When I visited Buddha Gaya I had the privilege to see the great Bodhi tree. This is a place of pilgrimage and people from all over the world come to pay their respects to this sacred tree. Among the many visitors present there were Prince and Princess of Nepal, they bowed at the tree with great reverence every now and then. There were Lamas from Tibetan monasteries. I learnt that one of them had observed silence for a number of years. Strange enough, even such a holy person had come to pay his respects to the Bodhi tree.
Another great tree, which has influenced my life, is the tree in Nurela Mountains in Sri Lanka. I visited the ‘Ashoka Ban’ where Sita had been kept in captivity by the demon King Ravana. It is here in Ashokaban, that Sita spent her days in prayers, austerity and tapasya/penance. After I spent some time in Ashokaban I asked myself, what do these trees teach us? Every tree speaks:
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