Each petal of the Mother's symbol is a power to be grown — from sincerity at its root to the peace that crowns it. Hover, tap, or use your keyboard to explore each one.
At the centre of the lotus is the Divine Consciousness — the Supreme Mother. Around it stand the four great aspects through which, in this tradition, her force meets and shapes the world.
Calm wideness and comprehending wisdom — a tranquil, all-embracing greatness and inexhaustible compassion.
Splendid force and irresistible will — the warrior power that sweeps away every obstacle to the truth.
Beauty, rhythm, and grace — the secret of harmony and the captivating charm that draws all toward the Divine.
Close and careful knowledge — the patient, flawless work that brings every detail to quiet perfection.
Sri Aurobindo gave each petal its own colour — a spectrum flowing through red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, and returning to red. Together they form the vibrations, in the Mother's words, necessary for the complete manifestation.
To be, feel, think, and will from one and the same truth within.
An openness that lets a higher light correct and enlarge us.
The heart's glad recognition of the Grace at work in every moment.
To continue, unwavering, until the aspiration is fulfilled.
The steady inner flame that calls the Divine toward the earth.
The still capacity to receive what descends and let it work.
To become a little more, and a little truer, each day.
To meet every difficulty as a chance to grow.
A spontaneous kindness that widens toward all living things.
To give of oneself freely, without measure or return.
An unshaken calm that meets all conditions with the same peace.
The luminous stillness in which the being rests in the Divine.
Where the Mother's lotus maps the qualities of the soul, Sri Aurobindo's symbol maps the great movement of the yoga itself. A triangle descends — Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss reaching down into creation. A triangle rises to meet it — the aspiration of life, light, and love answering from within matter.
Where the two meet, a square: the perfect manifestation, the meeting of spirit and world. At its centre a lotus, the flowering of the Divine in the individual, and around it the wavy lines of the waters — the endless multiplicity of creation held within the one truth.
The qualities are not ideals to admire but powers to practise. Our programmes are simply the settings in which that practice can take root.