Left: Panchakshari Awakening. Right: its derivation.
Varaaz Arts — Blog
Feeling Scattered? The Five-Syllable Mantra That Brings You Back to Balance
The story of two Namah Shivaya paintings
In this story
- Why we feel out of balance — and what the five elements have to do with it
- What Namah Shivaya really means, in simple words
- Two paintings that turn the mantra into shapes
- Why this practice is best learnt with a guide
Do you ever feel scattered? Rushing from one thing to the next, a busy mind, a tired body — and no idea where your calm went?
You are not alone. And there is a very old, very simple reason for it.
You Are Made of Five Elements
Ancient Indian wisdom says everything — including you — is made of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space.
- Earth is your bones, your sense of being grounded.
- Water is your blood, your emotions.
- Fire is your digestion, your drive.
- Air is your breath.
- Space is your mind — the room to think and feel.
When one of these is too much or too little, we feel it. Too much fire — we are angry, restless. Too little earth — we feel unsettled, like nothing is steady. Most of us never notice. We just feel "off."
The Mantra You Have Heard All Your Life
Many of us grew up hearing Namah Shivaya. But few know what it holds. Its five sounds are the five elements:
Na = Earth · Ma = Water · Shi = Fire · Va = Air · Ya = Space
So when you chant Namah Shivaya, you are gently calling every part of yourself back into balance. It is not only a prayer. It is a map of you.
I wanted to see that map. So I painted it — twice.
The First Painting: Panchakshari Awakening
Panchakshari means "the five-syllable mantra." Here, the mantra rests quietly at the centre — a small square of white lines inside a blue circle, with rings of buds spreading outward like calm spreading from the heart. No letters, only their paths — like humming a song so often you no longer need the words.
The Second Painting: Opening the Square
In the second painting, I opened that square. I wrote the five sounds in a grid of 25 boxes, each row starting one sound later. When I joined the same sounds with lines, each formed a smooth, unbroken path. No first, no last — just a circle that keeps turning.
The five sounds, each flowing as one unbroken line.
Then I gave each element a shape: earth a square, water a soft almond shape, fire a triangle, air a six-sided shape — and space, the big circle that holds them all.
The Most Peaceful Part: Drawing the Star
Drawing the five-pointed star in the centre was one of the calmest experiences of my life.
It starts with one circle. A second overlapping circle creates a soft almond shape between them. A third — and three circles weave together, like Shiva's three eyes. Then the circles start crossing, every crossing becomes a place to draw a line, and slowly a five-pointed star appears — almost on its own.
The star at the centre — born from circles meeting circles.
My mind went quiet. My breath slowed. My hand simply followed the lines. That is the balance the mantra talks about.
Can You Feel This Too?
People often ask me, "Can I try this at home?"
This is not a technique you copy from a blog. Which circle comes first, when to breathe, which sound goes with which line — this is passed from teacher to student, the way it was passed on to me. Done with guidance, step by step, something shifts.
What would you feel, watching a star appear on a page that was blank a few minutes ago — with your breath slowing and your mind finally quiet? There is only one way to find out.
"The first painting is the mantra felt. The second is the mantra understood. The third is yours — the mantra experienced."
The five elements are not somewhere far away. They are inside you — waiting to be brought back into balance, one circle at a time.
Where Sacred Geometry meets Art Therapy, the mind finds balance and the soul remembers itself.
Experience It Yourself
Find Your Balance With Me
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