The Danavira Mela Book

From Chapter 2, Installing the Giving Tree

The Divine Spirit-Tree of Light is Adi Das formal name for the trees we decorate during this season, just as some people decorate what they call a Christmas tree or holiday treeor Tennenbaum. The Divine Spirit-Tree of Light is a symbol, much like the archetype of the Tree of Life, which has historically appeared in many cultures around the world.

The Divine-Spirit-Tree of Light is a symbolic form of the human body Brightened and illuminated by Divine Light. The trunk of the tree represents the spinal column, and its many branches symbolize the nerves that branch out to all parts of the body. As a whole, the tree is always oriented to the sun, just as the devotee of the Divine is always turned to the Light.

We place ornaments on the tree in a way that corresponds to this orientation and to our understanding of both the physical and the esoteric anatomy of the human body. We first place a finial, often in the shape of a star, on the top of the tree to represent the Divine Light that shines down on everyone from above and fills the whole body. Later we place three central ornaments to represent the heart on every tree. The heart is not only associated with the physical organ, or with emotion, but it is understood as the principal place from which Divine Light radiates in the human body. The entire Danavira Mela tree is then covered and transformed from head to toe with lights and decorations.

Adi Da speaks about the Divine Spirit-Tree of Light:

The tree at Danavira Mela time is a symbol. It represents something in the human scale. The Danavira Mela tree represents the human nervous system and the esoteric psycho-physical structures that have been associated with the Spiritual process in all traditions, including the Light that shines from above. The Danavira Mela tree is a representation of that. It is a symbolic tree-like form, a Tree of Life kind of form.

See also The Best Season of the Whole Year