Tree And Its Virtues-Ah!

There was a television soap opera in Kannada called Mukta Mukta. The title song of this was melodious and very well written. You can watch/hear the song below.

Some part of the lyrics praise the tree for its virtue. The meaning of those few lines is, "The tree which eats mud/soil and gives fruits is liberated, free or has attained moksha".

I seek apologies if my translation do not do justice or match the meaning intended by the poet.

One day when this song was being telecasted, being a believer in selfish evolutionary biology i offered my views to my mother. 

" The tree does not nourish itself or grow big to help others. It does so because it is in its nature. Its roots penetrate deep into the heart of the earth, extract water and nutrients and with help of sunlight grows. It bears fruits because it wants to propagate itself. The seeds of the fruits are its way of ensuring its survival beyond what nature intends for that single tree. The trunk, the branches grow stronger to sustain the vagaries of nature and to bear more fruits in the years to come.

In this thought process I do not want to deny that humans and animals do benefit from tree in multiple ways. But they are purely incidental. We have evolved to take benefits of trees as much as possible. In forests where there may be no human beings, they still grow taller, wider and bear all kinds of fruits. They are not concerned or bothered about who eats them.

The other aspect is grass does not grow under large magnificent trees.This is because sunlight does not reach the earth where there is thick foliage preventing the grass to grow. It is a different matter that the grass is smarter and grows in areas where it can!

A tree which decides not to be selfish and allow grass and other plants to grow will not do justice to itself, its fruits or others. A selfish tree which grows and produces more fruits and wood, does maximum benefit, intended or unintended. The gardener, nature, knows how to prune it.

Different fruits, flowers are all beautiful, wonderful and enticing because they serve nature. They blossom to sustain nature and enhance the beauty of nature."

We need to be true to our nature. We need to be strong to be beautiful. We need to understand our passion and live true to it. We need to know the talent we have and nurture the same. We need an ecosystem which encourages us to give our best. We need an ecosystem which identifies and exploits the best within us. The fruits which are byproducts will automatically liberate!! 

And remember at times the gardener is pruning us for our own good.