 Benediction - I keep coming back to this word in the last few years. Perhaps it is a fitting word to use after a visit to the Banyans by the Valley school. I remember reading Krishnamurti as a teenager and often being moved by his use of the word. Sitting by this banyan and spotting a golden oriole in the tree across; being drenched in the warm glowing light of the sun resting itself on the ground through the canopy of leaves; immersed in bird calls and the strange silence that beckons one among trees, what could be a better word than benediction. I have grown fond of these dry deciduous landscapes in the last three years. From Bandipur to Lepakshi, the land calls to me in its reddish golden hues. Full of surprises as the seasons change, the banyans are sanctuaries across this landscape, sanctuaries of form and space, of life and energy, of hope and conversations.  What are these roots if not our ancestors standing and watching us pass by! One is embraced in a million different parts and pieces by graceful rivers, lakes, mountains, trees, birds, animals... and all those parts and pieces, in all those fragments of human living, become a healed whole in this benediction of life. At this point, you know it is fine to let go and flow into that greater being and the multiple human selves within selves with their incessant noise cease to exist. Quietude unfolds and the mind stills. 
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 Much can flow between a tree root, branch, earth and self. Standing there and touching a hanging vine in the sacred forest, I was linked to all life that lived there. Pulsing, rhythmic, gentle, vibrant life force. It doesn't seem strange to read any of the ancient texts and tales where beasts and birds, mountains and rivers were brothers and sisters and extended family. All forests are indeed sacred and I won't be surprised if a goddess or a fairy, a salabhanjika or a pixie walked upto me in one of them. For hidden among rich moss and lichen is the vibrant story of secrets of the forest. A sudden flight of bird, spider webs dazzling in dappled light, frogs at the edge of the stream, unexpected calls of moon touched stones and warblers. Rhodendrons blooming in all their splendor and lazy butterflies and bees finding their way to them. Life, abundant life, magical, mysterious, sacred, and absolutely normal and real. Alas! What we have lost in perception, in our ability to sense, in our abilities to belong, to be, to cherish, to share!
The forests ask for a contiguous line, will our cities give way? Mawphlang - 22-26th Feb 2017 |
Srivi KalyanSrivi Kalyan works at the fluid and exciting intersection of arts, media and education. She is the Founder-Director of Fooniferse, a company that enables a 360 degree approach to working in the arts through a confluence of arts, education, media, design and self-reflection. Archives
March 2017
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