Botanical Name : Cordia Sebestena
Common Name
: Geiger Tree
Spiritual
Name : Adoration
Manifold, smiling, regular, it offers itself untiringly.
This
tree is rendered conspicuous in gardens by its clusters of beautiful
orange-scarlet flowers which appear practically at all seasons
of the year. Young plants in fresh verdant green leaves are very
handsome. The oval shaped leaves, blunt at the apex, are rough
to the touch and heavily ribbed.
The flower is funnel-shaped;
there are 6 rounded and wrinkled petals. The showy orange-red
blooms appear in large open clusters at the ends of the branches.
It is a native of the West Indian Islands.
The fruits are white
and enclosed in a hazel-like husk. They can be sown when quite
fresh. The tree can be also propagated by cuttings of firm wood.
Nature's Adoration
The Mother says that
"Flowers are the spontaneous expression of Nature's Adoration".
Each time we see a flower, how beautiful it will be, if we can
feel the adoration of Native mounting up towards the Divine. We
too will get uplifted and become part of this rising movement.
Adoration an inner
Worship
Here are two beautiful
passages from Sri Aurobindo on the meaning and significance of
Adoration.
"The aim of
yoga being union, its beginning must be always a seeking after
the Divine, a longing after some kind of touch, closeness or
possession. When this comes on us, … adoration always becomes
primarily an inner worship. We begin to make ourselves a temple
of the Divine, our thoughts and feelings a constant prayer of
aspiration and seeking, our whole life an external service and
worship."
*
"Worship is
only the first step on the path of devotion. Where external
worship changes into inner adoration, real Bhakti begins; that
deepens into the intensity of divine love; that love leads to
the joy of closeness in our relation with the Divine; the joy
of closeness passes into the bliss of union."
- Sri
Aurobindo
