January 12, 1965 (Regarding an old "Playground Talk" of March 8, 1951, in which Mother spoke of the being that possessed and "guided" Hitler: "Hitler was in contact with a being whom he considered to be the Supreme: that being would come and give him advice and tell him all that he had to do. Hitler would withdraw into solitude and wait long enough to come into contact with his 'guide' and receive inspirations from him which he would afterwards carry out very faithfully. That being whom Hitler took for the Supreme was quite simply an Asura, the one called in occultism 'the Lord of Falsehood,' and he Page 16 proclaimed himself to be 'the Lord of Nations.' He had a resplendent a

February 27, 1965 (Regarding the Playground Talk of March 10, 1951: "In the physical form there is the 'spirit of the form,' and that spirit of the form persists for a time, even when outwardly the person is said to be dead. And as long as the spirit of the form persists, the body isn't destroyed. In ancient Egypt they had that knowledge; they knew that if they prepared the body in a certain way, the spirit of the form wouldn't go away and the body wouldn't be dissolved. In certain cases, they succeeded wonderfully. And if you go and violate the sleep of those beings who for thousands of years have remained like that, I can understand that they aren't too pleased, especially when thei

November 23, 1965 Regarding the message Mother will give for the November 24 darshan: Page 300 "It is certainly a mistake to bring down the light by force - to pull it down. The Supramental cannot be taken by storm. When the time is ready it will open of itself - but first there is a great deal to be done and that must be done patiently and without haste." Sri Aurobindo That's good for sensible people. They will say, "There, he doesn't promise any miracles." Why? Are there lots of people who tend to "pull"? People are in a hurry, they want to see results right away. So then, they think they are pulling the Supramental down - and they pull some little vital ent

Chapter 5 Road to the Divine Reveal, who know, the road that I must tread ... SRI AUROBINDO What I call "being on the path" is being in a state of consciousness in which only union with the Divine has any value - this union is the only thing worth living, the sole object of aspiration. Everything else has lost all value and is not worth seeking, so there is no longer any question of renouncing it because it is no longer an object of desire. As long as union with the Divine is not the thing for which one lives, one is not yet on the path. THE MOTHER It is true that the path is very long, but for one who follows it with sincerity, it is

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 reality of our

Chapter 6 Bases of Spiritual Life The earliest preoccupation of man in his awakened thoughts and, as it seems, his inevitable and ultimate preoccupation ... is also the highest which his thought can envisage. It manifests itself in the divination of Godhead, the impulse towards perfection, the search after pure Truth and unmixed Bliss, the sense of a secret immortality. The ancient dawns of human knowledge have left us their witness to this constant aspiration; today we see a humanity satiated but not satisfied by victorious analysis of the externalities of Nature preparing to return to its primeval longings. The earliest formula of Wisdom promises to be its last,

Glossary of Philosophical and Psychological Terms   The definitions of the terms below are based upon the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.   ADHAR. Support, receptacle; the mental-vital-physical system as a vessel in which the consciousness is contained.   ADITI. The Divine Mother; the divine consciousness; the indivisible consciousness, force and Ananda of the Supreme.   AGNI. Fire; the godhead of fire; the fire of aspiration, purification, Tapasya, transformation.   AJNA CHAKRA. The centre of consciousness between the eyebrows which governs the dynamic mind, will, vision, mental formation.   ANAN

      The Spiritual Significance of Flowers                     The Mother               The Spiritual Significance of Flowers   Part 2 Indexes, Glossaries and Descriptions     Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry, India         First edition 2000 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 2000 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Pondicherry, India Printed in Singapore at Ho Printing ISBN 81-7058-609-7           Thou hast put into these flowers a magical power: they seem to spea

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.   AXIL

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