“Listen with the ear of your heart” ~ St. Benedict

acrylic and collage on canvas, unframed

H12 x W12 x depth 2 inch (30,5 x 30,5 x 5cm)

I intuitively added the SW direction to it without knowing why. Later I found some meaning that explains that the direction in the left corner (South West) has a strong connection with hearing and listening. Wow! This is how intuitive painting works.

I will quote from a verse in the Dehastadevata stotra, a hymn composed by Abhinavagupta (approx. 950 – 1020 AD, one of India’s greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians). In this hymn he explains that the organs of one’s body are divine . . . this one is about the organ of hearing . . .

नैऋतदलगा भैरवमर्चयते शब्दकुसुमैर्या ।

प्रणमामि श्रुतिरूपां नित्यं तां वैष्णवीं शक्तिम् ।।९।।

“I bow to that eternal and all pervading goddess Vaiṣṇavī, situated on the point of Naiṛiti (south west). She collects various beautiful sounds from this world and with the flowers of those sounds worships Lord Śiva on the lotus of my heart.”

And he goes on to explain that all the organs are divine and we should feed them with good things, good food, good sound, good touch . . . and they will give us divine rasa, taste, bliss. And when we think about this, while listening to some nice music we can feel our whole body saturated in it, and how nourishing listening to silence is.

And then there is Rumi saying, “Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.”
So listen! 🙂