THE TREE OF LIFE

By Guru Rajeshji

In a small village there lived an elderly women with her son in a nice farmhouse with beautiful trees and gardens. The plants were her pride and joy in life . One day she received a phone call from her sister who was living in another town. The sister was sick and request her to come for a few days to look after her. So she called her son and gave him the necessary instruction to look after the plants and trees . The son said "mother you can trust me I will definitely follow your instructions" the mother blessing and trusting the child , left the house.

When she returned 10 days later , all her plants and trees were wilting, sick and without vitality . So she asked her son "did you look after the plants?" He said "yes mother! Everyday I took good care of them." The mother then asked "why are they looking sick without vitality, without strength?" The child said "I have no idea because every morning I would go around with a cloth in my hand wipe the dust off every leaf, flower and fruit. I checked the trunks every carefully and if I found some insects on them, I removed them . I have taken good care of them . So I don't know why they are so down."

Then the mother inquired "did you give any water to the plants?" The child said "Oh! I forgot."

This story can relate to our life . Our life is like these trees and we look after always external plant. We take good care of what is above the ground, we take good care of body . We dust our body with a dusting cloth, we beautify our body everyday and we try to remove all the bacteria and viruses that affects our body through different medication. Still, we find that we are sick physically and mentally because we never actually get to the roots of the trees. We do not even know where the roots lie.

Yoga says that the roots have to be watered with the water of spirituality . We have never tried to water the roots and therefore the basic foundation of our life is quite weak. We have become weak. Whether it is organic or chemical , has to be spread on the trunk of the mind by managing it (the mind). The leaves , fruits and flower which represent the body and senses also brought under proper care and control. In this way one should know the entire manifested and unmanifested aspect of life .

One should able to harmonize the external manifestation of life above the ground and one should also be in tune with the needs of the roots of which are underground. In many situation , in times of suffering and pain we break down. We are not able to manage what goes in our minds. We are not able to handle what happen to us and there are very strong reactions .This shows weakness of our tree of life . Being able to manage these two aspects of life , the mind and the body, is the purpose of yoga .

Managing what is above the ground and what is underground. Yoga also teaches us how to take care of the roots. It is a method by which we can water the roots , supply them with proper nutrients and that way lead a happy, healthy, strong and solid life.