Kamal, also written as Kanval in Punjabi, is a flower, lotus, bearing the richest symbolic and philosophical significance in Indian lore. Its use in Indian romantic and spiritual literature goes back to ancient times. It carries, in Sanskrit, a multiplicity of names such as Saroj, Jalaj, Vaarij, Mraj (grown in water), Pankaj (grown in mud), Padma, Aravind, Pundarik, and Srinivas (abode of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth). This flower grows in muddy water and yet it keeps itself untouched by it: thus, it serves as a symbol of purity amidst impurity.
In its usage in the religious literature, it generally stands for the self emancipated from contamination of allurements and temptations of mundane existence. In this sense, it is used in the Bhagavad Gita (V. 10) and at numerous places in the Sikh canon. In the latter, it has been coupled with the duck which holds its wings dry while swimming on water. In the mythology and spiritual history of India, it figures in the legend of Vishnu, from whose navel sprang the lotus that contained Brahma, thus giving Vishnu the attributive name of Padmanabha, i.e., one who has a lotus in his navel.
Vishnu is also called Padmapani (having lotus-like hands), but this latter attributive name is used for Brahma and Buddha as well. Lakshmi, Vishnu’s consort, is called Kamala or Padma (one with a lotus in hand) and Kamalalaya because, according to one Hindu legend, she appeared at creation floating over water on the expanded petals of a lotus. Brahma is called Padmalaya because he was seated on the lotus that came from Vishnu’s navel. Like Brahma, Buddha is also delineated in figures as seated on a lotus.
Padmarekha (the lotus line) is believed to be a lotus-shaped figure of lines on the right hand or foot of a great man, betokening eminence. Such a figure is said to have adorned a foot of Krishna. Guru Amar Das, the third spiritual preceptor of the Sikh faith, is also said to have had such a sign on his foot. Kamal also symbolizes the beauty of various organs of the body, so that we have such substantives as Kamalnayan, Aravindlochan (lotus-eyed), Mukharavind (the lotus mouth), Charankamal, Charanaravind (lotus feet), Hastkamal (lotus hand), etc. Apart from Hinduism and Buddhism, Jainism too employs the lotus as a sacred and auspicious symbol standing for purity and spirituality.
In the Indian spiritual tradition, a particular posture in meditation, commended also in Sikhism, is called Padmasan (the lotus posture), i.e., sitting cross-legged with the body slightly inclined forward in a meditative mood. In the mysticism of Hatha Yoga, the six nerve centers sought to be penetrated by the aroused Kundalini are also called Padmas (lotuses). The typical representation of a lotus in Indian art is somewhat stylized in the form of a standing cup, symbolizing the mind receptive to the elixir of illumination (Gyan, Vidya), as against the mind not receptive to that elixir which has been likened to a cup turned upside down in the direction of Maya, i.e., illusion or ignorance.
In Sikh sacred literature, its symbolic use is of frequent occurrence. So ubiquitous is this use of the lotus symbol in this context that by a long-established convention the metaphor has come to signify the object symbolized, without overtly instituting a comparison or giving it the form of a simile or a metaphor. Says Guru Nanak: “When by the Master’s Word is the lotus opened, its wanderings and desires cease” (Guru Granth Sahib, 224). The lotus here stands for the mind. Similarly, Guru Amar Das also affirms that “When by the Lord’s Word the lotus is illumined, the egoistic, foul thinking is cast out” (Guru Granth Sahib, 1334).
The symbol of the lotus has also been employed to represent Gurmukhs, untouched by worldly impurities. Guru Nanak says: “God’s devotees, beloved of Him, remain uncontaminated even as a lotus in a pool remains untouched by water” (Guru Granth Sahib, 353). Similarly, Guru Ram Das says: “The devotee, even though a householder, remains ever detached, just as a lotus in water” (Guru Granth Sahib, 1070). At some places, the human body, because of its beauty and tenderness, has also been compared to the lotus flower. Guru Amar Das says: “The lotus of the body must one day wither away” (Guru Granth Sahib, 1051).
The lotus has also been employed to symbolize mankind in general. Here, it comes in association with the symbol of the swan, which represents the pure and liberated among mankind. Guru Nanak says: “One is the lake, on which are found lotuses of unique beauty, ever blossoming, in fragrance. There swans pick up the orient pearls, sharing in the supreme bliss of the Lord” (Guru Granth Sahib, 352). The lake here symbolizes the supreme Self, the lotuses the creatures of the universe, and the swans the liberated souls. At another place, all these symbols represent, in unison, the supreme Self (lake), mankind (the lotus), and the liberated (swan), signifying the essential oneness of all. Guru Nanak, invoking the supreme Self, says: “Thou art the lake and the swan, the lotus and the lotus buds, and Thou beholdest in joy Thy own beauty” (Guru Granth Sahib, 23).
The devout attachment of the self to the Lord has been symbolized in the Gurbani as the attachment of the humming bee (Bhanvara) to the lotus (Guru Granth Sahib, 496). Bhai Gurdas, in his Varan, XXIV.23, paying homage to Guru Arjan’s sacrifice, compares the Guru in blissful absorption with the Lord to the humming bee lying at night inside the shelter of the closed lotus flower. The honey of the lotus flower has also been used symbolically to express the sweetness of the bliss of the mystic union of the self with the supreme Self.
At the close of the Arati, it is said: “My heart yearns for the sweet honey of Thy lotus feet, fragrant in unquenchable thirst. Bestow on the Chatrik, Nanak, the water of Thy bounty and grant him endless abode in Thy Name” (Guru Granth Sahib, 663). The lotus thus symbolizes, in Indian religious poetry, the pure and unsullied self, the liberated self, the mind receptive to illumination of knowledge, a right-minded householder uncontaminated by worldly impurities and devoted to, and blissfully united with, the supreme Spirit. This is the theme it illustrates in Gurbani.
References:
- Sabdarth Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Amritsar, 1959
- Gurdas, Bhai, Varan, Amritsar, 1962
