While it is true that the Covid-19 pandemic dealt a massive blow to businesses and industries, it caused a massive impact on our mental health as well. The outbreak, fear of illness and the pandemic-induced lockdowns compelled us towards multiple lifestyle challenges, stress and roadblocks. But what exactly is the way out of this crisis? To find an answer to this question, we spoke with Atman in Ravi, a spiritual leader and founder of AiR Institute of Realization and AiR Center of Enlightenment. Excerpts from the interview:

Apart from apparent health concerns, what other factors do you think led to increasing issues of mental stress and wellness during the pandemic?

There is no doubt that the pandemic has caused great stress in our lives in the last two years. Of course, people are concerned about health. But there are bigger concerns related to death and the fear of all that, that comes with death. And beyond health and death, mental stress has also been created due to financial reasons, because earnings of people have been affected; social reasons, because families have been huddled together in the same room, in the same house for months together, deprived of space and the freedom to live a normal life.

What according to you is more helpful for people in the new normal spirituality or technology?

While technology may help people in the new normal, ultimately, we will be moving from a brick and mortar life to a life of technology not much change there. However, to deal with the pandemic, to deal with fear, to deal with the fear of death, one needs Enlightenment, one needs Realization that comes from spirituality. Spirituality eliminates the triple suffering of the body, mind and ego. Spirituality overcomes the myth and makes us realize the Truth and has the power to liberate us, from the pandemic itself. With the Realization of the Truth, we realize that the pandemic is nothing more than a drama on this global stage called the earth.

Share some lifestyle tips for people to imbibe in order to ensure the well-being of mental health?

The best way to deal with the pandemic and experience peace of mind is to spend time in silence and contemplate the simple truth that birth and death are not in our hands. Did we control how we were born, where we were born? Can we control how we will die? Actually, fear is causing more deaths than death because of illness. Like Mahatma Gandhi said: More people die of the fear of the disease than the disease itself. Therefore, one must try to live in consciousness, one must try to live in silence. One must spend time listening to spiritual discourses, reading scriptures, not of religion, but of spirituality. This can lead to Enlightenment.

Would you suggest anyone give up corporate jobs in their quest for peace and happiness?

People do not have to give up their jobs, whether corporate or other kinds, in the quest for peace and happiness. Peace and happiness can be achieved by Realization. Peace and happiness are within us, it hardly matters what job one has. Happiness is a state ofbeing. You cantbecomehappy, a job cant make you happy. It can give you pleasure; it can give you momentary happiness. But, if one wants eternal peace and everlasting happiness, then one must learn to live life moment by moment. One must learn to accept, and learn the art of surrender. Givingupone job and then going to another, is only jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It is not going to give us peace and happiness. We must learn the art of happiness, how to be happy in the now and to live life moment by moment, without fear, without worry. We must learn to transcend the monkey mind and tame it to be a monk. This way, we can be happy.

Tell us about how you help people embark on the path of spirituality.

We help people embark on the path of spirituality by inspiring them to ask questions. We should ask pertinent questions like: what happens at death? We say that he passed away. So where did that person go? We destroy the body of the deceased. Why? Because the person left the body.So, who left the body? Then, other questions such as how did birth happen? We think our birthday is our birth day. But we were alive nine months before. We were actually born with the conception of the zygote. Questions like this help people Ask, Investigate and Realize the Truth. They make us realize that we are not the body that we seem to be, we are not even the mind that we cannot find, we are the Divine Spirit. This is what is taught in the Upanishads,the Vedas, with the terms NetiNeti Not this, Not this; Tat TwamAsi Thou Art That.This is the best way to embark on our spiritual journey.

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Pandemic has caused great stress in our lives in last two years: Atman in Ravi - The Financial Express