Redwoods and their Impact on the Mind

A. All right. All right. Did you enjoy the redwoods this weekend?

Q. Yes, Baba.

A. What do you enjoy? What is the essence of this enjoyment, can you say?

Q. Connection. A peaceful feeling. The vital force.

A. The vital force, the peace, the connected feeling. Anyone else? These are all feelings that come in the mind when exposed to an atmosphere that is very pure, where the prana in the earth, the life force is strong. In these old groves of redwood trees, the life force is very strong so the vital energy is high. It affects the mind. The air feels fresh, the breath feels fresh coming in and one feels the verdant greenness. The verdant green affects the mind, affects the eyes.

So be in a natural setting where there is a great deal of life and the life is in balance and in harmony. It has not lost its essential balance of its ecological system, its development. There is synergy between living entities that creates a vital force. This synergy exists in the shadows of these great trees under their protective branches. The life force of these trees is very, very strong. They are older beings, wise beings. They have lived long lives, longer than yours. They have seen the sun rise, the winds come, the rains fall and the starry skies for thousands of years. They have watched as the time passed year upon year and in so doing, there is a development of mind.

Since they are not animals, their mind does not develop in the same way as the living beings that have locomotion. Rather, their minds develop in a different way because their vital process depends upon a kind of slow growth towards the sun and deep into the earth. It depends on their relationship to the elements. So they are very strongly connected and rooted in the bhutas and the elemental nature of this universe. They are old beings, wise beings. Their intelligence is high, though not based on thoughts that move quickly, like human beings. Their thoughts take the forms of images of rainstorms, sunrises, sunsets, images of slow changes. Their life force is very, very compatible in an ecological balance with the animals including human forms because they can harbor a counterbalancing vital force that feeds the living beings. They are the great protectors of life but their kingdom has become very small. The great woods are very small today. However, they will grow again on this planet and cover much of it. To be in the presence of these great protectors of the planet, these great and wise entities, brings a certain feeling in the mind. Their life force compatibility brings vital force into you and into all that grows beneath them and walks beneath them. That is why it is very good to spend some time in the great woods.

Some other trees are old and wise and have intelligence that is awake in this world. It is good to spend time in the great woods. It is good to spend time in the mountain tops and by the sea. In these places, one feels one’s connection, one’s harmony with nature. Even in the Great Plains, one can feel this connection in the vastness of the sky and in endless wave of grasses. When the earth is exploited, is out of balance and the ecological systems are out of harmony, this vitality does not come. When the earth is strained and the living beings on the earth are straining for life, then they have nothing extra to give and you will not feel this vitality the way you do in these great woods.

Remember always to look on the bright side. Take what is good, what is beneficial to you and increase it in your life, always increasing your vitality, your love, your care and compassion for all beings and your connection to the whole, your union, your oneness. In this, you grow into beings of wisdom, into great love and compassion and you bring this love to the world. For the crises today appear in economics, politics, wars and power struggles, diminishing resources, over-population and pollution, so many that one loses track. The world today is facing so many crises all with a single source. It is a world out of balance. It is a process of evolution and in it balance, prama, has been lost. The balance of life has been lost.

As you are in the grove, in the big trees, you can feel the balance of life. That is life in balance. Functioning together in a harmonious balance, the different evolution of beings comes together in this type of web of balance and they promote the welfare of each other. This is a harmonious, balanced, healthy ecological system. However, due to over-expansion of the human population and exploitation of resources, the world has lost this balance in the larger context. There is a deeper cause to this loss of balance. It is not simply over-population. If we had fewer people in the world it would not all be okay, No, there is a social crisis in human society. Families are breaking apart. People do not know how to love each other, maintain their bridges and communities. They are becoming independent individuals without connectedness. Why? Because society is out of balance, not only the population, the use of resources, but human society is out of balance.

The source of it all is a spiritual crisis. It is at its core a spiritual crisis for the living beings have lost their association with divinity. In this loss of association and connection comes a crisis because human beings dissociate from their hearts. In striving to have material success, material welfare, they have become the slaves of materialism. Their human hearts are struggling in this effort to bring their full being into existence. Spiritually, people are struggling across the globe. The systems of religions, of morals, social codes and ethical codes for relating are breaking down all across the world. Families are breaking apart. Communities, villages, social codes are breaking apart and people are a little confused and bereft.

Within all this upheaval is a deeper movement still, a movement of evolution. For human beings are in a transition. The planet is becoming a one-world society, a one-world community, linking vast amounts of information and knowledge. This is unavoidable evolution. In evolutionary process is an element of chaos. When the forces of evolution begin to stir strongly, there is a breakdown of many systems, many ways change. You see cultures around the globe, families and communities breaking down. You see beliefs, religious structures and all institutions of human society shaking if not already broken because there is movement, a linking together of the minds and hearts of people around the globe that it is creating great turmoil. Naturally, there are counter-evolutionary forces wanting to hold back the change, fearing change, trying to become secure in the face of change. All that creates so much upheaval, so much reaction, so many actions by powers that be but the evolution is a mighty force and cannot be turned aside.

The evolution of living beings goes on despite the wants and needs of any individuals. Consciousness always draws consciousness to itself and manifestation moves more and more towards subtlety. That introversial pull of the cosmic nucleus on all of creation is unavoidable and it is causes upheaval because it is bringing the spiral of evolution closer and closer to the cosmic nucleus. There is the force of attraction in this universe. There is an attractive force, a natural pull on all beings towards their source, towards the living vital consciousness, the self-aware omniscient love of Parama Purusha. No one is outside of this pull. The entire macrocosm, countless stars, planets and all living beings in all created atmospheres move toward the cosmic nucleus. Galaxies all move in this direction. All of creation moves in this direction. In the microcosm, all microcosmic forces that create molecular structures of the universe evolve. Therefore, there is a fundamental shift and change and finally, a change in form over time.

In the realm of time and space, consciousness is moving from crudity to subtlety. Living beings are evolving from the material force of the elements to greater and greater dimensions of self-aware consciousness and you are all in this cosmic evolutionary process. You are having individual evolution, the individual journey of your soul and you are part of a larger journey, context and collective. This collective is not limited to any nation or continent. It is the collective mind of this planet, this Gaia, this being that you are part of is evolving, growing, moving towards the cosmic nucleus.

So collectively and individually, you are evolving. You have manifested a time of great change and opportunity in human society. The vitality and connectedness that each of you holds within is a light in the world today, a light that shows the future direction of humanity. Humanity will establish itself and come into balance in this new era of self-aware consciousness. It will find balance and go on evolving but now is a time of evolutionary upheaval. There are bound to be some small ramifications. Do not worry but always turn your mind towards Parama Purusha, love all beings to the best of your capacity and live your life in service to living beings.

I am so happy with all of you that you take this intention in your heart and your life and make it so. Take the balance and harmony you have experienced in the great woods. Hold it in your heart, and bring it to your homes.