Evening Light over Mesopotamia

It has been a long drive over hard rock mountains and through deep valleys, following east along the old silk route, and we have arrived at sundown in the ancient fortress city of Mardin high on the hill. It echoes of Arab sensibilities and long forgotten tales.

We find ourselves watching the sun go down exploring the madresesi. A most beautiful sight... the poet sings a song - in Turkish - about the wonders and beauty of the land. There is applause and, not far away, the gypsy dances, movement and light filling our hearts.

The architect recites Ozymandias by Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away"

... And I look out as the sun sinks over ancient lands, where seeing far back into biblical times there was plenty, beauty where the crops were full and bounteous. Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigress and the Euphrates, stretches out before me... the stories that are told of Persia and its Mysteries, of Babylon and now in modern times the countries of Iraq and Syria.

Several years later wars have been raged. Tanks and guns have pounded the earth. Men have argued and come to blows... The rocks stand the testimony to time and the earth is always solid and strong below us.

Let us all today feel the earth beneath our feet. Reach down and touch being one with all that is around us and knowing that each man is a brother.

All Artworks © Robert Burton. Artworks are available as limited edition silk scarf squares or framed and unframed limited edition prints and original artworks. Please contact The Shaman for more information.

Embrace being and becoming

We awake ... The sun rising in our hearts ... flowing light to soften the soul's tears ... dreams fade as the sound of Aum builds its resonance in the stillness of Being.

As we enter the temple on the outskirts of Jaipur we walk towards the large golden statue of Ganesh ... Jai Jai Ganesh ...

An old friend holds his arms out warmth radiating from his Divine Aura ...

Welcome is the morning ... Embrace Being and Becoming.

All Artworks © Robert Burton. Artworks are available as limited edition silk scarf squares or framed and unframed limited edition prints and original artworks. Please contact The Shaman for more information.

A clear voice

In the garden of the Global Arts Village - just out of reach of the sprawling mass of New Delhi and the spaghetti western confrontation of Ghitorni, before the new metro was ever built or even thought of - there was a haven of peace with peacocks. In the damp mornings of the Indian winter, when the night drops to 4 degrees and winter woollies are advisable...

...from the neighbouring garden a clear voice would be heard... the chanting of mantra and devotion... praising God... in the new day and in the light.

The sound fills my ears with joy and through my third eye Krishna dances calling each one of us to listen to our hearts.

Let us remember this on his birthday

KRISHNA JANAMASHTAMI

Om Krishna

Hari Om

Jai Guru Dev

All Artworks © Robert Burton. Artworks are available as limited edition silk scarf squares or framed and unframed limited edition prints and original artworks. Please contact The Shaman for more information.

The calm seas of meditation and the churning ocean of rebirth.

Extract from Samadhi by Paramhansa Yogananda.

Not an unconscious state

Or mental chloroform without wilful return,
Samadhi but extends my realm of consciousness

Beyond the limits of my mortal frame

To the boundaries of eternity,

Where I, the Cosmic Sea,

Watch the little ego floating in Me.

Not a sparrow, nor a grain of sand, falls

without my sight

All space floats like an iceberg in my mental sea.

I am the Colossal Container of all things made!

By deeper, longer, continuous, thirsty,

guru – given meditation,

Brahma and the ocean

This celestial samadhi is attained.

All the mobile murmurs of atoms are heard;

The dark earth, mountains, seas are molten liquid!

This flowing sea changes into vapors of nebulae!

Aum blows o’er the vapors; they open their veils,

Revealing a sea of shining electrons,

Till, at the last sound of the cosmic drum,

Grosser light vanishes into eternal rays

Of all-pervading Cosmic Joy.

From Joy we come,

For Joy we live,

Meditation in the still waters

In the sacred Joy we melt.

I, the ocean of mind, drink all creation’s waves.

The four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light,

Lift aright.

Myself, in everything,

Enters the Great Myself.

Gone forever,

The fitful, flickering shadows of a mortal memory.

Spotless is my mental sky,

Below, ahead, and high above.

Eternity and I, one united ray.

I, a tiny bubble of laughter,

Have become the Sea of Mirth Itself.


All Artworks © Robert Burton. Artworks are available as limited edition silk scarf squares or framed and unframed limited edition prints and original artworks. Please contact The Shaman for more information.

Light in my life on the No. 8 bus.

Aum Bhur Bhuvah Swah, Tat Savitur Varenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat

ॐ भूर्भुव: स्व: तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं । भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि, धीयो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ।।

 

All Artworks © Robert Burton. Artworks are available in a large number of formats including framed and unframed limited edition prints and original artworks. Please contact The Shaman for more information.

Lady, you have filled these exile days of mine

Guest by Rabbindranath Tagore

Lady, you have filled these exile days of mine

With sweetness, made a foreign traveler your own

As easily as these unfamiliar stars, quietly,

Coolly smiling from heaven, have likewise given me

Welcome. When I stood at this window and stared

At the southern sky, a message seemed to slide

Into my soul from the harmony of the stars,

A solemn music that said, "We know you are ours-

Guest of our light from the day you passed

From darkness into the world, always our guest."

Lady, your kindness is a star, the same solemn tune

In your glance seems to say, "I know you are mine."

I do not know your language, but I hear your melody:

"Poet, guest of my love, my guest eternally."

From Selected Poems, Translated by William Radice (Penguin Classics, 2005)

 

All Artworks © Robert Burton. Artworks are available in a large number of formats including framed and unframed limited edition prints and original artworks. Please contact The Shaman for more information.

The Shaman presents... new inspirational artworks

A Garment of Light and Stars.... A Walk in the Night Garden

At night the temple walls glow and the sky fills with a cloak of stars

Persia

"Look", he said. "See how love shines through all things in the Universe".

"Joy, Joy, all is Joy".

Hermitage

We look into living light walking a pathway between the seen and the unseen.

Lila

Sweet Divine Mother, the light before me reveals the way to your heart.

Moving Light


In the garden we would sit at night in the warm evening air watching the boat of the heavens sail through the stars.

Selene

And walking back through the shadows you held my hand... Divine Lady, I embrace your Love.

In The Garden

In you we begin, through you we are preserved and in you we are changed... we are of the earth but every day we wear the coat of stars.

Arising

All artworks can be purchased in a wide range of formats - fine art limited edition prints, as a series of limited edition greetings cards, limited edition canvas prints and  textile accessories (scarves - men and women's -textile hangings ). For further information please contact The Shaman.

Jai Guru Dev

Om Shanti

Namaste

All Images © Robert Burton

Words from the Shaman

A podcast to introduce the principles of Shamanism and featuring some of my artworks.



My workshop - 'An Introduction to Shamanism' - will take place at Yoga Ananda on Sunday, 17th October, 2010.

AVAILABLE NOW - finest quality silk scarves and handkerchiefs

The Shaman is pleased to announce a collection of digital artworks are now available as unique limited-edition, high-quality digitally printed silk scarves and handkerchiefs. These are made to order and are strictly limited to editions of 50.

The following images are available on luscious silk twill, high-quality digital print as 90cm x 90cm scarves with hand rolled edges; and as 40cm x 40cm handkerchiefs with flat hemmed edges.

A New Mandala for Tibet

 

Crystal Hermitage

Zen Lotus

Christo

Lahiri

Mesopotamia

Scarves can be purchased for £80 (plus £10 P&P in UK) and the handkerchiefs can be purchased for £40 (plus £10 P&P in UK)

This following series of images can purchased for £90 each (plus £10 P&P in UK) with the images beautifully recreated on flowing silk chiffon (70cm by 200cm).

Shivas Dance

 

Deep Yellow

 May the joy of the love and light always walk with you!

Image © Georgie Clarke; Performance by Stav Bee

Namaste.

The Kriya Masters and the Babaji dress

The images for this dress - which the Shaman named Babaji - were part of a series of artworks based on the inspiration of Kriya yoga and the bringing together of the journey to self-realisation, and the actual journey through time and our connection to the land. The beauty of a flower shining with the beauty of the soul. It is a series of artworks that have the images of the masters layered with drawings that are manifestations in imagery of the flow of energies and a photos of nature.

The Shaman was staying at Ananda in California as artist-in-residence producing a series of works culminating with a major exhibition of artworks inspired by the Kriya yoga tradition and the community. The landscape at Ananda is amazing and fills one with awe - a wonderful place to set up a community based on the principals of raja yoga and self realisation. In the farthest corner of the village there is the beautiful crystal hermitage blooming with flowers high up above the valley of the Yuba river. The Shaman sat in the garden breathing in the peace of the warm California days before committing to paper and computer the energies of creativity flowing through him.

The series of four artworks feature the images of the masters and each captures the sensibility of gurus as they appeared before him. Two of these were used for the garment. Lahiri Mahasaya is at the front with the sterner countenance of Sri Yukteswar Giri at the back.

The idea was never really to produce a dress but that the imagery might take the form of ritual shirts as worn for prayer. This evolved into a more wearable garment that is evocative and decorative. In the Shaman's work, his desire is to bring together the sensibilities of the journey to self-realisation and the earthiness of our place on this planet. In this way he perceives the imagery as ethereal and non-existent being placed in time, and space on the body - the representation of our foundation and roots in the earth.

The garment is a one off wearable art piece. It is digitally printed in finest quality silk beautifully made. It is a UK size 10 -12 and is for sale. Please email The Shaman for further details and price.

All original artworks are available as limited edition greetings cards, limited edition fine art prints and one off works on canvas. See side bar for further details.

 If you are interested in commissioning artworks or bespoke printed garments please contact The Shaman.

All images © Robert Burton

Artworks inspired by the Shaman's journeys in India

India - a vibrating land of beauty and inspiration. The following artworks were all borne out of the Shaman's love for the energies and beauty of the cradle of God; and by his travels with sadhus in Varanasi, Buddhist monks in the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal and the awe-inspiring spaces in which they reside - whether they be in nature or within buildings.

Lotus on the Ganga

Mother Ganges flows from her rising in the high Himalayas through the home of the wise ones in Rishikesh and later through the holy city of Varanasi, the city of Shiva, god of change and movement.

The dancing Shiva, Shiva Nataraj, the Indian Shaman dancing the worlds into being. And where does the river flow........it flows to the sea where all our dreams are but tiny drops in the ocean.

The Egoless Mind

Mcleod Ganj is cold in January but the sun rises with a diffused light. The Tibetan communities now reside there after leaving their homeland.

This image was created as a prayer that all humanity may live in peace connected in joy released of man's ego that binds him.

A Universe of Consciousness

We are all part of the land.

Divine mother and the earth unite in one great song that resonates through the leaves on the trees through roots and branches to all that is One.

Inner Temple

The sun rose over the Mehrali-Gurgaon Road as we turned right perceiving the beauty of the temples in the diffused light with their soft marble sculptures their reflect in form devotion and the sensibilities of India's many gods.

A New Mandala for Tibet

On a steep outcrop in Darjeeling lies a small monastery. The Shaman enters and a monk proudly asks if he would like to see 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead' brought from Tibet and now stored under the floorboards. This is a rare event as it is seldom seen only now it is being restored and soon to be laid to rest again.

Every morning at 6am the sun rises over Everest and Kanchenjunga, the highest mountain in India, and on the hillside below in Ghoom the monks begin prayers to the sounds of Himalayan horns and cymbal.

All images © Robert Burton