Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Mandala




Mandala

Original Mandala painting



Second Chakra Mandala

Acryl on paper

Natural Mandala




Natural Mandala







Mandala meditation




Mandala meditation



Mandala



Mandala

Original Mandala painting



Night lily Mandala

Acryl on paper

Mandala




Mandala

Original Mandala painting



Tribal Mandala

Acryl on paper

Mandala




Mandala

Original Mandala painting





Sun flower Mandala

Acryl on paper

Flower of life



Flower of life





The Flower of Life is the name coined by New Age author Drunvalo Melchizedek for a geometrical figure composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles. This figure, used as a decorative motiv since ancient times, forms a flower-like pattern with the symmetrical structure of a hexagon.
A "Flower of Life" figure consists of seven or more overlapping circles, in which the center of each circle is on the circumference of up to six surrounding circles of the same diameter. However, the surrounding circles need not be clearly or completely drawn; in fact, some ancient symbols that are claimed as examples of the Flower of Life contain only a single circle or hexagon.
New Age followers ascribe many forms of significance to the Flower of Life and three similar figures, called the "Egg of Life," the "Fruit of Life," the "Seed of Life,"and the "Tree of Life." Melchizedek and others assert that these figures are symbols of sacred geometry, that they represent ancient spiritual beliefs, and that they depict fundamental aspects of space and time. They claim that Metatron's Cube may be derived from the Flower of Life pattern, and that the Platonic solids within it were "thought to act as a template from which all life springs."
The Flower of Life and the Seed of Life are linked by New Age authors with the Biblical prophet Enoch, the Archangel Metatron, the six days of Creation, the Vesica Piscis religious symbol, and Borromean rings.



Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Lakshmi




Lakshmi

Hindu art







Lakshmi is the Hindu Goddess of wealth, prosperity (both material and spiritual), fortune, and the embodiment of beauty. She is the consort of the God Vishnu. Also called Mahalakshmi, she is said to bring good luck and is believed to protect her devotees from all kinds of misery and money-related sorrows. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments.
Lakshmi is called Shri or Thirumagal because she is endowed with six auspicious and divine qualities, or Gunas, and also because she is the source of strength even to Vishnu. When Vishnu incarnated on earth as avatars Rama and Krishna, Lakshmi incarnated as his consort. Sita (Rama's wife), Radha (Krishna's lover) and Rukmini and Satyabama are considered forms of Lakshmi.
Lakshmi is worshipped daily in Hindu homes and commercial establishments as the goddess of wealth. She also enjoys worship as the consort of Vishnu in many temples. The festivals of Diwali and Kojagiri Purnima are celebrated in her honour.

Vishnu - sacred art




Vishnu

Hindu art










Vishnu is a Vedic Supreme God (including his different avatars) in Hinduism, and is venerated as the Supreme Being in Vaishnavism. He is also known as Narayana or Hari and is venerated as Purushottama or SupremePurusha in Vedic sacred texts like the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas and the Puranas. He is the Supreme Purusha of Purusha Sukta.The Vishnu Sahasranama of the Mahabharata declares Vishnu as Paramatman (supreme soul) andParameshwara (supreme God). It describes Vishnu as the All-Pervading essence of all beings, the master of—and beyond—the past, present and future, the creator and destroyer of all existences, one who supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within.
Vaishnavism sees Vishnu as the Supreme God, venerated as the Supreme Being. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as just one of the five primary forms of God, namely Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Surya and Ganesha; who are all seen as equal reflections of the one Brahman, rather than as distinct beings. His supreme status is declared in Hindu sacred texts like the Yajurveda, the Rigveda the Bhagavad Gita, The Bhagavata Purana and other Sattva Puranas which all declare Vishnu as Supreme God. Vishnu incarnates on planet Earth from time to time to eradicate evil forces, to restore the Dharma and to liberate the worthy ones or devotees from the cycle of births and deaths.
In the Puranas, Vishnu is described as having the divine blue colour of water-filled clouds and as having four arms. He is depicted as holding a padma or lotus flower in the lower left hand, a gada or mace in the lower right hand, a shankha or conch in the upper left hand and a Sudarshana Chakra or discus weapon in the upper right hand. Vishnu is also described in the Bhagavad Gita as having a 'Universal Form' (Vishvarupa or Viraat Purusha) which is beyond the ordinary limits of human perception or imagination.
Vishnu's eternal and supreme abode beyond the material universe is called Vaikuntha, which is also known as Paramdhama, the realm of eternal bliss and happiness, for the final or highest place for liberated souls. Vaikuntha is situated beyond the material universe and hence, cannot be perceived or measured by material science and logic.Vishnu's other abode within the material universe is Ksheera Sagara (the ocean of milk), where he reclines and rests on Ananta Shesha. It is the topmost realm in the material universe, even higher than Satyaloka where Brahma resides. Vishnu manages and sustains the universe from there. Hence, Ksheera Sagara is also sometimes known as local Vaikuntha of the material universe, which is approachable by demigods or devas in order to meet the lord in case of any emergency or disturbance in universal balance.

Hindu art




Hindu art

Ganesh




Mandalay Palace




Mandalay Palace






The Mandalay Palace, located in Mandalay, Myanmar, is the last royal palace of the last Burmese monarchy. The palace was constructed, between 1857 and 1859 as part of King Mindon's founding of the new royal capital city of Mandalay. The plan of Mandalay Palace largely follows the traditional Burmese palace design, inside a walled fort surrounded by a moat. The palace itself is at the centre of the citadel and faces east. All buildings of the palace are of one storey in height. The number of spires above a building indicated the importance of the area below.
Mandalay Palace was the primary royal residence of King Mindon and King Thibaw, the last two kings of the country. The complex ceased to be a royal residence and seat of government on 28 November 1885 when, during the Third Anglo-Burmese War, troops of the Burma Field Force entered the palace and captured the royal family. The British turned the palace compound into Fort Dufferin, named after the then viceroy of India. Throughout the British colonial era, the palace was seen by the Burmese as the primary symbol sovereignty and identity. Much of the palace compound was destroyed during World War II by allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. A replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s with some modern materials.
Today, Mandalay Palace is a primary symbol of Mandalay and a major tourist destination.Mandalay Palace has been vividly covered in Amitav Ghosh's historical novel The Glass Palace.

Zodiac Mandala




Zodiac Mandala




Ancient Mandala



Ancient Mandala



Mandala



Mandala







     What is a Mandala? You may ask is it some kind of magic circle, or maybe a ritual geometric symbol or is it a mystical symbol only for the lucky initiate? In some areas we find them described as ;symbols of the cosmic elements, used as aids for meditation,' as models for certain visualizations', or alternatively as 'aids to self discovery or to meditation on the transcendental.' In essence a Mandala is a powerfully symmetrical diagram, concentrated about a centre and generally divided into four quadrants of equal size; it is built up of concentric circles and squares possessing the same centre. It is also true that a great many Mandalas are considered as aids to meditation, visualization and initiation. Carl Gustav Jung in his analysis of the Mandala the 'protective circle' found it to be "the traditional antidote for chaotic states of mind."
     In India life is still lived close to nature, and it appears unorganized and therefore chaotic; but in its chaos there seems to be an undercurrent of order. It is the religious culture the spiritual heritage that makes up the keystone of the whole super structure of the Indian civilization. It has a highly philosophical culture. It is here over the ages that the concept of the Mandala has developed no doubt to bring some order into the seemingly apparent chaotic situation. The ancient tribal creed has never relinquished its hold on its past, which reflects its continuous existence through the ages, from evolution to the present.
     The concept of the Mandala was developed and conceived in the remotest ages and most ancient recesses of Indian history before the advent of Hinduism or Buddhism. The Concept as a whole encompassed all facets of the Indian life, a life style and religious heritage, which has made India a mysterious land, incomprehensible and unintelligible. It was found to have been equally important in socio-political realms as well as the religio-spiritual. The influence of the Mandala concept spread all over South-East Asia, Nepal and Tibet wherever Indian culture spread. It is even suspected that its influence spread to West Asia and China also. This influence was apparent in all walks of life especially in the field of administration and religion.
In the tribal primitive agrarian community the Goddess of Fertility evolved. They worshipped her in the form of a triangle, which is regarded as an element of Neolithic art. As in any form of worship it is the mind that links up with the Absolute but on a Mandala, for the worshipper's consciousness to tread the spiritual path to the ultimate, requires knowledge and precision. It is an aspect of Tantrism and fundamentally connotes maithuna (coitus), which terminates in bliss yoga. The Mandala's main component, the triangle, is a basic figure in geometry, and hence, seems so modern, yet in quintessence it is really very old.
     There are in existence many varieties of symbols in India's religious tradition. The dominant symbols occupy an important position, even in the sacio-religious system, for their meaning has remained largely unchanged from age to age and may be said to represent the crystallization of the flowing pattern of rituals over which it presides. Man lives in a symbolic universe of which language, myth, art and religion are parts. They are the varied threads, which weave the symbolic net, the tangled web of human experience. All human progress in thought and experience refines upon and strengthens this net. Among the representations of this symbolic universe, the Mandala is a highly manifested form is space and transpersonal ecology (sacred ecology) and is better understood in practical terms of bounded space, for example, pilgrimage and its related sacred time and sacred performances.
     A prime example of this relationship of the Mandala concept to the cultural and social activities of the Hindu populace is Varanasi, which is the holiest city of Hinduism. According to Rana P B Singh a renowned cartographer of Benaras Hindu University, 'The complexity distinction and hierarchical ordering of the pilgrim age mandala are developed in its full form and still existent and used in practice by the pilgrims. In fact, it can be seen that Varanasi is one of the ideal cities of celestial archetype where material expression to that of parallelism among macro-cos-mos, meso-cosmos and micro-cosmos are still visible.' This is in fact an almost geopolitical as well as socio-religious relationship, which is formed in the concept of the Mandala when it is related to a city or country and its cultural activities.
     It is a known fact that before the advent of the Aryan era there was in existence a vibrant and flourishing agrarian society in the subcontinent. However primitive it may have been in our eyes still it had managed to achieve levels of spiritual understanding well in advance of other societies, which surrounded it. This era was responsible for the advent of Tantrism, which found its place secured in the even later Aryan Vedic religion, mention of it to be found in both the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda. Many of its concepts and traditions found their way into the daily practices of the Hindus.
     In Tantrism, which as we have seen existed much before the Vedic concept of religion, Yantra (represents the spirit), Mantra (the soul) and Tantra (the psychic centres). Tantrism even extended its field of influence to the much later Buddhism. According to the Dalai Lama: 'Mandalas are an aspect of Tantric Buddhism that due to their colourful complexity, have attracted a great deal of interest. Taking a variety of forms, from simple diagrams and more elaborate paintings on cloth to complicated patterns of coloured sand and large three-dimensional carved structures, mandalas have a profoundly symbolic value. Tibetans regard them as sacred. To impart the most profound religious truths, Tantric Buddhism employs pictorial representations with an intensity found in no other form of Buddhism and scarcely in any other religion.
     The use of the Mandala as a tool to aid in the elimination of chaos has proven itself over centuries of use. It has provided humankind with a device easily used if not comprehended to achieve a relationship with and thus with oneself. This particular presentation of the concept of the Mandala as an instrument of concentration and inspiration for meditation provides the reader with an insight into the mystical worlds of the ancients. It allows us once more to try and achieve the unity our forefathers once enjoyed with their environs. Each Mandala described takes us on a progressive journey towards our ultimate goal, the discovery of the power within.
     For many this life is but one of many along the road to discovery and enlightenment, but this does not suggest that we should not even bother to try and expect the results to come in their own time. Any attempt we make to gain experience of the unknown can only but enhance the life we lead. It helps us to become aware of the cosmos within which we exist and will ultimately aid us in achieving a unity within the self, making us better human beings in the process.




Gaudy Mandala