The garbage truck
Day 103 of my tree puja.
In which an intrusion from the industrial department crashes in.
The garbage truck came along in the still, silent dark…
Trees do no violence
Day 102 of my tree puja.
In which I reflect on the non-violence of trees.
Last night I watched a very violent film; Nazis. Tarantino.
I am full of exclamation marks!
Day 101 of my tree puja.
In which my reading of Bentov’s book validates and expands the experience I’m having with the tree puja.
I am reading Bentov, Stalking the Wild Pendulum, and have just started the section entitled, ‘Construction and Maintenance of a Nature Spirit’. I am full of exclamation marks! So of course, I had this in mind as I went about the puja.
She is tired of her leaves
Day 100 of my tree puja.
In which I did not do tree puja, but had an extraordinary insight.
Strange thing. I did not do any pujas this morning. As I lay and relaxed during yoga practice, I looked out the window to the tree.
Energy of ritual and consciousness
Day 99 of my tree puja.
In which I experience the power of the puja as yoga - unity of energy and consciousness.
I nearly didn’t go to the tree. I was wanting to save time and not go to the tree…
Finding my footing
Day 98 of my tree puja.
In which I use Sanskrit words from the 8 limbs of raja yoga. The purpose of raja yoga is to still the mind. The tree puja does this.
Concentration. Puja is also about concentration, dharana. A state of sense withdrawal, pratyahara, spontaneously occurs as I squat by the tree…
Like freshly hung washing
Day 97 of my tree puja.
In which I witness the passivity of the tree.
The rain has softly come, in blobs and drips and sighs. A deep breath of wind generates a ripple of movement in the leaves…
I Earthed Myself
Day 96 of my tree puja.
It’s warm in the darkness.
The sun is rising later, and daylight saving is still on, so I go in the dark. It is too early in a way…
I went too early
Day 95 of my tree puja.
In which I get the timing wrong.
I went too early, still dark. Birds were still fast asleep, no sound, no movement except me…
An old broken bird’s egg
Day 94 of my tree puja.
In which a bird’s egg is not what it seems.
Under the tree I noticed an old broken bird’s egg…
The feet, our roots
Day 93 of my tree puja.
Thinking about feet, and roots.
The weather has turned cold, as it always does when the tomatoes start to ripen. I noticed my feet avoiding cold contact with the concrete path…
The tree has been my teacher
Day 92 of my tree puja.
In which the tree is understood as guru.
The tree has been my teacher this last year. All the books I have read, all the wise talks I have heard, programs attended, discussions discussed, have not taught me the profound insights the tree puja has allowed to unfold…
This is the Shakti
Day 91 of my tree puja.
Understanding the flower offering was an important awakening for me.
The flower energy is strong and very particular. It is purely creative. In offering the flower we offer that, invoking it in ourselves…
Like a Lover
Day 90 of my tree puja.
This one is gentle and sweet.
There is delightful soft rain falling but it’s not cold…
I apologised briefly and left
Day 89 of my tree puja.
It would help if you understood the three gunas - tamas, rajas and sattwa. In brief: inertia/darkness, activity/ego and flow/light. They are the attributes of everything, and we are subject to them.
Yesterday I went in my socks and clogs. It is growing cold, I had them on and forgot to remove them for puja…
Dissolution
Day 88 of my tree puja.
In a philosophical frame of mind these days, considering my own, and the tree’s, and even the power pole’s, absence.
One day, we cannot know when, the tree will be no more, I will be no more, the house, the buzzing power pole, all the things that seem so permanent, will die and crumble, somehow…
Wild, surging energy
Day 87 of my tree puja.
The wild energy in us is special, but it must be managed and directed by our minds. This is the essence of yoga.
I am in the grip of some wild, surging energy that knows no peace. It has been thus for days together…
Not entirely a wild thing
Day 86 of my tree puja.
My tree is not a wild tree. Just as I am not a wild human. We have this domesticity in common, as we reach out to each other across the species boundary.
The morning is a time of upward flowing energy. I felt it instantly, as I stood under the tree preparing the deepak (oil lamp)…
Don’t think
Day 85 of my tree puja.
Silence is the thing. The world has become so noisy.
Don’t say anything more and don’t think…
I went also at dusk today
Day 84 of my tree puja.
For the first time, I practice twice in a day, at dawn and dusk. The experience is quite different.
I felt how her energy, and all the movement of nature was downward. The energy is moving down into the earth…