“First, become clear what your duty or purpose is in life. Second, learn to love it.”
— Swami Rama
The next two days we will work on our second collage mandala: Dharma.
Dharma is our soul’s purpose which speaks directly to our jiva atman—our individuality. Everyone’s dharma is different and adds to the diversity of the world.
“The root of the word dharma is dri, which means ‘to support’ or ‘to hold up.’” (Stryker, 2011).
When you live in the desire of dharma, all else falls into place because you are supported. There is joy in the most exhilarating as well as in the mundane—to embody your own personal dharma feels like the perfect fit—uniquely you.
Today and tomorrow you will work on the Dharma Mandala. Below are the same directions used in the Kama mandala. I suggest that with each mandala you begin to expand your materials, or try a new technique. For example, changing the size of the mandala will give you a new place to begin. This is where creativity comes alive—in the pulse of spontaneity.
Enjoy the process & Aim your creative force!
Chanti
Dharma Exploratory Questions
- What makes you unique?
- What brings meaning and purpose to your life?
- What does it look like when you follow your heart?
- How does your uniqueness, essence, and authenticity ripple from you out into the world?
- What do you offer the world and how does the world benefit from you?
Collage Mandala
Get all your supplies ready, or at least what you anticipate you will need. The basics are:
- Paper, poster board, or cardboard
- Scissors, or X-ACTO blade
- Glue
- Magazines, images, old cards
- Embellishments, glitter, string, cord, etc.
- Compass or bowl to make your mandala.
- Take some time to answer the dharma exploratory questions (following) for yourself. You can write them down or just sit with them for a bit to activate the feelings of dharma within before you start your collage.
- In your sacred space, close the eyes and turn inward. Remember the answers and feelings that the questions brought to the surface.
- Scan through the magazines. and pull out the images that you are attracted to, without thinking about how they will fit together or if they make any sense. Let the images speak to you.
- Cut out your circular mandala from the paper or cardboard to know the size of what you are looking for and how to bring the reverential quality within the circle.
- Look through the images and decide which ones are most important and take you to the feeling of dharma—your life’s purpose.
- Make fine cuts on the images you have chosen.
- Arrange them inside your mandala to tell the story of what dharma means to you. Essentially you are creating an image definition of dharma.
- Glue the images within your mandala.
- Write any thoughts, ideas, other images or references that came up throughout the process. Like I mentioned in the tutorial, I like to keep my journal next to me while I am creating for two reasons: firstly, to jot down anything that comes up, and secondly, to write things down that will distract me or pull me away from creating. Sometimes I remember I have to finish the laundry or call someone. If it’s going to distract me and it’s not urgent, I write it down to do later.
- Give thanks for the time in your sacred creative space and add the collage to your altar.