Part IX: Seeing the Gift

Ram

What have you received… without ever earning it? Arre, think about it. Today, nature shows us the gifts we stand on.

Ram

Namaste dosto! Welcome back to Hey Nature. I'm Ram. Today we open Part nine of the book. Hey Nature: 100 Gurus Hiding in Plain Sight. By SuRa Mukkavilli. Part nine is the last one. Seeing the Gift. Noticing the help we stand on. And Priya is with me. Priya!

Priya

Hello, Ram. Ten lessons in this Part. Ten gifts we use every day. And almost never notice.

Ram

Ten gifts. Okay. You promised me rain on two fields.

Priya

Two fields, side by side. One farmer worked hard on his. The other field was left untended this year.

Ram

So the hard worker gets more rain. Fair is fair.

Priya

The clouds come. And the rain falls on both. Exactly the same.

Ram

Hmm. That doesn't feel fair.

Priya

Rain does not choose. It falls on every field under the cloud. Tended or not.

Ram

So the lazy farmer gets lucky.

Priya

We all do. Air. Rain. Sunlight. Much of what keeps us alive arrives this way. Given to everyone. Earned by no one.

Ram

And here I was, proud of everything I've earned.

Priya

We are proud of what we earned. We forget how much we were simply given. Gratitude begins when we notice the rain.

Ram

Okay. Next gift?

Priya

After rain, a farmer picks up a handful of soil. Dark. Crumbly. Full of tiny tunnels. And an earthworm wriggles and slips away.

Ram

Eww. Sorry, worm.

Priya

Don't be sorry. Be grateful! Earthworms eat dead leaves and soil, and leave behind rich castings.

Ram

Castings?

Priya

Worm droppings. Very good for soil. And their tunnels let air and water in. Over the years, they turn and enrich the soil our crops grow in.

Ram

So the worm is a ploughman. Working underground.

Priya

The hidden ploughman. Charles Darwin's last book, in 1881, was about earthworms.

Ram

Darwin? On worms? Wow.

Priya

Every harvest rests on hidden work. We praise the farmer and the crop. Rarely the worm.

Ram

Like our office IT guy. Nothing works without him. And nobody thanks him.

Priya

Then thank him. Thank the worm for the harvest.

Ram

Okay, Priya. The last story of the last Part.

Priya

It's an old story, from the Bhagavata Purana. And we tell it as a story, not as science.

Ram

I love a story. Go.

Priya

The Earth holds back her food. People go hungry. King Prithu is angry. He picks up his bow.

Ram

He's going to fight the Earth?

Priya

He means to force her. So the Earth takes the form of a cow. And runs.

Ram

And he chases her.

Priya

He does. Then she stops, and speaks. She tells him why she held back. And she tells him how to ask.

Ram

How to ask? What did she say?

Priya

Bring a calf. A milker. And a vessel. Prithu listens. He does it. And she gives every grain and herb.

Ram

So force got him nothing. Care got him everything.

Priya

That's the lesson. Today, we often take from the Earth by force. The old story suggests another way. Ask with care. And the Earth gives.

Ram

Okay, quiz time. Three quick ones.

Priya

Ready? Monsoon clouds roll in from the sea and hit the Western Ghats. What happens?

Ram

They just… stop?

Priya

They rise! The mountain pushes the air up. As it rises, it cools. And the water falls as rain. That's why so many rivers begin in mountains.

Ram

So the mountain catches the cloud…

Priya

And gives the river. It doesn't keep what it catches. Catch the cloud. Give the river.

Ram

Nice. Next.

Priya

The turmeric in your kitchen. Where did its seed come from?

Ram

A turmeric seed?

Priya

Trick question! Cultivated turmeric almost never makes seed that grows. Farmers plant a piece of the root of an older plant. So your turmeric has come down, piece by piece, from plants grown long ago.

Ram

Like my amma's recipes. Passed down. Never written.

Priya

Exactly. Some gifts can only be passed on. Plant a piece of what you were given.

Priya

Last one. A huge forest tree has big, hard fruit. Few animals can swallow it. So who plants its seeds?

Ram

Monkeys?

Priya

Elephants! They eat the fruit and walk long distances. The seeds come out in their dung, far from the parent tree. One study calls elephants the megagardeners of the forest.

Ram

Megagardeners. So the shade I sit in…

Priya

Someone walked far, long ago, to plant it. Thank the elephant for the shade.

Ram

What else is in Part nine?

Priya

Rain on a green hill, that began in a faraway sea. The soil, turning endings into beginnings. Young trees growing on a fallen nurse log. And the uttareni, the chaff flower, whose spiky seeds hitch a ride on your socks.

Ram

Ah, those spiky seeds! Okay. Priya, sum up Part nine for me.

Priya

Notice the rain that falls on everyone. Thank the hidden workers, like the worm. Pass on what you catch, like the mountain. And ask the Earth with care.

Ram

Nice. But how do these stories actually help us?

Priya

They help us see. The help we stand on is everywhere. Rain from a faraway sea. Soil made by worms. Shade planted by an elephant. A recipe from a grandmother. When we see the gift, pride gets smaller. Gratitude gets bigger. And a grateful person wants to give back.

Ram

And one thing to try today?

Priya

Write down three things you received today without earning them. Just three. And notice how you feel.

Ram

Priya, that was the last Part. Nine Parts. A hundred gurus.

Priya

A hundred gurus, hiding in plain sight. Thank you for walking with us, dosto. Go outside. Look again. Your teacher is waiting.

Ram

Thank you, Priya. And thank you, dosto, for listening to all nine Parts. All ten lessons of Part nine are at heynature.in. Till then… the rain fell on us both. Your next teacher is closer than you think.