He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom... it died.
So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects.
We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them.
This is one of the characteristic of love... to look at a person, know their true faults and accepting that person into your life... all the while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the "rose" within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.
4 comments to The Rose Within
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Unknown Hi Nisha
Lovely to hear from you, dear girl! Hope that you have settled down and making milestones in your career and blessing those with whom you come into contact.
Glad you love this post. I do too. I love its simplicity, value and relevance to our challenging situations. There is always some beauty if we can to look to see what lies beneath.
Do take care and please keep in touch! God bless you always!!
Warmest wishes
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Anonymous When is a rose not a rose ?
When is a thorn not a thorn ?
All the time !
The only reality we know is founded on our 5 physical senses and the 6th sense of the mind. The mind frames and place in context all our sense and memory input. This is the only reality we will know or capable of knowing.
The rose can never be the rose because in our mind a rose is something beautiful - a quality that the mind had projected onto the rose. Likewise the thorn. The thorn is considered as something that is harmful and ugly by us. While all these are used metaphorically the projection is a fabrication of the mind. The rose is neither beautiful nor not-beautiful.It's just as it is.
Maybe a child can help us explore our basic reality. This story is taken from the upanishad.
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A great sage Uddalaka was asked by his son, Svetketu, "Father, who am I ? What is it that exists in me ? I try and try , I meditate and meditate, but I cannot find it."
"You go there, yonder, where you see the nigrot tree and you bring a fruit from it", Uddalaka asked.
The child ran and brought a small fruit from the nigrot tree.
The father said, "Now you cut it. What do you see inside ?"
The child said, "Millions of small seeds."
The father said, "Now you choose one seed and cut that seed. Now what do you see in it ?"
The child replied,"nothingness."
The father said, "Out of that nothingness arises this big tree."
The boy meditated on this nothingness and an insight arose that unless you discern this nothingness you will never attain to authentic truth.
He continued meditating and he became very silent. Speaking only when necessary. Then a doubt arose. He told his father,"I can feel, but things are still not very clear, they are vague, as if a mist surrounds everything. I can see that out of nothingness everything is born, but how does nothingness mix with thingness? That's ridiculous, illogical and paradoxical."
The father said, "You go and bring a cup of water." The boy fetched a cup of water. Then the father said, "Now you go and bring a little sugar and mix the two."
The sugar dissolved into the water and the father said, "Now can you separate the sugar from the water ?"
"That's not possible - I can't even see the sugar. Where has the sugar gone ?" the boy retorted.
The father said, "you try." The boy looked and looked but could not see. The father smiled and said "now taste it."
The boy suddenly realised that life is inseparable. Good and bad, right and wrong are all fabrications of the mind but in truth all of life is one indivisible whole.
How can we separate the thorns from the rose ?
Realising this bring about abiding peace and we would stop trying to help others find what we ourselves could not find ;-).
There are similar stories in buddhism. Why didn't I used that ? Maybe I want to become a hindu ;-).
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Unknown Dear Anon # 3
WOW!!! Thank you so much for such an awesome comment - very beautiful, meaningful and inspiring! I appreciate your willingness to share and to breathe wisdom into our lives!
Take care and do keep in touch.
Have a blessed life!! May you continue to bless us with your comments.
Stay in touch, please!
Cheers
ndhaniya I love this. Simple, to the point, but so true. It's something I try hard to remember, but even then it isn't always the easiest thing to put up with others' faults and idiosyncracies despite knowing there is much good to be found. I hope other people are able to find the same patience when dealing with me too.