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The magic of circles
       
Shashi and Banyan Prem Shashi
There is probably some deep connection between my love and aptitude for whirling like a dervish – which I will do by the hour, given appropriate conditions – and my enjoyment of making mandalas. Both are centring techniques, and a whirling skirt is as circular as a mandala is. Whirling ls the wild, active, Sufi approach, while mandalas are the calm, quiet, Buddhist approach to the same search, to find the eye of the chaotic whirlwind within our minds, the silent centre that is the seat of the being.

I create the mandalas, for the most part, in India, where I was originally inspired to start making them by a rather terrifying woman called Taro. She ran a mandala-making studio at the Osho Commune International in Pune (where I also learned my whirling). Taro taught that the process of making mandalas itself should be meditative. While I could not honestly claim that this is always the case for me, the end results work well as meditation aids: my mind can get lost by the hour in my own mandalas.

These pieces are a recent chapter in a life-long involvement with art in various capacities. Already in my childhood, in a lush and leafy part of southern England, the quest for beauty dominated my life. I spent hours doodling and ferreting out those images and objects that conformed to my aesthetic sense. From the first, these tended to be the arts of the Orient  – from Persian miniatures and Islamic ceramic work to Indian temples and silk paintings, to Chinese ivories and Japanese prints  – all arts characterised by a strong sense of design, rhythmical patterns, brilliant colours and an abundance of decorative detail.

After attending (part of) a foundation course at what is now known as University College for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey, however, I veered off into art history, gaining a doctorate with a thesis about the influence of esotericism and occultism on the Surrealists, from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. It was notable that I found myself increasingly more deeply touched by the alchemy, astrology, Kabbala and other esoteric systems of thought I was exploring in my research work than by the Surrealist art itself. I felt in tune with their quest for a deeper understanding of the macrocosm, and of the human microcosm, than that offered by the conventional western worldview.

While doing this research work, I was also acting as Paris-based critic for the prestigious Art International magazine. This entry into journalism ultimately led to several years at The European newspaper, working variously as art, architecture and travel editor. When this publication closed in 1997, I turned to freelance journalism. Throughout the years spent writing and editing, I never failed to create an annual series of handmade Christmas cards.

Since 1999, when I discovered the 20th-century Indian mystic, Osho, and the former commune he left behind him in Pune, I have divided my life between India and the UK. For six glorious months of every year, I have spent my days meditating, whirling to wonderful Sufi music in what is now called the Osho Meditation Resort, sitting watching the birds and butterflies in the jungly park that was one of Osho’s last gifts to us, creating mandalas, and generally drinking in the vibrancy and colour of everyday life in India.

Sadly, however, over the past few years, the Resort has by and large ceased to offer the liberal and loving, creative atmosphere that it used to, and the once beautiful and lush district of Pune in which it is located is also rapidly disappearing under an ocean of concrete, high-rise blocks and traffic-choked asphalt. So the hunt is now on to find, or set up, a new base in India in which to whirl, sing, dance, meditate, make mandalas and enjoy nature. Leaving India is out of the question – it feels far more like home than anywhere else I’ve ever lived.

The other six months are spent earning the resources to fund such a lifestyle. I can only express my gratitude to Osho, and to certain individuals in Pune who are still working to spread his magnificent vision, for giving me the keys to turn my life into such a beautiful adventure.

Media coverage and exhibitions
In June 2006, the German edition of Osho Times (www.oshotimes.de) ran a six-page feature on my work.

Since August 2006, the mandala prints and cards have been available for viewing and for sale, at the Ashtat Centre and Gallery (www.ashtatcentre.com) in Glastonbury, which held a mandala exhibition featuring the works from January to March 2007. (Magic, mystical and multi-coloured, Glastonbury is undoubtedly the natural home for these mandalas in the UK.) The works were again be on display at the Centre from December 2007 to January 2008.

A solo exhibition of mandala prints also ran at the Osho Galleria (www.oshoworld.com) in New Delhi, India, from 23 March 2007, for a month.

From September 2007-February 2008, a number of prints were hung in the therapy rooms at Moving Arts Base (www.studio10islington.co.uk), in London – just the kind of healing space in which these works ideally belong.

A solo exhibition of mandala prints took place at the Osho Waves Meditation and Wellness Centre (www.unmani.estranky.cz) on Anjuna Beach in Goa, India, in February 2008.

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