Pongal means ‘to overflow.’ It is a time when humankind’s love for nature and nature’s love for humankind overflow. Human beings make nature happy by having good thoughts and doing good actions. Nature blesses humankind with a bountiful harvest. Pongal is a symbol of the universal mind and the individual mind overflowing and becoming one.Across South India, Pongal begins the day on which the Sun starts to move northwards, Makar Shankranti, and lasts for three days with a different aspect of the Divine in nature worshipped. It can be a very healing time, restoring a deep relationship with the Universe, Mother Nature, and one another. Through this festival, the creation is recognised as the miraculous, divine blessing it truly is.In some places, the Sun is worshipped on the first day as the embodiment and source of life-force, without which we could not be. Payasam is offered to Lord Surya to seek His blessings, and then eaten as prasad. The second day, animals are venerated, usually through the worship of cows, which again are offered sweet payasam. The third day sees the family relations worshipped, of course through more offering of payasam, and, more importantly, through the coming together of family members. If there have been arguments or miscommunications, this is the day when the air is cleared and hearts are opened. In Tamil Nadu, Pongal also ushers in the New Year and begins with newly-harvested grains cooked for the first time during the joyous festivities. Over the three days, the poor are fed and given clothes and birds and animals are cared for.This kind of worship is not superstitious. There is a deep intelligence that is both symbolic and very practical. During Pongal, the tradition is to allow the payasam to boil over when it is cooked. This overflowing of sweetness represents the prema, divine love, that should overflow from our hearts towards all of creation. At the same time, the practice has an immediate medicinal effect. The steam rising from the rice, jaggery, cardamom, and other spices being boiled in so many households and mixed with the smoke from the firewood traditionally used, actually creates a special combination that has a very beneficial impact on the atmosphere. The collective observance of this and similar practices have a positive effect on both the ‘mental environment’, as well as the weather, climate, and harmony of the natural surroundings. This is just one aspect of the subtle wisdom underlying these simple, elegant customs. It is a form of thanksgiving to the entire creation as the power that sustains life.We are not separate from nature. Our ancestors realised this, and taught us to worship all beings, including plants, trees, animals, and birds. This reverence for creatures big and small is not a show, but an expression of thanks to Mother Nature for all the loving care She gives.Once we become aware of the interdependence of ecosystems and of the extraordinary service that nature is providing us, we will be ready to love, revere, and worship everything in our natural world. Every one of our actions will reflect the fullness of our gratitude. Divine consciousness permeates everything. Like the ocean and the waves, the Creator and creation are not two, but one. God is in the world and the world is in God. All of this is sustained by love—love is eternal and connects every aspect .May humankind gain this knowledge and goodness of heart. May this Pongal Festival be an opportunity to instill this culture and God deeply within and spread it without.Written By: Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, known simply as Amma, is a global spiritual leader and humanitarian