IN THE MASTER'S GARDEN
By
-Daniel-
©
Though we be apart,
we are but a heartbeat away.
I have come to share a Truth
upon this blessed day.
Forty years did I walk within the Master's garden as a disciple,
yearning to touch the secret of Eternal Life.
And often it was that I followed in his shadow,
seeking to gain of his wisdom;
but always were his words, spoken unto me, the same:
"If you would know the secret of Eternal Life,
study then within this garden.
Listen unto the wisdom of the babbling brook.
Learn of the dreams, cherished by the wind.
Hold counsel with the trees and rejoice in the flower's bloom.
Quietly accept all that exists within this sacred place and seek
not to solve the unanswerable questions of the mind,
but simply come to know the Causeless Cause."
And so the Master left me unto myself within his garden,
that I might come face to face with my own Enlightenment.
Season after season passed before my eyes as I sat in solitude
beside the tiny brook or as I silently walked, hand in hand,
with the wind.
I learned to quiet the mind and listen to the sage advice of
the trees and I felt the joy freely given by the flowers,
as they bloomed for all to see;
but still buried deep within my own yearning,
lived the desire to touch the Sacred Flame of Eternal Life,
to satisfy the need to simply know.
And as I sat beside the flowering fuchsia with its leafy
branches extending skyward, beyond my reach
and its delicate flowers providing the sweet nectar that
the bees and hummingbirds craved,
I heard the fuchsia cry out to me...
'Help me, old friend, for I am sick nigh unto death.
Do not let me die in vain, take from me seven branches
and show them to the Master...
...for he will know.'
It was in that moment that fear seized my heart,
for I had dearly loved this fuchsia from my first day in the garden.
With trembling hands, did I pluck the seven branches from my
flowered friend and off I ran in search of the Master,
and when I found him and showed to him the seven cuttings...
...he knew.
I beseeched him to come with me and to save the life of my friend,
so together we went back to the spot in the garden that was
home to the fuchsia, but it was too late...
...my beloved one was gone,
leaving only dried and rotted twigs in its stead.
In grief did I fall to my knees, clutching the only remembrance
left to me and the Master knelt as well, blessing the cuttings;
and together we planted them in the soil stained by my own tears.
And then the Master quietly said unto me:
"In three days shall you come back to this very spot in the
garden
and you will find that for which you have searched all these
years...
...and then you will know."
For a time, I dwelled in faithlessness and I could not bring
myself to visit the Master's garden.
I was filled with anguish, pain and untold sorrow,
but upon the third morning, I did as the Master had instructed
and I came face to face with my own Enlightenment.
There again was my beloved fuchsia, sprouting forth new leaves
from the seven branches and new flowers were beginning to
bud and to bloom.
Through the tears of joy, welling up in my eyes,
did I behold the Sacred Flame of Eternal Life,
and as I caressed its tender leaves...
I knew...
...there is no death.