Invocation to Mother Earth

(Last month’s presentation and its preparation)

 The preparation for the Earth Day play began a month before when Kiruthika informed me about the significance of April 22. Her idea was to group the IEP children into two teams and  encourage them to come up with their own plays and variety items during one IEP session.

 Marty and I revealed part of the idea to the children by telling them their "play for the day".  The children were enthusiastic and came up with two different scripts based on Nature. However, the individual pieces put together lacked something.

 I broached the topic with Kiruthika again and she told me about Sudha’s idea to show how man was causing the destruction of nature and how the play could conclude with nature being restored to its lost glory. As I pondered over the idea at home, something clicked and I could see the puzzle pieces falling into place. The ideas of the children could be re-assembled, and joined together to finish on a note of hope.

 The children were told about the importance of Earth Day and our programme in their next IEP session. Marty and I explained the story line with individual characters. Though the children were shy initially to express their thoughts, they soon warmed up  and made the play come alive. The movements of even the youngest, Aravind, who is only five, were precise. They all displayed a good attitude and teamwork.

 Both the children and their parents were supportive of the programme by coming for an extra rehearsal despite the upcoming mid-year examinations. Notwithstanding a few hiccups, the children with Mother’s grace  put on a delightful performance. It was heart warming to see such joy in the audience. And we know children have carried the message somewhere within and it will bear fruit at unexpected times and in untold ways.

Shree Valli 

The Divine "Lila"

 It was one Sunday afternoon. Shree Valli and Marty were reading out the play script to the children, telling them who’s who in the play and how it all was to be enacted. I asked myself, do the children truly appreciate what we say to them? At that time I had no idea of the learning process I would go through myself!

 I noticed a hint of initial apprehension in the children, but once the practice session began they were spontaneous and enacted joyously the role assigned to each. God was happy to be a god, and equally so were the tree, the wind, the bird, the swan, the flower, the rabbit, the deer, the young and the old narrator, the young and the old man. (And a synchronous question rings within: how do we play in real life the many roles assigned to us by the Creator, the life itself? Do we feel the ultimate goal within and if not are we keen to know it?)

 During the practice session, whenever it was possible, the children had their fun and games with ball, gymnastics and playful kicks to each other. Not only did they do what was asked of them, but also a lot more. (There is something in children that lives a spontaneous happiness, just as and there is something in adults that strives for happiness and at times cultivates the same with a rigorous methodical discipline of mind).

 Shree Valli was clear and thorough with her instructions. Marty skillfully demonstrated how to play each role. They discussed the costumes, the gestures, the expression, the rhythm and in short each  aspect of the play.

 The play was performed on Earth day (April 22, 2007) at the Centre and it depicted the chronology of salient events: how God manifested nature, how Nature was at first in joy and harmony, how mankind ruthlessly started to exploit the  natural world, but also realized over the time his mistake. Growing more conscious, he associates himself with nature more empathetically and feels himself to be a part of it and responsible for promoting its growth. (Seeing our mistakes as a learning process, and our growing awareness builds in each of us the hope for an ever brighter future.) We

look at the individual pieces and see the complete whole. Isn’t life fascinating with its colorful amalgam everywhere and in all? May we play our roles skillfully, know in the process their ultimate significance, and so also reach our zenith goal. I will conclude with these words by Sri Aurobindo: 

What we see in and around us is a play of God, a  "Lila"    . It is a scene arranged, a drama played by the One Person with his own multitudinous personalities in his own impersonal existence, - a game, a plan worked out in the vast and plastic substance of his own world-being. He plays with the powers and forces of his Nature a game of emergence from the inconscient Self out of which all here began, through the mixed and imperfect consciousness which is all we have now reached, towards a supreme consciousness, a divine nature.    

Seema

 

The Script 

Narrator:         A long, long time ago, even before the time of dinosaurs, after God had created the Universe with all the planets, stars and the Milky Way, he felt bored.

            ‘Hmm... What shall I do?’ he wondered. ‘What shall I do?’ (pause)

            And then an idea sprang to him. ‘I know what I’ll do!’ he exclaimed, and set about working. He spotted this special planet called Earth for his new experiment.

 Youth:  What was it?

Narrator:         Well, He set about creating nature.

Youth:  Nature? What is Nature?

Narrator          Nature is the sky, the wind, the sun, the rocks, the trees, the bluebird, the swan, the flowers, the rabbit, the deer, the bee...  you, me...

Youth:  And even the rainbow?

Narrator:         Yes, and even the rainbow! He created a domain for everything to play, rest and live. Everyone was equal and had equal rights. Everyone was happy ... until ...

Youth:  Until what?

Narrator:         Until man grew. As man grew, so did his desires. His desire to take from earth more than he had given, his desire to take away the rights of others. Man wanted more space and more control.

Youth:  So what did man do?

Narrator:         He crushed rocks, pulled down trees, burnt forests and replaced them with concrete. Concrete statues, buildings, and even artificial nature. Man thought he was happy with himself while the rest of nature suffered. Animals and birds suffocated in cages. Plants shrank in miniature pots. Jungles could only be seen in movie sets and even the wind could no longer blow freely.

            (God intervenes again)

            But man was not spared of the trouble too. He too faced problems because of his own actions.

Youth:  He who sows the seed must reap the fruit?

Narrator:           Right. Man suffered with earthquakes, droughts, floods, tsunamis and increasing temperature. Man wondered where he went wrong. He wondered and wondered and then he realized that Nature was the answer, the solution to all his problems, The solace he needed to seek.

Youth:  So what did man do?

Narrator:           Man started to help nature grow in all ways possible. He replanted trees and started to conserve nature. However, man could not restore nature completely.

Youth:  But he must!

Narrator:         He must and we must ... restore nature back to its glory!

 The Cast: Aarthi (flower); Ahila (tree); Aravind (rabbit); Deepan (playful man); Jagan (deer); Geetanjali (swan); Kishore (Youth) Meenakshi (serious man); Nandhini (wind); Oviya (bee); Priyadarshini S. (bluebird); Saktivel (God); Vathsala (narrator)