Throwing Petals

9.25" x 12" watercolor

April 2016

This is from two photos I took during an extravagant, elaborate, Indian-style puja (ceremony) at my house in 2013. A participant had brought her young daughter, who was the sweetest, cutest, most delightful child; many of us later agreed that she was the best expression of enlightenment there!  So it was only fitting that we asked her to officiate the ceremony, which is normally performed by a clergyperson or similarly ceremonious officiant.

We were all powerfully moved by the sight of this child offering flower petals to the Divine as we chanted in Sanskrit.  She had a great time.  At one point, she scooped up a whole armful of petals and heaved them up... not necessarily onto the altar, just up.  Flower petals were everywhere!  You can see one petal still falling (look at the hair of the bottom image).  Everyone in the room was laughing, filled with such joy, for a long time....  The ceremony stopped completely for awhile, as we all simply observed this little girl.  After heaving one armful, she sat down on a heap of petals, looking down, taking it all in....  In the next moment, she was crawling to gather another armful to do it again, and the laughter rose up again!  We all were touched by how the most glorious offering to the Divine  - petals, joy, awe -  as well as the most powerful sense of Divine Presence -  happened when the ceremony stopped.  

This painting shows the child's real mother squatting and reaching out in uncontained joy to her little girl (both in one photo), who represents Divine Child, looking down at petals as well as herself-as-human (in the other photo), who is reaching out to Divine Mother, symbolized by silver padukas (not in either photo).  We did have silver padukas on the altar at this ceremony.  In this painting, I showed them as mimicking the foot of the girl's human mother (as some padukas do have toes and toenails designed into them).  Padukas are an ancient Indian tradition that represent the feet of the Divine.  They are primarily associated with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, but I know of many people of several other faiths who use them.  I think they're a beautiful symbol.