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visited that country. He could not imagine how such trees could exist. The trees were two to three hundred years old and only six to eight inches high! It was hard for him to believe a three-hundred-year-old tree could only be six inches high, so he asked the gardeners to tell him the trick, the secret. The tree increased in size but did not grow high at all! Its trunk thickened but it did not rise upwards at all!
The secret, the gardeners told him, was to keep cutting back the roots. The tree is planted in an iron pot with a broken bottom, they explained. The roots are not allowed to go deep; their tips are snipped periodically.
When roots do not penetrate deep into the earth, trees do not grow high. They grow older and older, their trunks increase in size, they look old and withered, but they cannot grow in height. The only remedy, the only way for them to grow tall is to allow their roots to go deeper and deeper into the earth. A tree grows upward in proportion to the depth of its roots; the ratio is the same. How can a tree grow tall if its roots are trimmed regularly? It will remain stunted. This art, this trick of stunting trees, is very much in fashion in Japan. That day, Swami Ram noted in his diary that Satan was playing the same trick on man.
The whole human race has become stunted, as if someone were continuously pruning its roots. The trees do not know what is happening to them; their roots are hidden in the earth -- but the roots of your love have been severed and if you do not take steps to correct this mischief you will never be able to reach those roots again. And then, even if you visit temples and mosques, even if you worship and pray and perform all sorts of religious rites, nothing will come of it. It will all be to no avail. No matter how hard you try, your prayers will not reach God. Only a prayer of love can reach to Him. If love is present, it is not even necessary to pray. Then, even if you say nothing, you are heard. But if there is no love, nothing whatsoever reaches Him.
Now let us try to understand these sayings of Kabir.
Each and every word is invaluable. Before Kabir the Upanishads lose their luster.
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