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44 | ENVIRONMENT
PAINT WITH NATURE
SUSHI A. SHAH EXUDES THE JOY OF GARDENING
cultivation, and making an intelligent choice of plants a serene and peaceful heaven is created where you can relax and unwind. Stunning splashes of colour from individual blooms or bold clumps of several plants together can make a wonderful centre or focal point in a garden. Have you seen the beauty of trees and shrubs when they turn into flowers especially with autumn colours?
Flowers symbolise and pay tribute to new life and the beauty which remain in this universe. On joyful occasions, flowers seem to have a close affinity with happiness. We use flowers to express grief or in the alleviation of distress. We also offer certain types of flowers to
Gods. Painters paint flowers, poets write about flowers, lovers send flowers and gardeners grow flowers. There is energy given out from flowers and growing plants, which simply interacts with our human energy
I also love growing trees in my garden. Trees can transform a plain garden into a place of fascination and beauty. As they grow to maturity they create an aura of tranquillity, a feeling of permanence: they will be there for our children and grandchildren to play under! Woods and forests provide a special place for finding peace, silence and beauty in our ever-increasingly stressful daily lives. They possess seemingly ageless mystics.
Chitrabhanu explains: "Jainism is a scientific religion of love, compassion and non-violence. It is a way of living and thinking which is in tune with nature. Dharma means nature of the self. Nature of the self is consciousness, love, amity, peace, appreciation and understanding." Nature of the self is not different from the natural environment which surrounds us. Nature reconnects us with the earth, with its cycles and seasons, creating the soul, spirit and inner clamour for nurturing life. It teaches us lessons of patience and perseverance, it heals our hurts and reveals miracles, it fills us with love and joy, and it brings peace and tranquillity in our lives. There is something spiritual about the act of nature. Without animal and plant life man could not exist. It provides us with an opportunity to relate to other living beings and reach beyond ourselves.
Gardening is one of the ways by which humans and nature come together in order to create beauty and shape our destiny. Gardening fills everyone with joy. For me it is the most intimate pleasure - no other hobby provides such satisfying recreation. Gardening is also very challenging mentally: to design the perfect garden border, to collect and study in-depth a particular group of plants, or to track down rare exotic plants is a delight. Gardening is religion, science, meditation and art. Connections with gardens, even the small ones, and potted plants can become windows to inner life. "Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds, the harvest is either flowers or weeds - it is all up to us." The simple act of stopping and looking at the beauty around us can be a prayer.
The art of gardening, unlike painting which is eventually completed, goes on for a lifetime. A gardener's painting is never complete. With interest and enthusiasm, with basic knowledge of care and
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