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Greetings!

BhāratShakti team wishes everyone a joyous and beautiful 2025! For the first issue of Renaissance this year, we find our inspiration in these words of Sri Aurobindo:

ā€œā€¦everyone who has at all the Indian spirit and feeling, can at least give some account of the main, the central things which constitute for him the appeal of Indian painting, sculpture and architecture.ā€ 
~ CWSA, Vol. 20, p. 261

The January 2025 issue focuses on Indian sacred architecture. The offerings highlight the inner meaning and significance of the outer form of an Indian temple, and also includes insightful accounts of selected temples across India.

The sacred buildings of India are the architectural self-expression of an ancient spiritual and religious culture. Only with an inner study can we grasp the true significance of such architecture. It requires a spiritual self-identification with the deepest meaning hidden in the form. Seeing only with a rational and secular aesthetic mind we can never develop a true appreciation of this art.

Editor's Note: We feature in 2 parts selections from Sri Aurobindo's brilliant essay which describes the deepest inner significance and symbolism of an Indian temple. The focus in Part 1 is on how one must 'see' the temple to get closer to the truth it represents in its architectural content. In the second part, Sri Aurobindo helps us understand that in its inmost reality, a temple symbolizes spiritual aspiration. Its rich details and ornamentation represent the infinite multiplicity in Infinite Oneness.
Editor's Note: We feature excerpts from a talk delivered in 1967 by the noted art historian and scholar, Stella Kramrisch. This and other papers presented at the seminar held in Varanasi were edited and compiled by Prof. Pramod Chandra of University of Chicago and published under the title Studies in Indian Temple Architecture in 1975. The book is available in public domain at archives.org.

The Śilparatna says that the temple, prāsāda, should be worshipped as Puruį¹£a. In her talk, Kramrisch explains what is this Puruį¹£a as which the temple should be worshipped. She also describes how the temple as a work of architecture represents the body of this Puruį¹£a. Featured below are those excerpts which highlight the deeper symbolic aspects and emphasize the sacredness of the entire architectural plan of the temple. We have left aside the more technical details of temple architecture
Editior's Note: It has been said that the temple heritage is perhaps the most visible and material record of the spiritual evolution of Indian civilization. This article presents an overview of some of the ways in which a temple continues to embody and give a new form to the ancient Vedic spirit.
Editor's Note: The author explains Aswapathy's visions of the "mountain chariot of the Gods" and "the single stair to beingā€™s goal" connecting them to a temple tower.
More in this Issue

The BhāratShakti team conducted a 2-day Residential Retreat on the theme ā€“ ā€œYoga in Everyday Lifeā€ during 27th-29th December, 2024 at Sri Aurobindo Dhama, located in the serene and beautiful natural surroundings at the banks of Kaveri river in Karnataka. This was the instituteā€™s second retreat at this venue, and built on some of the ideas explored during the first retreat conducted in 2023 on the topic ā€“ Sri Aurobindo and the New Age.

The BhāratShakti team was invited to curate and conduct a day-long workshop for about 70 students (ages 12-16) on the theme ā€“ ā€œOur Culture, Our Prideā€ on 27th December, 2024 at Om Shanti Dhama Gurukulam, Karnataka. Om Shanti Dhama is a Registered Charitable Trust, and works on several spiritual, educational, Ayurvedic & service projects.

READ to learn about the rich variety of educational programmes we conducted in the past year.

Dr. Beloo Mehra will be delivering three talks in Kolkata from January 25 to January 28, 2025. Read more about them HERE

 

Stay updated on all the PAST WORKS completed by the BhāratShakti team, including recent writings, talks, workshops and more.

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Bharat
Bharat

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