Most of my photographs are part of my narration…but sometimes…I like to take one that tells no story, that just shows something incredibly beautiful….something that just IS.

Ragihalli kere (pond or lake) is only place I know, very close to Bangalore, where white lotuses bloom regularly. Still, I have been there on occasions and seen nothing but white and pink water lilies….

But today, when, ater the birding initiative for the volunteers of Nokia who came to the Ramakrishna Ashram at Shivanahalli, to help plant saplings…I beheld the kere full of white lotuses (not a lily in sight!)

Here’s an opening bud….

and this one’s in full bloom:

The sight of this beautiful flower in the marshy, muddy ponds gave our ancients a worthy simile with the human condition…be like the lotus. Even though it is panka-ja (born in filth), it is aloof from its birth, and rides the waves of the pond serenly…and is so beautiful and pure. This is the nishkAma karmA, the detachment from wordly attachments, that our sages like to tell us to try and attain.

I’m nowhere near that detachment. But the sight of these flowers, in great profusion, lifted my heart.

Here’s a panning shot of Ragihalli lake showing the profusion of lotuses:

White lotuses…beauty and purity that blooms amidst stagnation and filth. A message of hope to all of us!