I saw the God

I saw the God!

Just two weeks ago I found many trees cut
On the NH7 from Moosapet to KPHB in Hyderabad
Why they are cut God only knows
They were like naked starving human beings standing in the middle of the Road
But not begging as Human Beings
So many people watched their helplessness
So many people felt for them
Newspapers reported
Green Activists protested the act of cutting them
Government responded by initiating an enquiring into it.
All this is subsided just like the dust that settles after a powerful wind blew it.

Two weeks later….
I see the life coming out in the form of tender leaves
So many tender and lush green leaves waving Hi at all human beings
What a kindness it is
Trees manifest it the best
Trees try to live and do their job
With whatever little support they have from Mother Earth.

In these two weeks, having chopped them to no entity level
No one watered them
Yet they have the resurgence
They survived the near-death cruelty done to them
Just to do their duty
Their duty is to give greenery
Absorb the toxins in the air
Give fresh air full of life

They do it with the help of Mother Earth
Mother Earth helps them survive
Feed them in Her Lap
Today when I looked at the tender green leaves
That covered these chopped trees
I feel their kindness
Indeed I see the God
In every leaf, in every branch and in every tree

The stream of vehicles fanning poisonous gases on their faces
The persons riding them enjoy in the cozy comforts inside the cars
Looking at the leaves shining in the moonlight-like-sunlight
Appearing through their cooling glass windows
The reality is different and deterrent
The life goes on without appreciating the life cycle of the trees
How selfish we are as human beings
We are the privileged to make many deprived
We write the fate of those who save us
We test Nature in every season
By polluting, cutting, uprooting and destroying
Water, trees, land and air
The mute spectator and the sole witness to this act of unkindness is Sky

All the five elements always in a selfless mode
Operate day and night to save life on earth
We the unique manifestation of these five elements
Operate day and night to consume
When we wake up we wake up our desires
We do not know the time is eating us
In the form of day and night
We do not know when we breathe in whether we can breathe out
Or when we breathe out whether we can breathe in
Either in the day or in the night
The life begins afresh at any moment
The death comes at any moment


So simple is the cycle of life
The trees leant it the best way
They struggle till their last moment
Just to do their natural duties
We struggle till our last moment
Just to satisfy our desires
How un-natural we are
Unfit to live in Nature!!

I see the God saying all this
In the fluttering of the fresh tender leaves
Preparing for the onset of summer
Just to give, give and give
Whatever comfort they can
To those who destroy them
I see the God in all the Trees

- IVNS Raju, Hyderabad, 11 April 2007.