Note: The following is an exchange between a good friend and me on the issue of the virus and the vaccine. She felt that we were foolish and uninformed about both, and that we had voluntarily submitted ourselves to be part of some kind of evil ‘human experiment’ by getting vaccinated.
Sundari: I read your last message to Ramji. He was astounded, as was I, not only by the arrogance of your presumed superior knowledge regarding the virus and the vaccine but the limited scope of your thinking. Who do you think you were talking to? Clearly you take yourself to be a jiva talking to jivas, but even so, what right do you have to assume you are right? What business is it of yours what we do?
Have you fallen so far down the conspiracy mithya rabbit hole that truth is only truth if it fits your narrow ideas? As jivas, we are more informed about just about most things on the mithya level than most people. Do you really think we don’t know what’s going on in the Field, and make our jiva decisions accordingly?
As the Self, we understand the mind of Isvara because we are Isvara and beyond Isvara. Nothing that happens in the Field affects us. Nonetheless, we abide by the laws of the Field as apparent jivas. Who are you? Have you become as small, limited, and fearful as the samsaris you are surrounded by? I hope not.
The Fiona we know has the potential to live fully as the Self she is.
Fiona: Dearest Sundari and Ramji. In all my years I have not been faced with such harsh words. I had to digest them first and sit with them for some time. I read my message again and again, as well as yours. You are right, my message sounds very arrogant and also as if I have superior knowledge. Which I don’t have, and it was not my intention to come over this way.
I would like to apologize for my words and hope you will accept my apology. In my heart, I had not seen how my message could come over and how it will be read, but you are 100% right, after the initial shock and reading the conversation again, I have to agree! I will not even defend myself, because you are right with your judgment about me.
This incident showed me a lot about myself and I want to bury my head in the sand, I feel very ashamed. Thank you for the lesson, only a friend like you could have the courage to be so direct. In future, I will speak from my heart and if I am worried about a friend, I will say it the way I truly feel.
Thank you for your honesty.
Sundari: There is no need to apologize, though we appreciate it. As James relayed to you in his email earlier today, we are both impressed with the nobility, humility, and honesty of your response. You are a fine and cultivated person, and I am very happy for your sake. I know that the message I sent was harsh, but it was an Isvara whack, it did not really come from me as a person or as your friend. There was no judgment of you as a jiva or as a friend. You tend to think you are judged when you are the one who judges Fiona.
The most important issue is not whether you are right or wrong about your beliefs regarding the virus or the vaccine, or anything else mithya related for that matter. In mithya everything is potentially true and false. I am not claiming to be right either, though I am about as informed as it is possible to be with the science of these most contentious issues, for and against. I say that knowing full well that these days more than ever everyone has their own ‘facts’ and can claim to have science corroborate them. It seems that the shared evidence-based means of knowledge we once agreed on to determine ‘truth’ scientific or otherwise have disappeared forever.
More importantly, I understand the big mithya picture, as I do the big Self picture. Which are not different, but they are not the same, either. It is impossible for any one person to know all the factors playing out in the Field, meaning the mind of Isvara. But it is possible to read the overall pattern because life is generally benign and working for us to live and work out our karma. Isvara supports our every need, so why not trust it?
As I said to you, and James did too, humanity is an experiment in progress, always has been. Ever since our caveman days, medicine has been a long process of the study, experimentation, and application of poisons natural and otherwise, for the ultimate benefit of the organism. Most ancient and modern medicines have the power to do great harm as well as great good. How could it be any other way in duality? How do we find out what is good for us without some risk involved? Yes, it is true, there have always been profiteers and villains, as well as heroes and miracles in medicine as everywhere else. There have always been gains and losses no matter what we choose to do, not do, or believe.
Thus, there are risks and benefits from taking the vaccine as there are risks and benefits of not taking it. Our approach is that the benefits of the former outweigh the risks of the latter. There is not enough evidence-based science to prove direct causation in most of the bad side effects reported so far. There will, no doubt, be some people who have bad reactions to it, that is the case with any medication. There is no such thing as a risk-free medical intervention. It’s impossible for any medicine whether natural or allopathic to be totally safe for everyone. There will always be a certain number of people who suffer serious side effects even from supposedly safe readily available over-the-counter medications, let alone prescription drugs or immunotherapy. Medical science is moving towards medical intervention based on our individual genetics which will be tailored to the needs of our unique physiology and therefore much safer. But that day has not come yet.
As with much else in the media and on the internet these days, there is so much hype around the vaccines, most of it overblown and based on speculation. Who knows about the long term? The virus may continue to mutate, and the vaccine may prove to be effective for only a short period of time. No one knows for sure yet, only Isvara knows. I have never been a believer in the necessity for an annual flu vaccine and never had one, but with corona, this may be necessary. The vaccine may prove to genuinely be the medical miracle is touted to be, the opposite, or a bit of both. It is up to everyone to assess the risks and decide for themselves. But for us, taking the vaccine is also a service to Isvara, to the Field.
What we do know is although there have undoubtedly been serious problems with some vaccines in the past, the science of immunotherapy has saved humanity from many of the most serious plagues that have come our way so far. Think smallpox, measles, polio, bubonic plague, etc. While it is true that this vaccine was developed in record time, the RNA technology it is based on is four decades old. It holds great promise for the progress of medicine on the whole, not just immunotherapy. Whatever the case, there is no way you can protect the jiva from the nature of the Field—nothing is perfect in mithya, it is a zero-sum.
So, we make informed opinions regarding our jiva based on knowledge, a judicious acceptance of the way the Field works, and our trust in Isvara to take care of us. We firmly believe that the Field is fundamentally benign. That is the crux of the matter. We trust Isvara. Humans are a suspicious lot in search of security, the need to feel safe, because duality is so unpredictable and human nature so flawed. Yet, humans are capable of great things too, thanks to Isvara. We are not afraid of the virus or of death, but as we like living and contributing to life, we do what we know to be reasonable and logical to maintain the health of the body. Our actions are never fear-based. They are based on Self-knowledge and objective knowledge of the Field, Satya, and mithya.
The issue regarding your comments to me about us taking the vaccine was not my first response to the growing tendency you have been developing of sliding down the conspiracy/fear/suspicion rabbit hole. It is my third attempt to get through to you on this topic, without success. I warned you many months ago in another exchange, and more recently when I sent you my satsang on social media and conspiracy theories. With Isvara, if we don’t listen to the whispers, they become shouts, and then, a big kick in the butt.
I could see that you were losing the ability to discriminate between the jiva, mithya, and satya. In short, you were becoming brainwashed by fear, believing it to be intelligent ‘knowledge’. I think Peter, who is a very good person and means well, contributes greatly to your mindset as he is a samsari with an almost entirely fear-based approach to life. Conspiracy theorists tend to be frightened people who feel out of control and are unconsciously after a feeling of agency, of being empowered against the big bad world ‘out there’ threatening them. But there is no ‘out there’. There is only in here, the world our mind creates.
It’s not to say that conspiracy theories are necessarily entirely wrong, they often contain elements of truth. The problem is they are presented as the whole truth. In addition, they require allegiance to a confirmation-biased point of view. You must drink the Kool-Aid to be part of the tribe, and never challenge it. Once signed on, it’s a short trip indeed to the total loss of discrimination. You then live in a bubble of your own making, shut off from any other point of view. There is no acknowledgment of the fact that in this world, there are no simple answers to anything. There is always an upside and a downside, lots of good and bad. To everything. The big picture is what matters, and for that, it’s a question of what lens you are consistently looking at the world through. Jiva, or Self? Fear, or Love, i.e., do you see life as benign or as a threat?
Do you fear Isvara, or trust Isvara? That is a question we must all answer, and much of our happiness depends on it. Like many people, your mind has a natural tendency to be suspicious and defensive, to take the offensive, which keeps you stuck in the smallest idea of who you are. This is not a judgment; it’s just a statement of fact. You are not to blame for this, it is the way the jiva is programmed. Most jivas are a very sensitive lot and easily injured. When identified with being a jiva, that is.
We have had several run-ins over this issue in the years since our friendship developed, and as you know, I am a straight shooter. I know you are aware of the jiva’s weakness in terms of feeling judged because of your past history. I take my hat off to you for acknowledging it, as you have done in the past. Isvara gave me the message I sent to you and I sent it knowing that it would either end our friendship or reassert your Self-knowledge. I hope it is the latter case, which is taking the message as prasad, knowing it is about the jiva’s residual ignorance and has nothing to do with you, the Self. It is always a case of who I am, really? Yes, we accept the jiva as is, but you cannot be both the jiva and the Self. So, we must choose.
Freedom is about taking a stand in Awareness as Awareness while accepting that the jiva is what it is: an imperfect construct with some annoying tendencies, as are ALL jivas, ours included. So what? Freedom is not about changing the jiva, just understanding it and taking the Self to be your primary identity, as you know. Discriminating 24/7 between Satya and mithya is the name of the game of freedom.
Have your beliefs about things mithya, whatever they may be. But beware of indoctrination by the tamasic so-called gurus of ‘fact’ that are legion on the internet. They are trapped in the limited negative fear-based view of the Field. Know that it is entirely possible to be entirely fooled by what sounds very reasonable and logical but isn’t. In any case, life, as stated is a zero-sum game. You may think that following the fear route is smart, but fear is very seldom smart. The acid test is always to put on the glasses of Self-knowledge and to see life as blessed and benign.
Much love
Sundari
Ramji’s response: I want you to know that I really admire you for your reply to Sundaris’ direct words about your attitude. It takes a lot of courage to investigate core beliefs. This is not to say those character traits self-correct without considerable commitment to continued inquiry. The next step now is to ask why one holds tightly to a particular point of view. Objectivity about the reason is at least as difficult to face as is facing the belief itself. I won’t go into the reason unless you want to hear more, however, I will say this: you cannot choose a point of view that will completely eliminate risk because risk is the nature of the creation. Life is purely experimental. We are all Isvara’s guinea pigs as It works out how to lead us to the light. Pain and loss are inevitable.
The second point I’d like to make is that we are not only self aware people, we are eager to serve Isvara. We are aware of the nature of the risks and rewards that are options in every situation every moment. We chose to wear masks, socially isolate, and get vaccinated for two reasons: (1) they increase our chances of avoiding Covid and reduce worry, and (2) we gain a clear spiritual benefit: we put ourselves firmly on the side of Isvara, The Great Experimenter, in so far as it obviously It’s will that the human race survives. Genetics, eugenics, medicine, etc are all good-faith attempts to help the human race survive, and in that survival, to grow into the light. Yes, there are mistakes but how do we learn except by our mistakes? How can we grow if we don’t learn about ourselves and our environment? How will we survive as a species if we aren’t willing to make sacrifices? Our birth here is a sacrifice because, as much as we love life, we have to sacrifice it sooner or later. Covid is an opportunity. Vaccines are an opportunity to serve the world. That’s the spirit behind our thinking. Fear is reasonable up to a point but it won’t protect a person from what is inevitable.
I said I won’t go into the psychology of self-protection but here’s a satsang I published last week that touches on it if you care to read it. It was based on your words to Sundari regarding our vaccination.
Much love,
Ramji
James: Isvara gave Sundari and me the opportunity to help the world and our apparent selves by getting vaccinated!!! Not surprisingly we already heard from one nice spiritual person we think of as a friend that we are fools. I can’t figure out how in the name of fear some people would not seize the opportunity to serve humanity in this way. It’s pretty common these days so we shouldn’t be surprised, I suppose. It’s amazing how people think fear is smart when it is not smart at all. Well, you can’t blame them because they don’t even know what harm they are doing to their own minds when they succumb to unreasonable fears.
Having said that I understand that people honestly think the science of vaccines is flawed, but what human institution isn’t flawed? We need the mistakes to learn and advance our knowledge. Vedanta encourages doubts to stimulate inquiry and it promotes precaution in the Bhagavad as a valuable value. So, it is reasonable to wait and see if the vaccines work before one makes up one’s mind. However, the longer people wait, the longer the quarantines are going to compromise our return to normal life. I’m lucky in that I’ve done everything that I needed to do in this life and the sun is setting on my life so it’s not a very important issue for me. We are all allotted so much time here according to our karma and Isvara will move the vaccinated and unvaccinated on at Its will and pleasure.