The soul came to the world to learn a lesson, to live out a mystery that only life can unravel.
Answers are all around us. Everything speaks to us, tells us a story of its own, a story with an invaluable lesson. I listened to them and they taught me all about life.
- Fire taught me a lesson on love. Love is like a flame that spreads light and warmth to the world. Love can light up another heart, just like one candle can light another.
- The sea taught me a lesson on inner peace. On the surface it rages and it sleeps. Noisy waves constantly beat against its shores. But deep within the heart of the ocean, always lies a calm serenity, undisturbed by its outer restlessness.
- The clouds taught me a lesson on faith. They may darken the sky with their obscure masks, yet I have faith that they will soon clear and the sun will come out once again bright and brilliant. In life too, I have faith that all clouds of obscurity shall vanish and light shall dawn upon me once again to show me my path.
- The wind taught me a lesson on fate and destiny. I cannot direct the wind and sometimes its strength can even throw me off my feet. Rather than fight against it, I learned that it was better to adjust my sails and go where it takes me.
- Day and Night taught me of pain and pleasure. Without night I cannot recognize day. Without pain, I cannot recognize pleasure.
- The moon taught me a lesson on creativity. The moon reflects sunlight, creating a most beautiful sight. I let Inspiration come from above and manifest its brilliance through me, so that a work of art is created.
- A leaf taught me to be open. It taught me to be open only to light, truth and harmony so that they run through every vein in my body and give me the strength I need to live. Just as the sunlight absorbed by the leaf gives it the energy it requires to survive.
- Even a rotten fruit has a story to tell. It taught me a lesson on false appearance. The fruit may look perfect and luscious on the outside. But do not always be fooled by its appearance, for within the fruit, there is a worm which has already eaten away the inside.
- And this worm too has a lesson to teach me. A small puny pitiable creature, in a world full of predators, where danger and death lurks in every corner. Yet completely ignorant and oblivious to it all, with an instinctive trust in Nature’s love, it survives. I too trust that there is always a higher power to love me and to protect me.
- And then at last there is Death. But there is also Birth. They symbolize an ending and then a new beginning. They maintain the cycle of life. A cycle which keeps going on and on and on until all is learned and all is done.
But finally, the entire world with every one of its complex qualities, every movement, thought, emotion, every bird and bee, every grain of sand, every cell in every body all together speak of only one thing, a thing so simple. God.
Keerthi Kilani
(Keerthi resides in Pondicherry and is a student studying for the Higher Secondary School course, apart from pursuing advanced multi-media, French and creative writing courses. Her future plans are focussed on a career in creative writing and journalism.)
