What the Leaves Told Me
Toronto, Ontario
I was going on little sleep. The cause – worries, but never mind. Move on, little doggie, that’s me. Goura and I took to the Belt Line ravine and the Evergreen Brickworks. It felt good. I had fine thoughts about the previous day’s Kirtan Standard Workshop. We trudged through mud and chanted, softly. Then I noticed the leaves strewn along the ravine’s slopes. The snow, now melted, exposes these sleepy guys who are relieved of their wet and white blanket.
It seems leaves play a major role in avoiding erosion, as do the trees anchored in with their serious roots, as do fallen trees and branches. They hold it, the soil, all in place.
And I thought dharma is like that: the path of duty checks morality and all that’s stable from slipping away. Dharma is our foundation and it becomes the springboard for transcendence. You practically cannot be truly ‘spiritual’ or a transcendentalist until you establish duty and obligation first.
I have never viewed nature’s debris in this manner before. Roots I knew about. They are like security guards seeing the soil behave but the leaves fallen from six months before? I have never appreciated this aspect of their existence. They just form this spongy coat on the slopes of a beautiful setting and assist the guards.
In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that Krishna descends to the world with three intentions. 1) He protects the virtuous. 2) He establishes dharma. Since the community had celebrated Rama-nauvami today on a large scale, I had a chance to reflect on Krishna in the form of Rama as the upholder of dharma. He exemplified it well and I had the pleasure to speak to the crowd at our Sunday Open House about this great avatar.
At least for me, when Rama comes to mind it’s the scene of Rama and consort, Sita, brother Laksman in the Dandak forest with all the leaves at their feet. I worry less when I see that mental picture.
8 KM
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