Love of Nature
“Man has lost touch with Nature,” lament wise people about our today’s industrialized society. We have moved even physical exercise indoors with varieties of sophisticated health maintenance equipment. Is it not pathetic in a sense to see somebody run on the treadmill (reading sometimes a newspaper also at the same time) when there is wonderful sunshine outside?
To say, “I must allot time to be with Nature” or “I should become a nature lover” is not quite the proper approach. Our relation with Nature should not become one more compartmentalized activity of life. We must eliminate the root cause of our unbalanced lifestyle. Can we not take note of the general evil that has besieged us? We live in a number of self-created artificialities and there is constantly pressure upon us to protect our positions (to which we are attached). Psychological prisons prevent us from walking to the lap of Nature. Our thinking patterns have made us bookish; some of us may see mountains and streams on the computer’s monitor (or TV) more often than actually in the real world.
We need to examine, “Are we attached to the fanciful machines? Are we afraid of lagging behind in some sphere of work, knowledge or talent? Are our habits holding us captive? Why has our living become unnatural?”
Negating the falsehood at the center of our living can facilitate outer change in many ways. Awareness of the vulgarity of our fears and attachments can bring in us a basic change, releasing fresh energy to live rightly. Pursuing fundamental questions like, “Who am I?” and “What am I here for?” paves the way to a certain radical change in us. Outer transformation then follows naturally.
Vast space, a gentle breeze of fresh air, the warmth of the bright sun, the placid waters of the lakes, and the enchanting green meadows beckon us to our source – mother earth. Grand expressions of the five elements (space, air, fire, water and earth) are eager to heal our physical and psychological wounds and give us new life everyday. What is that insensitivity in us that keeps us trapped between the four walls all the time?
Act now and get out of the mechanical way of living. Move freely in this grand Creation. All outer cages are the result of inner entrapments. Break free of those limiting and weakening thoughts and you will see that order returns to your life just like that.
Just as the snake sheds its skin, we should shed our past – over and over again.-The Buddha
Swami Chidananda
Monday, June 21, 2004