Browse Free Spiritual Event Listings For: Nature Stories https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/tag/nature-stories/ Free Mon, 07 Feb 2022 17:15:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/cropped-fsge-logo-32x32.png Browse Free Spiritual Event Listings For: Nature Stories https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/tag/nature-stories/ 32 32 Subtle Essence – A Hindu Spiritual Story by Osho https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/osho-subtle-essence-hindu-spiritual-story/ Sat, 04 Sep 2021 15:16:06 +0000 https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/?p=14325 Let me tell you another story, again from the Chhandogya Upanishad. “Fetch me from a fruit of the nyagrodh tree,” asked the father, the great sage Uddalak, to his son. “Here is one, sir,” said Svetaketu. “Break it.” “It is broken, sir.” “What do you see there?” “These seeds, almost infinitesimal.” “Break one of them.” “It is broken, sir.” “What do you see?” “Nothing, sir. Absolutely nothing.” The father said, “My son, that subtle essence which you do not perceive there, of that very essence this great nyagrodh tree exists. Believe it, my son, that there is the subtle essence in that all things have existence. That is the truth. That is the self. And that, Svetaketu, that art thou — tatvamasi, Svetaketu.” The nyagrodh tree, a big tree. The father asks for a fruit; Svetaketu brings it. Fruit is vaikhari — the thing has flowered, fruition has happened. Fruit is the most peripheral thing, absolutely manifested. The father says, “Break it.” Svetaketu breaks it — millions of seeds. The father says, “Choose one seed. Break it also.” He breaks that seed also. Now there is nothing in hand. Now inside the seed there is nothing. Uddalak says, “Out of this nothingness comes the seed. Out of the seed comes the tree. Out of the tree comes the fruit. But the basis is nothingness, the silence, the space, the formless, the unmanifest, the beyond, the transcendental.” Osho: Yoga – Alpha and the Omega

The post Subtle Essence – A Hindu Spiritual Story by Osho appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

]]>
Let me tell you another story, again from the Chhandogya Upanishad.

“Fetch me from a fruit of the nyagrodh tree,” asked the father, the great sage Uddalak, to his son.

“Here is one, sir,” said Svetaketu.

“Break it.”

“It is broken, sir.”

“What do you see there?”

“These seeds, almost infinitesimal.” “Break one of them.”

“It is broken, sir.”

“What do you see?”

“Nothing, sir. Absolutely nothing.”

The father said, “My son, that subtle essence which you do not perceive there, of that very essence this great nyagrodh tree exists. Believe it, my son, that there is the subtle essence in that all things have existence. That is the truth. That is the self. And that, Svetaketu, that art thou — tatvamasi, Svetaketu.”

The nyagrodh tree, a big tree. The father asks for a fruit; Svetaketu brings it. Fruit is vaikhari — the thing has flowered, fruition has happened. Fruit is the most peripheral thing, absolutely manifested. The father says, “Break it.” Svetaketu breaks it — millions of seeds. The father says, “Choose one seed. Break it also.” He breaks that seed also. Now there is nothing in hand. Now inside the seed there is nothing. Uddalak says, “Out of this nothingness comes the seed. Out of the seed comes the tree. Out of the tree comes the fruit. But the basis is nothingness, the silence, the space, the formless, the unmanifest, the beyond, the transcendental.”

Osho: Yoga – Alpha and the Omega

The post Subtle Essence – A Hindu Spiritual Story by Osho appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

]]>
Reincarnation of a Raindrop https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/spiritual-short-story-575-reincarnation-of-a-raindrop/ https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/spiritual-short-story-575-reincarnation-of-a-raindrop/#respond Sun, 19 Feb 2017 02:47:28 +0000 http://www.spiritual-short-stories.com/spiritual-short-story-575-reincarnation-of-a-raindrop/ The essence of the raindrop was in a transitory vibration of flux as it hovered in another dimension. Again it had been called home by the enticing warmth of the Sun. It was remembering past existences as a raindrop and enjoying the feelings that he felt through each one.

Those experiences represented a millions of raindrop existences to remember over eons of time. However, those experiences...

The post Reincarnation of a Raindrop appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

]]>
The essence of the raindrop was in a transitory vibration of flux as it hovered in another dimension. Again it had been called home by the enticing warmth of the Sun. It was remembering past existences as a raindrop and enjoying the feelings that he felt through each one. Those experiences represented a millions of raindrop existences to remember over eons of time. However, those experiences came to him easily and seemed to last no time at all.

The ebb and flow of each existence was both smooth and turbulent but filled with a power that was exhilarating and wonderful. Its co-existence with all of Nature, including plants, trees, animals, fish, soil and rocks, was so natural. Its very vibration increased and lightened as it continued to recall until he got to the point in the recollection of a new part of Nature called a human. Its vibration slowed and became heavier.

I see that you have reached that point of remembering again, said a large, hovering vibration that was just above him.

Excuse me, the raindrop said. Who are you?

I am your Guardian Essence that watches over you and helps you through this transitory state, replied the vibration.

You have reached the human episodes of your existences. I can tell by your vibration.
How are you dealing with it? the Guardian added.

It confuses me, started the raindrop. For many lifetimes in the beginning of humans in Nature, they seemed to be a part of that very Nature. They showed respect to the animals, plants and all living things and even rejoiced in my coming back to Earth to be among them. Even today, there are those humans that exist that same way”at one with Nature. But for the most part, there is a lack of respect for any of us in Nature by the human.

What do you mean? asked the Guardian.

Well when I am flowing so freely with the other raindrops and we are feeling so exhilarated and so full of the power of existence, they curse us and call us floods and disasters. They throw alien things into us so that our vibrations of energy are so slowed and anemic that we can barely sustain the fish, animals, plants and even many of the humans that need us for nourishment.

And there are cases where the human has made us and the soil poison to all living things. This would sometimes happen in Nature even before the human, but not anywhere near as flagrantly as by the humans. There are times now that when I fall from the clouds that I am already tainted by the effects of the humans before I even reach the ground.

Yes, said the Guardian, this has been noted.

I am not the only one who experiences their thoughtlessness and sometimes downright maliciousness, added the raindrop.

As soon as he said that, the raindrop and the Guardian were surrounded by a myriad of vibrating essences.

Yes, we, too, have been affected as the raindrop has said, spoke up a member of the mammal essences. Us too, added a member of the plant essences. We have all lost family, home, space and dignity to the human way of life. Some of it is how it should be in the Nature of things but so much of it is not, as the raindrop has said. The insect essences and then all areas of the fish, reptile and bird essences chimed in as well.

We have been forced to live in the cities among them, a Coyote essence snapped. And so have many of us, chanted a throng of raccoon, squirrel, rabbits, and other specie essences. We have no other place to hunt, growled a Puma essence. We have to eat their so-called pets and sometimes we even have to hunt humans to survive. We find that we are no longer appreciated as a part of Nature but as something that should be eliminated. This is not true of all humans, as raindrop said, but of so, so many. They seem to outweigh the ones who do care.

Representatives of specie after specie related similar accounts of how they felt about the negative role of the human in Nature. Then one very old essence who said that it represented an assortment of species, spoke up. I have lived countless lifetimes as various species as have many of those who have spoken before me. Another very disturbing fact is that there are those species that we can never experience in life again. They have become extinct, thanks to the humans' encroachment and willful destruction either through their own selfish need, greed or downright apathy. We are beginning to feel out of sync with the ebb and flow.

And what do you suggest? asked the Guardian.

We have a proposal, answered the raindrop essence.

I'm listening, remarked the Guardian.

No matter how many of us it takes, we would like to combine our energies and return to Earth as a human. Maybe, we, as a human, can be instrumental in helping the other humans see what we experience and be instrumental in somehow restoring a balance in Nature.

Do you think that one human alone can accomplish this monumental task single handedly? questioned the Guardian.

Perhaps not, but it would be a start. We can join with other humans who feel the same way. Besides we want to learn what it means to be human and what they see their place in Nature to be. Then, when we return to the transitory state again, after being human, we can share that with the rest of the species in transition.

A most enterprising proposal, my little raindrop. As you know, anything is possible in the Universe. So I will grant you that request and will gather, from all of you, the energy it will require for that particular incarnation, stated the Guardian. By the way, is their anything in particular, other than what you have told me, you want to learn from this human experiment?

The raindrop brightened his vibration and hummed at a higher frequency.

Oh yes, replied the raindrop excitedly. We have all picked up vibrations of the humans while we are in our transitions and they are in their transitions as well. It seeps into our essences and it's a strange sense that we get from them. There appears to be a common theme that runs through all their past existences and it seems to be the mantra of the humans. Whatever it is, we don't have any experience with it. It's not compatible with the ebb and flow that we know to be the way of Nature. And it seems so profound that we must know what it truly means. We must experience it too.

And what is that one thing that you hope to learn from this experience as a human? asked the guardian

It sounds so simple, but seems to be so important to them when they go over their past lives. It seems to rule their lives in some way, answered the raindrop.

And what is that, my raindrop? queried the Guardian.

To Err.

This spiritual story was written by Bruce Bevens.

The post Reincarnation of a Raindrop appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

]]>
https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/spiritual-short-story-575-reincarnation-of-a-raindrop/feed/ 0
Is That So? https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/spiritual-short-story-103-is-that-so/ https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/spiritual-short-story-103-is-that-so/#respond Sun, 19 Feb 2017 02:46:01 +0000 http://www.spiritual-short-stories.com/spiritual-short-story-103-is-that-so/ The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbours as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parent went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

The post Is That So? appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

]]>
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbours as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parent went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbours and everything else he needed.

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back.

Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”

The author of this spiritual story is unknown and greatly appreciated. If you know who wrote this, or can provide a source that I can cite then please contact me and let me know!

Also, if you decide to reprint this story on your website, you do not need to include this author biography box… please just link back to http://www.Spiritual-Short-Stories.com

The post Is That So? appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

]]>
https://spiritualgrowthevents.com/spiritual-short-story-103-is-that-so/feed/ 0