HAPPY KALPATARU DAY. The Kalpataru tree is the mythical tree that fulfils desires. The tree is considered to be the tree of life, eternity and environmental harmony. The tree is considered as the symbol of our identity and its potential. Somewhere there The various parts of the baobab are used to treat a large number of ailments. Nearly every part of the tree has some medicinal value. A few include: powered bark mixed with porridge for malaria; the pulp of the fruit is mixed with honey and is used for coughing; the leaves are used for diarrhoea, fever, inflammation, kidney and bladder diseases, blood clearing, and asthma; the leaves also serve as emollients and are used to help extract guinea worm; the fruits and seeds are used for dysentery, fever, haemoptysis and diarrhoea; dry powered roots are prepared as a mash for malaria; and gum from the bark is used for cleaning sores. It can grow up to 25 meters tall and can live for several thousand years. The baobab is leafless for nine months of the year. IT IS AN ELIXIR.. "Is man an insignificant thing? He can think of God, he can think of the Infinite, while other living beings cannot." Sri Ramakrishna "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." - Jesus Christ "The Kingdom of Heaven is within us. God is within us. He is the Soul of our souls. See Him in your own soul. That is practical religion. That is freedom." Vivekananda JANUARIY 1 is celebrated as KALPATARU DAY by all the Ramakrishna Centers all over the world. Sri Ramakrishna, He represents the very core of the spiritual realizations of the seers and sages of India. His whole life was literally an uninterrupted contemplation of God. He reached a depth of God-consciousness that transcends all time and place and has a universal appeal. Seekers of God of all religions feel irresistibly drawn to his life and teachings. He is a figure of recent history and his life and teachings have not yet been obscured by loving legends and doubtful myths. Through his God-intoxicated life Sri Ramakrishna proved that the revelation of God takes place at all times and that God-realization is not the monopoly of any particular age, country, or people.. Swami Adiswarananda New York Drawn by the magnetism of Sri Ramakrishna's divine personality, people flocked to him from far and near -- men and women, young and old, philosophers and theologians, philanthropists and humanists, atheists and agnostics, Hindus and Brahmos, Christians and Muslims, seekers of truth of all races, creeds and castes. His small room in the Dakshineswar temple garden on the outskirts of the city of Calcutta became a veritable parliament of religions. Everyone who came to him felt uplifted by his profound God- consciousness, boundless love, and universal outlook. Each seeker saw in him the highest manifestation of his own ideal. By coming near him the impure became pure, the pure became purer, and the sinner was transformed into a saint. In him, deepest spirituality and broadest catholicity stood side by side. The God-man of nineteenth-century India did not found any cult, nor did he show a new path to salvation. His message was his God-consciousness. When God-consciousness falls short, traditions become dogmatic and oppressive and religious teachings lose their transforming power. At a time when the very foundation of religion, faith in God, was crumbling under the relentless blows of materialism and scepticism, Sri Ramakrishna, through his burning spiritual realizations, demonstrated beyond doubt the reality of God and the validity of the time- honoured teachings of all the prophets and saviours of the past, and thus restored the falling edifice of religion on a secure foundation. The greatest contribution of Sri Ramakrishna to the modern world is his message of the harmony of religions. To Sri Ramakrishna all religions are the revelation of God in His diverse aspects to satisfy the manifold demands of human minds. Like different photographs of a building taken from different angles, different religions give us the pictures of one truth from different standpoints. They are not contradictory but complementary. Sri Ramakrishna faithfully practiced the spiritual disciplines of different religions and came to the realization that all of them lead to the same goal. Thus he declared, "As many faiths, so many paths." The paths vary, but the goal remains the same. Harmony of religions is not uniformity; it is unity in diversity. It is not a fusion of religions, but a fellowship of religions based on their common goal -- communion with God. This harmony is to be realized by deepening our individual God-consciousness. In the present-day world, threatened by nuclear war and torn by religious intolerance, Sri Ramakrishna's message of harmony gives us hope and shows the way. May his life and teachings ever inspire us. Swami Adiswarananda Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York 'I shall make the whole thing public before I go,' the Master has said some time before. On January 1, 1886, he felt better and came down to the garden for a little stroll. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Some thirty lay disciples were in the hall or sitting about under the trees. Sri Ramakrishna said to Girish (Ghosh), 'Well Girish, what have you seen in me, that you proclaim me before everybody as an Incarnation of God?' Girish was not the man to be taken by surprise. He knelt before the Master and said with folded hands, 'What can an insignificant person like myself say about the One whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not adequately measure?' The Master was profoundly moved. He said: 'What more shall I say? I bless you all. Be illumined!' He fell into a spiritual mood. Hearing these words the devotees, one and all, became overwhelmed with emotion. They rushed to him and fell at his feet. He touched them all, and each received an appropriate benediction. Each of them, at the touch of the Master, experienced ineffable bliss. Some laughed, some wept, some sat down to meditate, some began to pray. Some saw light, some had visions of their Chosen Ideals, and some felt within their bodies the rush of spiritual power. From the Introduction to THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA, by Swami Nikhilananda Swami Nikilananda KALPATARU DAY COSSIPORE GARDEN "Those words words of profound blessing, untouched by the slightest tinge of selfishness, directly entered the devotees' hearts where they raised high billows of bliss. They forgot time and space, forgot the disease of the Master and forgot their previous determination not to touch him till he recovered, and had the immediate feeling that sympathizing with their misery, and heart overflowing with compassion, had come down to them from heaven and called them affectionately to Him for protection, like a mother sheltering her children against all ills." From SRI RAMAKRISHNA, THE GREAT MASTER by Swami Saradananda Perhaps there is a deeper meaning to Kalpataru. It might be a way of our ancestors to ensure that we respect trees and not cut them mercilessly. After all trees play a very vital role in maintaining the weather cycle and the balance of life on earth. It is true that there is no end to desires. The more we get the stronger the desires become. It has been felt by many that when they want something with a lot of intensity they feel that a force is guiding them towards their goal. Align your actions with your true intentions ancient Vedic sciences teach that each person is the creator of his/her own life.. Quantum physics theory of a participatory universe and the ancient Vedic sciences teach that each person is the creator of his/her own life. The kalpataru trees are perhaps symbolic for the mind. Mind is creative, creative with its thoughts. HAPPY KALPATARU DAY