The Lotus Fire – A Study in Symbolic Yoga

By George Sydney Arundale (1878–1945).

776 Pages | First edition 1939, 1st reprint 1976, 2nd reprint 2001 | Soft cover| Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 817059412X.

In his Preface to this great study in symbolic yoga, Dr. G.S. Arundale says it consists of notes taken at the time of his own personal exploiration in the field of symbology, 'explorations which were fortunate enough to have the guidance of One whose discoveries in innumerable fields have constituted Him a 'Master of the Wisdom of Life'. But even this guidance gives the notes no special authority, for both the guidance and the explorations are individual to myself. '

Dr. Arundale also says;

 " One night one of the Great Beings, who is a Messenger of the Lord Śiva, disclosed to me, one after another, certain Symbols in their cosmic significance . . . The whole vista of the meaning and purpose of evolution gradually unveiled itself before me, and I have done my best to write it down as I perceived it, and where I could, to obtain corroboration from the great book of our Theosophical classic literature. "

The work is divided into five Books:

1. The Vigil of Purification
2. Symbols living and radiant
3. Symbols real and dynamic
4. From the Symbol to no-symbol
5. Symbols at work.

From Section 'Motherhood' (p. 619):

THE GRAIL OF MOTHERHOOD

" Even more glorious than the sacred offices of the King, Priest and Teacher is the priesthood of every woman without exception - priest of the Motherhood of God, and of the Love of God in mysterious exaltation. This Motherhood may be a  Motherhood in pure Will, or it may be a Motherhood in pure Wisdom, or it may be a Motherhood in Creative Activity. Ever is it the heart of Life and the Holy Grail of all noble virtues. Hear the words of the mighty Lawgiver of the Aryan Race, Him whom Hindus call Lord Vaivasvata the Manu:

Where women are honoured, the Gods rejoice. Where they are not honoured, the family perishes. [...] In every religion throughout the world God incarnating as Mother shines no less gloriously than God incarnating as Father, or as Son, or as the very Fire of Life, the Holy Ghost. God is the Creator, God the Sustainer, God the Regenerator - in all Three dwells God the Mother as heart of each.

Almost is the priesthood of Motherhood too holy for any act of dedication in the merely human world. The very physical body of a woman is an altar already consecrated to a sacrifice. She is a bright shadow of God the Mother, and about the sacred acts of her ministering, of the exercise of her priesthood, hovers in sure benediction the Queen of Motherhood herself . . . "