Nature-Our Acharya (Teacher)

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you for the response to our blogs so far. Sri. Saravanan summed up the mood of the reader, very aptly, in the Comments section of the last blog. It was like an ‘Energy drink’ for me. You know, writing is painful as it involves concentration over long hours, followed by rigorous editing and more editing. However, “No pain-No  Gain”, Isn’t it?

Happy to share with you that our viewership has crossed 1200 after the 10^th blog dated 21^st Nov 2010. Read our last blog @ http://gatesandwindows.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-tv-news-turned-entertainment-in.html  Click and view http://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/article902082.ece if you haven’t so far. For those interested in buying in the book ‘The Great Hindu Tradition’ by Brahmasri Sarma Sastrigal, you may write to him sarmasasthrigal@gmail.com The book written in elegant and easy to understand English gives an insight into Vedic Principles, Sastras and our rich heritage, which we seem to have forgotten in this “digital age”. This wonderful book, for sure would enrich our Spiritual Quotient(SQ) and normalize our Emotional Quotient (EQ), most of us are found lacking; while few could challenge us in Intelligent Quotient(IQ). I was taught that high level of IQ without SQ is a sure recipe for the onset of “depression” and thereby possible disaster.

I happened to witness ‘Education through Environment’ Project Exhibition at Shivani’s school (Our second daughter studying Class VII @ PSBB,KKN) and was left stunned with the vision of the teachers and the ebullient student leaders who brought out many masterpieces. I almost spent half a day, witnessing the splendid spectacle. It would take many a blog to share on the projects they exhibited on the above theme.

Some of them are:

•         English  - “A tryst with Nature”
•          Science-  “Nature- Our Teacher”  - In that ‘Positive aspect of Disasters’ was one of the project
•          Commerce -  “Money Grows on Trees”
•          Art & Crafts -  Art ‘n’ Nature
•          Maths -  Roots and Logs, “Golden Ratio”
•          Computer Science - “Bio Mimicry”

I was simply stunned at the project titled ‘Positive aspect of Disasters’, will share later along with another fantastic thought on “Bio Mimicry” and “Golden Ratio”. We all were taught that “Money does not grow in trees” and hence we have to be ‘spendthrift’! But look at the new teaching! Folks, I learnt “Money grows on Trees”, our future blog title. In this ‘piece’ I share with you all what I learnt from the exhibition ON the values we learn from Nature- Which is our benevolent Acharya, forever, rain or shine, upward or downward market, democracy or dictatorship.

Read on… Think for a minute about each element of nature and the values we learn. Take your time to munch. Do share with Gen Y and Gen Z. The projects are all done by them!

Sl. No	Element of nature	Value(s) learnt
1	Sun	Punctuality
2	Mother Earth	Phenomenal Tolerance
3	Water	Purity
4	Fire	Aspirations
5	Wind	Disparity
6	Moon	Self Awareness
7	Space	Embrace
8	Ocean	Acceptance
9	Birds	Leadership
10	Mother Bird and Chick	Love and Care
11	Spider	Consistent Hardwork
12	Butterfly Lifecycle	Striving to Achieve
13	Climbers	Awesome Perseverance
14	Trees	Hope, Generosity, Selflessness
15	Branches of a tree	Humility
16	Ants	Outstanding Teamwork
17	Grass	Gentleness
18	Bees	Teamwork
19	Flock of pigeons	Equanimity
20	Python	Satisfaction
21	Moth	Sacrifice
22	Deer	Discrimination
23	Fish	Detached
24	Daisy	Forbearance
25	Little Bird	Renunciation
26	Crying Baby	Contentment
27	Young Woman	Solitude
28	Arrow maker	Dedication
29	Snake	Adaptability
30	Worm	Self involvement

“What’s the inference from the above, Ravi”? Simple. “Nature is our Acharya”, our forever teacher, across ages. Also every human has the ingredients of ‘Nature’ in our human system. Learn to look  deep into Nature- For starters, do watch Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. Observe keenly.

I sign off happily as ever after this awesome sharing from High school students of PSBB,KKN. The Exhibition held between Oct 28-30, has the material to fill in many of our future blogs. Like the next one, “Disasters are temporal, SO are OUR pains and pleasures”, an extension of ‘Positive aspect of Disasters’ displayed and demonstrated in the Science project related to Environment.

And, if you haven’t received the Three Powerful Diamonds so far, you may receive it from http://gatesandwindows.blogspot.com/2010/09/three-powerful-diamonds.html Ensure that you polish now and then and share with others as well. Then only the ‘Diamond’(s) would remain with you, I swear!

Anbudan

Ravichander Venkatraman