Acharya Prashant explains that a major change will only come when we understand that this calamity was not at all sudden. However, he does not see much hope that we are becoming more conscious, given the nature of the current discourse around Corona. The discussions are focused on who is politically responsible, which country did what, whether it was a conspiracy, the pace of vaccination, and the accuracy of death tolls. Our interest is in these subjects, but he sees no one talking about the fundamental cause of this tragedy. The speaker warns that the fundamental cause of this tragedy will create many other such tragedies in the near future. It seems we are not willing to learn anything from our suffering. While there is collective pain, he questions if we are getting to the core of that pain to understand why it came in the first place. He gives an example of someone blaming a death on the lack of an oxygen cylinder, which is a very small, narrow cause. He urges people to understand the whole story, which is that the way we are living and our entire personal and global ideology are the cause of this pandemic. This pandemic is a result of our way of life, and we do not know how many more waves or variants are to come. This did not happen by chance. Our necessity to earn money leads to the exploitation of nature. The modern concept of a 'good life' involves emitting more carbon, increasing the population, having big houses and cars, and consuming exotic foods. As long as our idea of development is based on how much one can consume, such pandemics will continue to occur. Nature is no longer just giving warnings; it is punishing. We are not bigger than nature. For nature, we are not special; we are a new, small species, and if we disappear, nature will continue its game. Until we have the honesty and clarity of vision to see what we have done, the pain we have suffered has been in vain. It is as if we do not understand why we were punished. Like a defiant schoolchild who is punished but then creates more mischief, we become more stubborn with every punishment we receive. There is no forgiveness for anyone; as you sow, so shall you reap. The speaker states he would be happy if we could learn from this immense suffering and improve, but currently, he does not see any discussion of the root causes, which is essential for any real change.
