MONA MEHTA ambles around in the Capital on an art yatra and chances upon Rajesh
K Baderia’s saffron and red-soaked Sri Yantra. She delves into its meaning, and
finds out more besides...
Ancient knowledge, contemporary take. This is about a mesmerising acrylic on canvas by Rajesh Baderia that I chanced upon on one of my ‘soak-in-art’ rounds in the Capital.
Titled ‘Yantra’, the painting could easily be mistaken for the Star of David — an auspicious Jewish symbol. It shows two triangles intersecting each other to form a star framed by a square black border. However, this star-shaped painting conveys a deeper spiritual meaning — it is a yantra.
Yantras are ancient sacred symbols which denote cosmic energy. They find mention in ancient scriptures and are considered auspicious, explains Baderia. The artist took to painting spiritual symbols in the 1990s and hasn’t stopped since.
Yantra, my research says, is a combination of two words — yan meaning instrument, something you use in order to make something happen and tra emanating from trayati, meaning liberation, to make free or to awaken. “A yantra thus works as an instrument, a key to open up particular parts of the mind, to extend our consciousness, to make us aware of our godliness, to make us aware of ‘I am that,” wrote Swami Savitananda Saraswati in Yoga Magazine, March 2002.
No words or thoughts exist in the spiritual dimension, since they are creations of the intellect and the mind, respectively. So how does one discover or express an internal experience? “Through symbols known as yantras and mandalas in yoga. There are different stages or grades of yantras. Sri Yantra is the most important of them all.... When you meditate on a yantra, it acts as a tool to attract cosmic energy to you,” is what Swami Niranjananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger says about yantras in his discourses.
Baderia’s painting, too, have been inspired by Sri Yantra and his meditative experiences. “Energy is an important element of my works. Sri Yantra is a symbol of cosmic energy, of the cosmic mother. The upward facing triangle in my painting represents Shakti, the other facing downwards represents Shiva — the male energy. They intersect each other to form a star. It is only when the two energies intersect each other that creation takes place,” explains Baderia.
Sri Yantra is the highest yantra, accompanied by its mantra for Tripura Sundari, the holy trinity, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, also known as Shakti, the creative aspect of Shiva. In Sri Yantra, the symbol of Sahasrara chakra — also known as Sri Chakra — is unity created between Shiva and Shakti, connected with each other in eternal yoga, explains Swami Niranjananda.
An engineer by profession, Baderia has a passion for painting. His works have been inspired by religious rituals and symbols that were an important part of his growing up years. The symbols have stayed with him, retaining their purity, and have been manifesting themselves on canvas through his brush. “To me brushstrokes are like rosary beads — something I can count as I chant along, invoking the power of colour to express the divinity that I feel inside.”
Painted on a trance-inducing red background with saffron hues, his Sri Yantra hypnotically draws you into its folds if you linger on it long enough. The arresting black border that frames it represents darkness. “Nothing is without darkness, light and dark go hand in hand. Without darkness, no light is visible,”says Baderia.
Back in the ‘90s, spiritual symbols enchanted just a handful of artists such as Sohan Qadri, S H Raza, Om Prakash and G R Santosh. Today, spiritual symbols have become part of the art vocabulary of many contemporary artists. It is all given in our scriptures, and who draws what from them, depends on the artist’s upbringing and his style. These forms have existed for thousands of years. They are visible in the constellation, and even in the rock arrangements at Stonehenge, says Baderia.
But as they say, paintings must have emotional depth to be labeled as spiritual works, or else they end up being simple geometric patterns.
Ancient knowledge, contemporary take. This is about a mesmerising acrylic on canvas by Rajesh Baderia that I chanced upon on one of my ‘soak-in-art’ rounds in the Capital.
Titled ‘Yantra’, the painting could easily be mistaken for the Star of David — an auspicious Jewish symbol. It shows two triangles intersecting each other to form a star framed by a square black border. However, this star-shaped painting conveys a deeper spiritual meaning — it is a yantra.
Yantras are ancient sacred symbols which denote cosmic energy. They find mention in ancient scriptures and are considered auspicious, explains Baderia. The artist took to painting spiritual symbols in the 1990s and hasn’t stopped since.
Yantra, my research says, is a combination of two words — yan meaning instrument, something you use in order to make something happen and tra emanating from trayati, meaning liberation, to make free or to awaken. “A yantra thus works as an instrument, a key to open up particular parts of the mind, to extend our consciousness, to make us aware of our godliness, to make us aware of ‘I am that,” wrote Swami Savitananda Saraswati in Yoga Magazine, March 2002.
No words or thoughts exist in the spiritual dimension, since they are creations of the intellect and the mind, respectively. So how does one discover or express an internal experience? “Through symbols known as yantras and mandalas in yoga. There are different stages or grades of yantras. Sri Yantra is the most important of them all.... When you meditate on a yantra, it acts as a tool to attract cosmic energy to you,” is what Swami Niranjananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger says about yantras in his discourses.
Baderia’s painting, too, have been inspired by Sri Yantra and his meditative experiences. “Energy is an important element of my works. Sri Yantra is a symbol of cosmic energy, of the cosmic mother. The upward facing triangle in my painting represents Shakti, the other facing downwards represents Shiva — the male energy. They intersect each other to form a star. It is only when the two energies intersect each other that creation takes place,” explains Baderia.
Sri Yantra is the highest yantra, accompanied by its mantra for Tripura Sundari, the holy trinity, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, also known as Shakti, the creative aspect of Shiva. In Sri Yantra, the symbol of Sahasrara chakra — also known as Sri Chakra — is unity created between Shiva and Shakti, connected with each other in eternal yoga, explains Swami Niranjananda.
An engineer by profession, Baderia has a passion for painting. His works have been inspired by religious rituals and symbols that were an important part of his growing up years. The symbols have stayed with him, retaining their purity, and have been manifesting themselves on canvas through his brush. “To me brushstrokes are like rosary beads — something I can count as I chant along, invoking the power of colour to express the divinity that I feel inside.”
Painted on a trance-inducing red background with saffron hues, his Sri Yantra hypnotically draws you into its folds if you linger on it long enough. The arresting black border that frames it represents darkness. “Nothing is without darkness, light and dark go hand in hand. Without darkness, no light is visible,”says Baderia.
Back in the ‘90s, spiritual symbols enchanted just a handful of artists such as Sohan Qadri, S H Raza, Om Prakash and G R Santosh. Today, spiritual symbols have become part of the art vocabulary of many contemporary artists. It is all given in our scriptures, and who draws what from them, depends on the artist’s upbringing and his style. These forms have existed for thousands of years. They are visible in the constellation, and even in the rock arrangements at Stonehenge, says Baderia.
But as they say, paintings must have emotional depth to be labeled as spiritual works, or else they end up being simple geometric patterns.
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