It has been a long time since Sukrosono left Jatisrana, but the village is still as beautiful as it was when he lived there. Jatisrana seems beautiful because the village holds beautiful memories. This is where he came from and the place he found again after he lost time in his loneliness after he was thrown out. And it was here that he lived with his older brother, sharing warmth and love.
When he sets foot back in Jatisrana, it is the fifth month of mangsa labuh (the start of the rainy season). The dry season has passed, and rain begins to fall on the dry lands parched for water. Nature feels fresh, and the rivers flow fast. The paddy fields are green, the plants starting to sprout. Various flowers are in bloom, competing to show off their beauty, even on a hot day. Like a shy princess who has awoken late, the asoka flower gets dressed quickly, not wanting to lose to the asana flower that has revealed its early beauty. Blown by the wind, the clumps of campaka blooms wave, greeting the lotuses that have adorned themselves beautifully. The sky is beautiful with waves of patiently hovering clouds that welcome the birds in joyous flight. This is the time of feeling mulya kasucen, when nature reveals its sacredness. And this noble sacredness is none other than its willingness to give itself wholly. So this is when green spreads everywhere, water is abundant, the rice grows golden in the fields, and the trees give various fruits.
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The sacredness of nature pervades the atmosphere that surrounds all things that live in Jatisrana. Surrounded by the sacredness of nature, Sukrosono feels so happy. It seems as if there is no need for nature to be happy, because genuine happiness is inherent in himself. So if he wants to be happy, he must also be like nature. There is no need for him to pursue happiness; he simply feels that he is attached to happiness. The happiness that was originally attached to him was something he used to feel clearly when he was a child in Jatirasa forest. At that time it was not people, but nature that gave him life. Wild animals did not prey on him, but provided him with food and milk. Plants invited him every day to pick their fruits as he pleased. He played with tiger and lion cubs and baby monkeys until night fell. Without seeking happiness, his days were already filled with happiness.
Was this possibly because he had long left behind the nature that once supported and nursed him?
All these memories come back, and he asks, why has he been chasing happiness thus far, when that happiness was in fact been attached to him from the beginning? Was this possibly because he had long left behind the nature that once supported and nursed him?
Suddenly he feels nature send forth a great longing. Nature is inviting him to come home. Where should he return to nature, if not to Jatirasa forest, where he left behind his childhood long ago? Why has he forgotten the place that supported him when he was alone? He wants to go there at once, but he doesn’t know where it is anymore. Just as in the past, when he left Jatirasa forest without knowing where Jatisrana was, so now he wants to leave for Jatisrana but he doesn't know where Jatirasa is at all. He becomes aware that Jatirasa is not a place, and is thus Jatisrana. His mind is opened that Jatirasa is sejatining rasa (true sense), and Jatisrana is srana sejati (essential truth).
Through a long and tiring adventure to pursue his hopes honestly and sincerely, he has actually lived srana sejati until he is able to arrive at sejatining rasa that he is now experiencing. With his true sense, he is allowed to enter into original and genuine nature, a realm that existed even before he was born on earth. In that true nature, what exists is only generosity. There, the vegetation offers their beauty, the plants offer their fruit, and the flowers offer their beautifulness. Even the wildest animals offer their milk. He is alive and enjoys his happiness simply because of their generous giving. He had experienced all of this when he was abandoned and lived alone. Without the generosity of true nature, it would not have been possible for him to exist as he is today.
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Now, that experience has come back to him, even though he is not in Jatirasa forest and cannot find where Jatirasa forest is. He realizes that he does not experience this with his body. He can only sense what it means to return to original and true nature, where he can feel the true pleasure of sejatining rasa. This is why he thinks he should go back to Jatirasa forest. Even though the forest can no longer be found, the forest calls to him so he will not forget sejatining rasa. Therefore now the eternal words echo: giving is true life, because only in your original nature can you experience generosity.
That feeling of happiness continues to carry him over, when he again sets foot in the real Jatisrana hermitage, where he used to be live with his older brother. He wonders why now he no longer feels any disappointment over his older brother who repeatedly rejected him.
Jatirasa forest disappears from his mind. Jatirasa forest disappears when he is happily immersed in the true experience of sejatining rasa. For a moment, he remembers meeting his mother when he was alone in the jungle. His mother is long gone, how is it possible for him to find himself in Jatirasa forest? Can it be that without knowing it, he was immersed in the true experience of sejatining rasa then? Otherwise, how could he have come to know about the origin of his birth? He cannot answer his own question. He can only feel how happy he was when he was able to meet his mother at that time. His happiness then is the same as his happiness now, when he is able to feel sejatining rasa. That feeling of happiness continues to carry him over, when he again sets foot in the real Jatisrana hermitage, where he used to be live with his older brother. He wonders why now he no longer feels any disappointment over his older brother who repeatedly rejected him. That feeling of disappointment has gone, engulfed by the joy of sejatining rasa.
Accompanied by his happiness, he walks along the paddy fields that are turning gold and under the herons that take flight. A cow is nursing there. How the cow gives her love to her calf. This scene makes him think back to the cow he met when he left Jatirasa forest for Jatisrana. The cow willingly became the tiger's prey, but she begged to be allowed to nurse her calf first. In the end, the cow and her calf willingly became the tiger’s prey, and the tiger turned into Batara Darma. Now, with the eyes of sejatining rasa, he understands the meaning of dharma. Dharma is nothing more than the life principle of willing to give oneself to another, even to death.
This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.
