frangipani leaves

Here in Auroville, in the south of India, there are many frangipani trees. If I remember correctly, I have talked about frangipani flowers before, but at this time of year there are no flowers on the trees. Many of them are completely bare: no leaves and no flowers. But some of them I notice, are growing leaves – not as many leaves as most trees – but as frangipani trees go, they have plenty of leaves: rich, lush, deep green leaves, but still no flowers. And looking at these trees with a few leaves, they seem beautiful.

The leaves are a gift in themselves. And it would be sad not to feel a gratitude for these leaves. And yet at the same time as I appreciate the beauty of these leaves, I also know, deep down, that they are a preparation. The ground is being laid for something even more amazing to come. For within a short time, just a few weeks, these trees will be covered in flowers. The leaves are building up the energy for that, for a time to come when the tree is pouring itself into its flowers. And when that great flowering happens, it's as if the leaves will have been forgotten: forgotten by the tree and unnoticed by the rest of us, for those flowers are intoxicating. Their fragrance is unmatched, unparalleled in the whole of the living kingdom. For now, though it is the leaves that are to be appreciated, in their own right, for their own beauty, but also for this groundwork that they are doing, preparing the way, creating energy for those flowers that are yet to come.

And so it is when we are treading our spiritual journey, perhaps still in the early stages. Gifts will be coming to us, just as these leaves have come to the frangipani trees. And we should be in deep gratitude for those early gifts. But we should not rest there. We should listen to that still small voice within that is saying there is more to come. This is the early stage. This is the preparation. This is the building up of energy for the great transformation, for that day when we too, like the frangipani trees, burst forth in flower and share our deepest innermost fragrance with existence. And that fragrance, that flowering, is nothing but the taste of existence itself, our essence, that which is common to us all, the thread that runs through the whole of existence. That is our destiny. And the leaves that we grow along the way are but steps towards that great flowering, the flowering of our spirit.