Download - Vaastu Appropriate Art

8/14/2019 Vaastu Appropriate Art

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ArtAppropriateVaastu

SHERRI SILVERMAN


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True Vaastu requires not only attunementwith the laws of nature and the use of

natural materials, but also beauty.

Aesthetics are a major consideration: the

site, the building, and its contents must

be pleasing in its form and effect. All

levels of life should be nourished: physical

protection, emotional well-being, sensory

and aesthetic satisfaction.

Here is an apt excerpt from the sacred

Vaastu text Shilpa Vidya Rahasyopanishad:

The space became decorated and

beautified with stars and other luminous

bodies. The Earth also became studded

and decorated with mountains, forests,

trees and so forth

Vaastu encourages you to imitate Nature

and divine creation by beautifying your

own spaces. This is a delightful concept:

adorning your world with beauty makes

your life more in harmony with nature.

Keep this in mind when choosing artwork

for your home, business, or any space

where you spend time. Hearing beautiful

sounds heals the ears. Seeing beauty heals

the eyes. As writer Alice Walker puts it:

Whenever you are creating beauty

around you, you are restoring your own

soul.

An idea that seemed to me to be of use

to everyone whether you think about

it consciously or not the idea of filling

a space in a beautiful way.

Georgia OKeeffe

Vaastu andthe Element ofBeauty in Art


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What I dream of is an art of balance,

of purity, of tranquility...a soothing,

calming influence on the mind.

Henri Matisse


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Decorating is not just a matter of

accumulating stuff; adorn your home

with beauty that nourishes your soul.

Choose your artwork and all your

furnishings carefully. Only add items if

you find them useful, beautiful, and

comfortable. Adding ornamentation is

an act of honoring. Ananda

Coomaraswamy wrote: The beauty ofanything unadorned is not increased by

ornament, but made more effective by it.

. . . It is generally by means of what we

now call its decoration that a thing is

ritually transformed and made to function

spiritually as well as physically.

Remember that true Vaastu requires all

levels to be fulfilled: functional space,

aesthetics, spiritual energy, and upliftment

of your soul. As my friends Ajit Mookerjee

and Madhu Khanna wrote in The Tantric

Way: The beautiful and the spiritual

form an inseparable whole. Beauty is a

symbol of the divine. The beauty we

perceive with our senses is illuminated

by the underlying radiance of the

Absolute, the formless source of all

existence and forms, which shines through

the objects of this material world. Since

Vaastu is a spiritually-based science, its

foundation is this unbounded field of

pure consciousness and eternal beauty.

Great appreciation of beauty is a reflection

of the beauty of your own inner nature.

India scholar David Frawley writes,

Sundari shoots us with the arrows of

delight, revealing all the forms of creation

as aspects of our own blissful nature of

pure consciousness. Radiant works of

art evoke in the refined viewer rasavadana,

aesthetic experience. Indian aesthetics

traditionally defines beauty in terms of

the effectiveness of the emotional impact

of works of art; beauty is described in

terms ofrasa. Rasais a Sanskrit term that

translates as the juice or sap of a plant.

In its use as a basic component of what

is pleasing in the arts, architecture, and

design, rasarefers to the juice or emotional

Rasa:Aesthetic Juice

flavor evoked by the experience of art. If

something is juicy, it is full of that magical

life-force energy that helps create the

transcendental home.

Traditionally there are nine major rasas,

which are enumerated in the Vaastu Sutra

Upanishad. Some rasasare appropriate

for your home or office; some are not.

Clearly, rasasofShanta(peace, tranquility,

serenity), Hasya(laughter, playfulness,

good-natured humor), Vira(heroism),

the uplifting aspects ofAdbhuta(celestial

joy, astonishment at the marvelous), and

Shringara(romance, healthy eroticism,

the blissful sweetness of love)can be


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Great art...is restorative...I believe that

through our art, and through the

projection of transcendent imagery,

we can mend and heal the planet.

Audrey Flack


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Artwork forVaastu Homes

becomes a spiritual experience. Artwork

and home design that elicit this wholeness

are beautiful and truly representative ofwhat Vaastu offers to our lives.

appropriate for different zones of your

home.

The desire for serenity explains why so

many people like to have Buddha statues

in their homes, gardens, and offices. If

you are evokingShringara rasain your

home, make it the aspect of happy, united

couples rather than the anguish of

separation. Karuna(compassion), Raudra

(anger, fury), Bhayanaka(fear), Bibhatsa

(the odious), and other evocations of

sorrow, despair, deprivation, anxiety, and

disgust may be powerfully expressed

through excellent art. However, unless

they show the overcoming of these

obstacles in an inspirational manner, they

are not healing, nourishing influences in

your home or office. What you put your

attention on grows stronger in your life;

you can choose between focusing on and

increasing sadness, depression, and misery

in your life, or you can make choices that

help you become more established in

peace and happiness.

Arasikais someone who is sensitive

enough to be moved profoundly by and

have a transcendent experience from

observing an exquisite work of art. The

aesthetic experience touches so deeply as

to integrate experience of many different

levels of existence, thus creating what

Having all of your walls vacant can create

a sterile feeling and make life feel lonely

and unsettled. Place something on the

walls and around your homeart andornaments that you find uplifting and

beautiful. Remember that what you put

your attention on grows stronger in your

life. War, violence, misery, and depressing

scenes are not supportive for the home

as healing sanctuary; these subjects can

be powerful social commentary in art but

are better suited for places other than

your home. Avoid harsh, jagged images

that seem to attack. Look for art that

expands and enlivens your soul andconsciousness, not just your intellect. The

Vaastu textMayamatarecommends

putting paintings on interior and exterior

walls, specifically joyous scenes and

religious images.

You may have read in some Feng Shui

books that abstract art is not a good

influence, but this is a misunderstanding.

Having beautiful, high-quality abstract

art in your home will not weaken it or

yourself with amorphous, unfinished

qualities. Instead, abstract art can enliven

you and your home with uplifting,

energizing, peaceful influences of color

and subtle vibrational energies.

As an artist myself, I am acutely aware of

the effect of art and consider it when

creating and when setting mysankalpa,

or sacred intention, for the effect and

final form of the piece of art. Art should

enliven and expand consciousness, energy,


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Through the beauty

of material thingswe come to

understand God.

Abbot Suger of St. Denis,

founder of the Gothic style

of sacred architecture


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The Effect ofVaastu-Appropriate Arton the Viewer: Artas Doorway toPeace, Silence,and the InfiniteThere is an inner expansion that takesplace within the consciousness of one

who experiences an authentic work of art

that is in alignment with Vaastu. Art

always has the potential to evoke a

response in the viewer, and it is this

response to art, not just its mere presence

on our walls, that is so potent in its effect

on our lives. The French poet Mallarme

stated, referring to this effect: Describe

not the object itself, but the effect it

produces. When the artist is in contact

with the source of creativity, the vitality

and expansiveness inherent in his or her

work can evoke that deep level of

consciousness and expansion in the viewer

of the work.

Thus, artists are able to enliven and pass

along to their audience that experience

of the creative source and flow - to

whatever degree the viewer of the work

of art is able to be still and silent in order

to perceive and respond from within.

Many people experience tranquility from

seeing Vaastu-appropriate sculpture ofBuddha or other divine beings. Heinrich

Zimmer wrote inArtistic Form and Yoga

in the Sacred Images of Indiaabout the

effect of this three-dimensional art being:

an all-pervasive stillness, even if there

are figures represented as being in great

movement. Tranquility radiates from these

figures and, settling about the observer,

joy, and serenity for both the artist and

the viewer. Vaastu-appropriate art has an

awakening effect upon us, realizing arts

true potential: to enlighten, to wake

people up. Swami Muktananda wrote,

The artist must always be responsible

for what he brings into the world; he

must always paint the highest. As well as

acting as receivers of energy, the chakras

also transmit energy, as do works of art.

Artwork for a Vaastu home can be in

virtually any medium you find appealing.

Beautiful photographs of nature uplift

and soothe; for city-dwellers these photos

in additional to live plants and cut flowers

bring in that needed connection with

nature that is so vital to us. Paintings,

drawings, and prints on your walls addcolor, energy, and decoration to a Vaastu

home. Your choice of sculpture should

also be included for the rhythmic variety

of three-dimensional form in the Vaastu

interior design of your home and for

pleasing beauty. Sculpture can be of the

divine or of any subject matter, abstract

or representational, that evokes rasas

appropriate in a Vaastu home.


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Many contemporary artists have healing

in mind when they create, so you should

easily be able to find pleasing art for your

Vaastu home. Include Vaastu-appropriate

artwork in your home that is healing in

influence and radiates life-supporting

energy both within the home and to the

world - a valuable and needed addition

to our world in which so many people

feel anxious, depressed, and tense that

our culture virtually accepts these as

normal experiences.

This evocation of the timeless, the infinite,

the divine, in order to heal the planet,

can be found rather frequently today in

the arts and in art criticism. As a Vaastu

consultant and visual artist, this is a

direction I applaud, include in my own

artwork that I create, and see as Vaastu-

compliant. Constructing Vaastu buildings,

improving existing buildings according

to Vaastu guidelines, and installing Vaastu-

appropriate art in our homes, community

buildings, and businesses all help

contribute to enhancing our own lives

and helping this beautiful planet.

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ContemporaryVaastu-Appropriate Art IsHealing

forces him to slow his pace and reduces

him to complete silence.

For people who do spiritual practices

(sadhana), more and more experiences

like these take place, as this potent

transcendental effect radiates into the

environment, even if you do not notice

it yourself.

Sherri Silverman, Ph.D., is an artist, writer, speaker, art consultantand Vaastu design consultant (www.transcendencedesign.com) who

has worked with hundreds of clients in the U.S. and internationally.

Sherri taught meditation, yoga, healing breath techniques, and sacred

text courses from the Vedic tradition for over thirty years and studied

directly with spiritual teachers Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Sri Sri

Ravi Shankar. She was adjunct professor of art history, creativity,

and interdisciplinary studies at several universities. As a visual artist, Sherri has shown

in galleries and museums since 1980; her artwork is in numerous public and private

collections, including the New Mexico Capitol Art Collection. She is also the author of

Vastu: Transcendental Home Design in Harmony with Nature. She lives in Santa Fe.