WE ARE ONE

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Sitting cross-legged under a magnificent fig tree, in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Sydney, I held my japa mala between my fingers with tenderness, draped between my ankles. As I slid each little Bodhi seed towards the large tassel toting seed, I took a deep breath, straight to my core, and repeated in my mind, “We are One.”

I felt the wind rustle the fig leaves; I heard them sing as if to compete with the chirping birds who dashed from tree to tree, sunlight glinting off their feathers, chattering - likely about the scent that I, too, was inhaling. Earthy, herbal, minty, salty, sweet, warm air. The same air that made the ant cling to the blade of grass as it trembled. The same air that rustled the fig leaves above, casting dancing shadows on the ground.

And then, that beautiful, glorious thought: “I am a part of this moment.” I am sitting on the trembling grass, on the ground that’s been nourishing this tree for hundreds of years. Feeling, smelling, watching the effects of the wind.

I am not alone.

I share this sacred ground with a group of Hindu monks, robed in gauzy orange, flapping in this breeze. In silent solitude nearer the water sits a business man - feet in the grass, shoes beside him; ironed pleats wasted as he rolls his pant legs to the knee. Noisy Arab-Aussie children also enjoy the fig, jumping over it’s massive, exposed roots. We are all - wind, fig, grass, ant, birds, monks, man, woman, child - in this together. The ironic beauty of this moment is that it is not limited to time nor space. I am just as connected to my loved ones back home as they sleep & dream, as I am to this sunny patch of Earth.

All of these thoughts and observations occurred within a matter of seconds. I looked down as I continued to slide the seeds, one by one, breath by breath, “We are One… We are One…” In doing so, I was struck with the thought that this japa mala represented the very thing I was pondering: individual seeds strung together into One strand; a continuous loop, connected by one, larger seed - the Divine.