Past & Future come together
Sometimes ideas start as a glimmer or a remembrance. I have a vivid recollection of sitting in the main lecture hall at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam listening to Chapter 10 of the Bhagavad Gita, with Swami Viditatmananda bringing this vision of Isvara to life, verse by verse on the Glories of Isvara. The vision was so vast, so all encompassing that I had goosebumps. The teachings lay dormant in my heart for many years until I embarked on teaching the same sections to youth students in 2018.
Art as Doorway to Isvara
A simple project of creating art to represent Isvara’s Glories by my students turned into a divine deck of 75 cards, with original Art, writings and interpretations. These cards could be used for discussions, writing and reflection prompts. And boy, was it complicated!! Symbolic, representational Art required originality and team work! We had our own Marshall plan to put it all together, spending the summer of 2018 at AVG to complete it.
The arduous road led to two decks, one with small cards as a handy reference, and could be used for classroom play or gifting to friends. The second larger sized one could be used for Art Exhibits, group discussions and creative game play. Clearly the sky was the limit with this Cosmic Creation! Here is the Final Product!
Our Youth Design Associates, Neeya Shetty, Pranati Patnam, Rhea Sharma, Saniya Gaitonde, Sanjna Kedia, Tanya Shah, working with Madhu Allu and Rathi Raja, were the amazing team to conceive an incredible number of abstract concept art works. Take a look at some here.
Showtime
We had an Art Exhibit in 2019 to showcase the art work and the key concepts from the 10 essential verses of the Bhagavad Gita. Ashok Vyas from ITV captured the spirit and content of The Vision of the Gita.
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