Spiritually navigating the current COVID-19 pandemic

Q16. What is the Jain philosophy regarding such events? What can we do in the present moment? What can we learn that will help us now and in future? 

The worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had substantial impact on every aspect of our lives. There are a lot of questions on everyone's mind with the current situation. The intent of this blog is to provide the Jain philosophy to enable us to spiritually navigate this situation. We will discuss about the five samaväya, what we can do now and spiritual learning for our way forward.

Many of us might feel various emotions like stress, fear, anger, anxiety during these times of uncertainly. But we don't want to stay there too long because it reduces our spirituality and the power to do the right thing. We want to raise our spirituality and inner strength by leveraging our religious understanding, faith, and values to move to more positive emotions like compassion, peace, hope, optimism.

There are various theories that have been propounded to explain the occurrence of events. According to Jain philosophy, a situation develops, or an event happens because of five reasons operating simultaneously known as Five Samaväya.

Five Samaväya

Samaväya is the name of the group of five causes that are associated with every situation or event that occur in the universe or in our life.  It gives the connection between action and causes. Without a cause, no action can take place.  These five causes have a deep connection for all events that takes place in the universe. The events may be positive or negative. The five Samaväya are:

1.     Time (Kal)

2.     Intrinsic nature (Swabhav)

3.     Predestination (Niyati, Bhavitavyata or Honahar)

4.     Instrumental cause (Nimitta)

a.     External Nimitta – External Cause or Circumstances

b.     Internal Nimitta – Internal Cause, which is maturing our previously acquired Karma

5.     Determination, Self-Effort or Freewill (Purushartha)

The Jain philosophy views and reveals the importance of each Samaväya and this group of causes are always present when an event happens in the universe or in our life. Next, let’s understand each Samaväya in detail before looking into these factors for this COVID-19 situation.

1 - Time (Kal)

Time gives the sequence to whatever happens in universe. Time is a controlling principle and it plays an important role for all events/situations. The results of our work, consequences of our karma, situations or events do not occur before their due time. And when the time has occurred, we cannot stop the situations or events from happening.

If we sow seeds today, they do not give fruits right away. The seed cannot neglect the temporal limitation set out by time for its transformation into a tree. The Karma that are bound to the soul due to activities may not immediately manifest their fruits as soon as they are bound. The fruits of Karma appear at a specific time depending on the nature of the Karma itself.

When we understand the time factor, we learn to be patient, optimistic and hopeful.

2 - Intrinsic nature (Swabhav)

Every substance has its own intrinsic nature and that defines its characteristics, potential limitations, or potential effects. And the nature of substance is not to be confused with behavior or character traits of individuals.

Let’s look at few examples to understand the intrinsic nature - only females can get pregnant and not males, apple seeds grow apples and not oranges, certain seeds don’t sprout no matter what, humans can meditate, not animals. In matters like these, individual inherent nature plays in important role and it cannot be overlooked.

When we understand the nature factor, we have acceptance towards the effects or limitations based on intrinsic nature.

3 - Predestination (Niyati, Bhavitavyata or Honahar)

There are many words used for this concept, such as niyati, destiny, and fate. Predestination means that there are certain things that are predetermined and unalterable in this world.  In these situations, whatever has been destined will take place.  Whatever must happen keeps happening.  In this process, change cannot be made despite our best efforts. 

For example, even if we make all possible efforts, we cannot prevent the aging process or may not be able to save someone’s life. 

When we understand the predestination factor, we gracefully and peacefully accept things that are out of our control.

4 - Instrumental cause (Nimitta)

For Nimitta, there are external and internal causes and they always go together. External nimitta could be living beings, objects, situations, or events and they act as a catalyst. And internal nimitta is the fruit or consequence of our previously acquired Karma.

Let’s look at an example of an individual winning a lottery to understand the nimitta concept from both perspectives, internal and external. The lottery ticket being sold at a store is an external nimitta or a catalyst and winning a lottery is an internal nimitta or fruit of previous karma.

When we understand the external and internal nimitta causes, we know that our karmas have consequences. And external causes are just catalyst for our karma to come into action and not be blamed.

5 - Determination, Self-Effort or Freewill (Purushartha)

Purushartha or freewill is our power to choose our response in any given situation. We have a choice, no matter the situation. In that choice and self-effort, lies our opportunity to progress spiritually, improve and learn from the situation. A classic example of Purushartha is Gandhiji’s efforts towards getting independence for India.

When we understand the importance of self-effort and freewill, we can face any situation with courage, growth mindset and focus on things that we can control. Our spirituality is our response to what happens in life.

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The Jain philosophy does not look at these five causes from a single point of view, nor does it consider any one cause as the right one. It considers the collective effect as valid and whole truth. All the five causes are functioning simultaneously when any event happens in the universe or in our life.

Now, let’s look at these five Samavayas for COVID-19 situation:

1.     Time (Kal): The pandemic was to happen at this time worldwide.

2.     Intrinsic nature (Swabhav): It is intrinsic nature of a human body that it can get infected by such virus.

3.     Predestination (Niyati): It was meant to happen. It was in destiny for such pandemic to occur.

4.     Instrumental cause (Nimitta): External causes like being in proximity with someone with the virus, can act as a catalyst for our karma to come into action. And what happens to us will be based on the maturity of our previous Karma.

5.     Determination, Self-Effort or Freewill (Purushartha): Our Purushartha is our power to choose our response to this situation and that’s the only thing in our control right now. Our present efforts should be focused on what can we do now? How can we eliminate the virus? How can we come out of this stronger? How can we help those who are affected? How can we respond with compassion and kindness towards self and others?

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This pandemic is due to all the five causes, not any single cause. There are many common misconceptions about considering karma as the only cause for pandemic situation and overlooking the other samavayas. There is also a widespread notion about group karma, however, there is no mention of group karma in Jain literature. The concept of group karma cannot exist in Jainism because individuals acquires karma based on his/her intentions (bhav), the acquired karmas comes into action for those individuals, and the individual karma is self-contained and has no effect on others.

It is useful to know and understand these five causes, but from a spiritual point of view, purushartha, what we do in the present moment is of utmost importance.

Spirituality teaches that life is our response to what happens to us.  Life is not what happens to us.

Our purushartha / religion / dharma right now is to raise our spirituality such that:

·        No kashayas (anger, ego, greed, deceit) arises within us

·        We can face the situation with strength and peace

·        We don't blame anyone

·        We continue to show compassion towards ourselves, others living beings and the environment. We have been neglecting to protect and preserve our fellow living beings, environment, and natural resources. Let us change our lifestyle such that we use minimum natural resources for our healthy survival.  

·        We have the power and courage to do the right thing

·        We conduct rituals or practices with spiritual understanding

·        We trust in our inner strength and not follow anything blindly. Power and strength are within us and nowhere outside

We must not violate any guidance from CDC and government authorities to prevent spreading this virus and help ourselves and others by maintaining social distancing. We want to be part of the solution and look for opportunities to help others.

We should also focus on learning the spiritual lessons that this situation is trying to teach us in a meaningful and encouraging way.

Inner Resiliency: Along with keeping our body healthy, we also need to pay equal attention, if not more, to our mind. We need to make our minds strong and resilient. Our thoughts manifest into our physical health. Our thoughts also affect our emotional health, our relationships with others and our overall well-being. Our inner world has a direct impact into what’s happening outside.

Soul Consciousness: In today’s world when majority of our time and efforts are focused on activities oriented toward body, we need to have constant realization and awareness of who we really are. If our orientation is only body focused, and not soul focused, then it is difficult to gain persistent inner resiliency. It is important to ground ourselves to our true nature.

Impermanence - Good times and trying times are both temporary. Nothing is permanent. This situation shall pass too but the question is how and what do we want to be during this time? We want to face the situation in a way that we come out of it wiser and more spiritual than what we are today.

Happiness is within - Eliminate / reduce our dependencies for happiness on other people, things, various experience by our sensory organs. Have meaningful connection, where we can learn and grow together. We want to find happiness and joy within and not be in the mad race of do more, acquire more, become more, travel more. We don’t want our lifestyle based purely on monetary and material standards. We want to introspect the purpose and way of our life.

Our Moral Responsibility: As human race, we share this planet with other living beings, we don’t own it. We must protect our environment and natural resources. We should go back to basics - compassion for all living beings, not hoarding more than what we need and not wasting, abusing, or overusing our natural resources.

Gratitude – There is so much that we can be grateful for. Human beings often have a negative bias and we get fixated on problems/threats and overlook the good things. We should let go of greed and desires and be content, appreciate and share what we have with others.

This is a difficult and trying time for all of us. We are all faced with fear of uncertainty and grief of loss. There is so much suffering but also an opportunity to grow spiritually in unprecedented ways. Our inner transformation leads to peaceful families, communities, and overall society.