2022
Painting, oil on canvas, 24”x36”
Darshan, the Poet Saint
Oil on canvas, 24”x36”Sant Darshan Singh (1921-1989) was highly recognized as a great poet and living Saint in his time. Beneath the turban he wore, according to the Sikh tradition in which he was raised, he had a very rarely seen beautiful mane of voluminous, dark, wavy uncut hair. On rare occasions he might be seen, walking about the Ashram allowing his hair to dry in the morning sun, towel on his shoulders, smiling and greeting everyone respectfully. He was a gentle and kind Lion, but one whose eyes were capable of awakening those spiritually asleep.
“Travellers who come after me shall have no cause to complain that they found neither footsteps nor Light on the path of Love.” —Darshan Singh
Emerging From Samadhi, Rishikesh, 1948
Oil on canvas, size: 40”x60” December 2021 (commenced August 21, 2021). This painting is an attempt to portray the great Adept, Sant Kirpal Singh emerging from Samadhi (super-consciousness). In 1948, after the passing of his Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948) , Kirpal Singh went on a five month retreat in Upper Rishikesh in the Himalayas spending 16-18 hours a day in deep meditation. (for a full account, go to arransart.org/writings.
Oil on canvas. Detail from larger painting, Master Kirpal Emerging From Samadhi)
Oil on canvas, size 40 x 60” December 12, 2021
Oil on canvas, size 40 x 60” December 12, 2021
What began as an abstract cloudscape continually evolved as the paintbrush wandered where it willed. First, a nine-month fetus appeared in the billowing air, then its Mother, a shining umbilicus from her outstretched hand, luminous shapes swirling, eddying, flowing. See what you can find in it. After a few weeks of painting, from the billowing surf of spirit and Logos, Sages began to appear, pleased in the Creation’s birthing. A work of imagination, or is it more?
detail from larger painting
First in the Sawan Kirpal Series of paintings, attempting to capture in paint and colour as accurately as possible, images from some rare old black & white photos of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh and Param Sant Kirpal Singh together taken in the 1930’s & ‘40’s—the one whom he chose in his lifetime to carry on the work of initiation. These photos were taken in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. While painting this I was struck by the elegant beauty of Baba Sawan and the utter obedience and simplicity of his true disciple. Hazur with the slender graceful frame contrasted by the powerful physique of Kirpal. The lady on the right was Bibi Lajo who looked after Hazur’s meals and clothing. She wrote a wonderful book in Hindi, entitled Sakhian about her experiences with Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948). Oil on paperboard, 12”x16” 2021
2nd in the Sawan Kirpal Series of paintings, documenting the historic alliance between the great Master Sawan Singh (1858-1948) and his great Disciple, Kirpal Singh (1894-1974), based on rare black and white photos from that era. Here, Sat Guru Kirpal Singh was invited by his Master to give the monthly spiritual discourse at his Dera by the Beas River in around 1939. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji revealed that it was in 1927, three years after his initiation by the Great Master, that he reached the fifth spiritual realm known as Sach Khand, or the True Home. His life was filled with miracles, compassion and grace. People of all religions and faiths come to the Masters to learn how to realize the Self and the Overself
(#2 of the Sawan Kirpal Series, size 24” x 36, Oil on Canvas. 2021
4th in the Sawan Kirpal Series
Sant Darshan Singh reciting one of his poems to his spiritual Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, November, 1944, on the occasion of the wedding of Maharaj Charan Singh and his bride (sitting in front of the orange cloth), while Hazur sits serenely on the dais, flanked by his two pathis (chanters of hymns). Behind the pathis stands the father of the bride, the raja of Pisawah. Hazur is casting his glance of grace (known as Darshan, or Didar) to his beloved disciple, and spiritual successor, Sant Kirpal Singh, sitting just to our left of the pole.
August 2021, oil painting on canvas, 24” x 36”.
#4 in the Sawan Kirpal Series
Herein, the artist has attempted to capture something of the pathos, the multitude, the dust and the heat of that day when the sun of spirituality set below the horizon of Dera Baba Jaimal Singh. The sun sets yet on the other side, it rises. The light can never be put out.
#4 Sawan Kirpal Series, based on historic b&w photos from the 1930’s & 40’s. Oil on canvas, size 24” x 36”
This painting is of the very first black & white photograph I had ever seen of the great Master, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) back in New York City in 1964. Holding that photograph in my hands and gazing upon his compassionate eyes, I had a beautiful timeless experience of rising above body-consciousness and beholding brilliant Light emitting from the photo and from inside and everywhere. I distinctly heard a Voice speaking inside that clarified the way forward. I wrote in some detail about it in my memoirs: Moth & the Flame.
Oil on canvas 22” x 24” 2021
Kirpal Sarovar
“In my father’s house, there are many mansions”
This painting is based on a ‘dream’ while travelling with the Master’s two-car caravan from Delhi to Bombay in December, 1973. We had stopped en route for the night in Ajmeer. After meditating, I went to sleep. I went to a place that was very deep and mysterious. Although the lower portion of the Master’s beard was immersed in the sacred tank (Sarovar) I saw that it was not wet. While my gaze was fixed in his eyes, I was vaguely aware of a golden temple behind the Master, with steps leading into the Sarovar. That happened forty seven years ago and the memory is still there. Neither paint nor words can capture such an experience.
Oil on canvas, size 24’ X 32”, completed in 2021
And Even The Clouds Paid Homage...Darshan Before the Taj Mahal, 1980
New Year, 2021, just finished this painting of the great poet Sant Darshan Singh (1921-1989)—spiritual successor to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974), when I accompanied him to the Taj Mahal in 1980 along with our young daughters Shanti and Gurdeep plus a relatively small retinue of foreigners and Indians. It was a magical spiritually charged time, about which I wrote in detail in my book, Moth & the Flame—Adventures With Spiritual Adepts of our Time. To gain this perspective, I jumped down into the reflecting pond which gratefully had been drained the day before. Daughter Shanti was complaining over and over again to me, “Daddy please ask Master Darshan to turn down the heat. I can’t take the heat!” It was probably around 110f. I told her I couldn’t do that. But then something rather wonderful happened. A stiff wind arose and dark clouds suddenly filled the skies. Soon, big raindrops started falling all around us, but didn’t land on anyone. The temperature must have dropped more than 10f degrees. And little Shanti was happy. These clouds are not realistic but I loved painting the swirls!
Oil on wood panel, size 24: x 36”
From the amazing 1980 Tour of Agra & Taj Mahal with Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj, spiritual successor to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974). There’s an interesting description of the full tour in my memoirs, Moth & the Flame—Adventures with Adepts of our Time
Oil on canvas, 24” x 36”, 2020
June 20, 2020 Oil on Canvas size: 30” x 60”
It was my good fortune in 1967-8 to travel with the great mystic and humanitarian, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) through dusty farm villages, cities, deserts, oases, old castles and tortuous roads of India and old Rajasthan. The way was often stark and hot, offset by colorful villagers, their dark skin, bright eyes and teeth and vivid clothes. As in the many stops along the journey, thousands were drawn like moths to the flame—the presence of the Saint. For me, this was the journey of many lifetimes.
In 2003, the renowned living meditation Master, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj visited our home in Vancouver, known as Shalimar Gardens. This is a composite memory of his memorable visit with family and friends. More than 400 people gathered on the spacious lawns beneath the Redwoods the night before. Where he sat to give his illuminating discourse the night before, later on, I dug out the large 40’ x 20’ oval pool, 4’ deep, which now appears in front of the Teacher. This painting has been donated to the new Science of Spirituality Meditation Center in Glendale, Los Angeles.
Completed May, 2020, Oil on Canvas, 30” x 60”
Not just a painting of the artist and his well-known sculptor and dear older brother Godfrey in India in 2010 for Arjan and Rimjhim’s spectacular wedding, but also of the Observer, in this case, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948), whose spiritual presence is often felt by the artist and who is seen here stepping forth from under a scalloped Mughal archway. if you look carefully, you might see the artist’s signature under the foot of Baba Sawan.
Oil on canvas, size 24” x 36” 2020
Detail from The Brothers painting
Although not a painting of any Master, it has some overtones… I began this painting from a photo and a memory of the time I was on tour with my beloved Guru Kirpal in Maharashtra in 1968. After morning meditation and Darshan, Bruce, Misha and I (the only Westerners there) decided to go and explore the flat-topped mountain nearby where the hero-warrior Shivaji had built his fortress to hold back the Mughal armies. There was a beautiful dense jungle beyond the mountain redoubt and in it we discovered a cool, shady circle of huge banyan trees, with massive trunks and dangling roots and the chittering of birds. It felt very sacred and inviting. I accepted the invitation and sat down in that lovely peaceful glade with closed eyes, sinking into the peaceful depths. Soon, the outer world disappeared and there was only light. Unbeknownst to me, Bruce took a photo. This year, 52 years later, I decided to attempt this large painting.
Grateful for the experience and opportunity to relive it. The Light never dies.
Hail, hail to the primordial Light and Song of creation!
Oil on Canvas, size 40” x 60”, August 2020
We’ve included this photo from Arran’s second trip to India in 1968 where he spent six months with his Teacher. Unaware of the photographer, he had plunged into deep meditation under the shade of this banyan grove—a beautiful spot on top of Shivaji’s Mountain in the south-central part of India, south of Pune above the town called Satara.
2017 oil on linen 36” x 48”
In 1967, the Master undertook a tour by car to give discourses and initiation to various towns and villages in Rajasthan, India. While staying in the garden of Kartar Chand and family in the ancient city of Ajmeer, Arran took a photograph of the Master handing a flower to a little girl, Puneet Kochhar. Arran painted this stunning piece fifty years later.
24” x 36” oil on canvas
OIl on Canvas, 24” x 36”
…the Master extracted a rose, pricking his finger in the process. He winced. We all winced. He looked at it awhile and then looked at me, commenting, ’No roses without thorns.’ and lovingly handed it to me. If you look closely, you can see a drop of blood on the Master’s thumb. Love has a price. “Pain passes, but the beauty endures.” —Renoir
detail from the larger painting, Kirpal & the Rose. You can see a ruby drop of blood on the Master’s thumb.
Digital version from the original painting in the previous image.
The original oil painting on linen (not digitized). 24” x 30”
This, and a companion painting of Baba Sawan Singh’s great disciple and the next living Master in this ancient lineage, were painted in Anaheim, California the Sanctuary of the Living Master—that served as a headquarters for Ruhani Satsang in the West until the Master’s passing in 1974. In Arran’s free on-line book, Moth & the Flame (www.arranstephens.com/books) he describes the unusual appearance of the two linen canvases in chapter 5.
Arran, who helped organize Sant Kirpal Singh’s November 1972 Vancouver tour program, painted this in 2019 on his visit to a potential Ashram site in Surrey. The Master had also visited Vancouver on his second world tour in January 1964.
1965 Oil on masonite.
In that year, not long after his initiation into the Mysteries of the Beyond by his beloved Satguru, Arran was living and painting in a small shed in the backyard of his parents, in Victoria, BC. One day, while his mother, father and brother were looking at this portrait of his Teacher sitting on their mantlepiece and discussing it, Arran’s mother said that she noticed that the eyes became alive and were talking to her. Then she witnessed a thousand lines of brightest light coming from the face, which struck her in the middle of her forehead. She was flabbergasted and temporarily couldn’t see the external environment. She came out to the garden shed and called to her son, “Arran, what happened to me?” She was crying. She thought she might be going crazy. She asked if Kirpal Singh could see her. He told her, “Yes He can see you.” Some spiritual experiences are beyond our ability to adequately describe.
1966 oil sketch on paper
Arran’s second painting of his Guru
1966, oil on linen, 24” x 36”.
The original oil painting on linen (not digitized). 24” x 30”
This, and a companion painting of Baba Sawan Singh—the Master’s Master, were painted in Anaheim, California in 1966 for the Sanctuary of the Living Master—that served as a headquarters for Ruhani Satsang in the West until the Master’s passing in 1974. In Arran’s free on-line book, Moth & the Flame (www.arranstephens.com/books) he describes the unusual appearance of the two linen canvases in chapter 5. The unusual thing about this portrait that practically everyone notices, is that no matter where in the room you walk, the eyes of Kirpal Singh follow you.
This is a digitally enhanced version of the original painting (preceding image).
Oil on board.
Another very interesting story behind this painting…how it was lost for 40 years and then returned. But that’s another story for another day.
Arran described having a vivid dream of his Master’s hand with a brilliant eye in the middle, all-seeing.
Digital painting from an old black & white photograph, when the new Master retreated for six months into the mountains surrounding Rishikesh, and would spend 16-18 hours a day in meditation.
Digital painting
In April, 1967 Arran traveled by bus over treacherous mountain roads through high mountins to be with his Guru. This was a magical moment when the Master walked up through the beautiful meadow, sat down on a blanket and removed his turban as the devotees sat below in silent awe of nature and the power of the Saint.
Digital painting
In April, 1967 Arran traveled by bus over treacherous mountain roads through high mountins to be with his Guru. This was a magical moment when the Master walked up through the beautiful meadow, sat down on a blanket and removed his turban as the devotees sat below in silent awe of nature and the power of the Saint.
This chart was created in 2000 by the artist in an effort to describe the inner planes of creation, according to the writings of Nanak, Kabir, Soami Ji, Sant Kirpal Singh and Sant Darshan Singh. The chart is populated with artist renderings of these various stages of the spiritual journey.
Arran & Ratana commissioned Michael Schulbaum to paint this using a photo of Arran with his Guru in India in 1968 (next image)
Indore, India, 1968. This is the photo (taken by Bruce King on Arran’s second trip to India) that inspired artist Michael Schulbaum’s beautiful painting.
Journey to the Lumious, Arran’s acclaimed memoirs up to the date of publishing made its advent in 1999, and the printing of 5,000 copies quickly sold out, with all proceeds donated to charity. He decided to publish an online version for free so that people in less fortunate circumstances could easily download it and not worry about expensive freight, etc. The online version is called “Moth & the Flame”. It has since been translated into French, German and Spanish. The Spanish version is on its third printing. In addition, Arran co-authored The Compassionate Diet—How What We Eat can with Eliot Rosen, published by Rodale Press, and it also is now out of print. A Kindle reprint is in the works.
Here, the soul traveler crosses the divide between the material and the Divine, to seek it’s assumption in the Light and Love of the Creator.
This is the book cover for Moth & the Flame, the on-line, edited and expanded version with full-color images. Currently available at www.arranstephens.com/books
Digital Painting for Moth & the Flame bookcover
The luminous body, showing the chakras or ganglionic centers within the body. Not in or of the body, but parallel and concurrent with it. It is at the third eye that lies behind and between the two eyebrows that the soul exits the body at the time of death, or, consciously in meditation in life. “If you don’t get to heaven when you’re living, how you’re going to get there when you die?” an old black man accosted the artist in his teens with these potent words.
As the meditation practitioner advances along the journey, the sensory currents are withdrawn up the the third eye, or single eye, where he or she beholds the radiance of their own divinity.