The Spiritual Significance of Flowers Flowers by The Mother of Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry “Flowers speak to us when we know how to listen to them” the Mother said. “It is a subtle and fragrant language”

1. The Spiritual Significance of
Flowers
“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 his language, she identified the
significance of almost nine hundred flowers and published them
in a most beautiful book with pictures of their meanings in the
light of her vision and experience.
The book consists of twelve chapters with flowers of related
significance grouped together. The groups are then placed in a
sequence that develops the theme of of the chapter.

2. THE ORGANISATION OF THE FLOWERS
(1)
Aditi and Avatar : Aditi; Avatar The Divine : Sachchidananda;
Divine Presence; Divine Love; Divine Grace; Divine Help;
Protection The New Creation: Promise; New world; New
creation; The future; Super humanity Living for the Divine: To
live only for ;the Divine; Attachment to the Divine; Trust i the
Divine; Friendship with the Divine; Love for the Divine. Road to
the Divine: Road to the Divine; Ascension; Aspiration; Prayer;
Devotion; Remembrance; Opening; Receptivity; Tapasya;
Renunciation of Desires; Unselfishness; Discipline;
Thoroughness; Endurance; Service; Work’ Organization; Help’
Progress. Base of Spiritual Life: Sincerity; Purity; Simplicity;
Humility; Peace; Silence; Gratitude; Cheerfulness; ;Goodwill;
Balance; Harmony; Generosity; Faithfulness; Right attitude; Life
energy; Plasticity; Courage; Boldness; Absolute truthfulness;
Spiritual speech; No quarrels; Certitude.

3. THE ORGANISATION OF THE FLOWERS
(2)
Spiritual Attainments: Mastery; Wisdom; Inspiration; Revelation;
consciousness turned towards the Light; Conversion; New Birth;
Realization; Victory; Transformation; Immortality; Beauty; Art’
Refinement; Dignity; Wealth. Power: Godhead; Agni; Supra mental
Consciousness; Beauty of supra mental youth; Charm of the new creation;
Individual power;; Dynamic power; Power of progress. Planes of
Consciousness and Parts of the Being: Complexity of the centres; Supra
mental influence; Spiritual aspiration; Spiritual beauty; Psychic work;
Psychological perfection; Mind; Higher Mind; Mental simplicity; Quiet
mind; Vital opening; Vital purity; Elegance in the emotions; Refinement of
sensation; Physical consciousness turned entirely towards the Divine;
Light in the blood; Peace in the cells; ;Peace in the blood; Peace in the sex
centre; Health; Dreams; Power if Truth in the sub conscient; Divine Will
acting in the Inconscient. Collaboration of Nature: Blossoming of Nature;
Spontaneous aspiration of Nature towards the Divine.; Abundance; Light
in fairyland; Bird of paradise. Awakening of Matter: Psychic awakening in
Matter; Gold; Fire. Radha and Krishna: Radha’s consciousness; Krishna’s
light in the Over mind; Krishna’s play; Krishna’s Ananda

4. Contents & the origin of the Significance
Mother, each flower has its own significance, doesn’t it?
Not as we understand it mentally. There is a mental projection
when one gives a precise significance to a flower . . . . A flower
does not have the equivalent of a mental consciousness . . . It is
rather like the movement of a little baby, neither a sensation not a
feeling, but something of both; it is a spontaneous movement, a
very special vibration.. . . THE MOTHER
She considered flowers of spiritual significance, and gave names
to 800 different types, according to the spiritual quality they
convey (Flowers and Their Messages, Flowers and Their Spiritual
Significance). These would be presented to disciples, as a vehicle
for conveying her blessings and grace.

5. Sri Aurobindo 1872-1950
Aurobindo’s education began in a Christian convent school in
Darjeeling, and then, still a boy, he was sent to England for
further schooling. He entered the University of
Cambridge, where he became proficient in two classical and
three modern European languages. After returning to India in
1892, he took various administrative and professorial posts in
Baroda and Calcutta, and then turned to his native culture and
began the serious study of Yoga and Indian languages, including
classical Sanskrit.The years from 1902 to 1910 were stormy ones
for Aurobindo, as he embarked on a course of action to free India
from the British raj. As a result of his political activities and
revolutionary literary efforts, he was imprisoned in 1908. Two
years later he fled British India to refuge in the French colony of
Pondicherry where he devoted himself for the rest of his life
solely to the development of his unique philosophy. There he
founded an ashram as an international cultural centre for
spiritual development, attracting students from all over the
world.

6. The principal writings of Sri Aurobindo
According to Aurobindo’s theory of cosmic salvation, the paths to
union with Brahman are two-way streets, or channels: enlightenment
comes from above (thesis), while the spiritual mind (super mind)
strives through yogic illumination to reach upward from below
(antithesis). When these two forces blend, a Gnostic individual is
created (synthesis). This yogic illumination transcends both reason
and intuition and eventually leads to the freeing of the individual from
the bonds of individuality, and, by extension, all mankind will
eventually achieve moksha (liberation). Thus, Aurobindo created a
dialectic mode of salvation not only for the individual but for all
mankind. His vision of life is presented in numerous works of prose
and poetry, among which the best known are The Life Divine
(1940), The Human Cycle (1949), The Ideal of Human Unity
(1949), Secrets of the Vedas (1956), Collected Poems and Plays
(1942), Essays on the Gita (1928), The Synthesis of Yoga (1948), and
Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol (1950).

7. Aurobindo’s Philosophy and
spiritual vision
One of Sri Aurobindo's main philosophical achievements
was to introduce the concept of evolution into Vedantic
thought. Sri Aurobindo rejected a major conception of
Indian philosophy that says that the World is a Maya
(illusion) and that living as a renunciate was the only way
out. He says that it is possible, not only to transcend
human nature but also to transform it and to live in the
world as a free and evolved human being with a new
consciousness and a new nature which could
spontaneously perceive truth of things, and proceed in all
matters on the basis of inner oneness, love and light.

8. Evolutionary philosophy
Sri Aurobindo argues that humankind is not the last rung
in the evolutionary scale, but can evolve spiritually beyond
its current limitations to a state of spiritual and supra-
mental existence. This evolutionary existence he called a
"Divine life on Earth", characterized by a spiritualized,
supra-mental, truth-consciousness-oriented humanity.

9. Process of creation and evolution
He speaks of two central movements in the process of
creation: an involution of consciousness from an original
omnipresent Reality, manifesting a universe of
forms, including matter; and an evolution of those material
forms in creation upward toward life, mind, and
spirit, reconnecting to their spiritual source. It is also a
process of evolution.

10. Involution
The process by which the Energy of creation emerged from
a timeless, space-less, ineffable, immutable Reality, Sri
Aurobindo refers to as the Involution. In that process the
Reality extended itself to Being/Existence (Sat),
Consciousness, that generated a Force - (Chit); and Bliss
(Ananda)-- self enjoyment in existing and being conscious.
Through the action of a fourth dimension, Supermind (i.e.
Truth Consciousness), the Force (Chit) of Sat-Chit-Ananda
was divided into Knowledge and Will, eventually
formulating as an invisible Energy that would become the
source of creation. Through its own willful self-absorption
of consciousness, the universe would begin as Inconscient
material existence from out of that Energy

11. Evolution
The process of existence emerging out of the Inconscient is
referred as evolution. Initially, it emerges gradually in the stages
of matter, life, and mind. First matter evolves from simple to
complex forms, then life emerges in matter and evolves from
simple to complex forms, finally mind emerges in life and evolves
from rudimentary to higher forms of thought and reason. As
each new principle emerges, the previous stages remain but are
integrated into the higher principle. Humanity represents the
stage of development of mind in complex material forms of life.
The higher development of mind in the mass of humanity is not
yet a secure possession. Reason and intellect still do not
dominate the life of most human beings; rather, mind tends to
be turned to the purposes of the life principle, which is focused
on self-preservation, self-assertion, and satisfaction of personal
need and desire.

12. Omnipresent reality (Brahman)
A central tenet of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy is that the
Truth of existence is an omnipresent Reality that both
transcends the manifested universe and is inherent in it.
This Reality, referred to as Brahman, is an Absolute: it is
not limited by any mental conception or duality, whether
personal or impersonal, existent or nonexistent, formless
or manifested in form, timeless or extended in
time, spaceless or extended in space. It is simultaneously
all of these but is bound by none of them.

13. Triple transformation of the
individual
Sri Aurobindo's argues that Man is born an
ignorant, divided, conflicted being; a product of the original in
conscience (i.e. unconsciousness,) inherent in Matter that he evolved
out of. As a result, he does not know the nature of Reality, including its
source and purpose; his own nature, including the parts and
integration of his being; what purpose he serves, and what his
individual and spiritual potential is, amongst others. In addition, man
experiences life through division and conflict, including his
relationship with others, and his divided view of spirit and life.
To overcome these limitations, Man must embark on a process of self-
discovery in which he uncovers his Divine nature. To that end, he
undertakes a three-step process, which he calls the Triple
Transformation.

14. Triple Transformation
(1) Psychic Transformation -- The first of the three stages is a
movement within, away from the surface of life, to the
depths, culminating in the discovery of his psychic being (the
evolving soul). From that experience, he sees the oneness and
unity of creation, and the harmony of all opposites experienced in
life.
(2) Spiritual Transformation -- As a result of making the psychic
change, his mind expands and he experiences knowledge not
through the hard churning of thought, but through
light, intuition, and revelation of knowledge, culminating in supra
mental perception. Light enters from the heights and begins to
transmute various parts of his being.
(3) Supra mental transformation -- After making the psychic and
spiritual change, he makes the supra mental and most radical
change. It is basically a complete transformation of the mind, the
heart, the emotions, and the physical body.

15. Evolving soul (psychic being)
Sri Aurobindo laid utmost stress on finding and living in the
psychic being (i.e. an evolving soul) within which is the essence
of our individual being. If we forge our way into the deepest parts
of our being, we will come upon a personal evolving soul. From
this psychic being we can overcome the limits of consciousness
of the individual human. From there we perceive our true nature
and essence; we become more aware of our surroundings; we
become one with others and life; we experience an inner Guide
that influences us to move in the right direction and catches our
negative propensities as they arise on the surface; we come in
touch with our universal nature; we come in touch with the
transcendent reality and spiritual Force; we overcome the limits
of time, bringing timelessness into time; and evoke the powers
of the Infinite into this finite existence, to name several…..

16. Supra mental existence
Sri Aurobindo's vision of the future includes the
appearance of what may be called a new species, the supra
mental being, a divine being which would be as different
and superior to present humanity as humanity is to animal.
It would have a consciousness different in kin than the
mind of the human, a different status and quality and
functioning. Even the physical form of this being would be
different, more luminous and flexible and adaptable,
entirely conscious and harmonious. Between the supra
mental being and humanity, there would be transitional
beings, who would be human in birth and form, but whose
consciousness would approach that of the supra mental
being.

17. Philosophy of social evolution
Sri Aurobindo's spiritual vision extended beyond the
perfection and transformation of the individual; it
included within its scope the evolution and transformation
of human society. In both the individual and in society, the
soul and spirit is at first hidden and occult. This, he
argues, influences the direction and course of development
from behind, but allowing nature to follow its
gradual, zigzagging, and conflict-ridden course.
Afterwards, as mind develops and becomes more dominant
over obscure impulses, the ego-centered drives of vital
nature.

18. The Mother 1878-1973
Sri Aurobindo's close spiritual collaborator, Mirra Richard
(b. Alfassa), came to be known as The Mother simply
because Sri Aurobindo started to call her by this name.
In 1914 the Mother voyaged to Pondicherry to meet Sri
Aurobindo, In 1926 she was entrusted the material and
spiritual charge of Aurobindo Ashram. Under her guidance
the Ashram grew into a large many-faceted spiritual
community. She also established a school, the Sri
Aurobindo International Centre of Education in 1952, and
in International township, Auroville, in 1968

19. SACHCHIDANANDA
God is Sachchidananda. He manifests Himself as
infinite existence of which the essentiality is
consciousness, of which again the essentiality is bliss,
is self-delight. SRI AUROBINDO
The Supreme is Pure Being, Absolute Existence,
sat...The Supreme is also Pure Awareness, Absolute
Consciousness, cit...The Supreme is, finally, Pure
Ecstasy, Absolute Bliss, Ananda. SRI AUROBINDO

20. Sachchidananda–
Strong and pure, it stands erect in its creative
power

21. 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

22. DIVINE PRESENCE
It is intended by the word Presence to indicate the
sense and perception of the Divine as a Being, felt as
present in one’s existence and consciousness or in
relation with it, without the necessity of any further
qualification or description. SRI AUROBINDO
It is the Divine Presence that gives value to life. This
Presence is the source of all peace, all joy, all security.
THE MOTHER

23. Divine presence - It hides from the
ignorant eye its ever-present
magnificence.

24. DIVINE ANANDA
Ananda is Beatitude, the bliss of pure conscious
existence and energy.... SRI AUROBINDO
The world lives in and by Ananda. from Ananda, says
the Veda, we were born, by Ananda we live, to Ananda
we return, and it adds that no man could even have
the strength to draw in his breath and throw it out
again if there were not this heaven of Bliss embracing
our existence as ether embraces our
bodies, nourishing us with its eternal substance and
strength and supporting the life and the activity.
SRI AUROBINDO

25. The whole world came out of
ananda
According to our own philosophy the whole world
came out of ananda and returns into ananda, and the
triple term in which ananda may be stated is Joy, Love,
Beauty. to see divine beauty in the whole world, man,
life, nature, to love that which we have seen and to
have pure unalloyed bliss in that love and that beauty
is the appointed road by which mankind as a race
must climb in God. SRI AUROBINDO

26. DIVINE LOVE
A supreme divine Love is a creative Power and, even though
it can exist in itself silent and unchangeable, yet rejoices in
external form and expression and is not condemned to be a
speechless and bodiless godhead. It has even been said
that creation itself was an act of love or at least the
building up of a field in which Divine Love could devise its
symbols and fulfill itself in act of mutuality and self-giving
and, if not the initial nature o creation, this may well be its
ultimate object and motive. SRI AUROBINDO
To bring the Divine Love and Beauty and Ananda into the
world is, indeed, the whole crown and essence of our yoga.
SRI AUROBINDO

27. DIVINE LOVE
Divine Love .... is again not something ethereal, cold and
far, but a love absolutely intense, intimate and full of unity,
closeness and rapture using all the nature for its
expression. SRI AUROBINDO
The Divine Love may not be able yet to manifest on the
physical plane, humanity being what it is, as fully and
freely as it would otherwise do, but that does not make it
less close or intense than the human. SRI AUROBINDO
Love is with all, working for the progress of each one
equally - but it triumphs in those who care for it.
THE MOTHER

28. Divine Love - A flower that is
said to blossom even in the
desert.

29. DIVINE SACRIFICE
he Divine’s sacrifice is the descent of the Divine into the
obscurity of the unconsciousness.
THE MOTHER
The manifestation of the love of the Divine in the world
was the great holocaust, the supreme self-giving. The
Perfect Consciousness accepted to be merged and
absorbed into the unconsciousness of matter, so that
consciousness might be awakened in the depths of its
obscurity and little by little a Divine Power might rise in it
and make the whole of this manifested universe a highest
expression of the Divine Consciousness and the Divine
love.
THE MOTHER

30. Divine Love governing the world -
A beautiful and happy world for which
we all aspire.

31. AN OLD CHALDEAN LEGEND
Long, long ago, in the arid land which is now Arabia, a divine being
incarnated upon earth in order to awaken there the supreme love. As one
might expect, he was persecuted by en, misunderstood, suspected, hunted
after. Mortally wounded by his assailants, he wished to die quietly in
solitude so that his work might be accomplished, and being pursued he fled.
Suddenly, on the broad barren plain a little pomegranate bush appeared.
The savior crept it under the low branches in order to leave his body in
peace; and immediately the bush expanded miraculously, grew
wider, became thick and luxuriant, so that when the pursuers passed by they
did not even suspect that the One whom they were chasing was hidden
there, and they went their way.
While drop by drop the sacred blood fell, fertilizing the soil, the bush was
covered with marvelous flowers, scarlet, large, crowded and petals
innumerable drops of blood.
These are the flowers that for us express and contain the Divine Love.
THE MOTHER

32. DIVINE GRACE
Grace is something spontaneous which wells out from the Divine
Consciousness as a free flow of its being. SRI AUROBINDO
No matter how great your faith and trust in the Divine Grace, you
will never succeed in understanding the marvelous immensity of
its action and the precision, the exactness with which this action
is accomplished; you will never be able to grasp the extent to
which the Grace does everything, is being everything, organized
everything, manages everything so that the march forward to the
divine realization may be swift, as complete, as total and
harmonious as possible, considering the circumstances of the
world.
As soon as you are in contact with it, there is not a second in
time, not a point in space which does not show you dazzlingly
this perpetual work of the Grace, this constant intervention of
the Grace.

33. DIVINE SMILE
You know, when I say, “The Lord smiles’, that means
something; it is sot that I see a smiling face, but it is . . . it is
a sola vibration. You know, the sun is flat and dull and cold
and almost black in comparison. THE MOTHER
But this presence in all things . . . it is a vibration, but it is a
vibration that contains everything, a vibration that
contains a kind of infinite power, infinite delight, infinite
peace, and vastness, vastness, vastness: there are no limits.
And how often, how often the impression . . . there is no
form - there is a form and there is no form, it cannot be put
into words. And the impression of a look and there are no
eyes - there is no look, but there is a look, a look and a
smile, and there is no mouth, there is no face! And yet
there is a smile and there is a look . . .But He laughs, you
laugh, you are happy. THE MOTHER

34. Divine smile - We can behold the
divine smile when we have
conquered our ego.

35. DIVINE HELP
Give yourself to the Divine absolutely, and the Divine
Help will always be with you.
THE MOTHER
The help is always there. It is you who must keep your
receptivity living. The Divine Help is much vaster than
what any human being is able to receive.
THE MOTHER

36. Divine help - Modest in
appearance, powerful in action.

37. DIVINE SOLITUDE
Divine solicitude (in the sense of
solicitude for others, a tender and
affectionate and watchful care for
their need and their good), the care
of the Divine for the sadhaka.
SRI AUROBINDO

38. Divine solitude - Always active,
even when we do not perceive it.

39. BLESSINGS
[My blessings are[ for the Will of the Lord to be done,
with full force and power. So it is not necessary that
there should always be a success. There might be a
failure also, if such is the Will of the Lord. And the
Will is for the progress I mean the inner progress.
So whatever will happens will be for the good.
THE MOTHER

40. Blessings - Pure and
innumerable, manifesting themselves
infinitely

41. Solace - The blessings that
the Divine bestows on us

42. PROTECTION
When we are in close contact with the Divine, a
protection can come which helps or directly guides or
moves us; it does not throw aide all
difficulties, sufferings or dangers,, but it carries us
through them and out of them - except where for
special purpose there is need of the opposite. SRI
AUROBINDO
When you think of the Lord’s Peace it acts as a
call, and the more you think of it the more you
surround yourself with it, which is the most powerful
protection. THE MOTHER

43. Protection - Let us give ourselves entirely
to the Divine and enjoy His protection.