In 1975 my parents sold everything they owned, bought a Volkswagen bus and drove with 6 children from Kashmir to Norway. The trip took 4 weeks and once in Norway it did not take long before they bought a shop. 2 years later, they owned 6 stores in Oslo. This adventurous entreprenur spirit characterized my upbringing, and as an adult woman one thing was clear; I’m going to be an entreprenur and live my life on my terms, just like my parents.
As a young adult woman I went to India on a desert safari in Rajasthan for three weeks. Our guide had an inner calm that seemed reassuring to everyone in the caravan. Every night I noticed that he was meditating in front of a beautiful symbol and it did not take long before I meditated with him.
A few years later I became an entreprenur. And 3 times in my life I have been challenged to choose between becoming a major industrial player in my field with the the wealth and compromises it entails on professional integrity and lifestyle. And 3 times I refused because I wanted to live life on my terms rather than being a small piece in a big machinery. My choices are not right for everyone. But they have been valuable to me.
Being an entrepreneur is a fantastic foundation for a meaningful profession. But life is more than work. It’s bigger and more mysterious than what you see right in front of you. I needed to explore other aspects of my capacity and started drawing Shree Yantras.
Drawing Shree Yantra requires perfect concentration and physical precision, and gives me an experience of everything and nothing. A potential I can choose to take out or not …
I have chosen a life of contrasts where the urban life collides with the life in the forest by the water. Where sound and light invades my life for a period before it lands in a cozy cabin with a fire in the fireplace and birds chirping in the mornings. It’s life on my terms.
Actively choosing a lifestyle requires awareness based on inner peace and self-insight. Shree Yantra helps me remove the noise from life’s myriad of opportunities and challenges, and allows me to focus on the few things that really matter to my quality of life.
Shree Yantra has been used for thousands of years and is a diagram of geometric shapes that form fractal patterns with great elegance and beauty. The Shree Yantra is considered a sacred instrument for mental peace, success, happiness and wealth; which has aroused the curiosity of many philosophers and scientists from around the world.
I use the symbol daily in connection with meditation. Many call it mental yoga and use my drawings to live their lives on their own terms.
I draw my pictures by hand and design them digitally. If you look closely, you can notice thin pencil lines as a natural part of the image. I think it gives the images an organic expression that I refine in the design process. If you like my pictures you can contact me at: post@saminaberntsen.no