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The Original Giving Tree and Cosmic Fruit
Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Chapter 276:
And the mighty Pandavas, while wandering in the forest, came upon a spot, beautiful and refreshing, adorned with fruit-bearing trees. There, they saw a grove of trees laden with fruits of every variety, with flowers blooming in abundance, and the sweet fragrance filling the air. The Pandavas, tired from their travels, rested beneath these trees, and with joy and gratitude, they partook of the fruits, which seemed to replenish not just the body but the spirit.
Imagine yourself tired, war-torn and famished. A fruit tree grove might appear as a mirage first, in that state. But when the Pandava family, exiled and exhausted, found respite under tree branches decorated with molten suns, the shade, the sweetness and the spiritual renewal was very real, indeed. Or at least, that’s what we can intuit in Chapter 276 of the Mahabharata.
Speculation and conjecture are how we take in the whole of the Mahabharata, really. In chapter 276, we’re picking up in the middle of this epic book, which is actually 18 different books consisting of 100,000 verses and primarily passed down orally beginning in the 4th Century BCE. With stats like that, it’s symbolism over context when it comes to much of the study of this ancient text.
Hindu symbolism continually gravitates to fruit-bearing trees, and given Persian and Arab trade at the time in the region, we can speculate (here we go again) that those molten suns delicately draping over a tired traveler, were in fact, oranges.
These cosmic fruits provided more than nourishment to the Pandavas. When we think about a fruit-bearing tree we can consider the cause—the answer to the call from the weary traveler—the tree gives support to a sore back, a place to lean. The tree gives sustenance. The tree gives protection from the sun. The tree gives Ayurvedic medicine. The tree gives joy.
Hope.
Connection.
And the tree gives it all … effortlessly.
Perhaps more compelling than the ease in which the orange tree gives, is its selflessness. Never once did the tree ask the Pandavas for anything in return; it only gave its dharmic offering. And it wasn’t like the tree considered its offering or thought, ‘Perhaps I’ll save my dharma for the next group of weary travelers’. The tree gives because it simply knows no other way. It could never be any other way. The orange has no choice but to symbolize cosmic order and the eternal cycle of debt and abundance, whether physical or spiritual.
We, however, the haggard voyager, choose whether or not we accept its sweetness.
And in Chapter 276 of the Mahabharata, we can surmise, that it's best to accept the sweetness of life when offered.