Outer and Inner Garden

• Living can be compared as gardening in the space one owns, while seeds, bulbs, plants and fertilizers are brought from the supply stores run by others, or directly collected from  nature.
• I like a designed garden, which reflects  my choice of flowers and plants which appeal most to me and  a plan about the creatures I wish to attract to or keep away from the garden. These choices are made on the basis of the quality of the soil,  the nature of the climate and the presence of thee predators who may roam around where I own my gardening space.
• I also choose the species who can withstand the climate - the sun, wind and cold, snow,  rain and outpour.
• My garden has two parts:  One I call outer garden, and the other is the inner garden.
• The outer garden is made of physical elements and biological life with whom I interact with my senses (vision, sound, taste, smell and touch). I nourish the living world by providing food, water, shelter and loving care and protection them from any damaging circumstance. It returns back to me the joy of watching the plants shooting with new branches, bearing flowers and fruits and then passing into a quieter phase  before the same cycle repeats again.
• The inner garden is not bound to this sense bound world. It reflects deeper nature of myself . It is built with elements of symbols and artworks which reflect the perspectives with which I perceive the mystery of all life and existence. The inner representation of the garden is not confined to the physical nature of the world, or the biological processes of life. The inner garden, though set up and constructed within the frame of the physical and biological garden, is transcendental in nature. It represents a garden of ideas and creative thoughts which helps mind to take flight in freedom into realms of consciousness outside the  sense-bound world. In this inner garden one experiences the blooming of the mind beyond the rational and conscious perceptions of the reality of life.
• The inner garden is framed with ideas and symbols which have been used universally in all ages across all cultures of the world. It mostly encompasses the mystery of creation and recurrence of life, evolution, death and life again. It also projects the existence of the invisible realm which manifests as a power of consciousness driving our will and thoughts and evolution of the mind. This “spiral” power provides nourishment for growth and blooming of the mind  in different “colours and forms”. One then harvest the “flowers” and “fruits” of this inner garden in the form of poetic, artistic and musical activities. In this inner garden seeds are inspirations, bulbs and plants are “species” collected from creative imaginations. The sounds, sights, touch and smell of the sun, wind, water, earth are the fertilizers for these plants to grow and bloom.
• The inner and the outer gardens are not two separate worlds. They are bound in an unity through a universal design of creation existing in the universe. What appears perceptible is based on an imperceptible realm at its deepest depth. What appears imperceptible, at the level of “realty” bound by senses, exists in all corners of the perceptible world.
•  A walk in the “Garden” is a walk through  through these interconnected parts.
• Here I hear the symphony of the universe, see the cosmic design unfolds, feel the pulses of mystery which reverberate in the living and non-living world. With plashing waves, dancing spangles of light, trembling touch of the leaves, and silent movement of the insects walking over rocks, which are billions of years old , I experience the marvel and wonder of the universe in a tiny spot on Earth, which is this garden.
• It is small ... in fact, infinitesimally small. However I wish others will bring their seeds, bulbs and plants from their own garden and make it grow outside its physical boundary. Let the outer and inner garden be a place for walking together in the shore of light, which is so dramatic and beautiful like Sognefjord. Let us talk about poetry, music, art, philosophy as well as flowers, plant, insects, animals and all the beautiful inner flowers which bloom in every heart. Let us bring nourishment to the flowers and plants we all grow in our own individual inner self.

News from the  Garden

• We live in a designed universe which seeks order, harmony and beauty in all. This is the purpose of evolution that occurs everywhere in all things which exist in the universe-
• Everything is entangled together in a whole in an extremely complex way. Whatever occurs in one place has its impact in every other places.
• The universe in its smallest structure reveals the mystery of the whole. The small or large, everything reveals the image of the same cosmic design.
• There exists a power which penetrates all and exists everywhere, which emerges as the will of our mind when it manifests in the material world in form.
• The expression of the cosmic consciousness as mind in bodily form, reveals to us the phenomenal world which we perceive as “reality” of life.
• The experience of  “reality” takes its form depending on the way the mind connects to the cosmic consciousness, which has many layers or levels of transcendence. In the primary level it reveals the world as objects of sensations and feelings related to the need and necessities of physical existence. In the next level it elevates mind to creative sphere of imagination and freedom to restructure the “reality” following one`s will and thoughts. In the next higher level it is pure contemplation without much participation of the physical body in experiencing the nature of the transcendental world without form and outside the realm of time and space.
• To experience the different spheres of the mind, one needs to focus the power of the will to connect to the layer of consciousness one intends to experience. For example, to experience the transcendental sphere one needs to empty the mind from the impact of the bodily senses and thoughts which arise thereof. Higher experience of reality comes by emptying the mind when physical world dissolves and the “spiral power” of the cosmos fills the  “void”.
• The experience of journey of  one`s life depends on the way one walks across the different realms of the mind in order to connect to the cosmic power at different levels.
• One, who has wandered through different spheres and experienced both the bodily sphere and the realm beyond body and form, knows the unity of all beings and seeks to submit life to the cause of bringing harmony, order and beauty in the world.
• The goal of life is to reach such an “enlightened shore” where one can walk freely from one realm to the other - from bodily sensations appearing with birth to the  realm where mind is free from the conditions of birth.
• Such “enlightened mind” knows no differences due to birth, race, culture, time and place. Their actions spring from the cosmic realization of the order, harmony and beauty of life and they manifest as a power of love and compassion for all.
• From my garden I wish to bring the news about  such an enlightened world.

How do I spend time in this garden?

•  Write, do artworks (paintings, sculptures etc.) and experiment with music in order to bring the news of the garden to the outside world.
• Study cosmic realm, biological and geological world and phenomena related to mind.
• Discuss and share stories of “gardens” with others.

Visit Inner Garden by Sognefjord