More about Padmas

The padma flower grows from the bottom of the lake, which has punkam, or muck, composed of rotting organic material. One of the names for padma then is punkaja, meaning born, jayate, of the punkam, muck underneath the waters.

The padma seed lands in the punka, which is like a rich manure. It’s the dark unseen and unseeable. But the seed gets enough light, oxygen, and all the things it needs to sprout. The seed sprouts and grows roots, spreading out first. We can relate all of this to the unmanifest. And also to the lower part of our body, from the base of the spine. That’s our "primordeal ocean".

Immanence and Transcendence

After the padma takes root, it grows upward through the waters. We can think of this as our spine. The padma eventually reaches the surface of the waters, where it blooms. Its bloom is like the crown of our head, the fontinel.

The padma blooms to the infinite. It’s an infinite flower—from the bottom to the top. Every facet of the lotus, of the human body, of the world is sacred—from the roots to the top. The padma represents the whole universe, all time and space, and beyond time and space. It is immanence and transcendence.

Om hreem shreem kamalayai namah!

--Transcribed from talk given by Swami Vagishananda Saraswati