Wondering About a Perfume Dedicated to the Upanishads
An olfactory experience that encourages the inner gaze towards the Self
A curvaceous flacon evoking the forms of the Shiva linga — AI Image by Author.
For months now, an ardent desire has been smouldering within me like a sacred fire. I desperately long to hold a tangible object capable of allowing me to relive the very essence of the Upanishads — those ancient treasures of philosophical and spiritual wisdom that shine like gems embedded at the end of the Vedas, the foundational sacred texts of Hinduism.
Revelations
These millennial revelations revolve around ethereal and rarefied themes, yet their immense scope transcends abstract concepts to embrace the fullness of the human experience itself in all its joyous complexity. The nature of the Self, the structure of the universe, the essence of the divine: every ancient word seems like a bullet of pure awareness fired beyond the limited boundaries of the rational mind.
I am an insatiable devourer of the Upanishads, yet all too often I have found myself a feeble apprentice in the face of the abyssal depth of those imparted doctrines. Yes, I absorb their refined arguments like a sponge, allowing myself to be shaped by the visionary power of the metaphors and symbolic narratives contained within. And yet, a subtle restlessness persists… the feeling of not having yet truly attained the intimate quintessence of those primordial and revolutionary truths.
This is why, in recent months, I have embarked on a feverish search for a novel medium, a multi-sensory key capable of finally leading me into the most recondite and mysterious meanders of the Upanishads. An object destined to stimulate not only the intellect, but also the imagination, emotions, and buried ancestral memories. A true mystical talisman for the initiatory journey.
Perfume
And it was then that I stumbled upon a hypnotic, seductive possibility: that of creating a sacred perfume entirely inspired by those ancient texts, as old as time itself.
An olfactory experience that encourages the inner gaze towards the Self.
Since sensoriality helps the mind to think, to engage our nucleus accumbens by allowing us to vividly imagine and experience things, I believe a scent like this could provide profound inspiration from the Upanishadic teachings.
The packaging itself would be a reverent bow to Upanishadic symbolism. A curvaceous flacon evoking the forms of the Shiva linga, that sacred cosmic symbol of the eternally dynamic tension between masculine and feminine generative forces.
Shiva linga
The Shiva linga form is frequently viewed as embodying the masculine force (Shiva), while the yoni base it rests upon in certain artistic renderings symbolizes the feminine energy (Shakti). Their combined presence signifies the eternal cosmic dance of making and unmaking.
The highly reflective material of the bottle would be used specifically to “evoke” the Self through the user’s reflection in the bottle.
The outer box of the perfume would recreate the warm glow of Vedic ritual fires, enveloped in refined terracottas and ochres to evoke Mother Earth.
But the true prodigy would be contained within the precious distillate itself. An olfactory work of art composed by harmonizing rare natural essences once used in those spiritual practices of inestimable antiquity.
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Citrus
An opening of citrus and sweet like the mystic Soma, the psychotropic sacrificial beverage sacred to Vedic Hinduism, its scent is described as honeyed and fragrant in the Upanishads. Then the primordial allure of the dense smoke of Agni, the sacred fire inextricably linked to the cycle of death and perpetual rebirth of the entire cosmos according to ancient Indian cosmogony.
At its heart, the absolute and rarefied purity of Indian lotus and jasmine flowers, quintessential emblems of spiritual beauty and sacred devotional offerings. Only slightly infringed upon by a delicate, animal, earthy whiff to remind us of the intrinsic transience of the flesh — a founding principle of the entire Upanishadic philosophy.
Finally, to seal the initiatory journey, the enveloping warmth of precious ambers and musks would evoke the promise of the Supreme Union — the impersonal and immanent Brahman, the ultimate goal of the Spirit on its path according to the teachings of the Upanishads.
And…so?
An elegant booklet containing the most significant passages drawn from the sacred texts themselves would provide an evocative counterpoint and amplify the initiatory scope of this transfigured marvel of nature in perfume form.
Having never encountered anything similar in today’s landscape, I began mentally constructing every detail. This imaginary olfactory path is already a gateway to the mystery in itself, a multi-sensory path of initiation that anyone can join.
And yet, one question continues to haunt my mind: will I ever truly be capable of giving tangible, material form to this vision? Of infusing into an object as ephemeral and evanescent as fragrance itself the entire, shattering, revolutionary and transcendent scope of the Upanishadic teachings?
There is only one way to find out…
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