It's a beautiful fall day, perfect time to enjoy the wonderful trails back behind our ashram.
This is our meditation garden. In a future video,
I'll show you around the whole ashram. But right now, let's go for a walk.
All the trees right here have been cleared because there's a pipeline buried in the ground.
Each winter, just before it snows, the pipeline company cuts down all the vegetation here,
for safety and maintenance. Then in spring, it all grows back again.
That's a bit like the cycle of life, death, and rebirth that all living beings undergo. And that
happens to be the topic we'll be contemplating today as we walk. The trail starts right here.
Contemplation is a kind of thoughtful reflection which requires a mind that's very quiet,
very attentive, and completely focused. To prepare your mind for contemplation,
it's really helpful to practice a suitable type of meditation first.
You can use a technique like mantra japa, reciting a mantra. You can practice mantra
japa while you walk, and it's even more effective if you synchronize the mantra to your steps.
I'll show you how in just a moment. Today, I'll be using the mantra, om namo narayanaya,
namo salutations, narayanaya, unto Narayana, unto Lord Vishnu.
As I begin, notice how the mantra is synchronized to my steps.
Om namo narayanaya.
Now, let's begin our contemplation. Fall is my favorite season. I love the cool weather and the
crisp, dry air. I love the colorful trees and the rustling sound of dry leaves.
The four seasons are often used as a metaphor to describe the four seasons or stages of our lives.
Here in New Jersey, each year begins with the bitter cold of January,
when most trees are stripped of their leaves, and nature seems to be in a state of hibernation.
That wintertime hibernation represents the state after one dies and before getting reborn.
It's a temporary state in which you remain in a formless, unmanifest condition,
like a plant that remains unmanifest inside a seed before it sprouts.
Just like winter is followed by the magnificent return of foliage each spring, in the same way,
one's death is followed by rebirth and the magnificent development of human life.
In spring, little sprouts quickly develop into many kinds of plants. In a similar way, a newborn
baby quickly develops many kinds of abilities - learning to grasp, to crawl, to walk and talk.
And, just like the plants become mature in summer,
so too, an infant grows to become a child, a teenager, and finally, an adult.
Here's something you might not have considered before.
Nature is blessed with an overabundance of variety.
How else can we explain the countless species of plants and trees growing all over the world?
We human beings are also blessed with an overabundance of variety.
Each of us is different, with unique features, size, shape, and color of skin, eyes, and hair.
More than that, each of us have different interests, different talents,
different preferences. All this diversity is natural; it's part of God's wonderful
creation. And every natural thing in God's creation has its own beauty.
Every tree and flower is beautiful, regardless of its color, shape or size. In the same way,
every human being is beautiful, regardless of his or her color, shape, or size or anything else.
And that brings us to fall, the last season of the year, which represents the last part of our lives.
Just like fall is the most colorful and beautiful season of the year,
the final decades of our lives can be likewise. The key to making these last years beautiful is
to fully appreciate and assimilate the spiritual wisdom of the ancient rishis, wisdom that can help
you gracefully accept all the problems associated with aging, physical decline, and death.
I'm almost 70 years old now, so this is certainly the fall season of my life.
Just like fall is my favorite season of the year, this is my favorite stage of life.
I feel incredibly blessed, in spite of the fact that I'm walking much
more slowly now than I used to, and my lower back hurts quite a bit.
But, if my attention is drawn to that, how can I enjoy this incredible beauty all around me?
As long as you have a body and mind, physical and emotional pain are inescapable.
Unfortunately, as you grow older, physical pain usually increases, and as your loved ones grow
older and die, you'll probably experience more emotional pain. Yet the fact is, your true,
essential nature remains utterly unaffected by all that. Your true nature is limitless,
eternal consciousness, your so-called inner divinity, better known as sat chit ananda atma.
As such, you are completely untouched by any kind of physical or emotional pain. This truth has to
be personally discovered; it's not a matter of belief or theoretical understanding. And
when you discover that you are ok no matter what,
then, in spite of the problems of aging and physical decline,
you can fully enjoy the magnificent glories of the fall season of your life.