Mythology:
In Indian mythology, long ago, at the end of the eons, the whole universe had been engulfed in an ocean, and Creation was all but lost. The god Vishnu, preserver of life, whose abode is the primordial waters, was asleep in this timeless darkness, dreaming of worlds to come. As his dreams unfolded, a lotus flower emerged from his navel and revealed within its many folds the cosmic egg, in which Brahma the creator, was asleep.
As Brahma stirred, Creation began to unfold again, and new worlds, new gods, and new life appeared. In India today, the lotus is still considered to be the cradle of the universe, and many Indian deities are portrayed sitting on a large lotus flower.
The lotus was of great significance to many ancient cultures, and in particular to the Eastern religions. From ancestral times, the lotus regularly appears as a symbol of purity, peace, transcendence, enlightenment, rebirth, beauty, and fertility. In India, the lotus flower is considered to be of divine origin and is viewed as sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists. Buddha was said to sleep on a lotus six months of the year, and Shambala (Buddhist heaven) is sometimes represented as a field of flowering sacred lotuses.
The idea of enlightenment is symbolised by the life cycle of the sacred lotus plant because it begins its life humbly in the mud of ponds but soon grows and sends stems and flowers well above the surface of the water (up to 50cm), thus showing the path of spiritual enfoldment.
It also has unusual flowering habits; its flowers ‘wake up’ (open) at dawn and go to sleep (close) at about 2pm. Some lotuses are even known to open up at night and close during the day, ignoring the normal sunlight hours favoured by the majority of flowering plants, and effectively transcending normal time cycles