Lotus Battle Realms Quotes

In the trembling grey of a spring dawn, when the birds were whispering in mysterious cadence among the trees, have you not felt that they were talking to their mates about the flowers? Surely with mankind the appreciation of flowers must have been coeval with the poetry of love. Where better than in a flower, sweet in its unconsciousness, fragrant because of its silence, can we image the unfolding of a virgin soul? The primeval man in offering the first garland to his maiden thereby transcended the brute. He became human in thus rising above the crude necessities of nature. He entered the realm of art when he perceived the subtle use of the useless. In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends. We eat, drink, sing, dance, and flirt with them. We wed and christen with flowers. We dare not die without them. We have worshipped with the lily, we have meditated with the lotus, we have charged in battle array with the rose and the chrysanthemum. We have even attempted to speak in the language of flowers. How could we live without them? It frightens one to conceive of a world bereft of their presence. What solace do they not bring to the bedside of the sick, what a light of bliss to the darkness of weary spirits? Their serene tenderness restores to us our waning confidence in the universe even as the intent gaze of a beautiful child recalls our lost hopes. When we are laid low in the dust it is they who linger in sorrow over our graves. Sad as it is, we cannot conceal the fact that in spite of our companionship with flowers we have not risen very far above the brute. Scratch the sheepskin and the wolf within us will soon show his teeth.

Rāmāyaṇa” means the journey of Rāma. On the surface, it is the story of Prince Rāma of Ayodhyā, but in the yogic decoding, it is the inner journey of Cit (pure consciousness) from bondage to liberation. • Daśaratha (ten-charioted king) symbolizes the human body governed by the ten senses (five jñānendriyas and five karmendriyas). • His three queens represent the three guṇas of nature — Kausalyā = sattva, Kaikeyī = tamas, Sumitrā = rajas. • The four sons are the inner faculties of mind: • Rāma = Cit (pure awareness) • Lakṣmaṇa = Buddhi (discrimination) • Bharata = Ahaṁkāra (ego, surrendered) • Śatrughna = Manas (mind, coordinator of senses) Rāma’s journey is assisted by Hanumān, symbol of prāṇa (disciplined life-force), and the Vānara-sena, the semi-conscious powers of the subconscious mind. Together, they construct Rāma Setu, the bridge of focus and discipline that crosses the ocean of the subconscious, linking conscious and unconscious realms. In Laṅkā, the fortress of ego at the Maṇipūra (navel centre), Rāma battles Rāvaṇa, the ten-headed ego embodying the ten negative tendencies (kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, mātsarya, fear, doubt, arrogance, ignorance). With the help of awakened prāṇa, Rāma destroys the ego and frees the soul. On the yogic path, this journey represents the breaking of the three granthis (psychic knots): • Brahma Granthi (at Mūlādhāra – bondage to matter) • Viṣṇu Granthi (at Anāhata – bondage to emotions/ego-identity) • Rudra Granthi (at Ājñā – bondage of subtle ego and duality). When these knots are broken, Rāma (consciousness) reunites with Sītā (Śakti, inner soul-energy, born of Earth at Mūlādhāra). Their reunion is not at the physical level, but at the Sahasrāra (crown lotus), symbolizing the ultimate union of consciousness and energy — the supreme state of Yoga. Thus, the Rāmāyaṇa is not just history or mythology, but a timeless inner map of the yogic seeker’s journey from the rule of the senses to the liberation of the soul.