Symbols/Forms Spiritual Significance

Agni is the will for progress, the flame of purification that burns up all obstacles and difficulties.¹

he true flame that burns like an offering. That intense joy of existing only by the Divine and for the Divine and feeling that without Him nothing exists, that life has no longer any meaning, nothing has any purpose, nothing has any value, nothing has any interest, unless it is this call, this aspiration, this opening to the supreme Truth, to all that we call the Divine (because you must use some word or other), the only reason for the existence of the universe. Remove that and everything disappears.²

Flowers indicate a blossoming in the consciousness, sometimes with special reference to the psychic or the psychicised vital, mental and physical consciousness.

The vision of flowers is a symbol usually of psychic qualities or movements whether a potentiality or promise or an actual state of development.³

A lotus flower indicates open consciousness.

The opening of the lotuses means, I suppose, the opening of the true vital and physical consciousness in which the spiritual being (the Swan) can manifest with all the consequences of that opening.

The white lotus is the symbol of the Mother’s consciousness,—it does not indicate any part of the individual consciousness.

The red lotus is the flower of the Divine Presence.

The red lotus is the presence of the Divine on earth—the sun is the Divine Truth. It indicates the Divine manifestation on earth raising earth consciousness towards the Truth.

The red lotus signifies the presence of the Divine on the Earth.

It [the blue lotus] can be taken as the (Avatar) incarnation on the mental plane.³

Water is the symbol of a state of consciousness or a plane. * Sea or Ocean

The sea with the sun over it is a plane of consciousness lit by the Truth. To enter into the rays is to be no longer merely lit by it, but in one’s own conscious being to begin to become part of the Truth.⁴

Fire, lights, sun, moon are usual symbols and seen by most in sadhana. They indicate movement or action of inner forces. The Sun means the inner truth.

The sun is the symbol of the concentrated light of Truth.⁵

The moonlight indicates the light of the spiritual consciousness. The moon indicates different things according to circumstances—most often spiritual consciousness in the mind.⁵