A Tantric Way of Life, artist Sohan Qadri

“Mind talks, heart speaks, soul whispers unto silence,” muses Denmark-based Sohan Qadri, the 76-year-old high priest of contemporary tantrik art, reciting a few stray lines from his poetry. Versatility and mysticism set Qadri, who also doubles as a poet and Vajrayan* tantric guru, apart from the rest of his peers.

“I am living a tantric way of life and my profession is painting. One has to live the tantric way of life. Then, and only then, reflections of the tantric ways will appear in paintings,” Qadri told IANS in a long-distance interview from Copenhagen......
German Nobel Laureate Heinrich Boll, who was close to the artist during his years in Denmark, summed up his work as liberating.
“The liberation”, simplifies Qadri, “here means not to copy but to create symbology anew with full aesthetic and spiritual content. You will find this element in my work all the time.”
The liberation has a lot to do with the diverse religious influences in his work - though Buddhism dominates. “Tantra is a profound way of life, not a way of painting. One has to go through an intense discipline of initiation, practice and deep stages of meditation and kriyas to adopt the tantric way of life,” explains Qadri......
Painting, according to the artist, is an extension of his spirituality. “The same goes with breathing, pranayam, the breath of life,” says the artist.....
By Madhusree Chatterjee
New Delhi, March 5
for complete article:Thaindian News
Sohan Qadri.com

*Vajrayana: Tibetan Buddhist Tantra, a system within Mahayana Buddhism as a short cut to enlightenment using secret techniques and esoteric transmission.

Vajra=thunderbolt/diamond
Maha= great, large
Yana=path, vehicle