Belief, faith and hope, which order should we follow?
Before I write about these three words which rule us, I want to share with you a truthful tale about the orchids. My dear ones, you all have observed the beauty of the orchid. It flowers and then gives us so much joy with its beauty. They are mono symmetrical; this means that both halves of the flower mirror each other. The orchid flower is thief, liar and cheat.
Do not be shocked by my rude words. They trick their pollinators into pollinating them and stick their pollinarium onto the animal without rewarding it for the visit. Some orchids look very similar to other flowers, so the pollinator cannot tell the difference. Other’s resemble female insects and smell like them and trick the male insect into pollinating them. Alas it is too late for the male insect to realize its error. Its hopes are dashed. One appreciates the orchid as it lasts so long in the pot and yet we pluck them and stick them in our food, our hair or as a corsage. In defense of this clever plant and its flower, why do we pluck it, why can we not admire it in the pot or on the tree.
Now I come to the belief that is has been created for us to appreciate it, covet it and vandalize it by plucking it. And we can also eat some of them. The orchid has the belief that it will be pollinated and faith in its capacity that it will be admired and hope that it will not be plucked or eaten. It is my hope that it should not be cut for a flower arrangement or corsage. It will continue to flower and my faith in mankind is that they would let it remain on the plant. Not much to ask for. Gift a pot of flowering orchid and not a bouquet.
Divinity within all of us
Hinduism believes that the universe belongs to the Divine Power and that each person is intrinsically divine and the purpose of life is to seek and realize the divinity within all of us. The orchid is a creation of the divine.
Having faith means one maintains trust in God, scriptures, dharma and the path of liberation. The Bridranyaka Upanishad (3.9.21) states that the trusting ground of faith is the heart, emphasizing that to have faith is to follow one’s heart and intuition. Faith in context of religion is belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion. Follow your heart and intuition, if you pluck or eat an orchid, you may be reborn as a ——-. I leave it that.
Hope in the vedic philosophy is described as the correct performance of ritual sacrifices (yajna) for exhaustion of karmas. Hope is also linked with the concepts of desire and wish. These sacrifices offered a sense of optimism and hope. However, the aim of hope is to live a pure life in order to help the individual to incarnate into a higher being. Hope resides like a flame in one’s heart and let us hope the orchid.
Why have I written about the orchid, only because someone once plucked all the orchids from a potted plant.
It is essential for us to have belief, faith and hope.
Aim Hrim Klim
Photo by John Wiesenfeld on Unsplash