Had the joy of having the freshest possible idlis and
steamed dosa for breakfast yesterday at the Visitor Center at Auroville. The joy was doubled when I saw a
sweet lady come out of the restaurant kitchen with a basket full of assorted
flowers and a polished-to-shine urli
filled up to brim with water. She was about to start arranging the flowers in
the urli - something that one can see
on the restaurant main counter every time one visits this delightful eating
joint. Leaving my husband alone at our table, and taking my coffee cup with me
I went near this petite lady and after greeting her with a smile and hello,
asked her if I could simply stand there and watch her do her ‘thing’ with
flowers. She smiled a sweet smile and said yes.
And then it began...the delight of watching one of the
sweetest and most beautiful work in progress.
All the flowers from the top of
the basket were first laid out on the counter and separated by colours. First
came a layer of delicate flowers (Rose periwinkle/Madagascar periwinkle/Catharanthus roseus; Spiritual significance given by The Mother – Integral Progress).
Each flower was floated in the
water with careful precision and delicacy. After all the flowers were arranged
in a circular pattern, the lady very gently pulled at one of the petals of each
flower in order to leave just a hint of a space between the rim of the urli and the flower. This made the water
sparkle in the combined light of the shiny brass of the urli and the white brightness of the flowers. And I thought to myself – what a nice idea!
How beautiful it looks. But within a
second I understood her actual reason for doing that.
She had discovered a whole bunch
of tiny purple/lavender flowers at the bottom of the basket (Wishbone flower/Bluewings /Torenia fournieri; Spiritual significance given by The Mother – Krishna’s Play in Matter) and this tiny little space between the rim and each of the white flowers was
just enough to float those purple gems.
And then it began again...my awe
at how she was so carefully handling each of these purple flowers and arranging
them in an exact precise manner so that their petals were floating in the same
direction. No randomness, all in perfect order and harmony, and yet all done
with such flawless spontaneous movements of her fingers. The flowers were so
tiny but her soft eyes and gentle fingers were so observant and exact that not
a teeny-weeny extra bit of an over-grown petal or accompanying leafy material
made it to the arrangement.
Perfect precision in creating a
work of art from the heart. I wish I had the camera with me to capture that gentle
perfection in progress....but perhaps it is for the best that such beautiful
moments of creating beauty are simply experienced in the flow of the moment,
and not frozen.
Beauty of the action...
Perfection of the form...
Seeking the divine harmony behind
everything...
The Sunday breakfast turned out
to be a perfect lesson!
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