Nature's Beauty - A Trove of Tiny Treasures
Agnes Montano
“...life is made up of many such small things. If these small things were ignored life would be not only unbeautiful but unspiritual.”
By Agnes Montano
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
Anyone who visits Meher Mount, for the first time or as a returning visitor, is immediately struck with the obvious: the serene beauty of this land sanctified by Avatar Meher Baba’s physical presence in 1956.
The 172 acres of Meher Mount are accentuated by the mix of animals and plants it shelters: from majestic hawks that soar in the sky, to the hummingbirds that fill the air with the hum from the vibration of their wings, to the bees that buzz as they busily work for their quest for nectar, to the gentle deer that graze in the meadow accentuated by California wildflowers and the soft scent of wild sage.
Spectacular sunrises announce that Meher Baba is gifting us a new day. Breathtaking sunsets, accompanied shortly by the hoot of owls, announce that it is time to call it a day.
And then, of course, there’s the star of it all, Baba’s Tree, coming back strong after the Thomas Fire in 2017 — a refuge of comfort for the soul.
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
My husband Juan Mendez and I arrived at Meher Mount on August 5, 2020, to serve as temporary caretakers after a six-week shift by Robert Turnage and Kristina Somma.
Since day one we have felt blessed by the opportunity to help keep Meher Mount open during these trying times when there’s much need for a respite from the stress and anxiety many are enduring due to COVID-19.
Living here day-to-day, we’ve been touched by the steady flow of visitors, especially new arrivals, coming to Meher Mount to seek comfort.
A Trove of Tiny Treasures
As we go about our daily chores on those days when Meher Mount is closed to visitors, I have discovered that amidst all of Meher Mount’s grandeur there’s also a trove of tiny treasures that also remind us of Meher Baba’s message to love God through nature.
With my macro camera lens in hand, I got up close and personal with some of the small organisms that adorn Meher Mount, but are mostly overlooked. I found not only a micro world of beauty, but also one from which you can draw inspiration.
For instance, how can you not think of perfection and tenacity when you see the delicate web spun by the funnel-web spider around its burrow for protection?
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
Then, not far away, California dandelions are like festive fireworks exploding in their celebration of nature.
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
A fallen leaf on Baba’s Walkway reminds me of the path of love that Meher Baba offers us.
THE STONES of Baba’s Walkway at Meher Mount are accented by the leaf from a Coast Live Oak. (Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
An isolated acorn on the ground speaks to me volumes of our individual potential for growth.
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
Nearby, calming lavender flowers gleefully sway as the wind rustles through them. Amidst the dry grass wildflowers, barely visible to the eye pop up inviting you to smile at their splendor.
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
At Baba’s Tree, the delicate lichen growing on the surface of its burnt branches — one of the first organisms that appear after a fire — let us know that the air quality at Meher Mount is clean and ideal so that the new growth on Baba’s Tree can thrive.
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
And then a close look at the inner, charred bark of one of the fallen pieces from Baba’s Tree reveals the intricate pattern of the system that distributes nutrients in the tree. Arborist Michael Inaba taught me that this is the phloem, a tree’s vascular system not visible unless you see the inner side of a tree’s bark.
Isn’t that what Meher Baba says about our spiritual journey when He tells us to turn inwardly if we want to see what is infinite and vital?
THE BURNED INNER WOOD of Baba’s Tree at Meher Mount. (Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
Expressing Love in Little Things
As I ponder on the splendor of the small organic treasures at Meher Mount, I come across this timely passage where Meher Baba talks about the importance of small things in His service:
“The scope of service is not limited to great gestures like giving big donations to public institutions. They also serve who express their love in little things. A word that gives courage to a drooping heart or a smile that brings hope and cheer in gloom, has as much claim to be regarded as service as onerous sacrifices and heroic self-denials.
A glance which wipes out bitterness from the heart and sets it throbbing with a new love is also service, although there may be no thought of service in it. When taken by themselves all these things seem to be small, but life is made up of many such small things. If these small things were ignored life would be not only unbeautiful but unspiritual.”
(Photo: Agnes Montano, Summer 2020, Meher Mount)
Quote Source
Meher Baba, Discourses, Revised 6th Edition, 2007, Volume III, pg. 130. (Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation). Copyright (c) 1967 Adi K. Irani, Ahmednagar, India. Copyright (c) 2007 Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.