IN THE LAP OF NATURE

One reason why, today, many young boys and girls are unable to decide what they want to do in life is, that they do not spend enough time in quiet places… and seek an answer to that question.  And, there cannot be a quieter place than the lap of Nature!

I was lucky to find this place quite early in my life. When I landed in Mumbai, four decades ago, I was living in my uncle’s place. Theirs was a simple household, just hand-to-mouth. I had no job and I needed money to survive… That was the reality. The thought, that I should not become a burden on them, always kept me on my feet.  Still, I did not want to do ‘any job’ that came my way just to survive. I had this dream constantly calling me - to be a teacher, which, at that time, seemed like a ‘fantasy’, an unrealistic and impractical ideal. I was a newcomer in this big city and I did not know anyone except for a few relatives of mine.  I had found, on the streets of Mumbai, an old copy of Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’, which I read over and over and over again. I had lied at my uncle’s place about my joblessness. So, I would leave home every morning and return at night…  I did that for four months… Yes, staying ‘hungry and foolish’!

During this time, I would sit in quiet places of Mumbai, wherever there was shade and silence - public parks, seashores, libraries… I would sit there for hours, all alone, and read a few pages of ‘Think and Grow Rich’, then close the book and look towards the faraway horizons… into the lush green expanse, the beautiful sky and the majestic  sea… I would hear the quiet language the Nature spoke… I would listen to this counsel…  I would open the book to read a few pages again… close the book…  open it again to read a page or two more… Again close… get in touch with my deepest dreams, observe my fears… the self-doubts that held me back…

And, suddenly something would happen in my soul… The fears and self-doubts seemed to dissolve and I would find myself soaring high!

One day, I got up and said, “Hey, Life, here I come!”

I have never returned from there!

I think, the young boys and girls need to be told about the power of being alone, in the lap of Nature…

There we find the answers to every puzzle in life…

There, all our fears and self-doubts dissolve…

There, all our self-pity and blame end…

There, our insecurities and lack dissolve…

There, our anger, hatred and poison turn into compassion…

And, there, we get healed and empowered!

To me, what the Sages call ‘enlightenment’ is this sudden awakening within… It, always, had happened to noble souls only at the quiet moments in Nature’s lap…

Just before He was nabbed by His detractors, Jesus knew what was coming upon Him. He had lost His courage and was torn with inner conflict… to run away from humiliation, torture and death or to face all of them head-on. So, He went away to an isolated place called ‘Gethsemane Garden’… There, He fell on His knees and prayed one of the most intense prayers of His life, ““My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  It was such an intense prayer, that the Holy Book says, that Jesus sweat blood!

But, after this prayer – of surrender to God’s will – Jesus rose like a fearless General… and faced His opponents who had come there with torches, swords and daggers… 

“Who are you looking for?” Jesus asked them…

“Jesus the Nazarene,” they said.

“Here He is!”

There is no quieter place on this planet than the lap of Nature! We find not only ‘directions’ out here, we find a ‘beautiful home’ as well.

Are you listening young boys and girls?

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Kamal Kishore Rikhari