The gentle autumn has arrived. Her very presence fills the heart with serene happiness. Tranquility composes the mind with calmness, a sublime stillness pervades the entire being with inexplicable beatitude, soul feels closer to one's own pure consciousness, and a contemplative attitude fills the whole environment with an inner spiritual well-being. A subjective awareness arises with the realization that the world is a holy place permeated with the presence of God, when autumn touches the inner eye of illumined perception and enlightened vision revealing the beauty of all and the perfect harmony of the God of love. Autumn brings down the beauty of God from heaven for our enjoyment of the earth.
There is something mystifying and mysterious about this singularly beautiful and enchanting daughter of nature that is hypnotic yet sublime, magnetic and transcendental in her graceful and charming appearance and expression. There is a halo of holiness around her and a radiation of sacredness emanating from her whole being that pervades the entire environment with subtle all-permeating spiritual liberation. In her presence spirituality becomes a tangible reality, and holiness of divine substance to be realized by the soul, and blissful happiness in deep exaltation of joyousness to be absorbed by the spirit.
Autumn is beautiful. The secret of her beauty is love. Love makes all individuals beautiful. Love is the ultimate perfection of divine harmony. Nature is beautiful in her cosmic harmony. Love unites all forms in all aspects of nature in one universal harmonious interrelationship and makes her the reality of beauty. Autumn is the ultimate perfection of the beauty of nature.
Autumn has a special message for the human soul. It reminds the soul that this terrestrial world of love and beauty, joy and happiness, is but a traveller's along the path of life's journey. The ultimate destiny of the existence and the aspiration of the human soul is the attainment of the transcendental state of God's absolute perfection. The soul must return to and realize its own absolute perfection as the divine spirit of the cosmos of the Infinity from eternity to eternity. The immortal soul must realize the ever-existing self.
The enchanting autumn comes sweetly sharing her beauty with all human souls, with all souls, in this panoramic world of color and completion and manifold revelations of art and abundance of aesthetic manifestations. Leaves have put on colorful garments of intricate patterns and delightful designs and joined in chorus company to meet the gentle breeze for their autumnal dance of farewell to the brilliant rays of the summer light.
Swami Premananda
Prayers of Soul