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L.O.T.U.S.: The Meaning Behind The Name ‘Kamala’

PONDER THIS! Kamala Is a Sanskrit Lotus

By Hazel Rosetta Smith

 

Kamala means “lotus” in Sanskrit, the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and philosophy, and is included in principal texts of Buddhism with a 3500-year history.

The first time I was aware of the word as a name was reading about Kamala Harris, the elected San Francisco District Attorney who moved on to become California Attorney General and the second Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

Harris was not new to the nation. After a short-lived campaign as a presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden shocked the world by choosing Kamala Harris to be his nominee for Vice President on the ballot for the upcoming 2020 Presidential election. And, she had already been vetted and scrutinized.

Biden considered Harris’s creditability and experience more than enough to carry her weight in the process to victory. He did the right thing! (She is now his choice to be the Democratic pick for the office of the President of the United States!

Most interestingly, her name Kamala means Lotus and the letters of the name of the flower create an acronym L.O.T.U.S. that can be acclaimed as meaning “Leader of the United States.”  Call it prophesy or destiny, hieroglyphics from Ancient Egypt clearly show the lotus flower alongside its leaders.

Research on the lotus reveals it to be a flower ready to take on the world, flexible and strong, securely anchored. When the lotus first begins to sprout, it is underwater, making its home in lakes and ponds where the water remains still on the surface. But underneath the surface, the lotus is surrounded by mud and muck and rough conditions.

Despite these conditions, the lotus flower maintains strength and pushes aside each of these obstacles as it makes its way to clearer surfaces, finally freeing itself from the harsh life conditions below.

There is sufficient biographical information available about Harris’s biracial African American and Indian American identity inherited from her parents, Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris, who both immigrated to the United States from India and Jamaica, respectively, to pursue doctorate degrees at the University of California, Berkeley.

From the pantsuits, the choice of foot comfort from her favorite Converse sneakers to the various strands of pearls worn to pay homage to the founding members of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the first Black Greek-letter sorority she was part of at Howard University; all eyes far and near will focus once again on Kamala Harris.

Soon, very soon, all Americans will be called upon to stand as strong, confident men and women in lines across the country to vote. Despite the odds, the polls, the critics, and the naysayers, like the lotus, we must push aside any obstacles that are blocking our way to justice. Get ready, get ready!

[Hazel Rosetta Smith is a journalist, playwright, and artistic director for Help Somebody Theatrical Ministries and HRS Speaks! Retired, former Managing Editor and Woman’s Editor of the New York Beacon. Contact: [email protected] and online www.hazelrosettasmith.com] Publisher’s note: opinions expressed in this column are solely of the author.