Part II: Inner Steadiness

Ram

Have you ever felt that one more message… one more demand… and you'll just overflow?… Arre, relax. Today, nature shows us how to stay steady.

Ram

Namaste dosto! Welcome back to Hey Nature. I'm Ram. Today we open Part two of the book. Hey Nature: 100 Gurus Hiding in Plain Sight. By SuRa Mukkavilli. Part two is Inner Steadiness. Staying calm, letting go, setting limits. And Priya is back with me. Priya!

Priya

Hello, Ram. This Part is close to my heart. Fifteen lessons. All about keeping your balance when life keeps pushing.

Ram

Fifteen! Okay. Last time, you promised me the sea.

Priya

I did. So picture this. You stand where a river meets the sea. Brown water pushes into blue. Day and night. It never stops.

Ram

Every river, every day?

Priya

Every river, from every land. All the time. And yet… the sea does not rise. Not after a week. Not after a year.

Ram

Wait. How? Where does it all go?

Priya

Up. The sun lifts water into the sky. The wind carries it inland. It falls as rain. And the rain feeds the rivers again.

Ram

The water cycle! We studied this in school, yaar.

Priya

We all did. But here's what school didn't tell us. The sea doesn't stay calm by refusing what comes in. It stays calm because something leaves. Every single day.

Ram

Hmm. And we only take in.

Priya

Messages. Demands. Other people's moods. The news. We take it all in. And we let nothing go.

Ram

No wonder we overflow.

Priya

Calm is not keeping things out. It's letting things pass through.

Ram

Okay, that one landed. What's next?

Priya

A bird. A black kite, high above a river. It swoops down… and comes up with a fish.

Ram

Lunch!

Priya

Not so fast. Within seconds, other kites are on it. Diving. Chasing. Screaming.

Ram

Poor fellow. What does he do?

Priya

He drops the fish. And just like that… they leave him alone.

Ram

Really? Just like that?

Priya

Just like that. Scientists even have a name for this food stealing. Kleptoparasitism.

Ram

Klepto… what? Say that again, slowly.

Priya

Klepto… parasitism. The idea is simple. The bird carrying the food becomes the target. Once it lets go, there's nothing left to chase.

Ram

Wait. Isn't this in the Bhagavatam?

Priya

It is. The Avadhoota learned from this very picture. A bird that drops its meat is left in peace.

Ram

So at work, when everyone is chasing me…

Priya

Ask two questions. Is this worth the fight? And are they against me… or just after what I'm holding?

Ram

Oof. I'm asking that in my next meeting.

Ram

Okay, Priya. Calm, done. Letting go, done. But setting limits? I'm terrible at saying no.

Priya

Then you need the neem tree. Picture a village courtyard. An old neem, green and full. The plants around it have holes in their leaves. The neem's leaves are whole.

Ram

The insects skip it?

Priya

Most do. Neem is full of bitter natural chemicals. The best known is azadirachtin. An insect takes one bite… tastes the bitterness… and stops. It even upsets their growth.

Ram

So the bitterness is… protection.

Priya

Exactly. We're told to always be sweet. Always agree. Never say no. But a firm no, a clear boundary, is sometimes what keeps us whole.

Ram

Some bitterness is not unkindness.

Priya

It's protection. And Ram, where else do we taste neem?

Ram

Ugadi! Ugadi pachadi! My amma makes it every year.

Priya

One spoon. Neem flowers, jaggery, tamarind, raw mango, salt and chilli. Bitter, sweet, sour, salty, spicy. All together.

Ram

And we eat it before anything else that morning.

Priya

Because the year will bring all those tastes. So we begin by tasting all of them. Every year has some neem in it.

Ram

Wah. The first spoon of the year is honest.

Ram

Okay, quiz time. Go easy on me this time.

Priya

No promises. What's inside a camel's hump?

Ram

Water. Everyone knows that.

Priya

Wrong! It's fat. That's one of the most common animal myths. When food is plenty, the camel stores fat in its hump. When the desert gives nothing, it lives on that store. And the hump slowly shrinks.

Ram

So the hump is… savings.

Priya

The hump is not luggage. It's a plan. Next. Why does a peepal leaf have that long, thin tail?

Ram

For… style?

Priya

For the rain. It's called a drip tip. Drops slide down and fall off the tip. So the leaf dries fast, and mould can't settle in. Let small things roll off you. Like rain off a peepal leaf.

Ram

Last one.

Priya

A hermit crab outgrows its shell. Does it pick the biggest shell it can find?

Ram

Bigger house, better life?

Priya

No! A shell that's too heavy slows it down and wears it out. So it looks for one that fits. Choose the shell that lets you move.

Ram

Arre, that's my car loan you're talking about.

Ram

What else is in Part two?

Priya

A sky that keeps no scar from any storm. A mangrove that lives in salt water without drinking it. A peacock that drops its best feathers every year. And a palm tree with just one bud it must never lose.

Ram

Okay, I need to read those. So Priya, sum up Part two for me.

Priya

Let things pass through, like the sea. Drop what isn't worth the fight. Keep a little neem for your boundaries. And carry only what fits.

Ram

Nice. But how do these stories actually make us steadier?

Priya

Steadiness isn't about being hard. It's about flow. The sea lets water leave. The kite lets go of the fish. The neem says no, without saying sorry. The camel saves. The peepal sheds. Each one stays steady by choosing what to keep… and what to release. Calm is not something you have. It's something you choose. Every day.

Ram

And one thing to try today?

Priya

Before you sleep tonight, write down three things from today you're ready to let go of. Then let them rise. Like water from the sea.

Ram

Love it. Next time, Part three. Right Time. Waiting, resting, knowing when to act.

Priya

We'll start with a kingfisher. It sits still for a long, long time. Then one clean dive. How long can you wait… for the right moment?

Ram

Thank you, Priya. And thank you, dosto, for listening. All fifteen lessons of Part two are at heynature.in. Till then… stay level. Your next teacher is closer than you think.