at the book: The Mother. The Spiritual Significance of Flowers.- 1-st Ed. / Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry (India).- Singapore: Ho Printing, 2000.- ISBN 81-7058-609-7
Classification
► Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
► Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
► Subclass Rosidae
► Order Geraniales
► Family Balsaminaceae - Touch-me-not family
► Genus Impatiens L. - Touch-me-not
Synonyms
(=) Balsamina foemina Gaertn.
(=) Impatiens giorgii De Wild.
Common names
Balsam (English)
Garden balsam (English)
Garden touch-me-not (English)
Rose balsam (English)
Spotted snapweed (English)
Touch-me-not (English)
Balsamine (French)
Balsamine des jardins (French)
Impatiente (French)
Balsamine (German)
Gartenspringkraut (German)
Бальзамин садовый (Russian)
Недотрога бальзаминовая (Russian)
Balsamina (Spanish)
Chachupina (Spanish)
Chico (Spanish)
Madama (Spanish)
Gul-mehndi (India (Hindi))
Gulmendi (India (Hindi))
Tairini (India (Sanskrit))
Tsuri-fune-so (Japanese)
Description
Small to medium-sized single or double flowers with irregular wavy petals and a long thin spur, often in camellia or roselike forms; in shades of red, pink, purple and white, often variegated; borne singly in the leaf axils on very thin stalks. A bushy garden annual with succulent stems and serrate leaves.
I was holding one of these flowers (Integral Generosity) in my hand when I saw Z, and I explained to him what I meant by "integral generosity." The effect of the ego, I told him, is to shrivel the being. It's the cause of aging, it dries you up - the being shrivels under it like a withering flower. And as I was speaking to him, the experience came; all I remember now is the idea, but the idea is nothing - the experience itself was there.
I know that at a certain moment I was making the distinction between the two states, between the person - the individual, personal being - turning towards the Lord, imploring Him to reveal His Will, and then this experience of becoming - by extending oneself, by opening, by enlarging, by merging into the creation - of BECOMING the Will of the Lord, the Supreme's Will. No longer any need to implore Him, to "know" His Will and receive it like something foreign to you - you become that Will.