On watering plants

The day was hot, and the plants were drying up. The kids were just lounging so I asked them to water the Tulsi plants with me. Being first timers they thought watering is just pouring water anywhere in the plant. Most were simply wetting the leaves. So, I showed them where the best place to pour water can be found: at the base of the plant nearest the roots.

While at it, I shared to them an ancient wisdom my teacher told me about watering plants. Living life only for one’s own satisfaction, he said, is like watering the leaves of a plant. No matter how much water we pour into the leaves, the plant will not be benefited. Similarly, when we endeavor to please ourselves, happiness seems to elude us even more, all we get is frustration, pain and anything but pleasure. If we want to be satisfied, saintly teachers, like Jesus, recommend that we live to please the Supreme Lord, the root. He said: You shall love the Supreme Lord, with all your heart, mind, body and entire being. And like unto it, love His other children.  

This is the path to a life of satisfaction. Where is this based upon? It is based upon the absolute truth about our real essence. That we are not our bodies or our minds. We are spirit souls inside these bodies. The body and the mind are just vessels, we are the substance. Being spiritual in essence, we can never be satisfied by things from this world which are mostly matter. What we need, being spirit souls is spiritual food. Food for us is love, not for ourselves but for the Supreme Spirit, God. Only when we love the Supreme Soul, can we be satisfied in our existence as spiritual beings. Only when we love the Supreme Father will we be able to love our brothers. No amount of material wealth, fame, beauty, and power can satiate the longing of the soul for happiness. Only love for the Lord, like what Jesus said, can complete us.