Flowers and Their Significances     Chapter 1   Aditi and Avatar     The red lotus is the Avatar. The white lotus is the Divine Consciousness.    THE MOTHER   The red lotus represents Sri Aurobindo, the white one represents me. In a general way the lotus is the flower of the Divine Wisdom, whatever its colour. But red signifies the Avatar, the Divine incarnated in matter, and white signifies the Divine Consciousness manifested upon earth.    THE MOTHER Page-1   ADITI   Aditi — The Mother. Aditi is the indivisible consciousness, force and Ananda of the Supreme; the Mother, its living dynamis, the supre

  Chapter 7   Spiritual Attainments     If mankind could but see though in a glimpse of fleeting experience what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, they would leave all and never rest till they had gained these treasures. But the way is narrow, the doors are hard to force, and fear, distrust and scepticism are there, sentinels of Nature, to forbid the turning away of our feet from her ordinary pastures.    Sri Aurobindo   Spirituality is in its essence an awakening to the inner real

  Chapter 9   Planes of Consciousness and Parts of the Being     The soul of man soars as the Bird, the Hansa, past the shining firmaments of physical and mental consciousness, climbs as the traveller and fighter beyond earth of body and heaven of mind by the ascending path of the Truth to find this Godhead waiting for us, leaning down to us from the secrecy of the highest supreme. . . . Sri Aurobindo   In the spiritual order of things, the higher we project our view and our aspiration, the greater the Truth that seeks to descend upon us, because it is already there within us and calls for its release from the covering tha

  Chapter 12   Radha and Krishna     Was it not he once in Brindavan? Woods divine to our yearning, Memorable always! O flowers, O delight on the tree-tops burning, Grasses his herds have grazed and crushed by his feet in the dancing, Yamuna flowing with song, through the greenness always advancing, Unforgotten remind; for his flute with its sweetness ensnaring Sounds in our ears in the night and our souls of their teguments baring Hales us out naked and absolute, out to his woodlands eternal, Out to his moonlit dances, his dalliance sweet and supernal. . . . Even an hour of the soul can unveil the Unborn, the Everlastin

-01_Publisher's Note.htm THE MOTHER The Spiritual Significance of Flowers Part I Test and Photograph Publisher s Note "Flowers speak to us when we know how to listen to them," the Mother said. "It is a subtle and fragrant language." As if to provide a key to this language, she identified the significances of almost nine hundred flowers. In this book, these flowers and their meanings are presented in -the light of her vision and experience. The book consists of two separately bound parts. Part 1, the text and photographs, is arranged thematically on the basis of the Mother's flower-significances. In each of the twelve chapters, flowers of related significance are

Index of Botanical Names The numbers below refer to the numbers of the flowers as they are arranged in Part 1. A Abelmoschus esculentus 702 Abutilon indicum 37 Abutilon Xhybridum 36, 38 Acacia auriculiformis 247 Acacia farnesiana 453 Acacia leucophloea 454 Acalypha 221 Acalypha godseffiana 225 Acalypha hispida 224 Acalypha wilkesiana 223 Acalypha wilkesiana 'Godseffiana 222 Acanthus ilicifolius 418 Acanthus montanus 773 Acer 120 Achimenes grandiflora 745 Acidanthera bicolor, see 731 Aegle marmelos 139 Aerva tomentosa 122 Aganosma roxburghii 860 Ager

Chapter 2 The Divine The Divine is that from which all comes, in which all lives, and to return to the truth of the Divine now clouded over by Ignorance is the soul's aim in life. In its supreme Truth, the Divine is absolute and infinite peace, consciousness, existence, power and Ananda. SRI AUROBINDO The Divine has three aspects for us: 1. It is the Cosmic Self and Spirit that is in and behind all things and beings, from which and in which all is manifested in the universe - although it is now a manifestation in the Ignorance. 2. It is the Spirit and Master of our own being within us whom we have to serve and learn to express his will in a

Glossary of Botanical Terms The botanical terms below are those that occur in the Descriptions of the Flowers. ADVENTITIOUS. Of organs or tissues developing in an abnormal position, e.g. roots developing from stems. ANNUAL. A plant that completes its entire life cycle in one year. ANTHER. The pollen bearing organ of a flower. AQUATICS. Plants that grow naturally in water (usually fresh water), either rooted in soil or free-floating. AURA. A ringlike area of colour that surrounds the centre of a flower. AXIL. The angle that a leaf or flower makes with the stem or branch that bears it. AXILLARY. Situated in or gro

The Spiritual Significance of Flower The Mother Part II Indexes, Glossaries and Description Publishers Note This reference volume contains indexes, glossaries, descriptions of the flowers and other information. There are three indexes giving the location of the flowers in Part 1: an Index of the Mother's Significances, an Index of Botanical Names and an Index of Common Names. The user should note that in all these indexes the reference numbers are those of the flowers as they are arranged in Part 1, not the page numbers of the book. Two glossaries explain technical terms used in the book. A Glossary of Botanical Terms define

Chapter 3 The New Creation The really new thing is that a new world is born, born, born. It is not the old one transforming itself, it is a new world that is born. And we are right in the midst of this period of transition where the two are entangled — where the old still persists all-powerful, entirely dominating the ordinary consciousness, but where the new one is quietly slipping in, still very modest, unnoticed — unnoticed to the extent that outwardly it doesn't disturb anything very much for the time being, and in the consciousness of most people it is even quite imperceptible. And yet it is working, it is growing — until the time comes when it will be strong