Flowers & their message

 Flowers  are Nature's purest manifestation of the Divine Consciousness. Each  flower in its color, form and fragrance embodies a particular spiritual  quality. Contact or meditation with a flower can help one realize the  quality it represents. It is possible for us to discover the qualities  of different flowers. The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram has described  the process and identified the spiritual qualities of over 800  varieties. 

Flowers possess a psychic or spiritual presence in  them which shines through the transparency of vegetal life and gives  them their inexpressible splendor. It is a glimpse of the Divine  manifesting as beauty. There is a spontaneous vibration or movement in a  flower like the movement of a baby, neither a sensation nor a feeling,  but something of both. If you contact it and feel it, it gives rise to a  certain experience. If you are able to identify fully with the  experience, you can perceive the quality of its vibration. Flowers can  serve as a very useful aid in meditation to help one experience higher  and purer states of consciousness and develop higher aspects of the  personality.

Sunlight is the material symbol of the Divine  Consciousness. The life of plants is a worship of light. If you have  ever been in a forest at sunrise, you can feel the flowers and trees  awakening to the touch of descending light, twisting and struggling to  catch it. It is a movement, an aspiration for light. Look at a rose  opening in the morning with the first contact of the sun--it is a  magnificent self-giving aspiration. The movement is so pure and powerful  that it can awaken aspiration in a human being, who is far more  developed in consciousness than the plant, but less open and receptive.

The Gladiola is known as "Receptivity" for its spontaneous openness to the higher consciousness. Geraniums radiate a feeling of smiling serenity representing "Spiritual Happiness." The striking blue Passion Flower bears the quality of "Spiritual Silence". Sunflowers represent "Consciousness turned towards the Light." They invoke a thirst for light and a joyous seeking after it. Honeysuckle helps one develop "Constant Remembrance of the Divine." Crepe Myrtle brings "Intimacy with the Divine." The White Lotus is "Divine Consciousness". The Red Lotus is "The Avatar." The five petals of the Champaca or Frangipani flower represent five qualities necessary for Psychological Perfection: sincerity, faith, aspiration, devotion and surrender. 

Color  is a significant aspect of a flower's consciousness. Each color  represents a certain aspiration and can help us discover unknown parts  of our own inner being. Ivory white or light cream is the color of  Divine bliss or ananda, as in the small cream-white Hibiscus. Pure white  flowers generally denote purity or integrality. The white Jasmine  flower - originally grown at the foot of the Himalayas - is known for  its quality of purity, and the white Bougainvillea provides "Integral  Protection" to the entire personality. Yellow is the color of mental  aspiration and thus, the yellow Rose represents "Mental Love for the  Divine." Light blue shades represent different levels of the spiritual  mind. Beyond these levels is the highest supramental realm represented  by golden yellow and orange.

Our emotional center, in the heart  region, is expressed by light mauve or lilac pink as in "Offering of the  Emotions to the Divine" (mauve-pink Hollyhock). Behind the heart  center, buried deep within is the soul or psychic being, a spark of the  Divine hidden from our surface consciousness but in direct contact with  the Divine consciousness. Pink or pale rose are the colors of the  psychic. The red Rose represents "Human Passions Turned into Love for  the Divine", and the pink Edward or Country Rose emanates the spiritual  quality of "Surrender to the Divine". The salmon-pink Canna represents  our psychic center and can aid us in finding it. The darker blue, violet  and red colors denote vibrations of the vital or nervous and physical  centers in us. 

Certain flowers can play a very useful role in  supporting physical health. "Life Energy" (Florist's chrysanthemum) is a  powerful remedy for fatigue or lack of energy. Just holding these  flowers can revive one's energies quickly. Concentrating on them can  relieve even a prolonged condition of exhaustion. 

There are  other flowers which can help attract forces of material plenty such as  "Wealth" (water lily), "Material Abundance" (cotton plant), "Riches"  (cactus), and "Prosperity" (Cannon-ball tree). 

Gardenia has the  significance of "Perfect Radiating Purity". The beautifully scented  Narcissus flower, whose story was told by the Latin poet Ovid,  represents the "Power of Beauty", much like its namesake in the old  legend. The Tuberose, which is valued for its sweet intoxicating  perfume, is the symbol of the New Creation, the new world which is  emerging based on peace and human unity. 

Growing flowers,  keeping them in the home, meditating with them creates a purified and  inspiring atmosphere. Loving flowers can be a valuable help in finding  and uniting with one's true psychic being. The beauty of flowers is one  of Nature's means of awakening in us the quest for our own soul.