Yagna over Vax? Should we relax?

Whenever we hear the word ‘culture’, we take out our masks. But when we hear the words ‘Usha Thakur’, we take out our masks and wear them — even when sitting alone indoors. On April 11, the Madhya Pradesh tourism, culture and spirituality minister performed a puja — without a mask, along with airport authority officials, at Indore airport — to ward off Covid. We understand the comfort of a prayer in these dire times. The lack of mask and social distancing in a public place we don’t. But with her attempt to pray Covid away not seeming to work, she is now asking everyone to perform yagnas for three days. We don’t need to know about any reaction to this exhortation from either the Union health ministry or WHO. Instead, let’s pray for Usha Devi.

A yagna — a ritual with a specific objective before a sacred fire — is also a prayer. So, even if pouring ghee into the fire and uttering mantras isn’t delivering a vaccination or a wunderdrug, it can act to calm nerves. Unfortunately, Thakur has specified that performing a yagna is not ritualism (karmkand), but chikitsa (treatment). The non-doctor/epidemiologist MLA from Mhow believes a marathon yagna will ‘cleanse the environment’ and stop a Covid third wave. We bow to your belief system, Ushaji. Meanwhile, we’ll keep searching for a schedule to get vaccinated.