All about India is the space where we cover something about India or Indians that you wouldn’t have known. The Lotus is the National flower of India, and we all know it for a fact, but do we know why was it chosen to be the national flower of our nation? Read on to find out..
- The lotus symbolizes divinity, grace, victory, triumph & potential, fertility, long life, honor, wealth, knowledge, purity, beauty, & cosmic harmony.
- The lotus always grows in ponds with a layer of moss or mud on top of the water. This symbolizes that, even when it is surrounded by dirt and impurity, it can still grow proud and beautiful.
- A single lotus growing in a pond can make even the moss and mud look beautiful. In the same way, Indians should strive to rise up and grow proud and beautiful even when they are surrounded by impurity or ill faith.
- They should endeavor to make our surroundings, not just our physical but also our mental, emotional and spiritual surroundings, more beautiful.
- Lotus has a message to convey to humans. Although, lotus is an archetype of beauty, it symbolizes non-attachment.
- In his essay “The Secret of Work”, Swami Vivekananda opines, “Just as water cannot wet the lotus leaf, so work cannot bind the unselfish man by giving rise to attachment to results.”
- Even though the lotus is rooted in mud, it continues to float on the water without becoming wet or muddy. This aspect of the lotus dictates how humans ought to live in this world – work incessantly but be not attached to the work and to the surroundings.
- It also reveals, “This world is not our habitation but one of many stages through which we are passing through.”
- The Bhagavad Gita says, “One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results onto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.”
- “Often, the Hindu goddesses …are associated with the flower lotus…Even Lord Shiva transformed himself into the form of a bee… & took shelter inside of a lotus.
- “In India it is considered as the symbol of triumph. As it is rooted in the mud it can survive to re-germinate for thousands of years. It represents long life, honor and good fortune.
- For Hindus it has special significance as it used in their religious practices. It is even the sacred flower for the Buddhists in India. It is quote in puranic veds and literature many times.
- ‘An eight petalled lotus used in Buddhist mandalas symbolizes cosmic harmony, a thousand petalled Lotus, spiritual illumination. A bud symbolizes potential.’
The lotus is even believed to have given birth to the sun.
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