Life and Spirituality

Honey from the Backyard E arlier in the year a honeycomb began to develop in a corner of the backyard. It was on some very low dry branches and therefore one had to be very careful while watering the plants near it with a hose. Once when I sprinkled water on them by mistake the bees got after me and I ran indoors but not before a couple had bit me on the face. These are tiny local bees but their sting sure hurts. After that I was very careful in watering around that spot and it seems the bees too realized that and never ever bothered me again. Steadily the honeycomb became larger and larger. My mother used to say that a honeycomb is very fortunate in a home. She was a spiritual lady and from experience I believe in most of what she said. Wild honey as opposed to farm grown honey is also very medicinal and this honey was as close to wild as one can get in an urban area. However, I was in two minds if to take that honey. In my communing with nature, my understanding is

A honeycomb at home A t a time when modern medicine did not exist, humans depended directly on what was available in nature not just for food but also medicine. Ancient literature has sung glories for the medicinal and tonic virtues of honey. The Sanskrit Ayurveda has praised it and I recall a statement from the bible that went something like this, “Eat honey and the honeycomb, for it is good” I too am a fan of natural tonics and remedies, viewing modern ones with suspicion and caution. The reason being that the period of research into modern remedies is not as long as ancient ones and more so they are tainted by the greed of commercial interests. Recently the news was full of a leading Pharmaceutical company apologizing profusely for such practices when discovered just so that they can save on possible fines and not perhaps because they were really sorry. However, my study and experience of modern honey too is not a good one. Its beneficial properties come from its