Hibiscus (Part 1)

Power and More

Of all the flowers named by the Mother, the Hibiscus reigns supreme with fifty-seven different significances and even within the fifty-seven there are variations! One of the greatest blessings I received in the years 1970-1972 was to send more than 60 flowers to Mother, all of which She named.

In the early years of the Matrimandir Gardens when the Nursery was being built I went to the Lal-bagh Botanic Garden in Bangalore, bringing with me a van full of special plants from California and other sub-tropical areas. Bangalore at that time had a very moderate climate since it was about 3000 feet in elevation. They were able to grow many plants that would not survive in the plains of south India. I met the Director of the garden, Dr. Mari Gowda and presented the plants to him. He in turn shared many plants for the Matrimandir Gardens, among them their recent acquisition of the new Hawaiian hybrid hibiscus.

He gave me eleven of the best cultivars. I grew these early on and as soon as one came into bloom I sent it to Mother. I would come into the Ashram on a motorcycle with the flower carefully packed in a plastic bag and then in a box so the wind wouldn’t damage it. I would then give the flower to Tara who was waiting to take to Mother. As she showed the flower to Mother I stood below by the Samadhi and listened to Mother exclaim, in French, 'merveilleux (marvellous)', magnifique (beautiful). In all Mother named twelve Hawaiian hibiscus, eleven of them grown in the Matrimandir Gardens Nursery.

One very important note. Ten of the Hawaiian hibiscus were given two names by the Mother. The first name was Auroville, such as 'Charm of Auroville'. One day Mother felt that the name should be more all-encompassing so She gave the second name for the world, the New Creation. We can thus see that both significances emphasize that Auroville represents the New Creation.

Only one other flower has two names, a lovely blue indigenous shrub, Memecylon tinctorium, whose common name is 'Ironwood', which Mother named 'Miracle' and gave a second name, 'Air of Auroville, so again we can readily see that the air of Auroville is truly a miracle.

We will attempt to cover many of the hibiscus named by Mother in this and subsequent blogs.

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