Botanical Name : Bougainvillea
Common Name
: Bougainvillea
Spiritual
Name :Protection
Let us give ourselves entirely and sincerely to the Divine and
we shall enjoy His protection.
A Popular Flower
If you want to feel
rich with very little investment, grow Bougainvillea. They present
a display of grandeur and colour with practically no food or water
or any other demands. A native of South America, they have gained
popularity all over the world, due to their versatility, richness
and suitability to thrive in degrading environmental conditions.
Bougainvillea is a
semi-climber and can be grown as a hedge, a shrub, a climber over
a sunny wall and also in pots. With its sharp thick thorns it
is avoided by cattle, goats, monkeys and even birds. It loves
open sunshine and the colours of some varieties grow brighter
and more attractive in hot dry climate.
It flowers throughout
the year except during rains. The colourful bracts are almost
oval, lightly pointed with marked veins. The true flower is white,
pale to mustard-yellow or salmon-pink, inconspicuous in itself
but provides a lovely contrast or match to the colour of its bract.
There is a wide range of choice in colours from the loudest shades
of magenta to the softest mauve. There are single coloured and
multicoloured varieties. Leaves are mostly dark green, sometimes
however with cream or yellow variegations. Mostly the propagation
is done by cuttings, a few by air-layering.
The most vigorous varieties
need hard pruning according to the desired shape. It also improves
the flowering. Water shoots which arise from the ground, mainly
during the rainy season, should be removed.
Varieties of Protection
and their Spiritual Significances
Bougainvillea or Protection,
as we have seen, is found in a multitude of colours. The Mother
has given different names to these varieties, with a deep insight
into their meanings. Here are presented a few of these:
White - Integral Protection
That which can be given only by the Divine.
Clusters of two or
more different coloured bracts - Manifold Protection
A protection working not only on the whole life but on each of
its details.
Red - Physical Protection
Is possible only with a total surrender to the Divine and the
absence of all desire.
Shades of yellow and
gold - Protection of the Gods.
Luminuous and clear visioned.
'Trinidad' very pale
lavender - Discreet Protection
Does its work discreetly without drawing attention.
'Mahara' vivid magenta
a multi-bracted clusters - Attempt to Protection
Irregular efforts are not always effective.
The Divine Protection
The only safety in
life is to turn to the Divine alone for protection. Here are a
few beautiful quotations from the Mother and Sri Aurobindo on
the attitude that we must take:
"The best protection
is an unsharable faith in the Divine Grace.
*
When you think of
the Lord's Peace it acts as a call, and the more you think of
it the more you surround yourself with it, which is the most
powerful protection.
*
Protection is active
and can be effective only with faith on your side, absolute
and constant."
- The
Mother
"When we are
in close contact with the Divine, a protection can come which
helps or directly guides or moves us; it does not throw aside
all difficulties, sufferings or dangers, but it carries us through
them and out of them - except where for a special purpose there
is need of the opposite."
- Sri
Aurobindo
