01/28/2020
SARASWATI...
I did a design many years ago for a relief sculpture to be carved into the wall of a small restaurant in Ubud, Bali. My friend Ketut Suarja asked me to do it, and he engaged a Balinese stone carver to create the relief. (I don't know if it still exists today. But here are photos of my sketch and the finished sculpture.
SARASWATI is an important goddess in the Hindu pantheon...
"Saraswati, goddess of knowledge and the arts, embodies the wisdom of Devi. She is the river of consciousness that enlivens creation; she is the dawn-goddess whose rays dispel the darkness of ignorance. Without her there is only chaos and confusion. To realize her one must go beyond the pleasures of the senses and rejoice in the serenity of the spirit.
"Saraswati wears neither jewels or paints herself with bright colors. The white sari she adorns reflects her essential purity, her rejection of all that is base and materialistic.
"She transcends the cravings of the flesh and rejoices in the powers of the mind as the patron of pure wisdom. She embodies all that is pure and sublime in Nature."
In this moment of US national turmoil, just mentioning Saraswati is somehow comforting to me.
