LIFE AT STAKE

                                      LIFE AT STAKE

Corona Virus is the latest in the list of viruses that is now threatening life in every part of the world.

So far there is no medical antidote to this human malady. That is why thousands of people are losing their life each day and night.  Precautions are there but they are only a possible check on the aggravation of the pandemic. They is no killer of the virus itself. So, at the moment, it is the virus which has the upper hand.

It is heartening to note that the medical scientists of the world are busy round the clock to evolve a perfect vaccine which will ultimately defeat this biological enemy.  There is no doubt that in the long run, it is Man who will succeed and the virus will have to face its surrender.    

Man has proved himself as a conqueror since hundreds of centuries ago.  His cycle of conquests over the adversaries of his life is not yet over.  It will perhaps never be over.  New diseases will continue to raise their heads and wait for the axe of Man to shatter them.

Whereas God’s help and mercy are always a supplementary force to defeat any wicked enemy, the knowledge of His laws and their application to solve any current or recurrent problem are indispensible.  Science, rather than superstition, is the power that ultimately subdues the causes of all the ailments and all sorts of other problems.

It is sensible to subscribe to the view that we don’t die; we kill ourselves.  It is also sensible to support the belief that he lives long that lives well; and time misspent is not lived, but lost. These are scientific truths based on the principles of cause and effect; stimulus and response; action and reaction.  In these enlightened times, it is better to put our eggs in the baskets of these scientific principles than in those of myths and blind beliefs.   

True religion is different from what is preached by the so-called god-men.  Reliable divine knowledge has been delivered to us by the great prophets whose different paths show unity of destination rather than separation of ways.   

Finally and old poem entitled:  A HYMN OF TRUST – written by the American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894):

“O LOVE divine, that stooped to share

Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear!

On thee we cast each earth-born care;

We smile at pain while thou art near.

Though long the weary way we tread,

And sorrow crown each lingering year,

No path we shun, no darkness dread,

Our hearts still whispering, thou art near.

When drooping pleasure turns to grief,

And trembling faith is changed to fear,

The murmuring wind, the quivering leaf,

Shall softly tell us, thou art near.

On thee we rest our burdening woe,

O Love dine, for ever dear!

Content to suffer while we know,

Living and dying, thou art near.”

3^rd  April 2020                                          G. R. KANWAL