The Beauty of The Lotus Flower

The Lotus flower has appeared strongly throughout Egyptian culture and history being the symbol of the sun as at night the flower closes and sinks under the water and at dawn rises and opens again flowing with the movements of the sun.

The pure white lotus is the only plant that fruits and flowers at the same time, rising from ponds and streams,spreading its petals and peculiar flat seed case at its centre.

The Lotus Flower is used as a symbol in Buddhist culture as its seeds and flowers symbolize rebirth and course and effect.

It was said that Prince Siddhartha,who later became Buddha, walked seven steps with lotus flowers growing within each step.

Thus this flower, the Lotus Flower, plays an important part within Buddhists culture and history.

The Lotus Flower has been used as symbol of peace, purity and auspiciousness in many religions throughout history.

In Hindu the sacred Lotus Flower is featured in The Bhagavad Gita - ' man is adjured to be like the lotus - he should work without attachment and dedicate his actions to God '.

It is a position of Hatha Yoga , The Lotus Position , padmasana , and is adopted by those striving to reach the highest level of consciousness.

Brahma ( the creator ) , Vishnu ( the protector ) and Siva ( the merger ) are all associated with the Lotus Flower.

Over the centuries man has tried to replicate the lotus plants in their natural environment by displaying them in well designed ponds built in parks and gardens in major cities and inner city suburbs all over the world.

This gives people who live and work there somewhere to relax, reflect and enjoy the tranquility of nature and the lotus flower in its natural form, as part of their daily lives.

The Lotus Flower with its gentle and elegant stance, to me, is the one of the most beautiful flowers you can ever feast your eyes on and I hope you too feel the beauty and power of this plant as I do.

One thing that most people in the west don't know about the Lotus plant or water-lily is that it is edible.
The flowers, seeds, young leaves, and root are all edible.

In Asia the petals are sometimes used to garnish food while the large green leaves are used to wrap food in.
The plant is also used in vegetable soups,deep-fried and braised dishes.

Lotus rootlets are often pickled with rice vinegar, sugar, chilli /or garlic.
It has a sweat crunchy texture and sweat - tangy flavours.

In Asian cuisine the lotus is most popular with salads, prawns, sesame oil and coriander leaves.

Lotus roots are rich in dietary fibre, vitamin c , potassium, riboflavin, vitamin B6, phosphorus, copper and manganese, whilst low in saturated fat.

The stems can be dried and made into herbal teas and the flowers into Lotus Flower tea. Various parts of the lotus are also used in traditional herbal medicine.

The lotus plant is truly a wonder, with both its beauty and many nutritional benefits as a food source.

Sources
Wikipedia
Photos
Flikr