Welcome To The Divine Arts

Haridas Thakur Das is a graduate of visual art. He has a strong flair for research, education, art, and spirituality. He decided to live a simple life and contribute all his energy to society at large in the matter of spirituality as a service to his Spiritual Master H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj. He lives as a monk in the monastery of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple (ISKCON), downtown Mumbai.

Art and painting have naturally drawn his attraction since early childhood being trained by his devout father, a great artist. During a short stint working in the industry in Pune, he came across Vaishnava Philosophy with the association of ISKCON community. There, his latent talent got a vent. After he entered the monastery, he was given the opportunity by his Spiritual Master to depict the numerous beautiful pastimes of Lord Krishna and his incarnations, which he successfully completed and they are now adorning the famous ISKCON temple in Mumbai.

He has a missionary spirit for holding art exhibitions across the subcontinent of India. Inspired by the life and teachings of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, Haridas has produced more than 50 oil paintings and authored a book "illustrations and illuminations". All his works of Srila Prabhupada's paintings have been given an artistic perspective drawing from Vedic theology while adding his own visual vocabulary, particularly in the painting of transcendental aspects, the Vaishnava philosophy being his North Star. He also brings to his paintings a fine display of characters with detailed use of vibrant shades and perspective, which brings an air of divinity.

Producing such stunning visuals is a challenging task. Haridas Thakur Das derives inspiration from the blessings of his Spiritual master, from the Vedic scriptures (particularly Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana), and also from celebrated artists such as Raja Ravi Varma, SM Pandit, and western geniuses such as Rembrandt and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Apart from sharing the knowledge of art and painting to art enthusiasts, he also teaches contemporary wisdom of Vedic texts to Mumbai youth at the premier art institute J J School of Art, and working professionals of Indian Navy and Indian Army in Mumbai.