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Good morning. On Tuesday, the cross-party Commons health & sciences committees released their report entitled: “Coronavirus: lessons learned to date”. The analysis highlights deficiencies in the government’s preparedness and actions taken particularly in the early stages of the pandemic – failings, it says, that resulted in a higher proportion of deaths than in other nations. One word that stands out from the report is ‘fatalism’ – that there seems to have been an initial ‘fatalistic’ approach to manage the spread of the disease, rather than to suppress it. Fatalism can be positive - if we need to accept things that we really cannot change. However, the negative aspect arises when we mistakenly believe we are powerless to handle or improve the circumstances in which we find ourselves. I’ve often heard Hinduism described as fatalistic. Perhaps, this comes from a misunderstanding of the concept of karma – the idea that our present situation has been produced because of previous actions – and is therefore, somehow fixed. However, karma is not about resignation or inertia. Rather, karma recognises that actions generate consequences; thus, it stresses that we each have a personal responsibility in working for the future good of all. Bhaktivinode Thakur – a 19th century theologian composed a poem to explore these responsibilities. “Forget the past that sleeps”, he says. Whatever causes shaped the present circumstances, today’s question is always:- How are we to respond to the challenge? Doing nothing is rarely the best option. One enigmatic verse from the Bhagavad-gita says: “One who sees that inaction is actually action is wise.” Indecision and a lack of action, it explains, produce their own karmic consequences. The poem continues: “and ne’er the future dream at all.” Don’t daydream of brighter days - imagining that it’ll all be fine. Rather, “act in times that are with you and progress you will call.” As the Mahabharat text advises: “Deal with debt & disease as you do with fire – act immediately and firmly.” And, in this regard, Tuesday’s Commons report highly praised the vaccine rollout as “one of the most successful and effective initiatives in the history of UK science and public administration”. Bhaktivinode’s poem is derived from an earlier Sanskrit version by Kalidasa. There, the poet reminds us to: “Look to this day..... for it is your only chance to live and act well.” If you do, the poet promises, “when today becomes yesterday, it’ll be a memory of happiness; and when you look to tomorrow, it will be as a vision of hope.” There is nothing fatalistic about that.