Shivoham

My new Art Shivoham is inspired by Nirvana Shatakam : SHIVOHAM

The Nirvana Shatakam , also known as Atma Shatakam is a śloka in six stanzas written by the Sage Adi Shankaracharya summarizing the basic philosophy of Advaita - Teachings of Non-Dualism.

The narrator of the poem is Lord Shiva, but it is generally seen as a statement given by a person knowing his identity with Shiva or Self. One cannot describe the Infinite....so this poem tries to take us there by negation of everything finite (that our limited ego identifies with). The Poet lists in the earlier verses what HE (or Consciousness) is not. HE is not body , mind, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, the intellect, the senses, the practices of life, the occurrences of life such as birth and death.


In the last verse he says that HE is the very substratum on which all the other gross(body) and subtle aspects(mind, intellect, ego) comes to life.....Just like the way electricity illumines all the inert objects and makes them emit different kinds of energy. HE permeates the universe, and that HE is consciousness, bliss and the soul, and by implication, the Atman and Brahman.

It is said that that when Adi Shankara was a young boy of eight and wandering in the Himalayas, seeking to find his guru, he encountered the seer Gaudapada who asked him, "Who are you?". The boy answered with these stanzas, which are known as "Nirvāṇa Śaṭakam" or Ātma Ṣaṭakam". Gaudapada accepted Adi Shankara as his disciple. The verses are said to be valuable for progress in contemplation practices that lead to Self-Realization/Liberation

SHIVOHAM

Following are the six verses with their interpretations

मनो बुद्ध्यहंकारचित्तानि नाहम्

न च श्रोत्र जिह्वे न च घ्राण नेत्रे

न च व्योम भूमिर् न तेजॊ न वायु:

चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥१॥

Neither am I.... Mind, Intellect, Ego or Memory house

Neither am I.... those five knowledge organs serving the 5 senses

Neither am I.... the five elements of Nature (Ether, Earth, Fire, Air, Water)

I AM SHIVA....the embodiment of Pure Blissful Consciousness ||1||

न च प्राण संज्ञो न वै पञ्चवायु:

न वा सप्तधातुर् न वा पञ्चकोश:

न वाक्पाणिपादौ न चोपस्थपायू

चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥२॥

Neither am I....those five vital prana (energy) nor those five vital breaths

Neither am I....the seven forms of matter(in body), nor the five sheath/veils of mind

Neither am I....the five organs of action

I AM SHIVA....the manifestation of Pure Blissful Consciousness ||2||

न मे द्वेष रागौ न मे लोभ मोहौ

मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्य भाव:

न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो ना मोक्ष:

चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥३॥

Neither do I have....emotions of Hatred, Anger, Attachment, Greed , Delusion

Nor do I have....Passion , Jealousy or Envy

Nor am I....bounded by four pillars of Duties, Wealth, Desire, Liberation

I AM SHIVA....the expression of Pure Blissful Consciousness ||3||

न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दु:खम्

न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा: न यज्ञा:

अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता

चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥४॥

Neither am I....bounded by virtue or sins, nor by pleasure or pain

Nor do I need ....mantras, pilgrimage, scriptures, or rituals

Nor am I....the subject of experience , the process of experience or the object being experienced

I AM SHIVA....the symbol of Pure Blissful Consciousness ||4||

न मृत्युर् न शंका न मे जातिभेद:

पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्म

न बन्धुर् न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्य:

चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥५॥

Neither am I....bounded by Death and its Fear, nor by the rules of Caste and Race

Neither do I....have Father or Mother, nor do I have birth

Neither do I....have Friends, Relatives, nor Guru, Disciple

I AM SHIVA....the personification of Pure Blissful Consciousness ||5||

अहं निर्विकल्पॊ निराकार रूपॊ

विभुत्वाच्च सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम्

न चासंगतं नैव मुक्तिर् न मेय:

चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥६॥

I AM Without any Change/Variation and Without any form

I am Present Everywhere as the underlying Substratum of everything, and behind all Sense Organs,

Neither do I get Attached to anything, nor get Freed from anything,

I AM SHIVA....I AM the Pure Blissful Consciousness ||6||

SHIVOHAM

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi...........Ganpathi Bappa Morya

Future of Indian art

How many of general public know about Madhubani art, Tanjore paintings? Who can tell what is the specialty of these art forms? Well…very few will know about it. It is lying some where in Wiki. The general public cannot be blamed ...the sad part is these things were neither taught in school nor are we curious to know about our heritage. The popular Kolam/Rangoli art is also gradually losing its charm with the fast lifestyle and small restricted living spaces. The daily ritual of drawing kolam is slowly coming down to drawing them only on festive occasions.

Reality check about Kolams/Rangolis :

• There is no place outside our apartment homes to draw huge Rangolis. End result: the Rangoli sizes are shrinking. From entrance/courtyard these designs are becoming restricted to only prayer rooms
• There is no time for the busy working/homemaker women to wake up early in the morning and spend time leisurely drawing rangolis. End result: We buy those ready-made kundan rangolis /stickers to stick outside our courtyard or better outsource the whole process altogether  Outsourced in Madurai Drawing kolams 

• The original intent of feeding animals and birds using kolam no longer holds true because we rarely use rice flour (Mav kolam is exception). We use chalk/chalk powder/white rock powder added to naturally/synthetically colored powders.

Let’s look at our kids (our future generation). How many kids are passionate about these art forms.....the way we were? This shows the future of our heritage. I am no different; I am equally guilty of taking our traditions for granted.

What made our 5000 year old traditions survive?

Now coming to another stream of thought. What made our Indian traditions survive for 5000 years? There were so many invasions, destruction, natural disasters in India; still our rich traditions survived all that. The secret behind this is Adaptation. Our sages and pioneers adapted to each and every change. The authenticity was maintained but the medium changed. The teaching/the scriptures remained intact....but medium of documentation and communication changed.

Our Scriptures were revived and re-documented in understandable languages again and again by Sages of  every era.

• Sage Ved Vyasa gave us Bhagavad Gita that was the core essence of all the Vedas and Upanishads.

• Adi Shankaracharya revived all the Sanskrit texts , lifted us from ritualism and showed the path of Advaita Vedanta.

• Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Tukaram , Sant Namdev, Guru Gobind Singh brought the same teachings to local languages.

• Ramana Maharishi  and other modern contemporary gurus like Swami Vivekananda,  Swami Chinmayananda and others translated the texts and teachings for us from Sanskrit to English.

If we look carefully the teachings were same but the text (written in palm-leaf) changed to different mediums like books, DVD, PDF etc. depending upon the present generation's need. The teachings from the texts were translated from Sanskrit to other local languages and English so that the present generations can revere the texts.

Putting Two and Two together

Why is no change coming to our art forms? I don't mean to say that we should abandon our existing ways. These ways and methods are precious and they should be treasured. What I am talking about is supplementing the existing mediums so that our current and future generations can easily bond to them. Keeping the form authentic, our medium of expression can be diversified. Today's generation is all into technology. All of them are tech savvy. To get our kid's (future generation) attention to these art forms ...Digital art provides a very good medium.

Imagine our kids seeing these forms of art in notebook covers, mobile cases, Desktop displays , wall hangings, home decor, video games, Cartoon character's symbols, logos, clothes, social media headings, Sign boards, TV adds, Animated movies, favorite God's backdrop, scrapbooks, comics and coloring books, greeting cards....options are limitless.

Imagine how much integrated to our life, these art forms will become. This will in turn make all of us feel proud about our heritage.

What is digital art?

(copy and paste from http://www.digitalartforall.com/15/what-is-digital-art/)

Digital Art can be defined as any art that is made with the help of a computer.

Drawings made on paper that are scanned in and changed in any way on the computer, photographs that are modified, 3D characters created using a computer are all examples of digital art.

Examples

• Illustration – vector drawings        

• Digital photo manipulation         

• Digital painting        

• 3D modeling         

• Web site design         

• Computer generated images       

• Animation

• Games

Digital Art is the next revolution in art

Before the camera, the role of artists was to depict the real world. Art changed in the way it was used or the subjects it showed, but each time it was a 'window into the real world'. When the camera was invented, artists realized that it was no longer important to portray the real world, and their role could be redefined. They started to express their imagination in different ways and to show something that is not real – something abstract. Abstract art can be considered a major step in the evolution of art and it started with the invention of new technology – the camera.

With the creation of the computer and its use in art, we are now looking at the next major step in the evolution of art. With the use of the computer, artists can create something that was never possible. The way art is defined itself is changing.

What are some kinds of Digital Art? Where are they used?

    • Graphic illustrations – in advertising, logos, brochures, posters

    • Illustrations -  in Books, Comics, web sites

    • 3D models – in Animations, Movies, Video Games

    • Digital photo artwork to create posters, advertisements

    • Digital painting

    • Web sites

    • Computer generated images

    • Animations

    • Games

Digital Art brings together Art, Technology, Math and Science.

Digital art requires a creative spirit and the knowledge of art, design and computers. The digital artists must be able to move easily between the worlds of art, science, math and technology.

Final thoughts

I urge all veteran artists to give consideration to Digital art and promote their artwork in this type of medium . By doing this

• we can create awareness to present and our future generations
• Prevent  these art-forms from losing their pace with today’s fast busy life.
• Adaptation is the key. Welcome the change with open hands.
• Future of all Indian art-forms is in our hands 

 Enjoy Digital Kolams in my website : Ojasvi Shambhu

Sikku Kolam

Attached are sample Digital Kolams. Feel free to download the jpg images and use them for your personal purposes. Click on the links to get the full resolution.

Links :
Full Resolution Yellow kolam
Full Resolution Magneta kolam

 

.....Is Kolam just an Art?

Kolam is a traditional floor art that is considered as a symbol of auspiciousness . Indian women draw these intricate designs in their entrance, courtyard and prayer room floors using rice flour/chalk powder. These designs are symmetric patterns composed of curved loops and lines. It can be as small as 5 inches and can be drawn as big as 15-20 feet.

The intricate patters of Kolam fascinated me right from my childhood. It was a feast for the eyes every moment. One simple glance at these kolams is enough to zap the mind out of day to day stress,worries and frustrations. 

It is believed that Kolam invites positive and auspicious energies to enter the house while preventing the flow of negative energies into the house. I always felt that there is more to this art than just the aesthetic value. On reading others articles about it, I was pleasantly surprised. I want to share these findings with you all.

Every Kolam is complete by itself and a beginning to a new one:

Every kolam is complete by itself however small it may be, like every incident or every moment. But the beauty is every tiny kolam has the potential possibility to be expanded into unknown yet another kolam. So is it with every moment, complete by itself yet ever expanding with the uninterrupted connectivity. 

Kolam : Representation of Vibrations in geometric patterns

Following is an extract I read from http://guruprasad.net/posts/why-do-indians-draw-rangoli-scientific-reason/

The most original form of Kolams are still drawn by some of the most orthodox families in India especially in the rural places. Here are a few sample rangoli/kolam designs:

Notice that they are symmetric around both X & Y axis, mostly have rounded edges and appear to be combination of several simpler designs superimposed over each other.

There is a separate field of science called Cymatics which deals with the relationship between vibrations and the geometric patterns corresponding to it. [Here is a brief video about Cymatics and how vibrations affect us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgeB-nToRwA]

In order to experiment in Cymatics, all that you need is a metal plate over which some sand is sprinkled and a frequency generator which vibrates the metal plate. When it is set to a certain resonant frequency, the metal plate vibrates in such a way that all the sand particles get aligned in geometric pattern. For example, here are a few patterns which emerge for different frequencies and they appear just like the rangolis/kolams we draw in India:

Just like how a vibration can lead to a geometric pattern, the reverse is also possible. When a person looks at such a geometric pattern, it manifests into vibrations inside the mind of the observer which in turn calms the mind. And this is exactly what Kolam does to one’s mind. i.e It has a soothing effect. Scientists & Doctors have extended it further and created a new medical field called Cymatherapy in which highly complex vibrations are converted into sound patterns, which in turn can be used to heal a person’s body and emotions.

I am beginning to appreciate this form of art more as and when I learn more about it. Every experience related this art ,as an artist as well as a spectator, is beautiful.

Enjoy Digital Kolams in my website : Ojasvi Shambhu