On Friday I said goodbye to my dear friends, Nisha and Radha Sakhi, dropped them off at the airport, then caught an early morning Chinatown express bus to NYC. There I met up with one of my fab girlfriends, Loren, who drove down from Hartford, CT just for me. Loren and I go way back. We met in college and quickly took over the environmental club on campus. Our relationship has had many ups and downs but I can still honestly say that she is one of the sweetest and most magical women in my life.
Loren and I are both fascinated by the plant kingdom and so we decided to check out the
NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx. If you have never gone, you must immediately go. There are over 250 acres of gardens, including a giant arboretum featuring the last remaining stand of old-growth forest in NYC.
The featured exhibit is called Kiku- The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum. There I discovered the exquisite beauty of
kiku—meticulously cultivated chrysanthemums, a traditional Japanese art "never before seen on this scale outside Japan." The NY Botanical Garden describes this installation as the most elaborate flower show and cultural exhibition ever presented in its 116-year history. It is fascinating how people have dedicated their professional lives to the art of chrysanthemum cultivation and presentation. With mouths gaping open, Loren and I explored in amazement I kept on thinking how this must be a reflection of the preparations and lengths the eternal master gardener and landscape architect, Vrnda devi, must go to in Goloka Vrindavana. The NY Botanical Gardens are a window to the splendor of the spiritual sky.
Luck would have it that there was simultaneously a bonsai exhibit with the foremost master of bonsai in the area giving tours and answering questions. He was wonderful. I immediately fell in love with him when he described how the pruning of bonsai trees must be done so "to leave enough space for the birds to fly through."
This Ginkgo tree here is over 50 years old and perhaps 3-feet tall. The bonsai master explained that like all living beings, we begin to age and dwindle when the body's ability to absorb nutrients is lessened. To maintain the vitality of these trees, once a year the tree is taken from her pot and the roots are delicately trimmed, thus encouraging root tip growth and maintaining maximum nutrient uptake. Perhaps one day I will find a bonsai master with whom I will study with so that I may arrange an array of bonsai forests on outdoor altars for the pleasure of Sri Sri Radha Damodara for centuries to come.
On Friday I said goodbye to my dear friends, Nisha and Radha Sakhi, dropped them off at the airport, then caught an early morning Chinatown express bus to NYC. There I met up with one of my fab girlfriends, Loren, who drove down from Hartford, CT just for me. Loren and I go way back. We met in college and quickly took over the environmental club on campus. Our relationship has had many ups and downs but I can still honestly say that she is one of the sweetest and most magical women in my life.
Loren and I are both fascinated by the plant kingdom and so we decided to check out the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx. If you have never gone, you must immediately go. There are over 250 acres of gardens, including a giant arboretum featuring the last remaining stand of old-growth forest in NYC.
The featured exhibit is called Kiku- The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum. There I discovered the exquisite beauty of kiku—meticulously cultivated chrysanthemums, a traditional Japanese art "never before seen on this scale outside Japan." The NY Botanical Garden describes this installation as the most elaborate flower show and cultural exhibition ever presented in its 116-year history. It is fascinating how people have dedicated their professional lives to the art of chrysanthemum cultivation and presentation. With mouths gaping open, Loren and I explored in amazement I kept on thinking how this must be a reflection of the preparations and lengths the eternal master gardener and landscape architect, Vrnda devi, must go to in Goloka Vrindavana. The NY Botanical Gardens are a window to the splendor of the spiritual sky.
Luck would have it that there was simultaneously a bonsai exhibit with the foremost master of bonsai in the area giving tours and answering questions. He was wonderful. I immediately fell in love with him when he described how the pruning of bonsai trees must be done so "to leave enough space for the birds to fly through."
This Ginkgo tree here is over 50 years old and perhaps 3-feet tall. The bonsai master explained that like all living beings, we begin to age and dwindle when the body's ability to absorb nutrients is lessened. To maintain the vitality of these trees, once a year the tree is taken from her pot and the roots are delicately trimmed, thus encouraging root tip growth and maintaining maximum nutrient uptake. Perhaps one day I will find a bonsai master with whom I will study with so that I may arrange an array of bonsai forests on outdoor altars for the pleasure of Sri Sri Radha Damodara for centuries to come.
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