Puja ~ The Tree and Me

Tasmanian Pencil Pine leaning over Lake Dobson in Mt Field National Park

What is this tree puja all about?

Tree puja (worship) is an Indian custom in which an offering is made to a tree. In 2009 I vowed to practice this ritual at dawn for one year. I decided to keep a journal to note down my experience, or insight each day.

As the seasons passed, my relationship with the tree evolved. I wrote down these insights and reflections after each visit to the tree. These began on 25th May, 2009.

My tree was a cherry blossom growing outside my bedroom window. The ritual became a profound experience of aligning with nature.

I heard the birds as the voice of the tree. I felt the rain caress her trunk and enter the ocean of soil. The sting of frost underfoot connected me with her roots growing in the cold winter earth. I experienced her surge of life and beauty in spring and its renunciation as autumn transformed the leaves into brilliant orange before letting them go.

The tree taught me something every day. Her silent, steadfast presence grounded me. The open embrace of her arms welcomed me.

These meditations took me beyond the conditioned limitations of mind into the patient world of a tree in my garden. I discovered an aliveness where nature’s non-verbal poetics express life in all its fullness. I discovered subtle realities, sadly absent in modern life.

The offerings symbolise the five elements as they are understood in the culture of yoga. For the earth element, a flower is offered at the base of the tree. For water, a cup of water is poured into the soil. For fire, a ‘deepak’ is lit. This is a little oil lamp with a wick. For air, a stick of insence is lit from the flame and placed in the earth - the smoke and fragrance drift on the air. And for ether, or space, which is empty, a positive, altruistic thought or wish or prayer or mantra is mentally repeated. In this way, a connection, or alignment, with the tree is made.

I’ll start posting the tree puja journal on 25th May, 2024, and continue until the final journal entry, which in real life was 19th November, 2010. Until then, you’ll have to wait.