Synchronicity At The First Step

There is synchronicity, I thought. Carl Jung said synchronicity refers to the concept that which holds that events are "meaningful coincidences" if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related. If you believe in them, your mind searches for meaning. 

The meaning exists only for you. Others may laugh it off, but you won’t.

It was one of those days.

My Rotarian friends and I visited the Angaon. Every trip to Angaon is an eye opener. We were there for tree plantation. A volunteer took me and a few others to the field where the trees were to be planted. Heavy rains had made the field lush green with grass everywhere.

I stepped on to the grass. I checked my steps. Fear gripped me as it does when I step on thick grass cover. A friend held my hand. He perhaps felt that I was extra cautious to avoid slipping and falling down. I avoided speaking to him. I was not afraid of falling down; I was scared of reptiles. It is unreasonable fear I know; the volunteer had walked ahead of me without even looking down at the grass. Fear is irrational, logic does not cure it.

With some courage I moved forward. The volunteer pointed to the spot where they had dug a pit. He asked me to put the sapling and cover its roots with enough soil. I did. I noticed familiar shape of leaves. ‘Karanja’ I said. The volunteer nodded his head in approval. The botanist in me understands it as Millettia pinnata or Pongamia pinnata.

But that is not how I relate to the plant. The deity which rules our family is ‘Karanjeshwari’ which was found in the bushes of Karanja plant. The Goddess is worshipped and derives its name obviously from the tree. I was given the Karanja sapling to plant. What a coincidence! Tree plantation was the first major step I had taken after taking over as President of the Rotary Club of Thane Metro. And it had begun with the very tree from which our family deity takes her name!

What was the divine message? Was it to take a step without fear? Or was it to indicate that for good work there will be celestial blessings? Or was it both? I would like to believe so.

The oil extracted from Karanja seeds is not edible; it is used as insecticide! Oh, perhaps I am reading too much in the coincidence. Be that as it may, it gives me immense confidence and energy to move forward with decisive steps to execute plans of our Club. Those plans which will impact lives of a few families. 

And I know you are supporting me, my fellow Rotarians, yet I appeal you to join hands with me. We have a long road ahead. We are short of resources, but we have big dreams. With this ominous beginning, I feel that the “universe is conspiring!”

Vivek S Patwardhan