Namaste Light Club readers. A thought occurred to me today as I was looking at some images of statues of Lord Ganesha from my Facebook news feed. The thought has to do with how I view the religious art and iconography of the Hindu faith, now that I have established myself within it. I wonder - has my view of it changed? Would I look at it differently now? I would like to think yes, but I wonder how exactly I got there. It seems quite the transformation that after I start following the dharmic path of Hinduism that I would look at the art of Hinduism with that much more reverence. I think I have infinitely more respect and reverence for it now, but sometimes the change is startling to me.
For example, the
Memorial Art Gallery near me has an ancient (as in 14th century) bronze statue of Lord Ganesha, Thai in origin, on display:
I've seen it before in my visits to the Memorial Art Gallery. Back then, although I thought it was beautiful, appealing, and even cool, I still wonder if I'd look at it differently now than I have back then? Would I have a lot more reverence for it? I want to visit the Memorial Art Gallery again and look at this statue to see if my theory here would be right. I haven't had a chance to yet, though.
There's a part of me that thinks, though, that maybe it's beautiful art like this that might have guided me - perhaps ever so slightly - towards the dharmic path of Hinduism. My mind - and the will of God(s) - work in mysterious ways.
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