Vanavaibhava - Forest Splendour

The splendour of the moon, the stars, the rising sun, the winds, the sky, the vegetation, the animals, birds, rivers, trees and mountains together form the beauty of the natural creation in its entirety. Part of that beauty is called in sanskrit vanavaibhava. There is no exact equivalent in English for this word, but the nearest term would be "forest splendour". Human beings are part of this forest splendour and should therefore, in their natural state, love and respect it. We are part of it, it gives us our identity, and without it we are lost. Thus we must carefully nourish and preserve the forest. This is the world forest referred to by Banwari, the primeval forest from which we come and where we find our identity

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Forest, at one level, means the world.

The traveller in India soon learns to appreciate the ancient trees which often grow by the wayside. Trees such as mango, nim or banyan have always been planted along the roads to give shelter and shade, their leaves acting as natural air-conditioners. Beneath their broad canopies generations of travellers, stopping for a rest or a meal from a roadside stall, have found relief from the heat.

Planting trees and digging wells have traditionally been the two great acts of charity by which anyone could earn merit and universal appreciation. Sadly these big shade trees along the roads are now becoming rare, but wherever they are found, rooted in the soil of India, they carry with them a brooding sense of magic and history. They stand as silent symbols of India's spiritual roots...

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O King of trees! I bow before you.

See how a single person's experience become the starting point of a big programme that planted more thatn 7,00,000 trees in two years by 1989.

"Trees are like good people who care for others. They have to keep standing in the sun but they give shade to others. Whatever fruits they bear they do not eat themselves, but give them to others. How kind they are."

Read the interesting story here friends