LOTUS

Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O 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.

~Kabir

See what a lotus blooms there without water!
and Kabir says
"My heart's bee drinks its nectar."

What a wonderful lotus it is, that blooms at the heart of the spinning wheel of the universe!
Only a few pure souls know of its true delight.

Kabir

The nightingale came to the garden, so we can escape the raven.
It is you who brings us to the garden. O light of our eyes.
Like a lily, we open up and unravel from ourselves.
Like a flowering stream, we go from one garden to the next.

Rumi

Like polish seeping into gold
my heart has seeped into you,
like the lotus rising from water
my life rises from you.
Like the night bird gazing at the passing moon
I am lost dwelling on you.

Mirabai[LIST]

Dear Inda,

Oh, this is so beautiful
thank you again
for not letting my heart
rest but awaken
and seek words
to glorify my beloved



[This message was edited by bracha on Saturday August 2nd, 2003 at 04:19 AM.]

Breathing in the beauty you have shared here, dear Inda and Lilie ...


In awe
I am sitting
at the edge
of the pond
reflecting my soul
and fall in love
with the Source
gazing at me through
eternal eyes
of Love ...


Thank you for inspiring me!
Love, Margherita

morning glories four ALL

LOVE U INTOTHELIGHT NOW SEA

Dear Lilie, Margherita and SeaAira,
Thank you for adding to Creation's beauty.
Monet is one of my most beloved artists.

...My consciousness,
drenched with this life giving- grace,
has blossomed out like a lotus
in supreme joy.

All its honey
is laid at your feet.

Rabindranath Tagore

Beauty when harmony is,
bliss and perfection.
Grateful to experience this
and know that beauty is
also in me.....

Love to you All

Lilie


[This message was edited by bracha on Saturday August 2nd, 2003 at 06:31 AM.]

What a beautiful thread.
Combining poetry and the image of the lotus.

Thank you very much.
Gisele

Such an amazingly beautiful topic! Thanks dear Inda for starting this! Such beautiful images.. maybe I don't need to go to my lake now? No.. I will come back and take in the beauty again later. Great images everyone! Beautiful poetry!

So enjoying the incredible beauty, Teo

You can't force peace, only show it.

Thank you Lilie, Gisele and Teo

A lotus of light
blossomed out in the sky.

It spread out its petals tier upon tier
in all directions,
covering all the deep black water
of the darkness.

Brother, I'm sitting in joy
in a golden treasury
in the midst of all this.
Slowly the lotus of light
spreads out and surrounds me.

Rabindranath Tagore

My much admired photograph Tony Howell is protecting his pictures I see, but still I enjoy them ...

White petals
reach out
to my heart
embracing me
with their
fragrance
and pureness
carrying a
message of
Divine beauty
to drink
in gratitude,
sipping love
to bloom
eternally



Love and good night, ladies and gentlemen.
Margherita dpm

Dear Margherita,
Thank you for adding so much more beauty
with your words and the image.

...A lilypad blossoms and is not attached to the bottom!
When one flower opens, ordinarily dozens open.

Kabir

This is a beautiful thread.
I am enjoying it very much.

Thank you.
Sue

Seeing this one, my heart was rejoicing

The images are so beautiful. Thank you so much Inda for showing me this wonderful site.
This site is very educational.

[This message was edited by Vicky2 on Wednesday August 6th, 2003 at 04:42 PM.]

Thank you Sue, Lilie and Vicky.

I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined all work had ceased. In the morning I woke up and found my garden full with wonders of flowers.

Rabindranath Tagore

I came upon this

Beautiful Lilie! And I could not resist going to look for yet another beauty.

Love, Margherita
*******************

I’m open to love
my heart invites you to dance
come share my delight


senryu by Margherita

Dear Margherita....

Yes it is hard to resist..
have become interested also in the stalks..



With Love,

Lilie

Dear Lilie and Margherita
These images are very beautiful;
They are touched by the inner flower of the heart

O my friends,
What can you tell me of Love,
Whose pathways are filled with strangeness?
When you offer the Great One your love,
At the first step your body is crushed.
Next be ready to offer your head as his seat.
Be ready to orbit his lamp like a moth giving in to the light,
To live in the deer as she runs toward the hunter's call,
In the partridge that swallows hot coals for love of the moon,
In the fish that, kept from the sea, happily dies.
Like a bee trapped for life in the closing of the sweet flower,
Mira has offered herself to her Lord.
She says, the single Lotus will swallow you whole.

Mirabai

The Lotus-Flower


All the heights of the high shores gleam
Red and gold at the sunset hour:
There comes the spell of a magic dream,
And the Harbour seems a lotus-flower;

A blue flower tinted at dawn with gold,
A broad flower blazing with light at noon,
A flower forever with charms to hold
His heart, who sees it by sun or moon.

Its beauty burns like a ceaseless fire,
And tower looks over the top of tower;
For all mute things it would seem, aspire
To catch a glimpse of the lotus-flower.

Men meet its beauty with furrowed face,
And straight the furrows are smoothed away;
They buy and sell in the market-place,
And languor leadens their blood all day.

At night they look on the flower, and lo!
The City passes with all its cares:
They dream no more in its azure glow,
Of gold and silver and stocks and shares.

The Lotus dreams 'neath the dreaming skies,
Its beauty touching with spell divine
The grey old town, till the old town lies
Like one half-drunk with a magic wine.

Star-loved, it breathes at the midnight hour
A sense of peace from its velvet mouth.
Though flowers be fair -- is there any flower
Like this blue flower of the radiant South?

Sun-loved and lit by the moon it yields
A challenge-glory or glow serene,
And men bethink them of jewelled shields,
A turquoise lighting a ground of green.

Fond lovers pacing beside it see
Not death and darkness, but life and light,
And dream no dream of the witchery
The Lotus sheds on the silent night.

Pale watchers weary of watching stars
That fall, and fall, and forever fall,
Tear-worn and troubled with many scars,
They seek the Lotus and end life's thrall.

The spirit spelled by the Lotus swoons,
Its beauty summons the artist mood;
And thus, perchance, in a thousand moons
Its spell shall work in our waiting blood.

Then souls shall shine with an old-time grace,
And sense be wrapped in a golden trance,
And art be crowned in the market-place
With Love and Beauty and fair Romance.

Roderic Quinn

Australia (1867-1949)

Thank you for bringing back this lovely thread.
I enjoy the images and the poetry.

Sincerely,
Gisele

LOTUS


You are like the doe's eyes,
And like my dame love's eyes,
Floating on water, with honeybees,
Singinging to you for honey,
With shyness and closed,
You were botn out of womb,
Of your mother, looking always
Ate sky, dreaming of your love
to come and caress, like
The soft liitle waves fondling
Your body so supine,
Enjoying the breeze, bathing
You with cool air, and listening
To the jazzy croaks of
The little frog sitting on your
Mother's leaves in laziness,
You living a short, but beautiful
Life to enhance the colors of the pond.


Ravikiran Arakkal.

RAVIKIRAN ARAKKAL

Thank you for bringing back this thread.



Behold what wonderful rest is in the Supreme Spirit! and he enjoys it, who makes himself meet for it.
Held by the cords of love, the swing of the Ocean of Joy sways to and fro; and a mighty sound breaks forth in song.
See what a lotus blooms there without water! and Kabir says
"My heart's bee drinks its nectar."
What a wonderful lotus it is, that blooms at the heart of the spinning wheel of the universe! Only a few pure souls know of its true delight.
Music is all around it, and there the heart partakes of the joy of the Infinite Sea.
Kabir says: "Dive thou into that Ocean of sweetness: thus let all errors of life and of death flee away."

Kabir



Monet

Lotusland

Illumed by radiance of resplendent dawns,
That flood the dazzling dome of an Eastern strand;
The Lotus-Lady mourns!
Lost in the dreamy realms of Lotusland.
Afar she looks across her lotus lawns,
By mortal step or mortal eye unscanned;
The Lotus-Lady mourns!
Kissed by the spectres lost in Lotusland.
A zone of gems her fragrant brow adorns,
By seven mystic maids her face is fanned
The Lotus-Lady mourns!
For her lover fled from Lotusland.

Cyril Scott

Not much to offer you,
Just a lotus flower floating
In a small jar of water.

-Daigu Ryokan

Thank you yoko for adding to this thread.

Lotusland


Illumed by radiance of resplendent dawns,
That flood the dazzling dome of an Eastern strand;
The Lotus-Lady mourns!
Lost in the dreamy realms of Lotusland.
Afar she looks across her lotus lawns,
By mortal step or mortal eye unscanned;
The Lotus-Lady mourns!
Kissed by the spectres lost in Lotusland.
A zone of gems her fragrant brow adorns,
By seven mystic maids her face is fanned
The Lotus-Lady mourns!
For her lover fled from Lotusland.

Cyril Scott
************

“As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world”

Buddha

“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky”

Buddha

Put thoughts to rest and don't seek outwardly anymore. When things come up, then give them your attention; just trust what is functional in you at the moment, and you have nothing to be concerned about.

~ Zen Master Linji

The lotus flower grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty. At night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. Untouched by the impurity, lotus symbolizes the purity of heart and mind. The lotus flower represents long life, health, honor and good luck.

lotus flower...symbolises that even in our darkest moments, beauty can appear...

"The lotus is a flower that grows in the mud. The thicker and deeper the mud the more beautiful the lotus blooms."

The lotus, a favorite Buddhist symbol. It grows in the mud of materialism or suffering, but blooms pristinely above the water’s surface, symbolizing the achievement of purity or enlightenment.

Thank you yoko for these lovely words and pictures.

Thank you yoko for bringing back this post and for your beautiful additions.

Love,
Vicky