NOURISHING NATURE

  On Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday, an ardent nature lover, sharing my thoughts on nature……      

           

            NOURISHING NATURE

I was always enchanted with nature as a kid thanks to growing up in a house with a garden full of flowers and fruits and of course the annual summer trip to the hills. My love for nature was nurtured, seeing my dad grow mangoes, grapes, guavas, figs,  rows of fragrant roses, geraniums, plumerias and my favorite night blooming jasmine, so much that I preferred tending to my garden in the evenings than going out with my friends. My friends had to visit me in my nature’s haven to have any conversations with me. Tending to the garden relaxed and energized me and I went back to my studies refreshed. During exams I used to wake up early to water my garden to rejuvenate myself. Seeing the garden bloom especially with the winter annuals was an exhilarating experience. The result was that there was no sign of teenaged tantrums. “Working in the garden gives me something beyond the enjoyment of the senses. It gives me a profound feeling of inner peace.” rightly says Ruth Stout, an American author known for her books on gardening.

When I am amongst nature, I feel in a different world which is beautifully expressed by Rabindranath Tagore and it seems as if he is expressing my own feelings. He says, “The sort of feelings that arise in my mind when I am in the midst of nature seemed to be beyond my own powers, my own character. All my feelings have that ingredient of something that is more than me.”

Being in the nature especially in the time of lockdown and social distancing has a therapeutic effect. We are enjoying our share of nature and nourishing it with love and care. It is the perfect time to be in the nature and enjoy its abundance and bountiful joy. This atmosphere drowns away all the worries and renews the spirit. Close your eyes and hear the sweet song of the red whiskered bulbul interspersed with the constant tittering of dove and long calls of the cuckoo and see your problems wither away and frayed nerves are soothed. 

In Amritsar, the mornings are refreshed from the cool air from the north. New leaves are dancing to the chorus of the wind and the bird songs. The breathtaking sweet fragrance of malti, manokamini, champa and chameli along with the fragrance of mango flowers is cooling, to say the least. Stillness in the morning with only the bird songs for company is meditative. The first rays of the sun wake up the Portulica flowers with a sweet lullaby and it wakes up like a smiling child.

Ruskin Bond rightly says in The Book of Nature, ‘I wouldn’t go so far to say that a garden is the answer to all problems, but it’s amazing how a little digging and friendly dialogue with the good earth can help reactivate us when we grow sluggish.’ He got lot of inspiration from nature and further says that, ‘Not all gardeners are writers, but you don’t have to be a writer to benefit from the goodness of your garden.’ Anyone can enjoy and benefit from nature. Being in nature is not exhausting but is gratifying. It fills our hearts with love so fulfilling. Nature has voluminous archive that reveals itself to only those who preserve. Nature does not promise anything or gives rewards as nature is reward itself. It is there to be appreciated, lived and loved. In a way it gives us everything from air, water and food………..things we take for granted.

“There is always music amongst the trees in the garden but our heart must be very quiet to hear it.” wrote Minnie Aumbnier, 19 century poet.

Being in the nature and tending to it is both my meditation and medicine.