Padmavati, or woman born from the lotus, is a goddess in Hinduism who is an avatar of Laxmi, goddess of wealth. She is a beloved of Lord Vishnu, repairer of the world, and like him, is often depicted as having ebony skin.
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| Padmavati |
The lotus in Indian tradition is a symbol of self-detachment and sexual purity. It rises above its ecosystem and lives in the air, just as a person is supposed to abandon the search for personal gratification in her social environment.
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| Lotus flowers in Xuanwu Lake, Nanjing, China |
The lotus flower is perhaps the opposite of the shakti, which is the devouring/destructive power that is the essence of the feminine divine in Hinduism. Women are penetrators by nature, with the capacity to destroy as well as produce, which is the foundation for the argument in dharma literature for them to be restrained.
In contemporary India, women's rights groups have re-interpreted shakti as the creative and powerful energy that women bring to the world.
How can one be both creative and detached -- a woman born from lotus flowers? Can you be a mother, an artist, or a teacher and still be detached from the results of your actions?
Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita counseled the soldier Arjuna to do his duty and fight on the battlefield (even against his kinsman), but to detach himself from whatever actually happened. Like the lotus, he was supposed to rise above the bloodshed, mud and debris of war with a pure heart and mind. He was to transcend a situation that was so absurd it should never have happened, and not let it destroy his soul.
As Coco Chanel said, "Elegance is refusal," and the lotus is just that -- something elegant fashioned out of negation. Something, perhaps, that has forgotten its roots. There may be an unreal beauty in letting everything go, but I continue to grapple with what that might mean for a person.
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