FLOWERS - THEIR SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE

    Here is the flower we have called  "Aspiration
in  the  Physical  for  the Divine's Love." By the
"Physical" I mean the physical consciousness,  the
most   ordinary  outwardgoing  consciousness,  the
normal consciousness of most human  beings,  which
sets such great store by comfort,  good food, good
clothes,  happy relationships,  etc.,  instead  of
aspiring for the higher things.  Aspiration in the
physical for the Divine's Love  implies  that  the
physical asks for nothing else save that it should
feel how the Divine loves it. It realises that all
its  usual satisfactions are utterly insufficient.
But there cannot be a compromise:  if the physical
wants  the  Divine's  Love it must want that alone
and not say,  "I shall have the Divine's Love  and
at the same time keep my other attachments,  needs
and enjoyments...."                               
    The fundamental  seat of aspiration from which
it radiates or manifests in one part of the  being
or another is the psychic centre.  When I speak of
aspiration in the physical I mean  that  the  very
consciousness  in you which bankers after material
consort and well-being should of  itself,  without
being compelled   by  the  higher  parts  of  your
nature,  ask exclusively for  the  Divine's  Love.
Usually  you have to show it the Light by means of
your higher parts;  surely this  has  to  be  done
persistently,  otherwise  the physical would never
learn and it would take Nature's common  round  of
ages before it learns by itself.  Indeed the round
of Nature is intended  to  show  it  all  possible
sorts  of  satisfactions  and  by  exhausting them
convince it that none of them can  really  satisfy
it  and  that  what  it  is at bottom seeking is a
divine satisfaction.  In Yoga we hasten this  slow
process  of  Nature  and  insist  on  the physical
consciousness seeing the  truth  and  learning  to
recognise  and  want  it.  But  how to show it the
truth? Well, just as you bring a light into a dark
room.  Illumine  the  darkness  of  your  physical
consciousness with the intuition and aspiration of
your  more refined parts and keep on doing so till
it realises how futile and unsatisfactory  is  its
hunger for  the  low  ordinary  things,  and turns
spontaneously towards  the  truth.  When  it  does
turn,  your  whole  life  will  be  changed  - the
experience is unmistakable.                       
    When, as  a  child.  I  used to complain to my
mother about food or any  such  small  matter  she
would  always  tell  me  to  go  and do my work or
pursue  my  studies  instead  of  bothering  about
trifles.  She would ask me if I had the complacent
idea that I was born for comfort. "You are born to
realise the highest Ideal," she would say and send
me packing.  She was quite right, though of course
her notion of the highest Ideal was rather poor by
our standards.  We are all born  for  the  highest
Ideal:  therefore,  whenever  in  our  Ashram some
petty  request  for  more  comfort  and   material
happiness is refused,  it is for your own good and
to make you fulfil what  you  are  here  for.  The
refusal  is  actually a favour inasmuch as you are
thereby considered  worthy  to  stand  before  the
highest Ideal and be shaped according to it.