For example, mother Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is always with lotus. She is sitting or standing on lotus flower, holing lotus flower. Mother Saraswathi, the goddess of Wisdom, always appears sitting on lotus flower, lord Vishnu is holding lotus flower in his hands, etc. In Buddhism too lord Buddha is often sitting on lotus flower. These are some example of the lotus flower associated with the gods.
Did you ever think of this question: "why the gods eyes, hands, feet, etc., organs are said to resemble the lotus or lotus petals..?". Why not with the other flowers ..?
Yes – there is a valid and concrete reason for this comparison and it is not accidental. It is not due to the mere beauty of the flower, it is compared with the gods organs on the other hand.
Lotus is the only flower we know, that will not be touched by the dirt [dirty water] although it is present in the dirty ponds and lakes. That is, lotus is not get attached to any dirt although it is with dirt. Due to this divine quality of the lotus it is often used for the gods in comparison.
Although the gods might come to this world, for one or the other reason, they will not get any attachment with this world. If a common man sees something, some object of beauty or glory, then that person will not be in a position to stay detached to it. That person wants to see that object again and again, he or she might want to grab it or posses that object. But, if a person with lotus eyes
[its symbolic] is seeing such an object, he or she will not get any attachment to that object. In order to tell this detachment or lack of attachment to the worldly things, the eyes of a matured person [gods in this case], the eyes of a person of wisdom are often compared to the lotus or lotus petals.
But, it should be noted that, it is not due to the sheer beauty of the flower it is compared with the eyes of th gods.
In the similar way, if a common man holds some object of glory with his hand, he might not be interested to leave it or he wants to hold it for ever. That is the common man is creating some bond with that object. But, if a man with lotus palm holds something he will not create any bond with that object. He has no bond with it. He is free at any time to leave that object. So, this is symbolically depicted as the gods having the lotus hands or lotus palms.
Same logic applies to the lotus feet and other parts or organs of the gods when they are holding or related to the lotus in some way.
So, in essence, the lotus indicates some divine quality, the quality of being not attached to anything that comes across or anything that touches.
For example, if goddess Lakshmi comes to a person or bless a person, the lotus she is sitting upon indicates that she is not in permanent contact with that person. She might leave that person at any time – that's what the lotus indicates.
Same in the case of goddess Saraswathi. She might bless a person but, it might not be forever. For example, if he turns mad due to some ill health or accident, his wisdom will cease to be.
The blessings of a god might not be for ever in many instances, that's what the lotus indicates on one side, and on the other hand, the lotus indicates that person or god is very matured, has much wisdom and is above the worldly temptations and attachments.
In the eastern Yoga sastra [the science of Yoga], it has a different meaning altogether. In the Yoga sastra, the thousand petal lotus is often compared to a person who is completely matured. In the science of Yoga, it is often said that, there is a lotus in the head of a person and it is not completely open, only some petals of it are open. Whenever all the thousand petals of that lotus are opened, that person will get liberation, moksha or enlightenment. So, the gods holding the lotus indicates this fact of the Yoga sastra, that they are the masters of their own self, they are fully bloomed, they are no more attached to the world. In other words, they are no more worldly beings.
In other words, such persons have reached the ultimate stage of evolution, their souls are fully bloomed, all the thousand petals of them are fully opened and functional – hence, they are no more like the ordinary human beings, they are gods. So, to symbolize this fact, they are associated with the lotus flower !
These are some of the meanings associated with lotus associated with the gods in Hinduism and some other eastern religions. It should be noted that, a mathematical equation has only one meaning whereas a parable, a symbol has many possibilities depending on the context and situation. So, it should be noted that, the lotus takes many other meanings too, not only limited to what has been mentioned above.
Thank you for reading. Please write your comments on this article !
No comments:
Post a Comment