Soul. The way home
This exhibition is a series of paintings dedicated to verses from the Bhagavad-gita ("Song of God"). The Bhagavad-gita is the quintessence of the spiritual wisdom of Vedic literature, one of the greatest philosophical and poetic works, as well as one of the main sacred books of the world.
His Divine Grace A.Ch. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the author of the book "The Bhagavad Gita As It Is," says that it is intended for conditioned souls who have come to the material world to dominate material nature and are unaware of true spiritual life. The Bhagavad-gita is meant to show how man can realize his spiritual being and his eternal relationship with the supreme spiritual personality; it points the way back home, back to the Godhead.
This project aims to allow a person to touch the most secret knowledge in mankind's history and eliminate the problems of material existence, such as birth, aging, illnesses, and death. After all, these problems cannot be solved through economic development and wealth accumulation. There are countries with favorable living conditions, high living standards, and economic development in many parts of the world. However, problems related to material existence remain there.
"Love for God is lying dormant in everyone's heart now. And in each person, this love, now contaminated by material ties, manifests itself differently. It is necessary to purify the heart from material communication, and then the hidden natural love for the Lord will be reborn!"
Bhagavad-gita, 12
BIO
I was born in 1986 in Obukhiv, near Kyiv, where I live.
I have been fond of beautiful photography since childhood, but I didn't consider myself a creative person. That is why, in 2008 I graduated from the university with a major in international economy.
After a couple of years of searching for myself, I increasingly realized that I was not where I was meant to be and decided to realize my childhood dream. I turned my life around 180° and went to study photography. Therefore, my love for creativity came through photography. I take photos only of people, their emotions and feelings. And the most valuable thing in photography for me is sincerity!
Another aspect of my creativity is painting, which burst into my life in 2016. And here everything manifests itself in a completely different way. In paintings, I depict what I cannot convey through the lens of my camera!
CV
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2022 - the personal exhibition "Borders and Trust" at the House of Ukrainian Culture in Zhytomyr. Today, the paintings are in the private collections of European and Ukrainian art connoisseurs.
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2021, July - the personal exhibition "Borders and Trust" held at Lika Spivakovskaya ART: EGO Gallery.
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2021 - a participant in the group exhibition "Living Planet".
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2021 - "Italy ART FESTIVAL 2021", received the Grand prix.
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Since 2020 - a participant in more than 20 Ukrainian and international competitions and festivals, where I took first places.
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2018 - a personal exhibition "The Energy of Peace".
Today, the paintings are in the private collections of European and Ukrainian art connoisseurs.
100 х 100 cm
2024
Everything is resting on the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore He is the ultimate rest. He is the knower of everything that is happening in this world, and if knowledge has any end, He is the end of all knowledge; therefore He is the known and the knowable. He is the object of knowledge because He is all-pervading.
Bhagavad-gītā, 11. 38, purport.
The Lord is being paid obeisances in all respects. He is of immeasurable greatness. No one can be greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, because no one is equal to or higher than Kṛṣṇa within any manifestation, spiritual or material. Everyone is below Him. No one can excel Him.
Bhagavad-gītā, 11. 43, purport.
100 х 120 cm
2024
Due to the contamination of material association, through many, many millions of births, one’s heart is always covered with the dust of materialism, but when one engages in devotional service and constantly chants Hare Kṛṣṇa.
The pure devotee does not have to worry about the material necessities of life; he need not be anxious, because when he removes the darkness from his heart, everything is provided automatically by the Supreme Lord.
Bhagavad-gītā, 10.11, purport
100 х 120 cm
2024
O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must.
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.14
Life will constantly test us - how real we are.
It will throw us on the very crest of success and look: how has it affected you? You have the ability to influence. You have power. You have force. You have money. You have loved ones. You have everything. What kind of a person are you now?
Then it will throw us off this illusory peak, as it seems to us, and will certainly plunge us into trials. And now everything is falling out of your hands, you are confused, you don't know how to proceed. And what kind of a person are you now? What will you do?
Then it will throw you up and drop again, throw up and drop again. Winter and summer replace each other, happiness and unhappiness alternate.
What is the real you in the middle of it all? What do you feel in happiness - pride? What do you perceive in suffering - sadness? Maybe thanks or wisdom? Or maybe you feel patience? Or maybe humility? How should you go through all this growing your consciousness?
Maryna Targakova
Oh best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.15
Here, happiness and sorrow are put on the same level. And indeed, it is surprising that sometimes happiness itself makes a person worse, and grief can make a person better. And sometimes vice versa. Therefore, the most important thing is not the events of life, but what we have become as a result of these events.
As Oleksandr Hakimov says: "Life is given not to get any pleasure, not to go through some events, but to get impressions from these events that will transform our consciousness."
Maryna Targakova
70 х 100 cm
2020
The body is subject to six kinds of transformations. It takes its birth from the womb of the mother’s body, remains for some time, grows, produces some effects, gradually dwindles, and at last vanishes into oblivion. The soul, however, does not go through such changes. The soul is not born, but, because he takes on a material body, the body takes its birth. The soul does not take birth there, and the soul does not die. Anything which has birth also has death. And because the soul has no birth, he therefore has no past, present or future. He is eternal, ever-existing and primeval – that is, there is no trace in history of his coming into being. Under the impression of the body, we seek the history of birth, etc., of the soul. The soul does not at any time become old, as the body does. The so-called old man, therefore, feels himself to be in the same spirit as in his childhood or youth. The changes of the body do not affect the soul.
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.20, commentary.
Temporary is something that constantly alternates, ends and thereby causes us pain.
Eternity is what creates, inspires, beckons, and it is the nature of our soul.
Maryna Targakova
90 х 120 cm
2021
As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.
Bhagavad-gītā,2.13
Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is sure to have another body in the next birth – either material or spiritual.
Bhagavad-gītā,2.13, purport.
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.22
Transference of the atomic individual soul to another body is made possible by the grace of the Supersoul. The Supersoul fulfills the desire of the atomic soul as one friend fulfills the desire of another. The Vedas, like the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, as well as the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Kṛṣṇa) is simply watching His friend. Of these two birds – although they are the same in quality – one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one’s changing his position from one tree to another, or from one body to another. The jīva soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme
spiritual master – as Arjuna agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Kṛṣṇa for instruction – the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations.
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.22, purport
90 х 120 cm
2021
Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is always, especially during the rainy season, being filled with much more water. But the ocean remains the same – steady; it is not agitated, nor does it cross beyond the limit of its brink. That is also true of a person fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As long as one has the material body, the demands of the body for sense gratification will continue. The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires, because of his fullness. A Kṛṣṇa conscious man is not in need of anything, because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. Therefore he is like the ocean – always full in himself. Desires may come to him like the waters of the rivers that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in his activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by desires for sense gratification
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.70, purport.
100 х 120 cm
2021
90 х 120 cm
2021
Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.
Bhagavad-gītā, 18.65
"I will hug you in silence until we become one...
Remember me when nothing bothers you: neither sickness, nor hunger, nor war, nor fear.
Remember Me when you feel good, happy and calm.
Purify our connection with daily prayer. Talk to Me, turn to Me as you can. I don't need special secret mantras, secret syllables and long hymns. I long for tears of devotion, I long for a simple heart, I long for a humble call, I seek my child who was lost and found.
The world is full of learned writers and Vedic scholars, teachers and eloquent orators, but not their haughty speeches I want to hear, but I want to see one tear of pure devotion flowing down your cheek. One such tear speaks of a new birth - the birth of My child. I am the God of gods, I am the Father of the Universe and for one such tear I am ready to destroy billions of demons and remove all obstacles from your path - because My child is coming home.
Nothing will bother or embarrass my child from now on. I will personally monitor him and his development and accompany him to his designated abode when the time is right.
Every word you utter, addressed to Me, I will listen with attention and emotion. Do not think that I do not hear your prayers. I hear every word.
Pray to Me right now, don't delay. I am waiting for your birth. Remember, I can do everything, but I leave devotion and love up to you."
Your Lord
70 х 100 cm
2020
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.
Bhagavad-gītā, 3.37
Lust is the desire to get pleasure for yourself, regardless of how this world is arranged. Why is the Lord here? This is what my senses want and I want to get it. Losing all sense.
Desire never stops. In a strange way, once I want something for myself, I want to enjoy it, I want to control it, I want it to be mine. If it doesn't work, I get angry. But if I succeed, I get greedy and insatiable, and at the same moment I want something else.
Maryna Targakova
Then again, when lust is unsatisfied, it turns into wrath; wrath is transformed into illusion, and illusion continues the material existence. Therefore, lust is the greatest enemy of the living entity, and it is lust only which induces the pure living entity to remain entangled in the material world.
If, therefore, lust is transformed into love for the Supreme, or transformed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness – or, in other words, desiring everything for Kṛṣṇa – then both lust and wrath can be spiritualised.
Bhagavad-gītā, 3.37, purport
70 х 100 cm
2020
60 х 80 cm
2020
I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.
Bhagavad-gītā, 7.21
God has given independence to everyone; therefore, if a person desires to have material enjoyment and wants very sincerely to have such facilities from the material demigods, the Supreme Lord, as Supersoul in everyone’s heart, understands and gives facilities to such persons. As the supreme father of all living entities, He does not interfere with their independence, but gives all facilities so that they can fulfil their material desires. Some may ask why the all-powerful God gives facilities to the living entities for enjoying this material world and so lets them fall into the trap of the illusory energy. The answer is that if the Supreme Lord as Supersoul does not give such facilities, then there is no meaning to independence. Therefore, He gives everyone full independence – whatever one likes – but His ultimate instruction we find in the Bhagavad-gītā one should give up all other engagements and fully surrender unto Him. That will make man happy.
Bhagavad-gītā, 7.21, purport
100 х 120 cm
2021
As far as ordinary education is concerned, people are involved with so many departments: politics, sociology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, etc. There are so many departments of knowledge all over the world and many huge universities, but there is, unfortunately, no university or educational institution where the science of the spirit soul is instructed. Yet the soul is the most important part of the body; without the presence of the soul, the body has no value. Still people are placing great stress on the bodily necessities of life, not caring for the vital soul.
This body is perishable and that the soul is not perishable.
Bhagavad-gītā, 9.2, purport
140 х 180 cm
2021
The fact that the atomic soul is within the body of a gigantic animal, in the body of a gigantic banyan tree, and also in the microbic germs, millions and billions of which occupy only an inch of space, is certainly very amazing.
Owing to a gross material conception of things, most men in this age cannot imagine how such a small particle can become both so great and so small. So men look at the soul proper as wonderful either by constitution or by description. Illusioned by the material energy, people are so engrossed in subject matters for sense gratification that they have very little time to understand the question of self-understanding, even though it is a fact that without this self-understanding all activities result in ultimate defeat in the struggle for existence. Perhaps they have no idea that one must think of the soul, and thus make a solution to the material miseries.
But if, somehow or other, one is able to understand the subject matter of the soul, then one’s life is successful.
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.29, purport
100 х 100 cm
2021
For the ordinary person it is almost inconceivable how the huge material creation is resting in Him. But the Lord is giving an example which may help us to understand. The sky may be the biggest manifestation we can conceive. And in that sky the wind or air is the biggest manifestation in the cosmic world. The movement of the air influences the movements of everything. But although the wind is great, it is still situated within the sky; the wind is not beyond the sky. Similarly, all the wonderful cosmic manifestations are existing by the supreme will of God, and all of them are subordinate to that supreme will. As we generally say, not a blade of grass moves without the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus everything is moving under His will: by His will everything is being created, everything is being maintained, and everything is being annihilated. Still He is aloof from everything, as the sky is always aloof from the activities of the wind.
Bhagavad-gītā, 9.6, purport.
100 х1 20 cm
2024
There is no superior power which can check the cruel hands of death. No one wants to die, however acute the source of bodily sufferings may be. Even in the days of so-called scientific advancement of knowledge, there is no remedial measure either for old age or for death. Old age is the notice of the arrival of death served by cruel time, and no one can refuse to accept either summon calls or the supreme judgment of eternal time.
Wherever there is the influence of eternal time, there is this set of tribulations, namely birth, disease, old age and death, and all of them are invincible.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.13.19, purport
Time is destruction, and all manifestations are to be vanquished by the desire of the Supreme Lord. That is the law of nature.
Bhagavad-gītā, 11.32, purport
100 х 100 cm
2021
Such deluded persons, symptomatically, dwell in dualities of dishonor and honor, misery and happiness, woman and man, good and bad, pleasure and pain, etc., thinking, “This is my wife; this is my house; I am the master of this house; I am the husband of this wife.” These are the dualities of delusion. Those who are so deluded by dualities are completely foolish and therefore cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Bhagavad-gītā, 7.27, purport
So what causes us pain? What hurts us is that we want something from this world, and we reject something in this world. Something seems very tasty to us, and something seems very disgusting to us. Even the ad itself: "Live on the bright side!" We always want to walk along the white line, cross the black line, occasionally. That is, we divide the whole world into good - bad, high and low. We evaluate this whole world according to our point of view, but we completely forget about how God looks at this world, how it is all arranged from His point of view.
Maryna Targakova
100 х 120 cm
2023
The whole world is moving according to the plan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Foolish persons who do not have sufficient knowledge think that nature is moving without a plan and all manifestations are but accidental formations. There are many so-called scientists who suggest that perhaps it was like this, or maybe like that, but there is no question of “perhaps” and “maybe.” There is a specific plan being carried out in this material world. What is this plan? This cosmic manifestation is a chance for the conditioned souls to go back to Godhead, back to home. As long as they have the domineering mentality which makes them try to lord it over material nature, they are conditioned. But anyone who can understand the plan of the Supreme Lord and cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness is most intelligent.
Bhagavad-gītā, 11.33, purport
100 х 120 cm
2023
The spiritual path, the road home, is not cheap. Even in order to gain some experience as a musician, artist, or anyone, a person has to go through a serious, serious path. And sometimes not in one lifetime. How Mozart at the age of five would seize up and shout: "Dad, the notes are suffocating me!" That is, he was a musician and composer for more than one lifetime. And then he reveals such perfection. What can we say about the spiritual path!
Many people have a rather impersonal attitude towards God. Rather, they expect the Lord to minister to them, or they enjoy the energies of God. There are many impersonalists who meditate simply on the world or something else. But really those people who gave themselves completely and completely to God and begin to serve Him are very rare. Many people think: "Well, yes, I will die, my soul is immortal, I will go to heaven", but without knowing what they are, the highest worlds, and what is "heaven", and what is it, the spiritual world, and what is there? Not understanding this, not feeling it... A person has no faith, no such great energy that would pull him to God. Because there are no feelings, no experiences, no spiritual drive.
But, thank God, we have the holy scriptures and, studying them, gradually, step by step, we become interested. There is a desire to listen as much as possible about the spiritual world, about everything that happens there, because our soul will start to come alive. And, finally, someday, we will give our heart to the Lord, and we will want to serve Him - with all our heart, with all our understanding.
Yes, such a soul is extremely rare, but I really want you and I to become like that.
"Many are called, few are chosen"
Maryna Targakova
120 х 150 cm
2023
But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O
son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
Bhagavad-gītā, 12.6-7
It is explicitly stated here that the devotees are very fortunate to be delivered very soon from material existence by the Lord.
Therefore, one should be fully devoted. One should fix his mind fully on Kṛṣṇa in order to achieve Him. One should work only for Kṛṣṇa.
Bhagavad-gītā, 12.6-7, purport
After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
Bhagavad-gītā, 8.15
100 х 100 cm
2023
Out of so many human beings who are suffering, there are a few who are actually inquiring about their position, as to what they are, why they are put into this awkward position and so on. Unless one is awakened to this position of questioning his suffering, unless he realizes that he doesn’t want suffering but rather wants to make a solution to all suffering, then one is not to be considered a perfect human being. Humanity begins when this sort of inquiry is awakened in one’s mind.
Іntroduction to Bhagavad-gītā
Human life is meant for cultivation of spiritual knowledge, in eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Bhagavad-gītā, 4.1, purport
It is only after many, many births of such sense gratificatory activities that a great soul surrenders unto Vāsudeva, Lord Kṛṣṇa, thereby fulfilling the search after the ultimate truth.
Bhagavad-gītā, 2.39, purport