For our first Flower of the Month we have choosen the
Lotus.
"In lotus-groves
Thy spirit roves:
where shall I find a seat for Thee?
To Thy feet's tread - feet dawn-rose red
opening my heart Thy throne shall be".
(From a short poem
in Bengali by Anilbaran Roy and translated by Sri
Aurobindo. )
In these two lines we find the essence of the lotus
for like the water lily it is the flower of
Mahalakshmi, who is the supremely attractive aspect
of the Divine Mother's power of beauty and harmony.
In the tradition of
Mu, the civilisation which was covered by the Indian
ocean, the lotus was deemed the first flower upon
earth. The pink lotus represents for us "the
Divine manifest upon earth in a physical body - The
Avatar"; it is the flower of Sri Aurobindo says
The Mother.
The White thousand
- petaled lotus is the flower of the Mother. It
represents the Divine Consciousness: Aditi: "Pure,
immaculate, gloriously powerful"
In Indian mythology
goddess Lakshmi arose from the waters bearing a lotus
in her hand. Sri Krishna too, it is said, had the
imprint of a lotus on the soles of his feet.
Describing certain
sculptures, a Chinese pilgrim remarks that the foot -
prints of Lord Buddha were shown by lotus flowers. We
are reminded of the story of Brahma, the Creator, who
emerged from the centre of the lotus, coming from the
navel of Vishnu, who was reclining on Sesh Nag - the
evolutionary power—floating on the vast Ocean.
What deep thoughts
and experiences are conjured up merely at the mention
of Lotus!
Just look at the
centre of this sacred flower: see the yellow central
throne, surrounded by rows of swaying gold to orange
stamens with pure white tips.
Let us now see what
other psychological effects this unique flower has
made on us:
The seven centres,
called 'chakras' in our physical being are
represented by lotus flowers of different colours and
with specific numbers of petals.
The lotus - posture
or "padmasana" is the pose taken during
meditation or concentration in the Raja yoga and
Hatha yoga disciplines. Like all other erect postures,
this advanced cross-legged pose brings, besides many
other benefits, calm awareness.
Some
General Information
Although the word 'Lotus'
is used for one or two other totally un-related
plants the botanical name Nelumbo is very specific:
it is the Singalese name for the sacred lotus, sacred
from the banks of the Nile to those of the Ganges as
well as in the temple water tanks of China and Japan,
where several varieties have been developed.
In fact, more than
two thousand years ago, seeds of the sacred lotus
were stored away in a certain pyramid in Eygpt. When
removed and planted they germinated and grew into
beautiful plants kept in a conservatory in the U.S.A.
It is thus the seed with the longest-known viability.
Inside the lotus
seed you can see surrounded by the edible endosperm
the first leaf already formed like the neck of a swan
in dark green. It is not common that in the absence
of light the embryo develops such a green colour.
*
If you break a leaf-stalk
you see several fibres which can be drawn out by
pulling the two parts apart. These fibers are twisted
together to make a thicker fairly strong thread. When
the stalk is progressively broken the threads may be
joined together to make either a long thread or a
wick for temple or home oil-lamps.
All parts of the
lotus are edible: leaf-stalks, flowers, seeds, tubers:
the latter being usually white or reddish when the
peel is taken off. The flowers and leaf-stalks have
medicinal uses: the former providing a cardiac tonic.
The seeds are used to check vomiting but when eaten
normally the embryo is usually removed since it is
very bitter.
*
The lotus is grown
from seed in shallow water, or from pieces of the
tuber which grows at a surprising rate - about
fifteen metres in a year's growth. At each node or
point of growth the plant produces first a leaf scale
on the lower side then one on the upper side followed
immediately by a foliage leaf. Now from the axil of
the upper scale leaf a flower can spring up and from
the base of the large foliage leaf a branch. This
gives the plant great potential for flowering and
spreading at the same time.
*
The
Perfect Flower
The lotus is truly
a perfect flower combining in itself the three
elements of physical beauty:
- form and purity of line and curve; especially in
the thousand - petaled form.
- the colour with various shades of pink blending
with pure white.
- perfume; the delicacy and pervasive presence of its
fragrance.
