12/16/2005

Lotus (padma)

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Lotus, Lotos (padma)

***** Location: India, other regions
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Plant


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Explanation

The sacred Lotus flower, Nelumbo nucifera.

Padmaasana – lotus posture in hatha yoga

Padma lochani - the lotus eyed one


Lotus – the flower is sacred to the Hindus and is interwoven into the Hindu way of life from the Vedic times to the modern age.

It represents beauty, purity, fertility and youth.

Bhagawad Gita says that man must emulate the lotus’s way - the water on a lotus leaf just rolls away.
Thus, man should work without attachments, dedication his actions to the almighty – says the Gita

The beautiful white Lotus arises out of muddy waters – in the same manner should man rise above the sins of his mundane existence . . .

For Buddhists – Lotus symbolizes the most glorious state of man.

Lotus has been venerated throughout the ages. . . Goddess Saraswathi sits on a white lotus.

The Hindu scriptures say that the Atman [soul] dwells in the lotus within the heart.

Sant Kabir – the 15th century singer-poet says

Do not go to the garden of flowers
My friend, Go not there –
In your body is the garden of flowers-
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus-
and there gaze on the infinite beauty


The leaves are coated with a film – upon which water forms beautiful ready-to-roll-off glittering droplets.

Lotus comes in different colours – namely white, red, blue, pink and purple.

The flower rising above the leaves, appear one at a time. Each flower lasts for just 2 to 5 days only and darkens soon after.

Kala Ramesh

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The Lotus, Read an Essay by Aju Mukhopadhyay

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Worldwide use

Japan



manifold fingers
bending in prayer -
lotus in the pond


READ : Lotus, a kigo for various seasons in Japan and worldwide

© Photo and Haiku, Gabi Greve

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Things found on the way


Utpala, the blossom of the blue lotus and Manjushri


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HAIKU


a withered lotus –
bee lingers around
the fresh one

padmaasan . . .
a distinct squeak
of the synthetic mat


Kala Ramesh

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Lotus Haiku by Narayanan Raghunathan


Lotus Buddha Lands ~
no space no time no path
vast golden Light ~
- ( Feb. 02, 2002)


radiant daylily
watches ancient sun awaits
the Buddha Lotus ~

- ( Feb. 03, 2002)


Padma gently
unfolds to seat
The PadmaPaani ~

(Padma ~ Lotus, Mahaa Maaya)
-( Feb. 03, 2002)


pillars of Dharma
resonate Maitreya Buddha's
great lotus-silences ~

-( Feb. 07, 2002)


lotus-feet on light-path ~
the BodhiSattvas listen to
Maitreya's vast laughter ~
-( Feb. 07, 2002)


cherry blossoms bloom sky ~
call your butterflies Padma ~
perfect coffee Shweta ~

Shweta Padma ~ White Lotus ~ A Name Of Ambika ~
- ( Mar. 16, 2002)


labyrinth dazzle-spaces
bloom scented silences ~ perfect
fire-sky fullfills Padma ~

- ( Mar. 24, 2002)


sky wobbles on lotus pond ~
lone lotus blooms light-scents
ah! a pink butterfly Padma ~

- ( Mar. 25, 2002)


magic-coloured autumn
dreams halo you my Ambika ~
even butterflies shy away ~

Ambika ~ The Lotus Bloom On The Primal Waters
( Mar. 30, 2002)


autumn leaves dream
seasonal cycles ~ Look Amba
cool-lotus-scents ~


Amba ~ Born Of The Primal Waters ~
- ( Mar. 30, 2002)


moonlit lotus glistens
as croaking frogs chant
moist darkness ~

- ( Aug. 02, 2003)


beneath the begonia
petals two bees discuss
ponds with lotuses ~

- ( Jul. 30, 2004)


she dreams again and
again luminous wonder
cosmoses AzraAmbika ~


AzraAmbika ~ Lotus Light Born On The Primal Waters ~ [ Arabic Sanskrit Fusion!]
- ( Aug. 07, 2004)


sahasradala
padma-sambhavam
padma paani [ Sanskrit]

the infinite
petalled lotus bears
the lotus Buddha ~
( Sep. 12, 2004)


sphurati prapancham
nischala salila mukhe
padmadale bhringaascha:
[Sanskrit]

universe reflects
on still water face ~
a bee on lotus petals~

- ( Sep. 13, 2004)


a lotus in
a rainbow dream-world
i am still unborn ~
~ ( Nov. 29, 2004)


bubbles of light
flutter around poe tai
in padmaasana ~

-( Dec. 25, 2004)


two swans peck
the granite hill in
the lotus waters ~

-( Sep. 08, 2005)


asleep on the lotus
a dragonfly dreams floral
armies of dragons

- ( Sep. 21, 2005)


- lotuses bloom for
butterflies in ether light ~
Apocalyptic Rapture ~
- ( Jan. 03, 2006)


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Related words

***** Lotus, a kigo for various seasons

***** . Sant Kabir, the Poet .



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6 comments:

Gabi Greve said...

"To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus" is reprinted from The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. Ed. Nicholson & Lee. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1917

© 2003 Poetry-Archive.com

TO A BUDDHA SEATED ON A LOTUS

by: Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949)

ORD BUDDHA, on thy lotus-throne,
With praying eyes and hands elate,
What mystic rapture dost thou own,
Immutable and ultimate?
What peace, unravished of our ken,
Annihilate from the world of men?
The wind of change for ever blows
Across the tumult of our way,
To-morrow’s unborn griefs depose
The sorrows of our yesterday.
Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife,
And Death unweaves the webs of Life.
For us the travail and the heat,
The broken secrets of our pride,
The strenuous lessons of defeat,
The flower deferred, the fruit denied;
But not the peace, supremely won,
Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne.
With futile hands we seek to gain
Our inaccessible desire,
Diviner summits to attain,
With faith that sinks and feet that tire
But nought shall conquer or control
The heavenward hunger of our soul.
The end, elusive and afar,
Still lures us with its beckoning flight,
And all our mortal moments are
A session of the Infinite.
How shall we reach the great, unknown
Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne?

http://www.poetry-archive.com/n/to_a_buddha_seated_on_a_lotus.html

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Gabi Greve said...

Divine messenger
in the summer night:
a lotus in bloom

Lotuses in bloom-
a buffalo take a bath
under their glimmer


Vasile Moldovan, RO

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Gabi Greve said...

Read a fascinating article:

EXOTIC INDIA * Lotus: From a Pond to a Palace Dome

by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet.

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Gabi Greve said...

Parijata, a sweet-smelling flower, often used in worship.

Krishna offering
parijata to Radha:
Narada looks on


R K Singh

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Gabi Greve said...

The lotus stem is made into a delicious dish called kamal kakri and loved by indians.

purple and pink
lotus in the lake
like my summer skirt

swaying lotus blooms
leaves floating
a cradle of the bees


shoma, WHCindia

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Anonymous said...

Parijata

Parijata – a divine tree from the hindu mythology

http://namahte.blogspot.com/2009/08/parijata-divine-tree-from-hindu.html