Elements
fire, air, earth, space, water.
Fire
That intangible beauty - flickering, roaring, free and unrestrained. Like a rainbow; its origin - untraceable, and how it vanishes in thin air - incomprehensible. Still when on a candle’s wick - perfect for centering one’s attention. Yet, when it spreads like (wildfire) wreaking havoc, catches everyone’s attention. Beautiful yet ferocious. Like a tiger - a symmetry which is dangerous. But isn’t fire also the origin of human civilization? The ‘discovery’ of Fire distinguished us from wilderness. Fire represents the harnessing of energy - in its most explicit and visible form. It is the energy which churns food in our stomach. It is what travels eons from the stars to allow our green friends on earth to make food. Thus, fire from the sun translates to fire of the wood. A complete circle. A full circle - free, unrestrained and roaring.
Air
Invisible. Non-existent if you don’t believe in it. Yet, it is present in a continuous stretch from a point to its Antipodes. You can’t cut it, nor see it, nor feel it. But suck it out, you start begging for that invisible, non existent thing. How strange ? Amidst money and material and all the tangible pleasures of life, something as innocent and humble as air possesses the power to unilaterally end your life. I have felt that desperation - the unenvious feeling of losing the battle of life, of ceasing effort, of crossing into oblivion. You wish to say - “I can’t breathe” but then Air does not even allow you to say that. So powerful it is. Yet, you can store it. In balloons. And weigh it. When it moves from one place to the other, it assumes the character of wind and you feel it. Like an animal awakening out of deep slumber, wishing to travel. It zooms from one nook to the other. You feel it on your face, and if you are patient enough to close your eyes - you experience bliss. Pure, unblemished, immaculate Air caressing your face, telling you subtly with no haughtiness, You are because I am.
Earth
I engendered Sita in my womb. Engulfed her back when she was betrayed by the world. I take in a seed - that little point of life and give it shelter. To nourish, grow and break that layer of soil and emerge victorious. I hold all waste and ultimately, everything becomes me. The King and the pauper, reduced to ashes, seek solace in my embrace. I am trampled by the hooves of horses yet cuddled by the scales of snakes. I give you a ground to stand, to live; yet when I shake, you run to safety. I am dug up, bled and torn open for extracting resources yet when I open my mouth, my brother Fire unleashes his anger. I am the beginning and I am the end. I engendered Sita, I engulfed her back.
Space
Limitless. Limitless. All around us, it seems but we are all within it. The cradle of not mere civilization but the Universe. Holding balls of fire, mounds of ice, boulders of rock, clouds of gas, specks of dust. The blackest black, the magnificent blue, the soothing orange. It is not Air, it is not Atmosphere, it is just nothing. Just space. Just something for everything else to be. We try to reach its corners, it swells. We try to reach its core, it sucks everything in. It is a lover you can keep looking in the eye. It is a mother under whose shade does Heaven exist. It is the reason why everything is what it is.
Water
I am afraid I cannot describe Water without being scared, without drowning in its depth, without being left in awe by its purity. Colorless but the most beautiful blue. Tasteless but the most delicious liquid that exists. Silky and harmless but the most potent force that is. Ubiquitous yet the most elusive element - hiding in Space, Air, Earth and Fire. From the depths of the oceans it rises, to kiss the high airs. Carried by the wind, it descends back to Mother Earth. To cleanse, to wash, to quench THIRST - a word which exists if Water exists, a void that no other substance in the cosmos can fill. Water, like the Holy Trinity - creates, preserves and destroys. A great teacher - practices what it preaches. To flow, to persevere, to advance and never stop. Water - Colorless. Blue. Tasteless. Sweet. Pervading. Elusive. Tainted. Sacred.
And O Human,
You may channel these elements, harness their force and cherish their bounties but do not embark on a mission to control them for you never can and you never will. Even if you succeed, you will for an iota of time in the history of the cosmos, before you are engulfed by their wrath and put in your place. You are made of them, you live in them. Learn to die in them.
beautiful.