14
Jan
2018
Before painting a mandala
Seeing a mandala painting is so soothing and healing for our mind and body. Have you ever realized painting a mandala can be how much calming? We already know that visualizing and concentrating on the mandala painting can give us immense focus and centralization. Now it’s time to make our own mandala painting and see how much meditative it is. Making mandala itself is an art of meditation.
Shapes and symbols
First of all, you need to have abstract knowledge of different shapes and symbols used in the mandalas. It is also required to figure out for what purpose are you making the mandala. Is it for some religious purpose? Is it for decorative purpose? Or is it for the spiritual purpose? After identifying the purpose lets see the commonly used shapes and symbols:
- Circles: Circle is the main theme of the mandala. It represents the infinite universe and continuous life energy in terms of spirituality. In religious terms, the circle is a symbol of sun, unity, wholeness and protection. Circles can represent eternity or the infinite.
- Triangles: A triangle in mandala can represent both warning and protection depending on the type of mandala. In spiritual terms, triangles facing upward symbolizes spiritual world while triangle facing downward represents the material world. In religious terms, the upward facing triangle means Shiva energy and the downward facing triangle means Shakti energy.
- Flowers: Most of the time petals of the lotus flower or full lotus flower are portrayed in the mandala painting. It represents the enlightenment process: rising from darkness and shining into a beautiful flower.
- Leaves: Leaves represents both strength and aspiration, the process of eternity and rebirth.
- Hearts: It represents the love and the compassion that all of the human beings have within us.
- Sun: The use of sun in the mandala represents the presence of vital energy in the earth, the energy that has remained and sustained for the longest time. A sun can also symbolize the solar deity, Aditya.
- Animals: Animal in mandala symbolizes the nature that surrounds and protects us.The wolf represents family, protection and loyalty.The elephant portrays both physical and mental strength. The Peacock says us to accept the criticism and be open to the things happening around us. The lion represents wisdom and pride.
