BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Monday took to Twitter to urge people to not wait for the novel coronavirus enforced lockdown to end before honing their skills.
Swamy narrated a story involving Lord Shiva as he emphasised on the need to "keep sharpening our skills, practice with what we have, upgrade our knowledge".
"Once, Lord Indra got upset with Farmers, he announced there will be no rain for 12 years & you won’t be able to produce crops. Farmers begged for clemency from Lord Indra , who then said , Rain will be possible only if Lord Shiva plays his Damru..." began Swamy.
In a series of tweets, the Rajya Sabha MP narrated what happened next. Lord Indra secretly requested Lord Shiva to not agree with the farmers' plea. When they arrived to plead their case, Shiva said that he would play the damru after 12 years. The disappointed farmers decided to wait for 12 years.
"But one Farmer regularly was digging, treating and putting manure in the soil & sowing the seeds even with no crop emerging. Other Farmers were making fun of that Farmer," writes Swamy.
After three years of the same, the other farmers asked him why he was wasting so much time and energy despite knowing that there would be no rain for quite some time.
As Swamy narrates, the farmer said that while he was aware of this, he was "practicing" to ensure that he didn't "forget the process of growing crops and working in the field". He adds that this farmer intended to "produce the crop the moment there is rain".
His comments piqued the interest of Goddess Parvati who told Shiva that there was a possibility that even he could forget how to play the damru.
"The innocent Lord Shiva in his anxiety just tried to play the Damru, to check if he could….and hearing the sound of Damru immediately there was rain and the farmer who was regularly working in the field got his crop emerged immediately while others were disappointed," Swamy narrated.
The BJP leader reminded people that the old adage about practice making things perfect was indeed true."We become even diseased or old just because we don’t practice. Practice is the essence of quality survival," he said.
Swamy contended that it did not matter whether the lockdown was lifted after two weeks, two months or even two years.
"Don’t wait for rain , that is the lock down to be lifted and then start something… focus on our skills today, upskill your self so that you are ready to meet the challanges," he urged.
Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, India has been under lockdown for over a month in a bid to flatten the curve and reduce the spread of the virus.
As of Monday afternoon, the country has recorded 27892 positive cases and 872 people have died.
