“When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.”
– Sri Ramakrishna
Spiritual qualities are more contagious than any virus. Peace, light, love and joy are not constricted by social distancing; washing our hands does not remove them; they can spread from one to millions in a heartbeat, they easily span the globe in an instant.
To spread spiritual qualities, we do not have to cough or sneeze or make announcements or broadcasts or do anything at all: we simply have to embody them. “When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.” The flower doesn’t have to advertise itself: bees are programmed to seek out nectar and when a blooming flower appears on their radar, they are drawn to it irresistibly.
As the bee needs and yearns for nectar, so everyone needs and yearns for spiritual sustenance. Like bees, we are all programmed to seek love, peace and happiness, and our inner antennae are always alert for their appearance. That is why we cannot help but smile when we see someone wearing a huge smile on their face; we cannot help but be moved by a cute puppy; we cannot help but be soothed by a sublime sunset. Regardless of where we are and what we are doing, regardless of our mood, state of mind and emotions, spiritual qualities will always attract us as a magnet attracts metal.
To attract bees, the flower simply has to be itself and do what it does naturally – bloom. To be spiritually contagious, to emit and spread peace, light, love and joy we likewise only have to be truly ourselves, for we are nothing other than peace, light, love and joy.
How to be truly ourselves? Meditate. The more sincerely we meditate, the more we naturally bloom, the more spiritually contagious we become.