Kabir  the 15th-century Indian mystic says:

Do not go to the garden of flowers! O friend!  go not there; In your body is the garden of flowers.  Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the infinite beauty.

The lotus flower grows in a muddy pond, which is full of impure water and yet the flower is not contaminated and beautiful, the flower blossoms above the surface of water, but the stem and roots are still in the water and mud deriving its strength from the muddy swamp. The flower and leaves are never stained with the dirty water because they have a waxy surface that repels water allowing the lotus flower to keep its purity.   In fact, without the muddy water, the lotus will never grow.  The lotus flower is beautiful in appearance, and very fragrant.  The stem in the water represents emptiness, the lotus flower blossoms above the water and this represents the transcendence of emptiness and existence.   The lotus blooms and bears fruit simultaneously, which represents the law of cause and effect.   When the lotus petals fall away, the seedpod stands alone.  The fact that beautiful flowers bloom only from the muddy water symbolizes that bad and the good coexist together in a society.  Just as a lotus begins its life in mud, yet grows upward, blossoming after it has gone beyond the surface of the muddy water, humans, mired in the darkness of ignorance, can display their true qualities of wisdom and compassion by transcending their desires, anger and ignorance.   The lotus is unique in that it flowers and seeds at the same time, this can be correlated to our bad deeds and actions that may have caused an adverse effect on life.   If we are able to review are behavior we would not blame others for misfortune and in this manner we are able to understand the law of cause and effect just as the lotus blooms and seeds itself at the same time we begin to understand for every action we take there is a reaction reverberating in the universe.

Hatha Yoga and The Lotus Flower: In Hatha yoga, the lotus position, padmasana, is adopted by those striving to reach the highest level of consciousness.

Chakras and The Lotus Flower: The chakras (wheels) or energy vortices of the body are depicted as various lotuses. There are over 108 according to one doctrine.  The crown lotus has 1,000 petals -- it is identical to the seat of Brahma, and the lotus chakras are psychic centers that lie along the axis of the spine as consciousness and energy.   When kundalini is struck, she awakens, uncoils and begins to rise upwards like a fiery serpent, breaking upon each chakra as she ascends, until the Shakti merges with Shiva in sahasrara chakra. As kundalini reaches each chakra, that lotus opens and lifts its flower.  The increasing number of lotus petals, in ascending order, may be taken to indicate the rising energy or vibration-frequencies of the respective chakras, each functioning as a transformer of energies from one potency to another.  There are seven major chakras and hundreds of minor ones. In the aura the etheric, astral, and mental bodies are said to each have seven major chakras. Each is associated with an endocrine gland, a major nerve plexus, a physiological function, and a psychic function. The chakras are connected to each other and to the body through the nadis, channels of subtle energy.

Hinduism and the Lotus Flower:  According to Hinduism, within each human inhabiting the earth is the spirit of the sacred lotus. It represents eternity, purity and divinity and is widely used as a symbol of life, fertility, ever-renewing youth and to describe feminine beauty. Hindu scriptures say that the Atman dwells in the lotus within the heart.  There is a story that it arose from the navel of God Vishnu, and at the center of the flower sat Brahma. Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Protector) and Siva (the Merger) are associated with this plant.  The Goddess Lakshmi, patron of wealth and good fortune, sits on a fully bloomed pink lotus as her divine seat and holds a lotus in her right hand.   It is also mentioned in the Mahabharata that Lakshmi emerged from a lotus, which grew from the forehead of Lord Vishnu, and a garland of 108 lotus seeds is today used for the worship of Lakshmi. The Goddess of Power, Durga, was created by Lord Siva to fight demons and was adorned with a garland of lotus flowers by Varuna. Goddess of Wisdom, Saraswati is associated with the white Lotus. And virtually every God and Goddess of Hinduism--Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, Durga, Agni, Ganesha, Rama and Surya--are typically shown sitting on the lotus, often holding a lotus flower in their hand, the lotus serves as the seat of the deity.

Buddhism and the Lotus Flower: The image of a lotus blossom for Buddhists, lotus symbolizes the most exalted state of man--his head held high, pure and undefiled in the sun, his feet rooted in the world of experience. The Lotus Sutra contains 28 chapters expounded by Gautama Buddha he himself said all of his teachings lead him to expound the Lotus Sutras and Sakyamuni is frequently pictured sitting on a lotus flower.

Egyptians and the Lotus Flower: The lotus flower has been featured extensively throughout the art of ancient Egypt. To the ancient Egyptians, a lotus bud was a symbol of rebirth.  It closes in the evening and falls to the water, but in the morning it opens and is lifted above the surface.  Its behavior emulates that of the sun.  Because of this rising and setting, it is also a symbol of death and rebirth   the lotus flower appeared in legends originating from ancient Egypt.  According to one creation myth it was a giant lotus, which first rose out of the watery chaos at the beginning of time. From this giant lotus the sun itself rose on the first day. The lotus flower played a prominent role in the version of the creation story that originated in Heliopolis. Before the universe came into being, there was an infinite ocean of inert water which constituted the primeval being named Nun. Out of Nun emerged a lotus flower, together with a single mound of dry land. The lotus blossoms opened, and out stepped the self-created sun god, Atum, as a child. A slightly different version of the creation story originated in Hermopolis. In that version, the sun god who formed himself from the chaos of Nun emerged from the lotus petals as Ra. The blue lotus was found scattered over Tutankhamen's body when the Pharaoh's tomb was opened in 1922. Many historians thought it was a purely symbolic flower, but there may be some reason to believe that ancient Egyptians used it to induce an ecstatic state, stimulation, and/or hallucinations, as well as being widely used as a general remedy against illness, and to this day is used as a tonic for good health, consumed as an extract.

Throughout time those of spiritual inclinations have looked to the lotus flower as a source of strength beauty and integrity. This flower is always associated with mystic qualities so it is no wonder that great spiritual being have recognized the importance symbolic qualities of the Lotus Flower.