“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.26)

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पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं
यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति
तद् अहं भक्त्य्-उपहृतम्
अश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

1. Take advantage of the appraised property value

“We are on a corner lot. The property extends out several acres, though it is not obviously noticeable. See that forest of trees in the back? That whole thing is ours. Well, if you purchase from us, it will be yours. You can knock that whole area down and perhaps build more units. A chalet. A mother-in-law suite. A shed for your tools. A place to park the riding mower for the winter. Maybe a cabin for peace and solitude. You can get away from the family without having to leave the property.

“And yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, that is a large apple tree. The amount that falls every year is incredible. It was here when we first moved in. I can’t tell you the original date of inception, of when it was planted. I will be honest with you. I don’t think you will find a better place around here. You get all the benefits of nature, of being out in the country, while remaining in close proximity to town. There is a giant supercenter right down the road, if you didn’t already see.”

2. Reap the harvest

“What did I do this past weekend? Well, I spent the entire time outside. I was on the property, picking apples. There are so many, that it took forever. We usually wait until they fall. It happens on its own. Sometimes, of course, the unripe ones fall early, due to a storm or other agitation. We are going to take everything we picked up and take it to a local market. This is a nice side hustle, as the kids refer to it these days. It is a small return on the taxes we already pay for the property each year.”

3. Make apple pie

“You liked that apple pie, huh? You want to know the secret ingredient? I could say that it is love, but I would be lying to you. The apples we used are homegrown. From farm to table, as they like to call it. The apples are from the tree in the back. How cool is that, right? You can just taste the difference.”

4. Take advantage of the shade

“It is a nice place to take shade during the hot summer days. I like to rest myself underneath, with a book in hand. I have heard His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explain that the fruit-bearing trees are considered pious, while the ones that don’t bear fruit are considered sinful. Either way, I am happy. I am not here to judge. I do think it is cool the many uses we get from something that is essentially self-managing. Nature takes care of everything. We simply take advantage, offering minimal care and attention in the process.

5. Offer back to the Supreme Lord

Of the many visible practices of a specific implementation of bhakti-yoga, this one might appear the strangest. Especially if someone already believes, if they acknowledge the presence of the Almighty, then it is almost like the approach lacks common sense. Just why are the worshipers doing this? Why are they steady in the dedication, in something resembling the dridha-vratah described in Bhagavad-gita?

The practice of which we speak is offering food. In the scenarios described above, we can take the same apples and offer them back to the origin of everything. The one who configured the seeds in the first place. The one who made it so that the seed of an apple only produces apples and nothing else, though the visual of the seed doesn’t necessarily give away the potential. The one who is the original seed-giver for the entire universe.

सर्व-योनिषु कौन्तेय
मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः
तासां ब्रह्म महद् योनिर्
अहं बीज-प्रदः पिता

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

“It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 14.4)

We are taking the apples collected from the nearby tree and formally offering them back to God. This is His direct recommendation, in fact. He is encouraging people to follow in this line. But why should we? They are His apples, after all. Just why would He want them back? Just what does He plan to do with them? Is He hungry? Does He require our offerings in order to persist through the time continuum?

The explanation is that the process is purifying for the worshiper. Through offering, they remember. Through offering, they acknowledge the limits to their influence in this world. Through offering, they connect. The key is the mood of the offering. There must be devotion. We can identify the presence of devotion by the distinct lack of inhibiting factors such as envy, anger, resentment, and greed. We no longer wish to exploit. We want to take whatever it is that we need, acknowledge who gave it to us, and progress in the purification of our consciousness.

The vision of the offering might be simple, but the potency is tremendous. The food gets returned, in most cases, infused with an enhanced potency. Others can then share in that potency and be transformed to a higher standard. They may not even know that the returned food, known as prasadam, is responsible. Such is the grace of the worshiper of Hari, that through their dedicated life in service they simultaneously lift others up, who may otherwise be stuck in a cycle of ignorance spinning fast and dangerous, across countless lifetimes.

In Closing:

From kitchen window to see,
So beautiful is that tree.

Annually on time to fall,
Blessed fruit of apples to call.

Despite many uses to take,
For our kindest offering to make.

To the one initially responsible for,
Our pure consciousness to restore.

Categories: the five

Tags: bhakti, dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, yoga