Love lessons from nature

To feel love and compassion for all, observe nature with totality of mind without letting it get affected by any previously constructed image,opinion or past knowledge.

Look around to observe things as if you are seeing them for the very first time. Become one with the object of observation.

The sun provides light and warmth irrespective of who benefits from it. It shines on all. The clouds, rivers, mountains and jungles follow the same example of universal love. Trees provide shade, fruits and flowers for healthy environment and food for hungry with the same unattached benevolence for all. They do not demand any favour in return. The earth matures the seeds into healthy plants irrespective of who planted the seeds or who will benefit from them. This truly is like mother's love which is equal and forgiving for all children even when some are the cause of hurt to her.

If one learns from nature, the world will be a much better place as the destructive tendencies like jealousy, envy, hatred and selfishness will be eliminated. A new era of mutual love and trust will dawn on earth. All differences of caste, colour, race, gender and age will melt away. Most of the modern age problems have arisen because we have stopped learning from nature and caring for it.

Imagine the blissful feeling one gets when listening to the chirping of birds at dawn, observing the river flowing its course, looking at the snow-clad peaks of mountains, taking a stroll in a forest with majestically standing tall trees and looking at the moon on a full-moon night or a star-studded sky on amavasya night. The divine feelings generated by such experiences compel one to ponder over the meaning of life, our place in the universe, and create an urge to become one with the Divine to experience eternal bliss. Live with nature, love nature, protect nature, learn from nature and you will soon rise above all parochial tendencies and become a votary of universal love.

Since long, we have been drawing spiritual inspiration from nature. According to Buddhist guru Daisaku Ikeda, who is also a keen photographer, response to nature's beauty is not merely aesthetic but reflects an ability to discern a deeper meaning and interconnectedness in things. With its universal language, the photographer of nature's beauty serves as a bridge connecting the hearts of people everywhere.

Osho in his discourse on 'Intuition' quotes the haiku of Basho the Zen mystic and master:

"When I look carefully I see nazunia blooming by the hedge!"

Osho says that the deep meaning of it cannot be understood intellectually but only intuitively. The idea Osho wants to convey is that one can draw deep spiritual inspiration even from simple things like looking at an ordinary flower and pondering over its beauty, its divine message, the mystery of creation.

The main cause of discontent of mind, heart and spirit is to spend too much time indoors and being away from the nurturing restorative powers of nature. So, try to get back to nature in some way. Give yourself some time in the woods, mountains, open meadows or walking barefoot on the beach. Drink in the beauty of nature as much as you can. Even if you live in the city, go and walk on the grass in a park. You will feel more complete, rejuvenated and blissful.

What bliss it is to love and be loved

Love is the most natural emotion of life. Love is the most euphoric, ecstatic, overwhelming joy one can
ever experience.

God has just dipped us into the nectar of love, which is the spice of life. Why does a newborn baby start crying the moment she comes into this materialistic world? How does a baby recognise her mother? Why does she sleep peacefully in her mother's arms?

A mother's womb for a baby is nothing less than a temple, for there is only love. Enjoying life in such a sweet atmosphere, the baby feels safe in her mother's womb. God resides in a temple, so a foetus is regarded as an incarnation of God. And when a baby comes into the world, she is separated from the spiritual world of freedom.

Every breath of the mother is connected to the breath of the baby. Every beat of the mother's heart is connected to the heartbeat of the baby. Why then shouldn't she recognise her mother? This is true love. When the universe was created, God showered his pure love on everybody. His love for us is boundless. We pray to God because we are grateful to him.

We tend to forget God in times of happiness. Most of the times we do not show kindness to others once we get happiness. God wants us to put our feet on the ground and live a life of love. Serving the children of God is the best way to love God. No human being should be deprived of love and kindness.

Kindness and courage both are different dimensions of love. Kindness is the virtue of being compassionate and merciful towards others, be it to our own baby or someone else's, be it our friend or a stranger. Every living being in some way or the other is an image of God. By showing love towards all we can hope to achieve this quality. In the same way, courage in troubled times is not everybody's cup of tea. Just as we should love others, it's also important to love ourselves and the life given to us by God. The holy spirit of God within us is called the soul. Hence, it is God who is responsible for every good deed that we do.

Joys and sorrows are like day and night. Joys or sorrows... we must welcome every emotion that God wants us to experience, with courage. Nothing is permanent, neither joys nor sorrows. No matter how dark the night, it is followed by day. No matter how painful the sorrow is, joy is bound to follow. Overcome sorrows with courage.

Nowadays there is terrorism in the name of religion. Terrorism is a dimension of hatred. God is a symbol of love. Spreading hatred for the sake of God is not justified since God can never ever be happy to see bloodshed. Gandhi fought for love and unity through the peaceful way of satyagraha . Unity cannot exist without love. Anything that brings us closer to God is love. Classical dancers worship God through their dance. Through this they gain wisdom and attain the highest spiritual freedom.

All her life Meerabai loved Krishna, she worshipped Krishna. She did not bother what the world would say about her. She just wished to be close to God, she just wished to be close to love. She is remembered as a great devotee of God. One should always choose the right path and then have the conviction and belief to tread it. This is what Meera did. Think of Krishna, and Meera comes to mind. True love brings us closer to God. God is love. Man, too, can become love.

Universal religion is moral behaviour

The word 'religion' is ingrained in our psyche. It is because of over-familiarity that people feel less inclined towards religion.

Today religion is acceptable only on the basis of experimentation. At one end are people who want forever to keep to tradition. They do not want any change. At the opposite end are those who reject religion. Both these extreme viewpoints are incapable of creating a balance.
If acceptance of the hereditary character of religion is not desirable, its rejection is altogether undesirable. No one who thinks in the language of unity, harmony and love can ever reject religion. In the absence of understanding the distinction between institutionalised religion and religion as spirituality, people make the mistake of rejecting religion.

Both rationality and spirituality have given rise to society. The first signs of non-violence arose when human beings started living in communities. The first principle of living together is acceptance of the other person's existence and adherence to ethical self-restraint, of people not transgressing into others' houses or robbing others of their possessions.

Ethical self-restraint prevents people from becoming a hindrance to others. It has its origin in religion, non-violence and non-possession. Our sense of discrimination enables us to distinguish between obligation and non-obligation, edible and inedible, nectar and poison. It is made possible by religious awareness.

A religion divorced from spirituality is shackled by externally imposed rules and instead of developing religious awareness, frustrates it. Don't abandon rules, just don't be a captive of artificial rules uninformed by spirituality. Religion ought to be the culmination of independent awareness and not an imposition. When people regard themselves as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs, they do so because of genealogy, not religiousness. Genealogy can be a source of inspiration to religion; it cannot be its soul. The soul of religion is spirituality. Only that person is religious who experiences spiritual awakening, irrespective of genealogy.

No system of government can pose a challenge to a religion that is spiritual. The question of protecting religion arises only when religion is supposed to have an existence separate from that of the religious person. Bliss and spiritual alertness are the soul of religion. They constitute the most attractive face of religion. We are seldom aware of them because we use introversion very little. Religion should spring from within, even as a well is sustained by its internal springs. The well digger should only connect the external world with the inner springs. He who is not aware of his inner riches remains deprived of prosperity. Mental conflicts result from the acceptance of the external and the rejection of the internal.

Morality is a relative term. If socially approved mores are deemed morality, their form can never be unchanging. Morality as end-result of religion is assessed not by social beliefs but by personal purity. There is no place for exploitation, oppression, arrogance and frenzy in the behaviour of a religious person. Propriety, truthfulness and simplicity constitute morality.

Shall we call him religious who does not reflect the spirit of religion in his behaviour? Just as whenever there is smoke there must be fire, wherever there is morality there must be religion. Encountering moral behaviour we can infer the religious spirit inherent in a man. Religion is first reflected in morality and only later in worship. Will a mansion without a strong foundation endure? Can a structure build on worship without morality be able to afford proper protection? In the absence of morality, the place of worship will tumble and religion will not be safe on this Earth.