More than Meets the Eye

First of all I offer my unlimited pranamas to my Guru Maharaja, Sri Sripad Bhaktivedanta Damodara Maharaja in hopes that I can post something of value.

Today Lalita Priya dasi from California and I went on Vrindavan parikrama together. We had a theme during parikrama - to walk around as many trees as possible. For those new to the concept of parikrama, let me explain. Parikrama marga (path) is essentially a loop around Vrindavan Dham. The idea is to circumambulate the entire Dham. It is not only auspicious to circle the Dham itself, but also the residents, temples, people, animal and plants, which are all included.    
     Lalita Priya and I made it a point to walk around nearly every tree we encountered to reap the benefits of including it in our loop. By paying attention to the trees, we discovered many new sights. It is kind of like when someone we know gets a new car - maybe a type we never heard of before - all of a sudden we see that make and model everywhere we look. So even though we have done many parikramas in the past, so many trees became apparent that never stood out (to us) before.
     What became quickly evident was that when the residents of
the Dham build roadways, fences, houses or other structures, the trees do not get chopped down. Instead they get incoporated into the structure or else they simply build around the tree (see pics).What a beautiful lesson! Why is this so prevalent here? Probably because to be a true Vrajavasi means to realize that all beings have souls. Especially here in the Dham, souls are very advanced. In other words they have a very advanced or pure consciousness (Krishna consciousness). This holds true for even the grass, trees, plants, animals, what to speak of the people. So people are careful not to walk on grass, what to speak of chop down a tree.
     Here are two quotes I would like to share:

Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes in his commentary on the Srimad Bhagavatam (6.16.43), "...such civilized men do not discriminate between trees, animals, human beings and other living entities. panditah sama-darsinah: [Bg.  

5.18] because they are completely educated in Krishna consciousness, they see all living beings equally. Äryans do not kill even a small plant unnecessarily, not to speak of cutting trees for sense gratification. At the present moment, throughout the world, killing is prominent. Men are killing trees, they are killing animals, and they are killing other human beings also, all for sense gratification. This is not an Äryan civilization. As stated here, sthira-cara-sattva-kadambesv aprthag-dhiyah. The word    aprthag-dhiyah indicates that Äryans do not distinguish between lower and higher grades of life. All life should be protected. All living beings have a right to live, even the trees and plants."

This quote is from Bhakti-rasayana, Chapter 5: "In appearance the trees and creepers of Vrindavan seem to be ordinary, but upon seeing Krishna they became overwhelmed in bhava. With great joy they offered pranama to the feet of Krishna by offering their fruits and flowers, and they shed tears of love in the form of streams of honey. Even the plants and trees of this world have feelings; like us they are conscious. They are not able to express their feelings in words, but they can express them. Especially the trees and creepers of Vrindavan are all visuddha-sattva, meaning that they are superior to those of us situated in mixed goodness. So what won’t they understand? They can understand and experience everything. Therefore by offering their fruits and flowers in ecstatic rapture, they offered pranama to Krishna."