Some people wrongly advise to live in harmony with the Universe. It is not possible. It is not feasible. Harmony with the Universe is unimaginable. The Universe is infinite and heterogeneous. Moreover, at different levels in atmosphere and space it is impossible for life to sustain as the conditions are not congenial to life.
Nature is also diverse and harmony is not easy to achieve but it is possible and in the past and remote past and even in the recent past and the present numerous people have achieved the harmony and lived a healthy, wealthy, satisfactory and complete life. Some are still living like that. Most of the farmers and all the real spiritualists attain and enjoy harmony with Nature. They need no electricity and hence no fan or no AC or no TV or Cell set. Synchronization or harmony of physical organs and mental faculty with Nature and natural elements takes away anger and fear; diseases and agonies; defeat and depressions; obesity and infertility; and fills the gap with light, fragrance, sweetness and energy.
It will give satisfaction to all I we live in harmony with Nature and grow well and strong and energetic from inside then and only ten we can help others to grow well, healthy, strong, wise and energetic. We are not growing hence, we are not helping our children to grow, we dependent on others for the growth of our children and try to assure ourselves that they can help our children to grow. Unfortunately, those people are also not in harmony with Nature, lack character and power and hence are unable to help the children grow. Whatever growth is there that we find are tinted, imbalanced, one sided and inadequate. It is about the growth of our children and other members of the family. We have forgotten our duty to help others in their growth. We are not helping others. We are selling whatever we possess and also trying to sell false-possessions or the possessions that we falsely claim. It is because we are not enriching ourselves with plenty of Cosmic and natural energy that is immensely available.
The fact is that through harmony with Nature and through inner growth we discover the self, know the purpose, are filled up with energy and easily nurture a path for ourselves and make that path available for others to move on smoothly and grow wiser and stronger. The clarity of vision and purpose overcomes ‘Māyā’, illusion, confusion, attachments and affections; and gives peace and illumination.
Harmony with Nature begins with the ‘neutralization’ that helps in imbibing the natural elements in abundance. At first the position is balanced and then the tilt towards Nature and Cosmos begins. Neutralization is more difficult while the ‘tilt’ is easier. Neutralization is the most important and initial step towards ‘naturalization.’ Neutralization is taking roots and becoming ready to suck sap, tilt is like spreading branches and leaves in all directions, and the net result will be fragrant flowers and healthy fruits. It is all persistence and no resistance is needed for harmony with Nature. Then one is ‘absolutely relaxed’; one is opposing nothing and hence there is no opposition. One is unsettling nothing, and is not being unsettled. The wind and the tempest pass away without affecting the person standing in the main line of intensity. For it the persons in penance, Munies and Rishis used to sit on tall hills during the summer noon, and in the open field during winter’s midnight. They were not afraid of the heat or the cold and hence they were not affected. They neither attacked nor were attacked.
Modern man is attacking Nature and is being constantly being attacked by Nature. As a result, we have neither pure water, nor oxygen rich air, neither fertile land nor enough space. Only heat is growing. Every one is hot. Even the news and incidents are claimed to be hot. Even sponsored discussions on channels turn into hot debates. The heat is so intense that a child, a young man, a highly placed person, an old man, a girl or even a mother kills or commits suicide. The heat inside the criminals and terrorists has not been mentioned here.
It will be, then, easier to look after own children and family and also others’ children and family. It is quite akin to what the Rishis claimed to be ‘Oneness’.
True harmony involves being in the moment and in the period simultaneously, i.e. at a point and on the periphery. When one is in the moment he/ she is in the greatest awareness, and when one is in the period one is with the time: both in and out; present and absent; at a point and all around; one is one and many: one is all.
The present becomes the focal point and the time at both the ends, time past and time future is in vision, not out of contention. That person is able to ‘be’ and to ‘merge’. His response is sonorous and balanced. His feet are never uprooted, he is never displaced and he is never under duress or pressure. He can never become impulsive or he won’t face depression.
There is no resistance hence there is nothing to create imbalance. He is attached and detached at a time; there is no disharmony and he shows no harmony. Harmony becomes a part of his being; integrated to his personality, thinking and doing. All disharmonious elements are dissolved.
The feelings of insecurity, inadequacy and isolation are replaced by fulfillment and tranquility. This adds to one’s own growth and that of the others.
Acceptance and encouragement become the key words and a part of thinking. Patience and forgiveness are easily developed. The emphasis shifts to cooperation; and a greater sense of well-being reassures him. Such a person is in harmony with Nature or it also can be said that he has achieved ‘spiritual harmony’.
Such harmony can be achieved easily if one possesses some qualities in the self:
According to Maharishi Gautam the following eight are the best qualities that make and keep one pure and refined, and endow with peace and prosperity; harmony and spirituality, health and happiness, riches and bliss; fulfillment in the world and salvation after it.
‘Dayā sarvabhuteshukshāntiransuyā shauchamanāyāso mangalam kārpanyam aspriheti.’
Dayā sarvabhuteshu; Kindness, compassion, pity and sympathy towards every living being
Kshamā, forgiveness
Anusuyā, anirmatsaratā; no jealousy
Shauch, antar-bāhya-shuchirbhutatā; purity; the state of being pure from outside and inside
Anāyāsa; not to indulge in petty and meaningless
Mangala; to think, wish and work for bliss, well being and prosperity of all
Akārpanya; neither to be nor to show weakness and miserliness
Asprihā; neither lust nor wish to possess whatever belonged to others
Only these qualities can make a person cultured and refined, and human and sublime. It is easier to fall down from a height it is difficult to achieve a height. Human beings are the best creation only because they always strive hard to be better. The men that fail to grow better remain animals and demons.
Harmony with Nature is the most important aspect of our living as harmony with others is possible only when one shows, feels and achieves harmony with Nature. After achieving that one should turn towards getting harmony with others, which would be easier then.
One must realize that there is virtually no scope for extreme ideas or extreme action. Extremism is not needed. Life is all about balance and harmony. Only then the music flows.
The extremists teach: Dream as if you’ll live forever; live as if you’ll die today.” Never think like that and never entertain such a philosophy. None can live forever and the day and time of death is not known.
Always work in a normal fashion. Energy would be wasted on extreme ideas. Never be haunted by the fear of death. Death is truth, it’s sure to come. Let it come when it comes. None can avoid it. But don’t lose self-composure, health and sleep over remote and uncertain death. You won’t feel enough energy to work if death is hovering in, over or around your mind.
Moreover, when one dreams of living forever, a mania enters the mind to win over death. Don’t waste energy on knowing and following ways and means to live a very long life. Live a balanced life in harmony with others, be and remain healthy and increase longevity in a natural way.
Unhealthy or a very long life is not a boon but a curse. Remember the boon of immortality to Lady of Sybil to be immortal, who started crying “O God, I wish to die,” only after the life of a few hundred years. Also remember the statements of the wise Rishis that said that we have only forty years of human life; from 40 to 60 it’s the burdensome life of an ass; from 60 to 80 it’s the indecent life of a dog and from 80 to 100, it’s the almost lifeless life of a vulture. It’s no life when we are living like a vulture, sitting or sleeping at a place waiting for someone to give water or food or medicine or whatever we may need. We have no physical power to perform our personal day-to-day works. The last thing to remember in this context is the fact that premature death is always a tragedy and the death of a person in Deerghāyu, over 64 years is always peaceful and blessing in disguise.
The mahāmantra for longevity is very simple: Purge the self, do only good deeds, eat the least that is needed, work hard, think a lot but never allow worries to enter the mind: healthy life will be extended automatically. It’s Nature’s way: healthy trees, flowers and living beings last longer. These are common things. Nature is common. Then, why should anyone try to be uncommon, simply in the name of doing something ‘new’. What can a man do, which has not been done earlier? So, be common. Be one with all. Don’t ever raise obstacles’ in Nature’s process. Be balanced live in harmony longer and healthier.
Harmony with Nature and natural elements and setting is not possible with artificial living. We won’t get pure air rich with oxygen; fresh eatables rich with vitamins and minerals and much needed openness that helps in conditioning the body and organs.
Living a simple life full of outdoor activities is the only way to achieve harmony with Nature. In the wake of growing cities, multiplexes, tall housing colonies and towers (with 35 to 60 floors), it is a challenge to lead a simple life though it is healthier and desirable, and it’s definitely the best way of living. Even the towers and housing colonies attract the prospective buyers with the advertisements of natural setting and promises of trees and gardens. A tiny spot with a few non-flowering plants and grass are all that they provide with brick-laid or tiled pavements to fulfill their promise of a garden and natural setting.
To lead a simple life is now a greater challenge as people are blindly vying and competing for artificial, abnormal and closed living. They hurriedly reach the tall colonies, board the lift, reach their ninth or eighteenth floor, enter inside their designated flat and close the double door that promises security and remain inside till late in the next morning. They come out when they are a few minutes late for their offices, board the lift again, come down and hurriedly and faster move towards the office to be there in time but are invariably a few minutes late.
They don’t come out of their den earlier as they are afraid of meeting people and talking to them. It is life devoid of life. It is only passing the days, earning money, acquiring facilities for luxurious living, changing offices and houses with a hope to get something better but they face almost the same scenario everywhere, and eventually, they retire.
The retired life is more painful. It is so because they are not prepared for it and know nothing else, have acquired no other skill, are not acquainted with other people and other ways and means to better utilize the time. They pass the days thinking and waiting for death; and imagining of diseases. Throughout their working and retired life they find none to share the emotions. They are alien not only to others but to themselves also. They are easy victims of physical and mental diseases. Sometimes, the stress is so high that some of them commit suicide.
They have cared only for their body and physical needs. They have not fostered their spirit, which grows mostly in natural setting and in the company of different living beings. The heterogeneity of life remains unknown to them and they usually declare that they are not comfortable among different companions. It is the curse of closed-door activities and closed door living, centralized to family. Either the growth is retarded, tinted or jeopardized or the mind is affected.
When there are pleasant ceremonies other persons and families are not invited to share the pleasure; when they die the residents of the same building don’t come to share the grief, mourn the death and console the members. It is selfish and unknown living and unknown death. Life is wasted in working, earning, spending and passing the days: work, food, sex and sleep.
A simple man is possessed by all and possesses all. He feels the pangs and pains of others; and all else share his pangs and pain. In the wake of flowing pain all around one hardly feels one’s pain and grief. The ample natural wealth outside enters inside and fills the person up to the brim. The pleasures grow happiness resides inside forever. It is fuller living, taking greater expanse, growing bigger and larger, becoming wider shade and getting the shade at each step. Simple living makes the harmony possible. The spirit is taken care of, the soul feels satisfied and life becomes meaningful.
So, lead a simple life: general and normal; obstacles and hurdles won’t come in the way and won’t stop the flow, Nature and natural wealth will be a part and parcel of life and living; inner growth will be easier and ample. Accomplishments will be piled up. Life will be felt, recognized and lived.
