Flowers - Their Spiritual Significance

by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

In all countries flowers have been associated with religion and worship, with myths and legends and to people all over the world they have been symbols of love and remembrance.

Apart from its beauty of form, colour, fragrance and texture there is an indefinable, subtle and mysterious quality about it which gives flowers a very special place in the life of men. Very rarely do the botanical or the common names given to the flowers reflect their true meaning.

This book contains the spiritual names given by the Mother to the flowers, with numerous photographs, illustrations and charts. It brings together the observations of the Mother and also of some other authors on this wonderful creation of the Nature.

About the Authors:

The Mother:

Born in Paris in 1878, the Mother studied painting at an art studio and became an accomplished artist. Primarily interested in inner development, she was associated with several groups of spiritual seekers in France.

In 1914 she journeyed to India to meet the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo in Puducherry and settled there permanently in 1920. For nearly fifty years, she was the head of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, from its founding in 1926 until her passing in 1973. She also established a school, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, in 1952, and an international township, Auroville, in 1968.

Sri Aurobindo:

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian/Hindu nationalist, scholar, poet, mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru. After a short political career in which he became one of leaders of the early movement for the freedom of India from British rule, Sri Aurobindo turned to the development and practice of a new spiritual path which he called the "integral yoga," the aim of which was to further the evolution of life on earth by establishing a high level of spiritual consciousness which he called the Supermind that would represent a divine life.

Sri Aurobindo wrote prolifically in English on his spiritual philosophy and practice, on social and political development, on Indian culture including extensive commentaries and translations of ancient Indian scriptures, on literature and poetry including the writing of much spiritual poetry.