The Symbolism of the Lotus Flower

Sadhguru looks at the symbolism of the lotus flower in yoga and spirituality, and explains how imbibing its quality can help us blossom in the world

Sadhguru: In the yogic terminology, the different dimensions of perception are always symbolized as different types of lotuses. The seven fundamental chakras within the body are symbolized by seven different types of lotuses.

Dealing with Filth

We have always used the lotus flower as a symbolism because a lotus flower grows best wherever the slush is thick. Wherever the water is dirty and filthy, that is where it grows best. This is the way life is. Wherever you go in the world, and even within your own mind, there is all kinds of filth, isn't it? Anybody who claims he doesn’t have it has either not looked at himself or is not being straight because the mind is not yours. It has taken in everything that you are exposed to. You have a discretion about how you use it, but nobody has the discretion about what you have in your mind. You do not have any discretion about the content of the mind. You have discretion about what context you use the mind in, that's all. There is all kinds of filth in the world and all that filth naturally enters the mind.

Once people see filth, there are some people who will develop an allergy towards it. They don’t like filth so they will keep themselves away from everything. They just have two or three people around them who they think are perfect and try to make a life out of that. A lot of people are doing this because they have an allergy towards all the nonsense that is happening in the world. They are trying to live a closeted life. There is another kind of people who see, “The world is full of filth so let me also become filth.” They join the filth.

Filth is Manure

But the other possibility is, you can use this filth like manure and throw out your wonderful blossom like a lotus flower. The lotus flower has made this filth into a beautiful and fragrant flower. You need to be like a lotus flower to be able to go through situations untouched. You need to be able to maintain your beauty and fragrance even if you are in the filthiest of situations. If one has this, he will float through life untouched. If one doesn’t have it, life will eat him up in so many ways. Every human being has the possibility to be like a lotus flower. Yoga is just a method, a scientific approach towards it.