Press Release

Dana Lynne Andersen's Art at Bhagavad Gita Launch, San Francisco: Dana's introduction
 

Back to main page    Listen to Dana's introduction by Jyotish Novak (mp3, 4mb)   Transcript: When Swami Kriyananda began to think about what to put on the cover of this great scripture, he decided that what he did not want to have was the typical picture of Krishna and Arjuna in a chariot pulled by five white horses, because that gave both the image, but more importantly the impression, of Krishna and Arjuna as embodied forms. It’s artistically fun, and artists enjoy doing horses and they’re very dramatic, and you can get the crowns right and all those things.   But rather than what Krishna looked like in his body, what we’re really attempting to get at through this book is what Krishna, and by extension Arjuna, and by a further extension, what each one of us is in our consciousness. And that is, as Dr. Wolf was saying, the expanded consciousness of all of creation. And so Swamiji said, “Let’s not try to capture the body of Krishna. Let’s try to capture the consciouness of Krishna.” And that is extremely expansive. Well, when you want extremely expansive art, you turn to Dana Andersen.   She’s a wonderful artist, as you can see by the art the graces the cover of this book, but she’s also a talented and wonderful educator. She has formed, really, a movement, called Awakening Arts which is meant to help people understand how important artistic endeavor is to our consciousness, and how art has meaning. If we put meaning into art, it can uplift the consciousness of the artist, the consciousness of the viewer, and the consciousness of society all around. She has also been an artist in residence for the Institute of Noetic Sciences. She has traveled around the world teaching art and exhibiting her art. I would like you now to welcome Dana Andersen.