Trees are a unique constituent of nature surrounding us; their beauty, coolness, and greenery give soothing comfort and peace to everyone. All the living beings are grateful to the trees, which provide fruits, flowers, leaves, bark, wood, shade, oxygen, and many other gifts. Without trees, we cannot imagine basic life, not to speak of life’s beauty, richness, variety, grandeur, and other possibilities.
Apart from these countless gifts, there is also a subtle aspect to their existence that endows them with a distinctly spiritual dimension. We always keep experiencing this dimension, but we usually do not go into its intricacy. However, if we explore deeper, we can realize that the whole philosophy of life is contained within a tree. For a seeker particularly, desirous of understanding the life’s meaning in totality and is proceeding on the path of spiritual progress, a tree is a living idol in whose proximity he can practice his dhyana-sadhana. A tree is born alone and grows alone. It does not have any expectations from anyone. It leads a truly detached life. It is like a spiritual seeker, whose only desire is the proximity of nature and God; he depends on them and receives nourishment. A tree knows only giving. Whatever food and water it receives from the earth, the heat it receives from the sun, the vital force it receives from the air and the subtle elements it gets from the sky—it absorbs all these, and grows and fructifies to fullness, and by its very existence keeps showering its boons on the world at large.
A tree does not live for itself. It lives only and only for others. Its flowers, fruits, leaves, branches, roots, shade, greenery, and beauty — all are for the benefit of others. Similarly, a
seeker, too, having oriented himself towards the eternal and detached himself from worldly emotions and progressing towards the ultimate truth of existence, grows to the realization of his innate nature. Like a tree, he too lives for the benefit of others. When he has developed fully, his inner self is full of kindness and empathy and is immersed in the sole desire for the welfare of living beings. No wonder then that seekers in history accomplished the highest state of their being in the vicinity of trees.
Lord Buddha attained enlightenment under the bodhi tree. And like that tree, he, too, as a living incarnation of compassion, showered his blessing not only upon his era but since then is continuing to do so upon countless people of the world even today. Ramakrishna Paramhansa sitting in dhyan-samadhi under the shadows of peepal and banyan trees of Dakshineshwar Kali mandir spread the fragrance of truth among both his initiated disciples as well as grihastha sadhakas. His ablest and most famous disciple Swami Vivekanand himself realized the cosmic reality contained within the soul under the shade of a peepal tree at the banks of Kakri in the Kumayun Hills and after that enlightened the world with this self- experienced practical Vedanta.
In Jain tradition, the Tirthankaras’ highest and most sublime state is associated with the Ashoka tree. The realization of truth by Guru Nanak Dev is associated with Ber (plum) tree where, after taking a bath in the Bei River, he meditated daily for 15 years. If we investigate, we will find numerous such examples of seekers attaining supreme realization in the vicinity of trees in the annals of every civilization and every spiritual tradition. No wonder then that in Indian tradition, trees like peepal, tulsi, ber, amla, bargad (banyan), etc., are looked upon as deities and are worshipped and revered as unique forms of the divine.
A reference to Europe’s ancient Celtic community would be appropriate here. They had developed their meditation methods around trees. The tree was the core element of their culture. They considered the tree as forming the essence of nature. Far from the hurly-burly of habitation, they used to meditate in the vicinity of trees. They linked the three sections of a tree with three aspects of life and built up their meditation practice around this principle. For them, the roots, stems, and bark of the trees were carriers of special messages. First, the stem was considered to represent the gross form of life that provides food and wood for daily subsistence. Second, roots were looked upon as a symbol of that invisible and mysterious existence of the subconscious, which remains responsible for a broad spectrum of activities and aspects ranging from the dreams to the inner being’s subtle existence. Finally, leaves and upwardly looking branches were thought of as representative of a life oriented towards God. Thus, the tree in its entirety was a divine entity in whose vicinity and under whose soothing shadow they deliberated and meditated upon God and the ultimate reality of life.
We, too, can understand the tree in its totality and not as an entity merely confined to its gross outer form. With this vision, we can make them an effective medium of dhyana- sadhana. By remaining receptive to their silent lessons, we can develop and enrich the spiritual aspect of our lives.
Source: Akhand Jyoti Magazine Sept-Oct 2021