Fruit-Laden Trees Bow toward the Earth like the Prosperous Who Serve Others
Aranya Kanda, Doha 40ख
Doha 40ख · Movement 2 of 2
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Around Pampa, the trees carry such an abundance of fruit that their branches bend near the ground. Prosperity has given them weight, and the weight has changed height into a bow.
The poet recognizes the movement of a person devoted to the good of others. When true wealth arrives, such a person does not rise farther from the world. The new abundance draws the body lower and brings its fruit within another's reach.
Every laden branch becomes an instruction without speech. Possession that serves only itself remains upright and distant. Good fortune received by the generous ripens into humility, until blessing and bowing become the same visible gesture.
The richer the branch becomes, the nearer its fruit comes to the waiting earth.
Read the passage from the Manas
फल भारन नमि बिटप सब रहे भूमि निअराइ। पर उपकारी पुरुष जिमि नवहिं सुसंपति पाइ।।40।।
Heavy with fruit, all the trees bow down and bend close to touch the earth below, just as noble souls, when blessed with prosperity, humbly bow in service to others.