The Seed and the Tree

A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible.  ~Welsh Proverb

"Whether you tend a garden or not, you are the gardener of your own being, the seed of your destiny."
-  The Findhorn Community 

There is a beautiful teaching principle in the Tantric yogic philosophy that I learned from my teacher, Paul Muller Ortega: the bija niyaya, the principle of the seed and the tree.  Inside the seed, lies the tree in its potential form.  The sprouting, the growing of a sturdy trunk and branches, leafing, flowering and fruiting are all implicit inside the tiny seed, and given the right circumstances  - proper soil, water, sufficient nutrients, sunlight and air - the seed will grow and eventually become the beautiful tree that is encoded inside it.

So, it is with us.  Each of us is like a seed.  We have implicit within us the beautiful potential to grow a sturdy trunk, spread our branches, flower and bear fruit.  My teacher Paul asks, "What is your exotic bloom?  That is, what hidden fragrance, what beautiful bloom, what sweet fruit lie inside you, perhaps hidden, or perhaps not fully manifested?  What are your talents and gifts?  Are you fully expressing them?  In what way must you nourish and support your body, mind and spirit so as to maximize your growth and permit the most the fullest unfolding of your true potential?

This, of course, is the yoga agenda: to permit our individual awareness to connect to that Source, to the Absolute, to that Great Mystery we call Grace and to drink and be nourished by its nectar so that we permit ourselves to grow and unfold into the magnificence we are meant to be.

Let us support and celebrate our own and  each others' growth and unfolding!  I want to see you bloom!