Fear, the most dangerous enemy
The deadly Corona virus – Never before, there has been such a tremendous impact of any marketable idea or product at this scale. Let’s assume for a second we are referring to the virus as a product which has been manufactured and the producers are getting an amazing ROI as the product has been successful without an iota of money spent on marketing or advertising or even sales. All they needed was a unique value proposition based on fear and it gotcha! WhatsApp users -2 Bn and FB users- 1.7 Bn together created the most widespread reach in shortest time possible.
Examples: Listerine marketed their product as an antiseptic liquid for healing mouth wounds with dentists as TG but it struggled and failed. Then they changed their strategy to use fear psychology of ruined relationships due to bad breath and the brand took off!!, sales quadrupled. Quaker oats used the same fear psychology ensuring that parents prefer oats for their child’s growth as against meat. Horlicks & Complan are still doing the same and it works very well with parents, their fears and insecurities.
The fear of death in our Scriptures is called Abhinivesh, one of the 5 kleshas and the toughest to win even by the Yogis and the learned wise men. Let me explain a bit more, this klesha or evil is about attachment to our physical body. Even if all of us are aware that death is part of life, we get immensely scared of it when we see our loved ones in close grip of this evil, and we get more scared when we ourselves are caught in the grip of a deadly disease. 90% of the cancer diagnosed patients die just because they lost the battle in their mind. But the 10% survivors! , no they are actually fighters who know the power of their mind to recover and beat the disease to death.
Let’s come back to the current pandemic – COVID 19. How are you feeling now, at this moment? Scared? What are you afraid of? Just think for a second, take a pause, don’t just look at those WhatsApp videos and spread panic. It’s not about how much you know about the virus but also about what message are you spreading? Are you spreading fear, giving in to the messenger of Satan making its job easier or are you pushing it back, fighting it by not acknowledging it, by sending reverse messages on love, acceptance, gratitude and prayers for those who are in trouble. 80% of those who are reading this blog will probably ignore as they don’t match the frequency of the thought. 18% of those who will acknowledge will like, appreciate and forget after few days. Even if only 2% will understand the depth and meaning of the message, and change the way they think, this blog has done its job.
Fight the fear! How does one keep a different thought when the entire world is talking about the virus, about the precautions one should take, when people are not even attending gatherings as protective measure..tell me something , isn’t this virus bigger in size , 400-500 microns, so the science says that it can’t really be suspended in air but it falls down on surfaces. So how does a mask help? Are you worried about breathing the virus? Yes maintaining regular hygiene like washing hands definitely helps to curb the spread but where will you catch the virus? Are you thinking that virus could be on someone else’s hands or body or office furniture or malls and the items you may buy???? The list is endless because we are looking at predictions, yup that’s called predictive analytics, we are definitely trying to minimize the probability of catching the virus (or caught by the virus as it needs us more than we need it)… personally I think we are going very far with this thought. Just maintain regular hygiene, take shower daily, wash hands before every meal, avoid touching your face (especially if you have bad habits of nail biting or nose picking…)
The most important takeaway is to take a break from monotonous robotic routine, spend some quality time with your family and friends, sharing their fears and helping them get rid of them. Reflect on your own fears that are holding you back, it is the time of awakening, make plan to overpower your fears. This is purely a mental battle. No virus can touch you unless you charted out your life script for death by virus. Putting too much attention to the news and articles around the globe, you are probably going to attract it towards yourself. Remember ! that’s the power of the mind. Do take simple precautions and don’t think about it, simply ignore, don’t let the thought of fear register in your mind. Think healthy now and always!!
