That Deep Pink Flower on the Roadside

Some images, some memories always remain fresh. And the insights gained and lessons learned from them become even more relevant now more than ever. Like this one from October 3, 2007.

On that particular day, late afternoon while walking home I saw this amazing little beautiful deep pink flower – perhaps some wildflower or some weed, whose name I didn’t/don’t know— gracefully revealing its head from within a thick heap of cement, pieces of brick, and other street garbage thrown together on a street corner. It is hard to imagine that anything so delicate can grow out of such dark and hard material, yet the flower was standing erect on its little tender stem. The resilience with which this flower was blooming in such physical surroundings made me think of the power of opening and receptivity. Within this hard shell created by the cement, clay and pieces of brick there perhaps was some little spot which opened itself to the Light and Force of Mother Nature and voila, life was born! Within that closed, tightly bound construction garbage, there was something in a little spot which was able to receive the Light and Force, and a flower was born.

How can we open ourselves more and more to the Light and Grace and Force and Calmness? How do we develop within us a greater receptivity to receive this Light, Grace, Force and Calmness? The Masters have emphasized several ways, foremost among them are: sincere one-pointed aspiration that is patient and calm, genuine humility, unyielding faith and complete trust in the Divine, elimination of ego-insistence in all forms, and self-offering and surrender to the Divine. 

For me, particularly now, remembering the point about unyielding and uncompromising faith in the Divine, and having a complete trust in the Divine Plan is especially helpful. I feel that with a steadfast faith in the Divine one’s aspiration also gets strengthened and with the force of a renewed aspiration one’s faith also gets strengthened.

While the task of eliminating ego-sense and its numerous little and big demands is HUGE, I also find that becoming more conscious of when we are resisting to something because of our egos can in itself be helpful in increasing our sense of openness. We constrict ourselves to the Force from above because we fill ourselves tightly with ego and its demands. We carry too much burden and weight of our egos and thereby have very little open space within where the Light and Force from Above can shine. So a reminder about gradually eliminating ego-insistence is very helpful.

The reminder about true and sincere humility is also immensely helpful. We have to go to the Divine in all our nakedness, without hiding any of our imperfections and mistakes, without deluding ourselves in any way, and without any sense of pride at any little progress we might have made on the path. We must never forget that whatever little victories we might have won so far may be totally insignificant compared to the numerous victories yet remaining to be won.

Be humble, be sincere, be honest – this is the key. Like that little pink flower that was happily and humbly growing in the middle of a construction dump, opening itself to the Light above and receiving the Force to help grow and spread its self-existent beauty and joy...even when no one was looking. 

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This post is written first and foremost as a Reminder to self.