Bumble Bee

There was in this huge forest, a sylvan area which was dotted with bamboo trees swaying in the breeze gently and could be seen as far as the eyes reach nearly touching the sky. Some of the bamboos were soft and green and some hardened through persistent sadhana of being still in the baking sun.

A pond green with the shade of the bamboo forest was home to a variety of lily and lotuses which competed with each other through the sunlit mornings and moonlit nights. The aroma of the flowers was heavenly and even the deer which came to graze stood silently lost in the heavenly aroma and even their ears forgot to twitch. A variety of squirrels zipped up and down through the bamboo trees and there were many small rabbits and foxes which rested under the green umbrella of rich foliage.

The realised ones among those inhabiting this place was of course the bumble bees which constantly was chanting the omkar and their mmmmmmmmmmm filled the space, the wide akasha seems to reverberate this holy chant. The namasmarana the bees do had given them immense strength and they could bore through the toughest of bamboos with their sharp front claws.

But even the hardest could be conquered by Love isn't it? The Hardy bumble bee met its match in the delicate lotus. The aroma of the nectar in the lotuses drew bumble bees from all corners of the forest and they came valiantly boring through the hard bamboos which were stubbornly guarding the sacred pond. They drilled their way through those stout trunks and arrived at the heavenly pond.
The ambrosia in those lotus sent them a silent invite and they glided around and settled on the sweet lotuses to sip its nectar.

The Bees drink the intoxicating nectar, and falls into a stupor, overwhelmed by the elixir. The sun starts setting and the lotuses start to close its petals ever so slowly and the bumble bees which were strong enough to bore a hole through the bamboos offer no resistance and allow to be captured by those tender petals.

The bee is imprisoned in the softness, with no strength to bore through the tender, velvety veil. Just like the bumble bee Let the mind imbibe the nectar of the Name, let it taste the elixir of the Lotus Feet of the Lord, it will be incapacitated, rendered ineffective and incapable of harm. A powerful mind thus anchored in the divine will cause no harm and in fact will become the golden key which opens the doors of realisation.

Krishnamachari Santhanam.