Nature's Splendour

When sometimes you have leisure time and all the thoughts occurring in your mind seem to be a repeat of things having once visited you, your mind becomes sick and bored, but then what else can it do? This is what becomes of creatures like me who haven’t yet found their purpose in life. It’s okay, I say, albeit, with a few pangs of guilt. Life is, but a journey ! (Is it? But then, you have to sound philosophical to reduce the pain of non-action.)
Okay, so what if I sound philosophical? It’s better than sounding boring, not to anyone else, but to myself. You see, I am the only one who’s going to read this crap.
Hmmm….. come on, let me share a thought with you. Life is so beautiful, with all its happiness and sorrow. Every person has encountered it !! When I have witnessed grief or a moment of joy I was always overwhelmed by the intensity of the feeling.
One day as I sat by the window , I happened to notice the flowers of the madhumalti creeper happily waving in the wind as it supported itself on the jackfruit branches. They seemed so lovely, as they shone there brightly, soaking in the sunshine. They touched my heart and made me feel lighter and happier. From then on whenever I had troubled moments or whenever I was overjoyed or whenever I was simply me, and wanted a moment to myself, the flowers of madhumalti became witness to my emotional drama. I wondered what the world would be like sans flowers. Ughh… the thought was unbearable. How must have god created this wonderful gift of nature? This perfectly marvelous flower like a pink star with a white under belly, a bunch of them bursting at each node.
Then one day I had a dream. I found myself among the clouds, and it seemed as if I had gone way back in the past. I could see the earth from above. I checked out for a trace of life below on the earth but there seemed to be only sand and rock everywhere. It seemed so bare and nasty. I looked around me hoping to find something interesting in the clouds. But alas! There was only nothingness around me. As I walked about in the clouds feeling their soft touch on my cheeks a figure appeared out of nowhere. It was an old man with a white beard and long flowing hair. He had kind eyes and he spoke to me in a tingling voice. He said, “How do you do, lady? So… you want to know how flowers appeared on the earth.?” I was speechless with awe. I kept looking at his kind eyes. He held my hand and led me ahead and soon we sat down on a rainbow.
Without much delay he started narrating me his story. He said that long ago when the beautiful planet earth wandered about on its path around the sun, alone, with just the rocks and sand and water as its companions, god heard its cry of loneliness. Touched by its plea, he decided to create for it a new friend, who would serve as its buddy and make life interesting for the earth. God started making a form. He had already made a lot of life on the earth as in animals and marine life. But he always thought that every creation he made, though, was beautiful, left him unsatisfied. So he decided to take his own time this time round. He got completely engrossed in his task and left no stone unturned to make it his finest work. And not long after when he thought he could do no further to enhance his creation he stopped and went back a few steps in order to get a better look at his effort. He was spellbound ……!!
I looked up sharply at the dear old man, hoping to catch a glimpse of the happiness felt by god, on his face. He understood and asked me , “ My dear lady, you must be wanting to know how happy god was when he saw his masterpiece. Well! He was very happy indeed. His happiness knew no boundaries. The joy he felt filled his heart and his whole being so much so that it could not be contained within him. It was a feeling of ecstasy and the purity of it was like bliss. God was at a loss of expressing his elation and was moved to tears.”
“ But do you know what happened when god cried with joy? ” Asked the dear old man. I shook my head.
He said, “Well you will be surprised if I tell you. As god shed his first tear, it touched the cloud by his feet and lo behold! It turned into a flower, a pure white and fresh daisy sparkling and shimmering in the divine light. The next tear fell and it turned into a blue bell and the next one into a rose and the next one into a sunflower and a tulip and a lily and a buttercup and it went on till god realized the complete extent of his happiness. God’s joy was so boundless that it overflowed and fell to the earth in the form of these enchanting and wonderful flowers of all colours and sizes. These flowers then grew into trees and thus the earth became green and colourful.! ’’
The old man stopped and looked at me inquiringly. I had of course got my answer and it felt great. I stood up and gave him a hug. He touched his hand to my forehead and said, “I bless you! ’’ and poof!! He disappeared into nothingness. I was left wondering because he hadn’t said god bless you. The traditional place of god in the blessing had been replaced by ‘I’ . It jolted me back to reality. I woke up from the dream with the sweet realization that I had met god in my dreams. I opened my eyes only to find a bunch of beautiful flowers welcoming me into a bright new day… my birthday. How lovely to start my special day with gods happiness showering over me.