Animal Planet and Shankara.

The documentary on Animal planet showed how the great migration takes place every year on the plains of Africa. There it focused on a calf that could not make the crossing, which the mother wilder beast could . The lonely calf, stuck on the wrong side of the river, was trying to be a friend with the lonely deer which also had lost its mother on the river crossing. There were hungry cheetahs that were lurking nearby. The mother watched for her calf on the other side of the river and when she could not find it among the teeming masses that crossed...it did the seemingly unthinkable. It actually crossed the river again looking for here calf, braving the powerful crocodiles waiting to pounce on her. (Finally they both make it to the other side, after a brief encounter with a cheetah)

The other day, I watched a child in a railway station. the child was playing with something at a distance from her mother. Soon, with a thundering noise, a train came on to another platform. The child both confused and afraid, left all the toys and ran back to her mother and held on to her.

I was reminded of the meaning of a hymn that Adi Shankaracharya had written in the praise of divine mother .
He said," O mother, there are bad children in this world but a bad mother..the world has seen none."
In another verse,
"O mother! I do not know any sacred chants nor do I perform any holy rituals. I am not well versed in the philosophical intricacies or the language of the intelligent. I just know that whenever I face difficulties, whenever I am afraid, I can run to you with outstretched hands and you will protect."
I think I had a fleeting glimpse of the depths in these verses of shankara.
@

Life.. does it hint at something?

The bus sped through the beautiful landscape ad0rned with colorful flowers, the flock of geese flying across sky with dark but enchanting clouds. There is a lot of different variety of life around me, right from the microscopic ones to giants...everyone of them unique in their own way. Complete understanding of such diversity and scope of this kaleidoscope of life is beyond my capabilities...I am like that proverbial blind man judging an elephant.
Each and every form of life around me has some ability that makes their place so special in world they live in...Be it the ultraviolet vision in bees or the sensory system in a hammer head whale that can detect a billionth of a volt or the flight dynamics of a fly which confounds and is the envy of all aerospace engineers or the extremely well organized societies of the ants and termites.

Yes, they all play an important role in their ecosystems and are integral parts of the ecosystem...and I think I understand their importance from a biology point of view. But I wonder in a more philosophical way(in my thinking at least!) as to what is their place in this world? What exactly is the place of humans in relation to each of them?

I do not think that they are inferior to us in any way or less evolved nor do I think that we can justify their existence as being there to serve us or meet our needs. I see in them perfection of many kinds. Each of them looks as an example of perfection of some facet of life... some can see what we cannot, while others can hear what we cannot. But amongst all of the life, perhaps humans are the only ones with a mind that can perceive this and yet have a body that is utterly incapable of matching any of these amazing abilities. Perhaps we are watching the divinity inherent in each one of us from different perspective at a time. Perhaps through this knowledge of parts, we may try to comprehend the whole. Just as Kathopanshad says,
Neither by the light of sun nor the moon does it shine*.
Lightening is not the source of its light, then what to speak of fire.
It alone shines and all others reflect that light.
Indeed by its light alone everything in this creation shines.
That source of light, that wisdom of the whole may the quest. And this wonderful creation, play of life is just a divine hint for us to realize that divinity in ourselves and others.
@
*Shine is a poor translation of what the verse actually says. The exact word 'bhaati' has many meanings in sanskrit and I do not know its english equivalent.