In Beauty and Dignity

My dear Valley,

Greetings to your limitless beauty, which is whole, which is sacred!

Thirty years ago, Satish and I came to live with you, and were completely absorbed in your wilderness. The trees, the birds, the insects, the snakes, and the visiting panthers, became a part of our existence. It gave us a great opportunity to see, to observe, to listen to your different moods, and to learn from you—consciously and unconsciously.

In this pandemic, when human fears, anxieties, sufferings, and sorrows have come to the surface, you have become a healing force to us all.

I have seen you in all your seasons; you grow, flower, wither, and are born again.

In the freshness of the monsoon, you look like a green goddess, wearing millions of colorful and fragrant ornaments. You look happy, cheerful, and fulfilled.

In the winter you shed your leaves and you are ready for new foliage. It may be that when you drop everything, there is a chance for newness to blossom. Now you are grown, dignified, and ready to face all the challenges of life.

In the summer, everything becomes yellow. In the dry soil and scorching heat, it looks like you have lost all hope. You are waiting, praying, asking, looking at the sky for its blessings. I love that mood. You are waiting with dignity.

How do you live with such freshness, year after year? Maybe you don't decide anything. Every moment is new and every experience is fresh.

Maybe Krishnaji saw your religious quality and wanted the human mind, the child's mind, to learn from you. Learn what it means to care, what responsibility is, what harmony is, what it means to relate to others, and what it means to relate to oneself.

I pray that you remain as you are. Beautiful, dignified, and majestic. Always giving, always growing, always renewing.

Lots of love,

Sushama