The Symbolism Of The Banyan Tree
Reflections On Our World’s Legends - Part Three
‘The Christ light has always provided all manifestations of your world’s life with its strength and warmth. It also brings fresh spiritual wisdom and knowledge from our realm, but only as much as humankind can cope with and understand at any given time. The flow of these energies steadily increases and then decreases as your earthly Moon travels through every sign, each one of them taking twenty-nine and a half days. Their effect is felt with particular strength during the festivals of the Wesak Moon and the Christ Moon.
‘And that explains why God and the Angels decided to place the legend of the Indian prince Siddharta Gautama at the time that would later become known as the Wesak Festival. The story of the prince’s life tells that he gave up his high status to go in search of understanding why there is so much suffering on the earthly plane. According to the Buddha legend he was been born in Lumbini, near the border of Nepal and India, about 2,600 years ago, and that for forty days and nights he sat underneath a Banyan tree and meditated deeply on this theme. The Banyan tree is a symbolism for the tree of life. And the time span of forty days and nights was also used in the Jesus legend. In both tales they represent an indefinite period of time, which the Master spends in the desert. At its end he encounters the devil, a symbolism for the untamed and uncontrolled drives and urges of humankind’s lower earthly animal nature.
‘The number 4 is ruled by Uranus, the planetary co-ruler with Saturn, of Aquarius. The 0 represents the circle of Eternity and Aquarius the voice of God. In the Buddha and the Jesus legend the number 40 is a message that in God’s time, not humankind’s, the truth behind the surface words of these tales will be revealed. Through taking part in the earthly school of life, for an unspecified number of lifetimes, the higher compassionate Buddha nature stirs from its slumber in every human being and begins to take over their lower earthly nature.
‘The Jesus legend repeats this message; it is merely placed in a different setting. Being educated in the earthly school of life is compulsory. Yet, no-one ever forces you to apply for another lifetime. But when you have rested sufficiently from the stresses of existing as a physical being on the material plane of life, you realise that if you ever want to get past this stage of your development, there is nothing for it but to venture forth and apply for another earthly sojourn. An essential part of every human being’s curriculum is spending an indefinite number of lifetimes in the spiritual desert of the earthly plane, without knowing who or what you are, where you have come from or are going to.
‘Driven by the urges of your lower animal nature, you then dream of ruling your world through amassing vast fortunes. You think of ways of how to acquire them and one of the easiest ways, in your view, is through relieving those around you of their material resources. With the help of fear-inducing tales, invented by you, you find it easy to take advantage of their deep seated fears of death and the unknown that have their roots in the false beliefs, prejudices and superstitions spread by the tales of your world’s religions of the past. Fortunately, every one of you eventually reaches the developmental point when your God or Christ nature begins to stir from its sleep and you feel the need to leave ever more of your nature’s lower aspects behind. The best, highest and noblest that is within you, that’s your Christ nature. Compassion is but one of these qualities.
‘The tree under which the Buddha sat and meditated for forty days and nights is a banyan tree, Ficus benghalensis is its botanical name. It is one of more than seven hundred and fifty species of fig trees. Each of them is pollinated only by its own species of tiny wasps that breed inside the figs of their partner trees. Banyans are known as strangler figs because they grow from seeds that have from other trees, not their own. Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, were the first human beings to appear on the Earth. Even though Eva picks an apple from the tree of knowledge and offers it to Adam, the genitals of each one is covered by a leaf from the fig tree.
‘The Buddha legend tells us that the answer Siddharta had been in search of for such a long time came to him in a flash of enlightenment during the full Moon in Taurus. Equipped with his knowledge the young prince started wandering your world to share with those around him. And that’s why, with the passing of time, he became known as Buddha, the compassionate enlightened one. To this day, some parts of your world celebrate the Wesak festival around the time of the full Moon, when the Sun travels through the hedonistic fixed Earth sign Taurus, ruled by Venus. The lifetime of those who are born with their Sun in this sign presents many opportunities for getting to know and appreciate the good things of the Earth.
‘The full Moon in Taurus takes place in its polar opposite, the fixed Water sign Scorpio, the sign of birth, death and rebirth, regeneration and degeneration. It is concerned with what in your world is known as the occult, i.e. that which is generally hidden from common view or knowledge. Scorpio is co-ruled by Mars, the Roman God of war, and Pluto, the Roman God of the underworld, who was also celebrated as the God of wealth because diamonds and other jewels come from underground. Not surprisingly, Pluto represents two symbolisms: 1) humankind’s subconscious and 2) the gems of ideas and new understanding that emerge from the subconscious level, especially during the time of each full Moon. They can also be accessed at other times once you have learnt to dig deep enough to unearth them.
This article is a chapter from ‘Our World In Transition'
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