The nature walk along Bedok
Reservoir park on 7th December 2014
The Word's senseless beauty mirrors God's Delight
That rapture's smile is secret everywhere:
It flows in the wind's breath, in the tree's sap,
Its hued magnificence blooms in leaves and flowers.
-
Savitri Book II Canto 4
The Singapore
Sri Aurobindo Society has been organizing, on the first Sunday of the month, Nature
walks since 40 years uninterruptedly in the various beautiful Nature parks and
reserves perfectly maintained by the pro environment and Nature lovers here, in
Singapore. Physical fitness is given high importance for Sadhana in Sri Aurobindo's
integral Yoga. Mother says:
"Physical culture is the process of infusing
consciousness into the cells of the body. One may or may not know it, but
it is a fact. When we concentrate to make our muscles move according to our
will, when we endeavour to make our limbs more supple, to give them an agility,
or a force, or a resistance, or a plasticity which they do not naturally
possess, we infuse into the cells of the body a consciousness which was not
there before, thus turning it into an increasingly homogeneous and receptive
instrument, which progresses in and by its activities. This is the primary
importance of physical culture."
The nature walk
prepares the body and by observing Nature's beauty our emotional vital being
too gets tuned for silent meditation and the psychic opening. After the brunch
we proceed to the host's place where a beautiful alter is arranged and
sumptuous brunch awaits. This helps in collective interaction and bonding between
the members of the society and the exchange of thoughts.
This month there
were around twenty persons participating in the beautiful Bedok reservoir walk
and more than thirty joined us at the brunch and meditation. We all assembled
at the Car park adjacent to the Aquarius condominium and took the circular
itinerary of approximately four to five kilometres along the reservoir filled
to the brim with water. The park, with
its foliage of beautiful trees and carpet of verdure during this monsoon season
along the water reservoir with ripples dancing in the wind reminds us of the
narratives from Divine Mother when she used to go for similar walks with
Pavitrada and Udarda along the Ashram Lake estate and plantation. During one of
such walks, The Mother said, emphasising upon the importance of flower gardens
in the Lake estate of Ashram :
“Since flowers are the manifestation of the
psychic in the vegetal kingdom, love of flowers would mean that one is drawn by
the psychic vibration and consequently by the psychic in one's own self. When
you are receptive to the psychic vibration, that puts you in a more intimate
contact with the psychic in your own self. Perhaps the beauty of flowers too is
a means used by Nature to awaken in human beings the attraction for the psychic."
Anand and
Sheetal hosted this significant and symbolising event for the first time. Their
enthusiasm and hospitality with welcoming gestures in serving the brunch is
most remarkable. A video co-authored by Anand Venkat in Tamil and English 'An offering to The Mother and the Ashram'
was shown during the starting and ending meditation sessions. After brunch the
quarterly committee meeting was held with Venkatesh's participation via video
conferencing, a good intermixture of technology bringing people together.
We must also
thank Singapore Parks management for such perfect upkeep of the Nature Reserves
and Parks that provide us this rarest facility to be transported to Nature in
the buzzing metropolitan city and fulfil the physical fitness needs and
simultaneously enhancing the sense of love for Nature and the environment.
-
Sundari
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