Hinduism | MOONSIDE

Maya in Nature and the Nature of Maya

If one looks at nature abstractly, one can see it is made up of line, color and form. Plato spoke of “form“. And Indian philosophy talks of Maya, the consensual reality that is a dream of our mortal bodies. Yogananda warns us not to get caught up in Maya and how easy it is to see it as real.

My photograph is a homage to the Abstract Expressionist artist, Mark Rothko, a hero of sorts for me. He was reaching for spirituality, too, but did not follow Hindu thought. However, in his paintings, which I try to emulate in photography, one can see color, shape and form. This is a step away from the dream of life or “Maya” and a step towards the spiritual.

Next time, when looking at nature, try looking beyond the scene to the formal elements, and see how the dream of life is a delusion in which our minds spend most of their time.

February 7, 2014 | Categories: Abstract Photography, Animal & Landscape Photographs, Nature Photography, Paramahansa Yogananda | Tags: Abstract Expressionism, Abstract Photography, Art History, Color, Form, Hinduism, Indian philosophy, Line, Mark Rothko, Maya, Nature, Paramahansa Yogananda, Plato, Reality, Shape | 8 Comments

An Apparition

Here one second,

the next, gone,

with traces only in our hearts.

The ephemeral nature

of all life.

Our loved ones,

people and creatures,

here with us

for a pause in eternity

and gone for seeming eons.

It is as the Hindus say

all “Maya,”

a dream of life,

an apparition,

some form of us

awakens one day

somewhere

we know not

when or where or how

right now.

December 4, 2013 | Categories: Animal & Landscape Photographs, Loss, Meditations, Nature Photography, Poetry | Tags: Animal Photography, Apparitions, Death, Diptych Photography, Diptychs, Dream of Life, Dreams, Ephermal nature of life, Hindu religion, Hinduism, Landscape Photography, Life, Life after death, Life Cycles, loss, Maya, Meditations, Nature photography | 11 Comments

Barn Window Reflections

We live in a dream world the Hindus call “Maya”

All is illusory–

a cosmic dream from which we will awaken

when we die.

Just as a baby may think

it is the “end”

of life as he knew it

when he is being shuttled through the birth canal

while being born,

so, too, we may think it is the end

when we are dying

to this world of delusion.

But we will be born to something real,

something just beyond the veil of illusion

in which we are so enmeshed during this “life” as we know it.

“When we awaken in God we shall realize that mortal life is only a picture made of shadows and light, cast on a cosmic movie screen” ~ Paramahansa Yogananda