Chapter 10

 

Collaboration of Nature

 

 

In her green wildernesses and lurking depths,

In her thickets of joy where danger clasps delight,

He glimpsed the hidden wings of her songster hopes,

A glimmer of blue and gold and scarlet fire.

In her covert lanes, bordering her chance field-paths

And by her singing rivulets and calm lakes

He found the glow of her golden fruits of bliss

And the beauty of her flowers of dream and muse.

Sri Aurobindo

 

Nature proves her collaboration with a smile of flowers.    The Mother

 

O Nature, Material Mother, thou hast said that thou wilt collaborate and there can be no limit to the splendour of this collaboration.    The Mother

 

 

842 Nature makes an offering of her

beauty

It is a spontaneous and effortless offering.

Ipomoea. Many colours

NATURE MAKES AN OFFERING OF HER BEAUTY

 

The world'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.

Sri Aurobindo

 

Flowers are the moment's representations of things that are in themselves eternal.    Sri Aurobindo

 

In trees and plants, it is the need to grow in order to obtain more light, more air, more space; in flowers, it is the offering of their beauty and fragrance in a loving efflorescence.    The Mother

 

When the sun sets and all becomes silent, sit down for a moment and put yourself into communion with Nature: you will feel rising from the earth, from below the roots of the trees and mounting upward and coursing through their fibres up to the highest outstretching branches, the aspiration of an intense love and longing — a longing for something that brings light and gives happiness, for the light that is gone and they wish to have back again. There is a yearning so pure and intense that if you can feel the movement in the trees, your own being also will go up in an ardent prayer for the peace and light and love that are unmanifested here.    The Mother

 

The trees rise towards the sky, beautiful symbol of Nature's aspiration towards the Light.    The Mother

 

843 Blossoming of Nature

Abundant and strong, nothing can stop its growth.

Calluna vulgaris. Rose pink

 

844 Spontaneous joy of Nature

It is man who has made Nature sorrowful.

Papaver rhoeas. Several colours

 

845 Kindness of Nature

She is kind when she is loving.

Trifolium. Several colours

 

NATURE'S HOPE FOR REALISATION

 

The Divine reveals himself in the world around us when we look upon that world with a spiritual desire of delight that seeks him in all things.    Sri Aurobindo

 

At these blessed hours all earth sings a hymn of gladness, the grasses shudder with pleasure, the air is vibrant with light, the trees lift towards heaven their most ardent prayer, the chant of the birds becomes a canticle, the waves of the sea billow with love, the smile of children tells of the infinite and the souls of men appear in their eyes.

The Mother

 

The whole creation speaks of the Divine to him who knows how to listen in his heart.    The Mother

 

 

846 Nature's hope for realisation

Nature knows that one day she will be able to realise.

Mangifera indica. Cream to pale pink

 

847 Divine Knowledge

It is succulent, nourishing, strengthening.

Mangifera indica. Several colours

 

 

 

 

 

848 Spontaneous aspiration of Nature towards the Divine

Wide open, spontaneous, irrevocable in its spontaneous power.

Leucanthemum vulgare. White

 

849 First conscious reception of the Light in Nature

The origin or starting-point of the will to progress. Nature has an instinctive thirst for Light.

Commelina. Blue to lavender

 

 

Flowers spoke in ardent hues

an unknown joy.  Sri Aurobindo

 

 

850 Joy of vegetal Nature in answer to the new Light

It dances with joy and laughs happily.

Callistemon. Bright red

 

851 Vegetal goodwill towards the supramental forces

Each does what it can.

Cuphea micropetala. Cream yellow

 

852 Nature aspires to be supramentalised

The first response of plant life to the action of the supramental forces.

Stictocardia beraviensis. Glowing rose red

 

853 Awakening and first response of

Nature to the supramental manifestation

Interested, she opens herself and tries to understand.

Jatropha integerrima. Reddish pink

 

861 Light in fairyland

The fairies are ready to let themselves be guided by the Divine.

Kalanchoe pinnata. Yellow green

 

862 Joy in fairyland

Light, smiling, effortless, it invites us to share its joy.

Kleinhovia hospita. Pale pink

 

863 Fairy freshness

Charming, it refreshes the eyes.

Haematoxylum campechianum. Light yellow

 

 

 

I too have wandered in star-jewelled groves,

Paced sun-gold pastures and moon-silver swards

And heard the harping laughter of their streams

And lingered under branches dropping myrrh;

I too have revelled in the fields of light

Touched by the ethereal raiment of the winds,

Thy wonder-rounds of music I have trod,

Lived in the rhyme of bright unlabouring thoughts,

I have beat swift harmonies of rapture vast,

Danced in spontaneous measures of the soul

The great and easy dances of the gods.

O fragrant are the lanes thy children walk

And lovely is the memory of their feet

Amid the wonder-flowers of Paradise.

Sri Aurobindo

 

864 Bird of paradise

A bird that never flies away.

Heliconia. Orange red