She says that she has always had this question since childhood but never got a proper answer.
Nature creates things as symbols and representations of deeper truths. Deserts are the symbol of emptiness, just as snowy mountain peaks, where nothing grows, are a symbol of purity. Emptiness is a state that exists in the spiritual as well as psychological realm. Nature simply reproduces this state in the form of deserts. That is why you would see that the humanity that evolves around deserts and religions that spring up in its barrenness are themselves not creative. They are barren and the Religions of the deserts even ban music, poetry, paintings and art that can enrich life and creation. On the other hand, humanity and religions that spring up around rivers and develop around them are rich and creative and celebrate diversity. They lead the soul of man through enrichment towards the vast Divine Consciousness as represented by the ocean. Both deserts and rivers express these two seemingly exclusive aspects of the One Divine: the harsh and ascetic way of destroying all that exists, and, on the other hand, the creative way of enriching life and carrying it all to the Divine fulfilment.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
