemic right now in the world. WHO has stated that On an average, one in every four or five people has symptoms of depression. Or chances of getting depressed. One in every four or five. This was the statistics 2 months ago, before this virus epidemic. So one in every 4 or 5 living with symptoms of depression. And there are many others who are already living with a mental health issue. Like anxiety attacks, panic attacks, OCD, depression. Now there is this sudden situation. And we say fear and anxiety are normal all over the world. Can we imagine or think for a minute That when there is a global fear or anxiety Then those one in four people Because those one in four is sitting just two feet away from us. That one in four is in our house That one in four is in our neighbourhood. And there are so many in the world. Can we imagine how much this situation is impacting them? Can we imagine about the remaining 3 out of 4 people Who did not have symptoms of depression But they were living life, believing stress is normal and anger is normal When they face the pressure of such huge fear and anxiety From those remaining 3 out of 4 people, one person can join the other side. They will also start showing symptoms. Which means, when there is such constant fear and anxiety It will have a huge impact on our mental health statistics. We are thinking about this one virus right now. But our way of thinking has been so wrong That we might create another very big epidemic in the process. This virus will certainly end in sometime. Majority of the people are recovering. We will be fine. But if someone goes into depression right now Or if the fear create an impact which leads to an anxiety attack Or if someone else experiences it because of the fear I create Virus will surely get eliminated in the next one or two months. But depression cannot end in one or two months. This will now start troubling me here. So we need to take this extremely seriously. When we talk of the statistics that so many people in the country have contracted the virus Along with it add another statistics Of how many people have depression in the country at this time. And if we create so much fear and anxiety about it now Then the number of people with depression with increase. Intensity of their depression will increase. And chances of other people developing depression will go up. Virus might end within a month but not depression. Depression might become a part of life for many people. So taking care and creating fear are two completely different things. So we need to take care of this present challenge. But because of fear of this challenge We cannot afford to bring complications in other aspects of life. Therefore, we need to pay attention to our thoughts. Our emotional health directly affects our mental health. And they both have a direct effect on our physical health. There are very high figures of the number of people with high blood pressure in the world. Someone has cardiovascular problems, someone has cancer. Someone has diabetes. Can we imagine how all these illnesses will be affected because of our emotional distress? What you have explained now makes sense because Until now we thought we were responding correctly with all the information we were getting. But now we have understood that we need to individually create changes within us. And I believe that with this insight, our strength to deal with the virus increases. I think there are many other questions audiences may have. Let's discuss them subsequently. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Om Shanti. We might have plenty of questions. But if we consume only the information that is essential Then it might not be very difficult to move forward. Our thoughts have a huge impact on our life. When we transform our thoughts, we can deal with every problem in a better way. Let's meet again soon. Until then, Namaste.
Finish Your Fear About Corona Virus: Part 1: Subtitles English: BK Shivani
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June 09, 2021
