THE BEAUTY IN OUR BACKYARDS






Some ten years ago, I had published for THE DAWN CLUB one of our popular books, ‘Vaachas Chame’ – Grant me the Power of Expression. I had started the book with this passage:

He had heard that from Kanyakumari,
one could catch the majestic sight of the rising sun.
So, this man travelled all the way
from Kashmir to Kanyakumari
to watch the surnrise.
The day came and he reached the Point quite in time.
However, as there were a few minutes still left
for the glorious sight,
he decided to catch a wink.

When he opened his eyes, it was all over!

And, I had ended the book with this passage

Then, one day, back home in Kashmir,
he arose early in the morning.
It was still dark and everyone was still asleep.
When he saw from the window,
he felt in his heart a newness he had never felt before…
And the stillness and the awe of outside darkness
filled him with a gratitude
he was never familiar with before.

And, behold! He could see the rising sun…
in all its glory!
All that I wanted to tell my readers was this: “Read with attention… Be awake… Be alert… else, you will miss the message… yes, ‘the glory of the rising sun’!”

How ironical! How funny! We are, often, blind to the beauty in our backyards and cross mountains, deserts and seas in search of it. The wild roadside-flowers are the most beautiful ones; but, we, often, fail to notice them, fail to appreciate their beauty. That’s the reason why I have summed up the essence of my daily blogs as: “THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS… There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers.”

We really do not have to travel all the way to Kanyakumari to ‘watch and appreciate’ the glory of the rising sun… All that we need to do is: remain awake and alert… standing right near our windows… yes, when sun comes up!

Just as we fail to notice and appreciate the beauty in our backyards, we also, often, fail to notice and appreciate the beauty of the ‘Prophets at home’. All great teachers, mentors, Masters, and Messiahs are so only outside their homes… At home, they are, generally, taken for granted… ignored, ridiculed and even banished! That’s why, when He was badly offended by people in his town, Jesus had famously said: "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family."

Sounds familiar?

This morning, I saw a random nature-picture shared on FB by my sister-in-law, who lives in Denver (US)…

“Lovely!” I commented.

“Our backyard,” my sister-in-law replied.

I said, “Wow!” And, I wrote this Post…

GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Amrita Jeurkar D'Souza

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