I was in the forest sitting quietly enjoying the serenity of the forest and listening to the sounds of the waterfall. There were no other people. There were a few monkeys around doing their own things. The forest is their territory and their home as well. The forest is the home for many wild animals, birds, reptiles and insects. And we human beings want to enjoy the forest and nature too, and come to this huge forest to take a swim in the natural pool made by the waterfall. No one can own the forest. It doesn’t belong to anybody. Definitely not us, human beings. But all beings, including the human beings or animals or birds or reptiles or insects are sharing this same space of the universe and all are eligible to enjoy the nature and consume what the nature provides to all living beings, the plants and the trees to be exist on this earth. We need to respect that animals also have their own privacy and freedom to be in the forest and they have certain behaviors too. When we go into the forest, we are invading the privacy and homes of many animals and insects.
After about 20 minutes enjoying the tranquility by my own and with some monkeys, there were some other people came to the waterfall. They talked loudly and were screaming while playing in the pool. It didn’t bother me. I continued my peacefulness with the nature.
Not long, someone shouted, “Look out for your bags! The monkeys are here! They are going to take your bags away and run into the forest!” and “The monkeys had stolen my friend’s things before!”.
Very soon there was a monkey approaching near to that group of people. Obviously, they had some food in their bags. I didn’t have any food in my bag, and so, the monkeys didn’t disturb me at all. The monkeys are very smart species. The monkey walked slowly towards one of the woman with a bag of snacks in her hand. And as soon as the monkey was close enough, it grabbed the bag of food from the hand of the woman. The woman was screaming really loud, furiously. Then came all the other members of her family. They all were very angry at the “behavior” of the monkey, and started to shout at the monkey and tried to beat the monkey with some sticks.
The monkey quickly climbed up to a tree nearby.
The people didn’t stop getting furious and aggressive. They continued to shout at the monkey and some of them picked up some stones and started to throw them towards the monkey. One of the stones nearly hit it. All of these people were cheering, “Yeah! That one nearly got him!” And they got very excited about that and threw more stones at the monkey.
While they were throwing the stones trying to hurt that monkey, some of them were having this conversation, “Bad monkeys! So aggressive!! Want to steal and eat our food!!!” It sounded like they were full of anger and hatred.
After a while, they gave up attacking the monkey and left the forest and continued to talk loudly and cursing the monkeys on their way out. They were very unhappy.
I continued to sit there enjoying the peaceful silence without the noices from people and no monkeys came to trouble me.
Well, who was the one behaving badly?
Who was the one that is very aggressive?
Who was the one that is invading other being’s space of living and not respecting other’s privacy and behavior?
That was a monkey, a wild animal. Of course it has a certain behavior, such like looking for food. For them, it doesn’t matter if it is from the trees or from a bag, it is still food for them.
If we cannot accept and respect the behavior of wild animals, then don’t go into the forest. And don’t bring any food with us when we go into the wild. Most people will bring food into the forest and leave so much garbage behind and it is damaging the eco-system.
We should respect the wild animals and be in harmony with them if we want to be in the forest to enjoy the nature.
When we start to behave aggressively attacking the monkeys like throwing stones at them and beat them with sticks, of course they will learn and imitate this aggressiveness, and will behave in such way towards human beings in the future. What is so bad when the monkey is hungry and wants to get some food? It is their natural behavior to get food when they are hungry. They don’t know what is “stealing”. They have no intention to steal. They just want some food to eat and take whatever they can take, even from somebody’s hand.
May we human beings have more compassion towards other beings and know how to respect the nature and all other beings who are sharing this same space of the universe with us. We don’t own the universe nor are we the lord of the universe. We all are just the same beings as other animals and insects that are living on this earth depending on the nature to provide us with heat, air, water, earth and space for getting the needs for survival. Without the sun, the air, the water, the earth and the space, we all are nothing, we won’t be existing at all. We are not superior than any other beings that live together with us in this space of the universe.
Be humble, be compassionate and tolerant. Show respect and kindness towards all beings.
Peace to all.
This is where I spent most of my afternoon time having nice ice lemon tea and reading Guruji Swami Sivananda writings on yoga. This is a beach cafe right in front of the Cenang Beach. It is under the shades of coconut trees and very breezy all day long. It has a very beautiful view of the ocean. The price of food and drinks are very local (inexpensive) as well. RM1.50 for this glass of ice lemon tea.
This is the view sitting under the shades of coconut trees on the beach.
Sunny white sandy beach.
The long stretch of Cenang Beach.
Beautiful yoga retreat in the Cameron Highlands.
Everyday teaching yoga asana classes and sharing the philosophy of yoga with many people who are into the path of yoga.
