Meditation of my heart- 11

The Guava fruits can be found attached to the branch upright, hanging and in a mixed position. 

I felt intrigued by the different ways the fruits are attached to the branches. 

It is the direction of the branch which actually determines the direction of the fruits. A hanging branch would have hanging fruits and a branch growing up will probably have fruits turned upwards. 

Most fruits by the time they are large and ready to be plucked would hang because of their weight. 

The direction of the branches decide the direction of how the fruits are attached to the branches. 

I pondered over the psychological dimension of direction in human behaviour. 

Jesus of Nazareth in the sermon on the Mount spoke about the heart  treasure. :' ..for where your treasure is, there will your heart also be' (Matthew 6 :21).

 

I am inclined to think of three different orientation that people live with in life . There are those who aspire for wealth, who create wealth and  who distribute wealth. 

The people in each of these groups behave corresponding to their inner orientation. Those who aspire for wealth  look and live for every opening to be wealthy, but the reality may evade them. There are some who are able to create wealth and live with that passion. There are those who have actually created wealth but live with a desire to distribute it to benefit others. 

Each group of people has their heart set on the direction they have chosen. 

It is the inner orientation which directs the heart. If wealth is the treasure a person is seeking after, then the way that person lives is to fulfil that dream. 

Wealth is a personal possession. He or she who owns is its keeper. That is how riches are created and regarded by most. 

There can be a material view to wealth and riches. A luxurious way of living with abundant creature comfort springs from this perspective. He who creates or owns wealth therefore is utilitarian in thinking. He or she uses others to grow to be wealthy. 

The other view of wealth is a spiritual view, where others who collaborated to create wealth also become beneficiaries of wealth.  I came across a man in mid life who took a salary from the large establishment he created on his own. As the income grew year after year, he reduced the cost of products to share the benefit with others. He shared the wealth with other initiatives which would help people in the bottom of the pyramid.  I found that he treasured people. His heart was turned towards them. 

An abundantly wealthy person told me that wealth is a trap, which entices a person to live reflecting his wealth. He told me that  he worked with a colleague who turned his wealth to indulgent living. He had another colleague who lives normally inspite of the material prosperity.

Jesus of Nazareth described this in a telling manner: 'The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light' (Matthew 6;22).

What is this light within! 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, what moved the Samaritan to help the wounded traveller was  'compassion' (Luke 10 : 33). 

That is the lap within each of us. It can be burning, flickering or not lit  or died out. 

That is the treasure to which the heart of every human being is drawn to,  when God consciousness becomes the ambience of inner life. 

The heart, the treasure, and the lamp- three themes to ponder upon! I wonder if the heart symbolises our optic; the treasure symbolises our aspiration and the lamp symbolises God consciousness !

The giving flower ! 

A call for  living to give!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)