Featured Artist
Yogini Sharma
Nashik, India
These artworks are the manifestation of a deep desire which originated from the depths of my soul in childhood. I remember clearly that at the age of 2years, when I still could not write , I could draw. At that tender age I was maddeningly drawn to the colorful calendar prints of the various deities. My vacations were spent copying these pretty pictures onto small notebooks.
Life, the fabulous teacher that She is, had other plans. As I grew older, I forgot the calling of my soul, the gift and talent that I was born with and got into main stream competition. Life took me from Genetics to Investment banking and even though I was good at both , I was always restless, never content, never genuinely happy. I could not shake off this feeling that I had to be somewhere else , doing something else. Finally in October 2004, when the insane desire to paint became too intense to ignore, I resigned from HSBC to paint full time.
My artworks signify my own personal journey to understanding myself and my purpose in this universe. The artworks started from brilliant brightly colored abstracts to deities, to using Swarovski crystals to intricate mandalas. It has been a challenging but glorious journey so far.
Finally the deadly Covid which brought the entire world to a standstill turned my life upside down. My husband and I could make our shift to Nashik from bustling demanding Mumbai. That was also the time during which my Spiritual Master, my beloved GURUDEV left His Physical Presence to move on. This shock which left a huge void inside of me once again also impacted my art. Its as if He took with Him all the colors of my palette and my art transformed once again into monochromatic, black and white art. The only color left on my canvas was the radiant and shining Golden yellow lotus which signified Him.
And thus started this series titled , “ In search of the Golden lotus” of which each artwork being inspired by His Blessings is undoubtedly dedicated to His Charankamal. [ lotus feet of The Master]
These gems are sometimes accompanied with the heart wrenching , soulful poetry of the great Sufi poets like Rumi, Shams, Hafiz and Bulleh Shah and sometimes I am inspired to write my own. All in all there is only one theme and one subject. The Love for God. Taught to me by my Loving GURUDEV.
Each artwork depicts the powerful Smarni, the tiny count beads which help one to chant. The Smarni signifies the powerful GuruMantra, the one name from the infinite names of The One. The art also has the Golden lotus which depicts the beautiful path of the Guru Shishya tradition of learning and seeking.