Opening of our Interfaith Garden

September 10, 2011

This weekend we launched the Interfaith Garden in the ashram grounds. This beautiful garden, acknowledging various faith traditions, was the inspiration of Swamiji and Devi Ma. It was constructed with great love and hard work by many ashramites and householders.

Swamiji, Devi Ma and devotees in the new Interfaith garden

One of the key people to work on the planting and design was Ambika, and in this report she takes us on a 'tour' of the garden.

“I am going to take you on a walk down the Interfaith garden path travelling clockwise which is the traditional auspicious direction to take. The garden begins beside Mata Pita building. After a few steps we come to a turn off which leads to the left into the Chidakash Garden or Garden of Enlightenment. The word Chidakash refers to the space of universal consciousness and is associated with Bhagavan Nityananda, the great avadhuta and Paramaguru of the Shiva Yoga tradition. The Chidakash garden was inspired by the Zen garden tradition and many ancient Asian religions. It is a place of beauty, peace and joy – a true experience of the ‘sky of the heart’.

Returning to the path around the dam we first come to the Islamic garden bed which is designed to recall the beautiful formal gardens of the Islamic faith in the Middle East and Spain. It incorporates the green colour that is traditionally favoured, with fragrant red roses, jasmine, citrus blossom and violets. The tile features calligraphy that says, ‘Allah – the greatest name for the Divine’.

Islamic garden bed

The Jewish faith is next honoured with a garden bed of beautiful deep blue colours: delphiniums, cornflowers, felicias and lobelia are planted along with a touch of gold and white roses. Rosemary is included signifying remembrance. The tile in the centre of the garden shows Moses and the Israelites flight from Egypt as an image of spiritual liberation. It was painted by Swami Durgananda, based on a oil by Herb Kruckman – Swamiji’s father who was a noted artist in New York.

The next stop honours the mystic traditions. The mystic paths of religious traditions pursue enlightenment through direct communion with the Divine. This garden also celebrates the many Great Beings Swamiji speaks about at Satsang each week. The white stone spiral patterns here represent the mystic inward path, while the heavy fragrance of the boronias evoke a sense of the deep bliss to be found in the divine.

The divine love and joy of Radha and Krishna is depicted in our next garden bed symbolising Hinduism. The bed will feature a profusion of bright red roses, dianthus, petunias, nemesias and salvias, pink diascia, gauras and primula, orange calendulas and purple petunias. Tulasi and jasmine will soon be planted to honour Lord Krishna.

Our Buddhist garden is designed to reflect the peace and simplicity of the teachings of the Buddha. A picture of this great yogi sitting under the Bodhi tree will be placed here soon. This garden will feature lotus flowers as it is said that these plants sprang up under his feet wherever he walked. In the meantime we have planted red azaleas to recall the traditional reds associated with the robes of Buddhist monks. The backdrop to this garden is the water lily bed in the dam.

In the Christian garden, the traditional white colour symbolising the divine love of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary is reflected in our plant selection. Christmas and Madonna lilies have been planted along with white roses and daisies, fragrant white jasmine and gardenia, and many other white flowers. The image placed here is of the Virgin Mary who is the symbol of compassion at the heart of Christianity.

Christian garden

Following the Christian garden, the path widens and a circle of benches will be placed here to allow people of all faiths to meet to talk, share their beliefs and experiences. The meeting place will eventually incorporated symbols or images from many of the religious and spiritual traditions in our community.

Finally, the walk ends with a statue of Shiva – the Hindu symbol of Divine Consciousness and the true identity of each person – as a symbol of the Shiva Ashram. The garden surrounding him is filled with purple ajuga, salvias and wallflowers, orange calendulas and blue lobelia and campanulas. Also placed in the garden is Lakshmi, the cow, who is sacred to the Hindu tradition.

As you return to Mata Pita you realise that the walk has taken you in a circle around the dam and that behind and central to all the different faith gardens is the body of water which represents our common shared experience of the Divine or God of whatever you choose to call that higher principle.

The garden is just beginning – the plants are still small but they will grow and blossom over the next months and years. The young people at the Interfaith youth retreat helped plant the garden last week and I watched as they happily worked together. They were excited and were sharing ideas and discussing beliefs as they planted the flowers in gardens representing faiths that weren’t necessarily their own. It was beautiful to see and I hope that the good will and joy in communication and sharing will continue to grow.

I’d like to invite you all to visit the Ashram in daylight to take a walk around the Interfaith gardens; enjoy the flowers; the beautiful views across the water; and allow yourself the time to meditate and absorb the beauty, peace and joy of the experience.”