The Language and Music of Plants
Patita Pavana das Adhikary
In the video that follows we learn—and hear—that plants have a musical language all their own. The music of plants establishes that within each individual plant is housed an eternal spirit soul who is part and parcel of Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Please take out a moment to watch this amazing film: “The Singing Plants of Damahur”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZaokNmQ4eY&feature=em-share_video_user.
As all Vaishnavas know (but Mayavadis fail to understand), astrology is Krishna’s science of individuality. This eternal uniqueness of the jiva soul includes all embodied, conditioned living entities—both those who move and those who are stationary. The individuality of the eternal soul is reflected not only in the spiritually liberated state, but in the material dilemma through the individual karmic bondage of the samsaric entity. Astrology teaches that due to the overlordship of the great demi-gods, who themselves are all under the superior control of Lord Krishna, we nitya-badha entities are given the opportunity to take birth indefinitely and only at certain moments. This is all ordained by the great planetary leaders under whose control we have succumbed due to our desire to lord it over material Nature. Each unique moment of birth for each entity necessarily includes plants as they revolve up the cycle of 8,400,000 species of life. And all this goes to prove that Shri Krishna alone can be the Omnicient Astrologer, while all others who dabble in the science of the stars are eternal students. In other words, according to the astrological permutations, plants take birth at one time, animals at another moment, and humans at still another. Therefore since astrology is a divine science created by Krishna and measured in mille-seconds it is actually inconceivable except for the Inconceivable Lord Who owns each and every part and parcel including us.
As far as the eternal jiva encaged by his own karma in the body of a plant, we have the example from SB 10.10.20-22 about the sons of Kuvera becoming cursed to stand as trees due to their offence before the great sage Shri Narada Muni:
(Shri Narada said) “These two young men, Nalakuvara and Manigriva, are by fortune the sons of the great demigod Kuvera. However, due to false prestige and their madness from drinking liquor, they have become so fallen that they do not realize that they are standing naked. Therefore, because they are no better than trees, these two young men should receive the bodies of trees. This will be their proper punishment. Nonetheless, after they become trees and until they are released—by my mercy—they will remember their past sinful activities. Moreover, by my special favor, after the expiry of one hundred years by the measurement of the demigods, they will be able to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, face to face, and thus revive their real position as devotees.”
And in SB 2.3.18 we find this verse and commentary by our revered Guru Maharaja:
taravah kim na jivanti bhastrah kim na svasanty uta
na khadanti na mehanti kim grame pashavo ‘pare
“Do the trees not live? Does the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?”
BHAKTIVEDANTA PURPORT: The materialistic man of the modern age will argue that life, or part of it, is never meant for discussion of theosophical or theological arguments. Life is meant for the maximum duration of existence for eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, making merry and enjoying life. The modern man wants to live forever by the advancement of material science, and there are many foolish theories for prolonging life to the maximum duration. But the Shrimad Bhagavatam affirms that life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. Life is solely meant for tapasya, for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of the human form of life.
The materialists want to prolong life as much as possible because they have no information of the next life. They want to get the maximum comforts in this present life because they think conclusively that there is no life after death. This ignorance about the eternity of the living being and the change of covering in the material world has played havoc in the structure of modern human society. Consequently there are many problems, multiplied by various plans of modernized man. The plans for solving the problems of society have only aggravated the troubles. Even if it is possible to prolong life more than one hundred years, advancement of human civilization does not necessarily follow. The Bhagavatam says that certain trees live for hundreds and thousands of years. In Vrindavana there is a tamarind tree (the place is known as Imlitala) which is said to have existed since the time of Lord Krishna. In the Calcutta Botanical Garden there is a banyan tree said to be older than five hundred years, and there are many such trees all over the world. Swami Shankaracharya lived only thirty-two years, and Lord Chaitanya lived forty-eight years. Does it mean that the prolonged lives of the abovementioned trees are more important than Shankara or Chaitanya? Prolonged life without spiritual value is not very important.
Imli Tala (Vrindavana). Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDe8HcYOInw
One may doubt that trees have life because they do not breathe. But modern scientists like Bose have already proved that there is life in plants, so breathing is no sign of actual life. The Bhagavatam says that the bellows of the blacksmith breathes very soundly, but that does not mean that the bellows has life. The materialist will argue that life in the tree and life in the man cannot be compared because the tree cannot enjoy life by eating palatable dishes or by enjoying sexual intercourse. In reply to this, the Bhagavatam asks whether other animals like the dogs and hogs, living in the same village with human beings, do not eat and enjoy sexual life. The specific utterance of Shrimad Bhagavatam in regard to “other animals” means that persons who are simply engaged in planning a better type of animal life consisting of eating, breathing and mating are also animals in the shape of human beings. A society of such polished animals cannot benefit suffering humanity, for an animal can easily harm another animal but rarely do good.” (End of Purport)
As far as the scientific method Shri Jagadish Chandra Bose employed to determine the life of plants, I am told that his experiment began soon after the invention of slow motion photography. Using a gramaphone he played gentle music while filming his collection of plants. The slow motion photography would reveal the plants to be moving and flourishing in harmony with the music. On the other hand, when he played cacaphonic sounds, the plants were seen to visibly shrink in panic. In modern times, this was the first scientific test to affirm on plants the verdict of Bhagavad Gita (2.20):
“For the soul there is never birth or death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” P
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