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EDITOR’S NOTE
This edition of Flowers and Their Messages, containing more than eight hundred flowers arranged alphabetically by botanical name, has the same format as the first two editions. Revised and enlarged, it gives a more detailed and accurate description of the flowers, as well as additional flower illustrations and passages from the writings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
Flowers and Their Messages is primarily a book of the Mother, where Sri Aurobindo’s touch is undoubtedly felt since the spiritual significances of the flowers correspond to His incisive psychological analysis of the different planes of consciousness and parts of our being. It may also be called a book of the Integral Yoga since the Mother used flowers as a help in our sadhana, teaching us how to master and transform our lower mature and realise the highest possibilities that await us.
It is precisely for this reason that we have made an attempt to select passages from the writings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo in the hope that the reader may more fully appreciate the spiritual significances and the tremendous work done by the Mother to awaken the true consciousness in us through flowers. A conscious and intimate relationship with flowers can give an experience of communion with the Divine.
Sri Aurobindo once remarked: "The plants are very psychic but they can express it only by silence and beauty." Here, the Mother has made an eloquent and potent expression of this beauty and silence.
There are differences of opinion even among the experts concerning botanical names. Here botanical names have been simplified to lighten the burden of technical detail for the readers whose main interest, we feel, is in the spiritual significances of the flowers. We request the readers’ understanding forbearance and invite any suggestions that may make the next edition more perfect.
A word of explanation regarding the order of botanical names is perhaps needed, since a fairly flexible scheme has been followed. For example, the flowers in a given genus are not always listed strictly in the alphabetical order of their specific botanical names. Often, the first flower listed is the one the Mother gave as the general spiritual significance for the genus. This is then followed by flowers arranged according to the parts and planes of the being as indicated by their spiritual names.
For the Hibiscus group, which embraces a wide variety of forms and colours, we have added an appendix listing all of them according to their colour, size and form. This will help the reader to find the spiritual significance.
Alphabetical indexes of common names, as well as spiritual names grouped alphabetically according to subject, are listed at the back of the book for easy reference.
It is our joy to share this gracious benediction of the Mother with all who cherish and treasure it.
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