By Yogi Ananda Satyam (Salvatore Familia)
What a man thinks,
That he becomes,
This is the eternal mystery
Maitri Upanisad VI, 34
Fruition
- the condition of bearing fruit
A tree bears fruit. Under the nurturing light and heat of the sun a tree blossoms and the blossom’s scent reveals its presence at a distance and its delicate form attracts the eye. The blossom’s brief appearance signals the coming of another form, different in appearance from the blossom, yet inextricably linked to it. As the blossom-form withers the fruit makes its first appearance. We say that it is “green,” or “unripe,” that is, it is incomplete, it is a form that is yet to be, its appearance tells us to wait.
The fruit eventually ripens, weighing heavy on the tree’s branch, signifying completion, declaring that the wait is over. The tree may drop the fruit or the fruit may be taken from the tree, in either case, what is cast from the tree is the very reason for its fruition, for the fruit bears a seed and it is through the seed that the life of the tree can continue. The fruit is the tree’s sacrifice and through this sacrifice it can continue. Without fruition there is no continuity. Thus at the apex of the movement we call fruition, at the moment when the fruit ripens, there is continuity, there is both beginning and end.
Fruition
- enjoyment derived from use or possession
Only when the fruit is ripened is it enjoyed, is it fully experienced; it presents itself as complete, as full and thus “ready” for enjoyment. It is the fruit we have in mind, though we may be unaware, when we speak of circumstances or opportunity being ripe, when we speak of a “ripe old age.” What is ripe is “seasoned,” “mature,” or “ready,” and it is only at this time that enjoyment can take place. The ripening signals the end of the wait and unless that moment is recognized the fruit will rot its brilliant color, its sweet and fragrant flavor decaying instead of being enjoyed. True enjoyment is always prefaced by knowledge of the causes and conditions of ripening, insuring that the moment won’t be missed. So fruition signals a time to be attentive.
He (Jesus) spake also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why combereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and fertilize it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shall cut it down.
Luke 13,6-9
Fruition
- the achievement of something desired and worked for, accomplishment
A tree that grows and yet fails to bear fruit is called barren, an act that fails to achieve a worthy end is called fruitless. No action, from the seeds germination and transformation into an oak to the most trivial or profound of human acts is ever neutral. We speak of the “fruit of our labor,” and it is the fruit of the tree that informs our understanding. The fruit appears only after the proper action is complete. From sprout to sapling to fully grown tree, it is only at the proper time, when the conditions are right, that the tree bears fruit or achieves its fruition. Every fruition in life, from the vegetative to the human, requires action. The mystery of fruition is bound up with the mystery of action.
The tree does not grow from sapling to maturity overnight, nor does today’s ripe fruit follow yesterday’s blossom with the mere passing of one night. Fruition takes time and the time is never known beforehand. The mystery of fruition is also bound up with the mystery of time.
Phala
Fruit; the kernel or seed of a fruit; consequence, effect, result; reward or benefit; enjoyment; the issue or end of an action.
Consider how it was with the forefathers;
behold how it is with the later (men);
a mortal ripens like corn, and
like corn is born again.Katha Upanisad I.6
The sins (iniquities) of the father shall
be visited upon the sons unto the third
and fourth generations.Exodus 34:7
Hold an apple in your hand and you hold a form from the past. The fruit of a tree ripens from the blossom of a tree that grew from the seed of the fruit that came before. Man may transform, hybridize or in some way manipulate the apples form, but without first possessing an apple, the fruition of a tree that was at one time untouched by man, his meddling could not occur. So what is the apple that we hold, the apple who’s fragrance and flavor brings delight to the taster? What is it but the selfless offering of countless fruitions, the ripening of actions from beginningless time, the mysterious appearance occasioned by the tree’s sacrifice.
But fruition is not limited to the fruits of trees. The sage who composed the Katha Upanisad over two thousand years ago observed that “a mortal ripens like corn.” Ripening, fruition, is an invariant fact of life itself. To live is to act and every act has a consequence, a fruit, though we may not know the time fruition will occur Fruition is an eternal, selfless process that we occasion by our very lives. Considering how it “was with the forefathers” and then observing “how it is with (later) men” the sage realizes that “there is nothing new under the sun,” as it was in ancient times, so it is today. Fruition, ripening occurs prior to individuality, prior to “me” just as the apple I hold in my hand today was brought forth from the one that came before – through fruition, through sacrifice.
“As you sow, so shall you reap.” The seeds of our past are the countless deeds, actions, thoughts, impressions, desires, and experiences of either the countless lives that came before us or our own immediate past The cumulative force of this momentum of the past we call samskara or “past impressions” and no man or woman is untouched by them. Every one of these past impressions is a seed that can bear fruit, awaiting only the fertile ground of our body/mind to be nurtured, cultivated, ripened and harvested. Because the fruits of the present that ripen from seeds of the past give rise to either pleasure or pain, the seeker after truth must learn to discern the difference between the seeds.’