Page 17 - NAMAH-Oct-2016

Namah
The Buddhist logician Dharmottara in his
Nyāyavinduttīkā records the phenomenon
of sleep in certain plants, in the form of
contraction of their leaves during the night.
Sankara Mishra in his Upaskara mentions the
bhagnaksas tasomārohanan of plants, which means
that there is a natural healing after injury due
to the growth of organs. The Shantiparva (184-
10-17) of the Mahābhārata enumerates several
physiological principles including the sense
of touch, hearing (response to sound), vision,
smell, irritability, etc. in respect of plants (21). we see how the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo
In modern times, scientists like J.C.Bose
and others also confirmed the truthfulness
of the above facts. “To find out whether the
plant perceives and reacts to a shock, the stem
is placed between a fixed rod and a movable
magnifying lever, the movement of which is
further magnified by optical means to something
like a million times. The experiment described
was carried out before a group of world-famous
scientists of the University of Vienna. A very
feeble electric shock was sent through the plant,
and through one of the leading physicians who
was in the same circuit. The human being felt
nothing, but the Contraction Recorder showed
that the plant gave a shuddering twist under
the shock (22).”
Sri Aurobindo states,“Chit, the divine Con-
sciousness, is not our mental self-awareness;
that we shall find to be only a form, a lower and
limited mode or movement. As we progress and
awaken to the soul in us and things, we shall
realise that there is a consciousness also in the
plant, in the metal, in the atom, in electricity,
in everything that belongs to physical nature;
we shall find even that it is not really in all
respects a lower or more limited mode than the
mental, on the contrary it is in many ‘inanimate’
Principles of plant taxonomy
forms more intense, rapid, poignant, though
less evolved towards the surface (23).”
It was with this attitude that the ancient
Indian medical scientists and botanists dealt
with plants. Although parīksās or investigation
was one of the prominent means for them
to validate their knowledge yet they relied
mostly on their intuitive mind. Discovering
by intuition and developing by logic was
their method in systematising knowledge. If
Ashram gave spiritual names to hundreds
of flowers, it will help us to understand the
ancient Indian methodology and philosophy
of naming and classifying plants. Once, one
of the disciples asked the Mother, “Mother,
when flowers are brought to you, how do you
give them a significance?” The Mother replied,
“…by entering into contact with the nature of
the flower, its inner truth. Then one knows what
it represents (24).”
It was with this spirit that the ancient Indian
aca ara yas gave names to everything, by entering
into the soul and nature of the thing. The
thousands of names of plants available in
various ancient treatises are the expression
of this inner contact with the nature and soul
of the plants.
References and end-notes
1. Jones W. Botanical Observation of Select Indian
Plants. Volume 4. Kolkata:Asiatic Society of
Bengal, Calcutta. Asiatic Researches. 1795; pp.
237-312.
2. Müller M (ed).Sacred Books of the East: The Laws
of Manu.Volume 25. Bühler G (trans). Oxford:
Oxford University Press; 1886, pp. 46-8.
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