A Few Words on the Lotus from Ecknath Easwaran (Fulbright Scholar, prolific writer, and the first university lecturer of meditation in the U.S.) "When I was growing up in South India, just half an hour's walk from my home was a Lotus pond so thickly overlaid with glossy leaves and gleaming rose and white blossoms that you could scarcely see the water. One of the Sanskrit names for this most exquisite of flowers is Panjaka, "born from the mud." In the murky depths of the pond a seed takes root. Then a long, wavering strand reaches upward, groping through the water toward the glimmer of light above.  From the water a bud emerges. Warmed by the sun's rays, it slowly opens out and forms a perfect chalice to catch and hold the dazzling light of the sun. The Lotus makes a beautiful symbol for the core of goodness in every human being. Though we are born of human clay, it reminds us that each of us has the latent capacity to reach and grow toward heaven until we shine with the reflected glory of our Maker." - excerpted from Original Goodness, by Ecknath Easwaran, pp. 10-11