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And the word in Sanskrit for the lotus is a marvelous one bringing all the profundity
of the Sanskrit language into three letters: Pankajam, the name of my niece who writes
to me about the Krishna temple. Panka, mud. Pankeyjayate iti pankaja. Ja, born. That which
is born in mud. If you look at a lotus pond, it is usually very rich in mud, so that young
people are not encouraged even to go and swim in lotus ponds. If they try to stand they
can go deep into the mud and the lotus stalks they can twine around your legs and your body
and make you a prisoner. So we never swim in a lotus tank.
And the lotus takes a long time; the stalk is very long, very winding. And when the stalk
comes up to the surface there is a leaf -- it's a very circular leaf, almost one foot in diameter.
And the beauty of the leaf is, it almost looks as if it has been waxed. If you pour water
on it, it will not get wet. It is unwettable. And even the leaf, the Buddha is telling us,
just as the lotus leaf cannot be made wet by water poured on it, the detached man or
woman, the true spiritual aspirant, their minds cannot be upset or agitated by pain
and pleasure.
And the lotus bud, even the bud is gorgeous to look at. And when the lotus bud opens it
is like a chalice, a luminous chalice, in which the sun is pouring his light.
So the Buddha now says look where the lotus started, in the mud, but through persistent
growth, continuous growth, the lotus has reached the surface of water now to burst into all
its gorgeous beauty. Just as you and I, even if we were born in unfavorable circumstances,
even if we have had unfavorable parents or unfavorable schools or unfavorable environment,
the Buddha is saying, you can be inspired by the lotus and through the practice of meditation
and the allied disciplines, find your way high above the storm and stress of life to
stand full of beauty, full of light. And many of the epithets in the Hindu tradition applied
to Krishna are pangajaksha; pangajaksha mukundamadava. Pangajaksha, whose eyes are like lotuses filled
with the light of love. Pangajakshi, the Divine Mother whose eyes are like lotuses filled
with the light of love.
So, when the tempests subside in our mind, when our heart becomes filled with love, our
eyes also will become like lotuses filled with love for all.