Ushering in 2020

Priya S Tandon

The market places, hotels, schools and of course the churches were decked up for Christmas. We were attending a dinner at a hotel and I noticed the elaborate décor of candles, lights, bells, holly, balloons and the numerous boxes wrapped in fancy paper; done up with bows, ribbons and confetti. Cotton wisps strewn all over the Christmas tree; a big star shining atop the tree; the twinkling fairy lights … seemed like I was in fairy land.

We were waiting in the lobby area for a friend to join us and I was enjoying the Christmas carols being played. The Christmas tree is the symbol of a wish fulfilling tree. Children ask for gifts from the parents or nears and dears. These gifts are packed and placed under the Christmas tree and everyone gets their share at the culmination of the celebrations.

Few would perhaps know that Sai Baba as a young boy of about 12 would walk to school with his friends in the small hamlet of Puttaparthi. En route was a tamarind tree where they would stop by to rest. The young Sai, then called Sathya, would ask his friends what they would like to eat. If one would ask for an orange, the other would ask for a mango and so on. Sathya would pluck those very fruits from the branches of the said tamarind tree. The tree came to be known as KalpaVriksha or wish fulfilling tree. The boy with miraculous powers grew up to be ‘Sai Baba’ who touched a million hearts.

As I stared dreamily at the Christmas tree, the similarity between Baba’s KalpaVriksha and Santa’s Christmas tree struck me. My gaze shifted to the wall painting in the backdrop, I was pleasantly surprised to see the ‘tree of life’, which is something that has always intrigued me.

The tree of life signifies the circle and cycle of life. Across civilisation and faiths, the tree of life is considered auspicious. It signifies that from a seed, a tree grows, both downwards (as the root) and upwards (as the shoot). The fruit and flowers further make seeds for more trees to form. The leaves and fruits further decompose and go back into the soil as manure. There is a never ending continuity in the process of life and death.

Truly all religions and faiths are pathways to reach the same God. For each child, his or her own mother is the best mother in the world, she loves the child and the child loves her too. But that does not mean that he disrespects the mothers of others. When he meets his friends’ mothers, he greets them with respect. But for his mother, he has a special place in his heart.

Similarly, our religion is like our mother. We belong to that religion and we should respect it and make it a way of life. At the same time let us be tolerant of others religions too! This is practical observance of the teachings of Sai.

I hope as we tide over from Christmas to New Year and then to Lohri, we can hope for better camaraderie amongst ourselves and stand proud and united for a better future for our county.