A Lamp in a Windless Place: Mindful Colouring Pages

A steady flame

In the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, a steady mind is compared to a lamp in a windless place. Its flame stands upright, still and bright.

Mandala 10 from Book Two, coloured in blues and greens, above the Tao Te Ching quote about muddy water becoming clear

Most of us know the opposite feeling well: a mind blown about by messages, plans and worries. Colouring is one of the simplest ways we have found to come back to that steady flame. One shape, then the next. The pen moves, the colour fills, and for a while attention rests in one place.

That idea became our new collection of mindful colouring pages, A Lamp in a Windless Place.

Mandalas and wisdom, side by side

The collection pairs two old companions. The first is the mandala, a circular design used for centuries across Asia as a focus for meditation. The second is a short passage of wisdom, chosen to give the mind something to rest on while the colours go in.

Every page holds one mandala and one quote. The mandalas come in a range of styles:

Lotus and flower mandalas, with petals layered ring upon ring
Tibetan-style palace mandalas, with a square courtyard and a gate on each side
Star and geometric designs, built from points, diamonds and arches
Sunbursts, with long rays running out from the centre

The quotes come from the Bhagavad Gita, the Buddha's Dhammapada, the Upanishads, the poetry of Kabir and Rabindranath Tagore, and the Tao Te Ching. A few are original reflections of our own, such as "Colour by colour, the mind settles."

Two books, two levels

We split the collection into two books of forty mandalas each, graded by how much detail each design holds. Within each book, the pages run from the most open designs to the most detailed.

Book One (easy): bolder shapes and open spaces, for relaxed colouring, beginners and younger colourists
Book Two (challenging): finer detail and denser rings, for experienced colourists and longer, absorbing sessions
The bundle: all 80 mandalas and 80 quotes, at a lower price than buying both books separately

To sort the designs fairly, we measured the total length of line in every mandala. The simplest page in Book One has about a fifth of the line work of the busiest page in Book Two.

A page from Book Two

Mandala 10 in Book Two is a ring of lotus petals around a many-layered centre. Beneath it sits a line from the Tao Te Ching, in James Legge's translation:

Who can make the muddy water clear? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.

This is exactly what colouring does for us. We stop stirring the water. Thoughts settle, and by the time the last petal is filled, things often look a little clearer than when we began.

A Lamp in a Windless Place (Bundle deal)

Print at home, as often as needed

Both books are instant PDF downloads on A4 pages, and they print well on US Letter with "fit to page". Every mandala is drawn as vector line art, so the lines stay crisp on any printer.

For home: buyers may print the pages as many times as they like for their own personal use. A favourite design can be coloured again and again.
For teachers: a teacher who buys a book may print unlimited copies for the children in their own classes. Each teacher needs their own copy.
Sharing finished pages: we love to see coloured-in pages on social media. Tag @ramapani_gram or use #ramapani.

Try four pages free

The best way to see whether these pages suit us is to colour one. Our free sample holds four mandalas, two from each book, each with its quote. It may be printed and shared freely with friends, family and classes.