ON ART

I
n art, interest must be centred on the princi-
pal theme. Drama is the most di cult of all
arts. In it two things are to be satisedrst,
the ears, and second, the eyes. To paint a scene,
if one thing be painted, it is easy enough; but
to paint different things and yet to keep up
the central interest is very di cult. Another
di cult thing is stage-management, that is,
combining different things in such a manner
as to keep the central interest intact.
The secret of Greek Art is its imitation of
nature even to the minutest details; whereas
the secret of Indian Art is to represent the
ideal. The energy of the Greek painter is spent
in perhaps painting a piece of esh, and he is
so successful that a dog is deluded into taking
it to be a real bit of meat and so goes to bite
it. Now, what glory is there in merely imitating
nature? Why not place an actual bit of esh
before the dog?
The Indian tendency, on the other hand, to
represent the ideal, the supersensual, has be-
come degraded into painting grotesque images.
Now, true Art can be compared to a lily which
springs from the ground, takes its nourishment
from the ground, is in touch with the ground,
and yet is quite high above it. So Art must be
in touch with natureand wherever that touch
is gone, Art degeneratesyet it must be above
nature.
THE ROAD TO WISDOM
In glancing at a highly nished painting
we cannot understand where its beauty lies.
Moreover, unless the eye is, to a certain ex-
tent, trained, one cannot appreciate the subtle
touches and blendings, the inner genius of a
work of art.
ON MUSIC
Music is the highest art and, to those who
understand, is the highest worship.
There is science in Dhrupad, Kheyal, etc.,
but it is in Kirtana, i.e. in Mathura and Viraha
and other like compositions that there is real
musicfor there is feeling. Feeling is the soul,
the secret of everything. There is more music
in common peoples songs, and they should be
collected together. The science of Dhrupad etc.,
applied to the music of Kirtana will produce
the perfect music.
Unless each note is given full play in every
scale, all the science of music is marred. In
painting, by keeping in touch with nature,
you can make it as artistic as you like; there is
no harm in doing that, and the result will be
nothing but good. Similarly, in music, you can
display any amount of skill by keeping to sci-
ence, and it will be pleasing to the ear.
From The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
7.407, 5.125, 5.258, 5.361
Swami Vivekananda on
ART AND MUSIC
Traditional Wisdom
Tis Month
Editorial: Te Divine Artist
Music: A Direct Means to the Highest
Swami Sattwasthananda
Indian Classical Dance and Spirituality
Shruba Mukhopadhyay
Entrances and Gateways
to the Indian Pilgrimage
Dr Kapila Vatsyayan
Te Spiritual in Art
Prof. Amal Ghosh
Transcending the Metaphor
Swami Madhurananda
Mysticism and Mystic Visions
Swami Prabhavananda
Vedanta-sara
Swami Bhaskareswarananda
Mahendranath Gupta:
Last Days with Sri Ramakrishna
Swami Chetanananda
Reviews
Reports
601
602
603
605
611
615

620
626
632
636
639

645
648
Contents
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Vol. 115, No. 11
November 2010
Amrita Kalasha
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10
A HAVEN FOR THE AILING
IN THE HIMALAYAS
Advaita Ashrama, Mayavat, Utarakhand, was
started by Swami Vivekananda in 1899. It is a branch
of Ramakrishna Math, Belur, West Bengal. This
ashrama runs the Mayavat Charitable Hospital which
was started in response to the pressing needs of the
neighbouring villages, where live some of the poorest
people of the country. Patents come here from dis-
tant places across hills and dales, sometmes trudging a distance of nearly 50 km. Their helpless-
ness in sickness would touch any heart if only it were known. We run this 25 bed indoor hospital
with its outdoor patents department in this out-of-the-way place since 1903. All treatment is
done free of charges. In additon, qualied doctors from dierent cites conduct special medical
camps for dierent ailments like Surgical, Dental, Urological, Eye throughout the year to provide
special care to the poor villagers of the Kumaon region.
To accommodate these doctors we need to build a doctors quarters cum guest house. On
the ground oor will be the dining hall, pantry, recepton, and the caretakers room. On the rst
oor will be 8 rooms for the doctors. The second oor will have 6 rooms for guests and a medita-
ton hall. The total cost of the building will come to around ` 60 lakhs. Please contribute liberally.
Donatons may be sent by Demand Draf or cheque in favour of Advaita Ashrama to the address
given below. All donatons are exempt from income tax under secton 80 G of the Income tax
Act, 1961.
ADVAITA ASHRAMA, 5 Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata 700 014, India
Phones: 91-33-22644000 / 22640898 / 22862383
E-mail: [email protected]
601 PB November 2010
=|-t=- t=- t= t|:t=tt- i Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached!
Traditional Wisdom
The Poetic Vision
November
Vol. , No.
=mt =t|- t =t-| -=t=r i
=t|- t =|- ==t t=-t=- |-t = -= t=t ii
Varuna performs works of preservation; we solicit him as our guide
who removes the obstacles on our way. Our invocator sings for him this
thoughtful praise with (all his) heart; may he be true to us. May heaven
and earth be aware of this praise of ours. (Rig Veda, 1.105.15)
-=t-= =-t-=t|---ttt|=-t -t
-= =m t = t|== =m|-- =-== i
-tt|=t =t ||===t =-t |-t==t=t
tt=t -= =t |=--=r= =-= = tt=|r ii
He from whom the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the universe
take place; who is both the material and the instrumental cause of it; who
is omniscient; who is the only one having selfmastery, being the one
independent entity; who illumined the mind of Brahma with the Vedic
revelation, whose wisdom is the wonder of even the greatest of sages; in
whom the worlds, the manifestation of the three gunas, subsist in reality
without in the least afecting him, just as the combination of material
elements like fre, water, and earth subsist in their causes without changing
their elemental nature; in whose light of consciousness there is no place for
anything falseon that supreme Truth we meditate. (Bhagavata, 1.1.1)
r=t == =-=t |=t =-=t =|- i
-tt|tt|=t| t= =t-==t== ii
Te ego is the patron, the sense objects the audience, the intellect the dancer,
the sense organs musicians playing on their instruments; and the lamp
illumining them all is the witnessconsciousness. (Panchadashi, 10.14)
--t== |--t t= = -t =t== t i
|--t=t -t =tt =|r-- = =t= - ii
As a lamp reveals all objects while remaining in its own place, so does the
witnessconsciousness, itself ever motionless, illumine the objects within
and without (including the workings of the mind). (10.15)
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PB November 2010 602
This MonTh
Art and spirituality, apparently two distinct do
mains, have an integral connection. Reviving this
connection through Te Divine Artist will release
the huge potential in all art forms, giving rise to a
new type of culture that Sri Ramakrishna had come
to usher in.
Music has a great hold on
the human psyche and
every culture employs
it widely. Swami Sattwa
sthananda, a monastic
member of Ramakrishna
Mission Hospital, Itana
gar, traces the synthesis of matter and spirit, the
human and the Divine, in Music: A Direct Means
to the Highest.
Dance is disciplined move
ment and it connects the in
dividual to the universal. It
portrays through abhinaya,
expression, not only devo
tion but the deity himself .
Shruba Mukhopadhyay, a
senior journalist from New
Delhi, simplifes the steps towards understanding
dance in Indian Classical Dance and Spirituality.
In Entrances and Gateways to the In
dian Pilgrimage Dr Kapila Vatsyayan,
Chairperson, India International
CentreAsia Project, New Delhi,
provides an elegant analysis of the
symbology of temple gateways
and how a pilgrimage is a spir
itual journey from the exter
nal world to the inner sanctum
sanctorum.
Sri Amal Ghosh, former Professor, Central St Mar
tins College, University of the Arts, London, re
fects on the defnition of Te Spiritual in Art,
and traces its history among artists who strove to
introduce the spiritual dimension in art.
Most concepts on which we base our
thought and action are metaphorical
in nature. In Transcending the Meta
phor Swami Madhurananda, a mo
nastic member of Advaita Ashrama,
Mayavati, writes on what metaphor is
and how Sri Ramakrishna, by teach
ing through metaphors, helps tran
scend them and experience Reality.
Mysticism is beyond all feelings, emotions, ec
stasies, and even bliss. Swami Prabhavananda,
founder MinisterinCharge, Vedanta Society of
Southern California, Hollywood, throws light on
Mysticism and Mystic Visions, clearing the haze
of mystery surrounding it.
In the ninth instalment of Vedantasara Swami
Bhaskareswarananda, former President, Rama
krishna Math, Nagpur, comments on the nature
of the individual self and the diferent levels of
personality.
In the third instalment of Mahendranath Gupta:
Last Days with Sri Ramakrishna Swami Chetana
nanda, MinisterinCharge, Vedanta Society of St
Louis, chronicles Sri Ramakrishnas lila at Kashipur
during the last days of 1885 and early 1886.
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603 PB November 2010
EDiToRiAL
The Divine Artist
I
want to know what were the steps by
which men passed from barbarism to civiliza
tion, said Voltaire. We can step in and answer
in two words: art and spirituality. In India these
two wordsrather feldswere never disparate.
Nowadays a distinction is made between spiritu
ality, religion, and art. However, in many ancient
cultures everything was done religiously: being
born, eating, sleeping, and fnally even dying.
Religion is a step towards spirituality, for no ir
religious person can be spiritual. If religion perme
ated every facet of life, art too had this inseparable
connection. All great religious movementsHin
duism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islamgave
rise to art, and art in turn helped spread these
movements.
Te development of art is an index of a soci
etys progress, its identifying characteristics, and
uniqueness. Tis distinctness of every culture
and community fnds expression in such genres
as folk tales, mythology, and philosophy, which
in turn inspire art. Defning art is, however, dif
ficult. The fine artspainting, music, dance,
and sculpturecan be viewed as a classifcatory
schema of art. Tese divisions have further rami
fed into hundreds of branches, and each subdi
vision has developed its philosophy; therefore, a
specifc defnition of art becomes difcult. Fine
art is diferent from industrial art, stylistic forms,
and decorative designs; and what an artisan or a
skilled worker produces belongs to applied art.
Te fne arts produce an experienceof beauty,
goodness, value, excellence; they have emotional
intensity and raise the mind from the mundane, at
least for the time being. Truly speaking, art is not
located somewhere outside the artist or the con
noisseur. If an object of art could speak, it would say
something like: I am not a mere elephant carved in
stone, I am an idea. It is the idea that is expressed
through various media.
Music, painting, dance, literature, sculpture, are
actually forms of communication having a language
of their own. Whoever understands this language
is able to experience the feelings and moods of the
poet, the artist, or the sculptor. In India, since an
cient times, aesthetics was termed rasaliterally,
favour or essenceand was based on the doctrine
of bhavas, moods. Te various bhavas have been
used to refer to artistic sentiments and also to the
modes of response. Indian art did not overly burden
itself with questions of style, of schools or genre, or
of historical and social infuences.
Is all art spiritual? We fnd works of art being
defaced, destroyed, derided, and demeaned; art
ists being criticized, hooted at, abused, and even
beaten up. It is not easy for artists to gain recogni
tion. Some are lucky to get it only afer they have
passed away. An artist should have the freedom of
expression, but sometimes the expression may be
frivolousan aberration or an idiosyncrasy not
commonly sharedthis cannot be passed as art.
Arteven abstract artcannot be totally divorced
from Reality; it ought to have a universal dimen
sion and a timeless quality to it. Above all, in the
words of Swami Vivekananda, Art must be in touch
with natureand wherever that touch is gone, Art
degeneratesyet it must be above nature.
Once a person came to Sant Kabir saying,
Where is the bluest sky, where the deepest ocean;
in which forest would I fnd the fairest fower,
where can I hear the best raga. Kabir was surprised
and replied, Pani bich min piyasi, mohin sun sun
awat hansi; the fsh is thirsty in the waters, I feel
like laughing on hearing so. What Kabir meant

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PB November 2010 604
Prabuddha Bharata 14
was this: we are surrounded with the aesthetic,
and yet are searching and dying for it. Standing in
front of the Taj Mahal on a full moon night can
move even a dull heart, but a busy bazaar does not
generally evoke any artistic sentiment. Te frst
experience can be enhanced a thousandfold if the
eye is trained. Swamiji clarifes: In glancing at a
highly fnished painting we cannot understand
where its beauty lies. Moreover, unless the eye is,
to a certain extent, trained, one cannot appreciate
the subtle touches and blendings, the inner ge
nius of a work of art. Te same holds good for
music, sculpture, or dance. Tus appreciation of
art needs a degree of training. Te more trained
the eye, the better the aesthetic experience. Te
work of art, the artist, and the observer must co
alesce for a while.
A trained eye means a trained mind. This
comes through refnement of the senses and the
intellect. Tere are many ways to gain this refne
ment: from attending an art appreciation course
to contemplating on God. To a refned mind that
has become perfect through sadhana, the whole
universe becomes a work of art. Tat mind also
understands that a work of art is a small portion
of the vast Nature expressed creatively by one or
more persons. Tis individual creativity is very im
portant for it proves the inexhaustible capacity of
the human mind.
One who can perceive art even beyond forms,
lines, tunes, or verses, comes in touch with the Di
vine Artist. Swamiji declares: I never read of any
more beautiful conception of God than the follow
ing: He is the Great Poet, the Ancient Poet; the
whole universe is His poem, coming in verses and
rhymes and rhythms, written in infnite bliss. Tat
is why God is called kavi, poet, and, as the Upani
shad says, Raso vai sah; the Selfcreated is verily joy.
Moreover, the rishis who realized this Poet were
also called kavis and the scripturesvedic, epic,
and mythologicalthey gave are poetic and mu
sical. Tese scriptures in turn have inspired art for
thousands of generations, and are still doing so.
It is my opinion, Swamiji says, that Sri Rama
krishna was born to vivify all the branches of art
and culture in this country. Sri Ramakrishna was
not only good at painting, vocal music, sculpture,
and dance, there was something extraordinary
about him: he was a natural artist in touch with a
higher Reality. Ordinarily, art unveils nature. Yet,
such art can also be thoroughly materialistic and a
source of hedonistic pleasure. But sublime art has
a diferent dimension. Sublime artists empty their
hearts of all worldly slime to visualize within an in
telligible image or idea; then they identify with it
and proceed to work in stone, paint, metal, words,
or sound. Te ideal then is that of a Reality beyond
Nature. Sublime art has always tried to capture the
transcendent Reality in its manifestations.
To experience the Divine Artist is the zenith of
art, and we fnd that experience in Sri Ramakrishna,
the sublime Artist. Te revival of all branches of
art and culture, for which he is the harbinger, must
have this spiritual dimension. Tose who are part of
this revival may not produce tangible works of art,
but their very lives are artistic, beautiful, valuable,
universal, and timeless. Teir words, thoughts, feel
ings, and karmas assume a transcendent dimension.
Teir senses, body, mind, and intelligenceindeed
their whole personalitybecome a work of art.
Such artists can stand in the busy bazaar or in
front of the Taj Mahal and not make any distinc
tion between the two. In pain and misery, in hap
piness and joy, in poverty and wealth, in learning
and ignorance, in sickness and health, they catch
the Real. We read how as a boy Sri Ramakrishna
saw a fock of milkwhite cranes fying across a jet
black rain cloud and went into samadhi. But some
times he also experienced samadhi while looking at
drunkards and prostitutes, for he saw the Divine
in them. For him the Divine Artist, Nature, and
human beings fused into one. Sri Ramakrishnas art
has given us a fresh perspective on fne art.
Terefore, afer its long travails from barbarism,
humanity cannot tarry merely at being civilized, it
has to proceed further. Deep down there is a grow
ing universal need for direction, which is gracefully
addressed by the Divine Artist. P
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605 PB November 2010
Music: A Direct Means
to the Highest
Swami Sattwasthananda
ll the spiritual personalities that
India has produced unanimously agree that
the goal of human life is Selfrealization.
Sri Ramakrishna also holds Godrealization to be
the goal of human life. Swami Vivekananda put
the same idea in a diferent language when he said
that each soul is potentially divine and the goal of
human life is to manifest this inner divinity. Indian
culture posits this ideal as the highest through its
art, literature, music, customs, and mythology. It
emphasizes that all our endeavours to attain wealth
and enjoyment, artha and kama, should not be in
dependent selfsufcient goals. Rather, they ought
to be closely related to and governed by moral prin
ciples, dharma. Tis is to be done to prepare oneself
for attaining liberation, moksha, or manifesting the
divinity already in us.1
Music is a fne art which excels in many respects
the arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting. It
appeals to and attracts all living beings. Music is a
collection of sweet and soothing sounds vibrating
and creating an aesthetic feeling that overpowers
the feelings for the other beauties of nature. Tat
is why it is recognized as the greatest and fnest art
that brings peace and solace to all humans.2 Indian
music has a character of its own. It is a synthesis of
countless forms bonded through spiritual fervour.
It encompasses spirit and matter, the human and
divine realms. It paves a path that connects human
beings with God. It gives a subjective knowledge of
the Supreme. Swami Prajnanananda observes:
Music in India is a superb creative art, infused with
a religious feeling. Music is a spiritual sdhan
that uplifs the consciousness of man to the high
est. It is not just a subtle fabric of tones and tunes,
of fancy and dream, but is a dynamic spiritual ex
pression. Te ancient seers saw in their ecstatic vi
sion the divine forms of the rgas, realized them,
and transmitted them to humanity. Tey realized
the rgas as both objective and subjectivema
terial and spiritual ones, and not merely as the
inert structures of tones and tunes. So a rga is a
psychomaterial object that spiritualizes both the
body and the mind, and helps men to transcend
both matter and mind so as to get the luminous
apperception of the Absolute.3
Music is part and parcel of our daily lives.
Tough we may live amidst music, most of us might
not have understood its true signifcance. Since
a clearer and deeper understanding of music will
help us progress towards the goal of life, a modest
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PB November 2010 606
Prabuddha Bharata 16
attempt has been made here to show how this great
art can take us to the highest.
Origin of Music
Indians believe, from time immemorial, that music,
the language of emotions, has a divine origin. Te
infnite Brahman manifests itself as this universe.
Tis concept has been elegantly expressed in Indian
music and literature.4 Swami Prajnanananda elabor
ates on the process of creation of sound and music:
In ancient Greece, the musicians, and the music
ologists, and also the philosophers used to believe
that music exists eternally in the ethereal space
in the form of vibrations of the cosmic energy.
Te ancient musicians and the musicologists of
India similarly believed that real music exists in
the depths of the subconscious mind, in the form
of divine energy, kundalini, in an unmanifested
form, and when it is manifested, it is transformed
into tones and tunes, tinged with the colour of
aesthetic sentiments and moods.5
Sharngadeva says:
Caitanya sarva-bhtn vivta jagadtman;
Nda-brahma tadnandam- advityam-upsmahe.
Nakra pra-nmna dakram-anala vidu;
Jta prgni sayogt-tena ndbhidhyate.
I meditate on Brahman as nda [the uncreated
primal sound], the nondual blissful Conscious
ness underlying all of Creation that is manifest as
the universe. Te letter na is known to represent
pra, the vital force, and da represents agni, fre
[the will to create]; as it [the primal sound] is born
of the conjunction of the vital force and fre, it is
called nda.
Tis verse suggests that the primal creative will is
the source of the universe, a view attested by the Upa
nishads; and music is a product of this primal will:
Everything has been evolved frst in the causal un
manifested form, and then in the manifested form.
Te form remains the same, but its degrees of mani
festation difer, and this diference brings the idea
of change, i.e. creation or projection. Te musical
treatises of India admit this theory of evolution.
Tey say that music evolves frst in an avyakta or
unmanifested form, and then in a vyakta or mani
fested form, which is known either as noise or as
sweet music (8).
In India, nda, sound, has been recognised as the
prime source of the grand structure of music, con
taining tonal and microtonal elements; mrcchan,
elaboration of tones; articulation of tones through
vara, verbal elements; alakra, embellishments;
and many other components that make of music
such a rich art.
Music as Spiritual Aid
Tere is something wonderful in music. Charles
Kingsley says:
Words are wonderful enough but music is more
wonderful. It appeals not to our thoughts as words
do, it speaks straight to our hearts and spirits, to the
very core and root of our souls. Music soothes us,
stirs us up; it puts noble feelings into us; it melts us
to tears, we know not how; it is a language by itself
just as perfect in its way as speech, as words; just as
divine, just as blessed. Music has been called the
speech of angels; it is the speech of God itself.6
Te Haridasas used music as a medium for con
veying to the masses the sublime message of the
Vedas and the Upanishads: It was their frm con
viction that God would manifest Himself when the
soul craved His company through music and dance.
Of all modes of apprehension of God, music was the
most efective and powerful, and when employed
would persuade the Remote and the Transcendental
God to bless [the devotees] with His living presence
(ibid.). Of the various spiritual disciplines described
in the scriptures as means to moksha, bhakti is the
easiest and the most efcacious. Te Bhagavata,
the great bhakti scripture, describes bhakti to be of
nine types: Listening to the names and glories of
Bhagavan, singing the same, remembering him, serv
ing his feet, ofering ritualistic worship, obeisance
to him, having the attitude of a servant or a friend
of God, and total dedication to him.7 Out of these
nine moods, it is only kirtan, singing the praises of
Bhagavan, that easily captivates all minds, as it is in
the form of music.8 To the Haridasas, sagta, music,
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Music: A Direct Means to the Highest 17
and shitya, poetry, had the same origin and were
inseparable.9 Sripadaraja says in one of his ugbhoga
compositions: Dhyana in Krita [Satya] Yuga, yajna
and yajana [oblations] in Treta Yuga, worship in
Dwapara, and gna [singing] in Kali Yuga are
the forms of devotion to Keshava. Te same idea
is echoed by Purandaradasa: Dhyana, yajna and
arcana [worship] and kirtan are the forms through
which Purandara Vitthala bestows moksha on de
votee. Rightly has it been stated that
Te philosophy of Haridasas was the realization
of Paramatman through music and poetry, for the
Lord is the Samagana Priya [lover of the singing of
the Sama Veda] and both music and poetry are the
Sadhana of Adhyatma Vikasa [spiritual growth].
Te Lord says Mad Bhakta Yatra Gayanti tatra
Tishthami [I reside where my devotees sing my
praise]. Te Haridasas sing the praises of Hari.
Bhakti was enshrined in poetry and transmuted
into living excellence by music, for poetry and
music were both dear to the Lord. Every Hari
dasa was a composer, a poet and a devotee with
soulful music (ibid.).
Vyasaraja, Vadiraja, and Purandaradasa experi
enced the love of God through the sadhana of music
and preached this path to humanity. Tey empha
sized the use of the common language in bridging
social divides and attaining personal purity. Tese
saints stressed the use of music as a link between the
mundane and the transcendent. Tey believed that
music could be a means to embellish ones life both
here and in the hereafer. Te Haridasa saints con
sidered language and music to be pivotal in chan
nelling the unstable mind to realize the Divine.10
Basaveshwara says: Te mind of man like a monkey
fies from branch to branch. Purandaradasa adds:
Te mind is like a monkey and it is difcult to regu
late, control, and direct it to the Divine. Sri Hari
is a gnalola [one moved by music], gnavinod [a
lover of music], and gna is the quintessence of all
the Vedas. So, Sri Vyasaraja says, let your mind be
come the strings to vibrate to celestial music and let
your hands join to keep time in harmony with that
music so that the Lord might listen you. 11
Purandaradasa, considered the founder of Car
natic music, composed songs that range from the
most homely to the most philosophical:
His songs are so emotional that anyone can be
moved to tears. It is in suspended states of ani
mation which music inspires, that [the] Bhakta
sees the pillars of the forest, pyramidal mountains,
columnar clifs, as the images of a divine Archi
tect. It is the function of music to idealise not
only the divine nature but [also] human life. It
compresses into [a] brief compass, an ideal of the
moral life of man and conveys some idea of the
unity, the harmony and the moral signifcance of
the whole. Music gives the capacity not simply to
refect on what lies on the surface, but to see under
it and to get at the heart of lifes mystery (1278).
Te vast corpus of kirtans composed by these
saints have become models of modern Kannada
prose and poetry.
At the same time, since the sixteenth century, it
has been the tradition of these saints to sing these
kirtanas to the delectation of the people, walk
ing from place to place on foot with tambura in
hand, despising sufering, hardship and poverty,
and exhorting the people to live a life of truth, vir
tue, and devotion to God. At the same time, they
conveyed the difcult thoughts of the Upanishads
and the Bhagavadgita in simple mellifuous and
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Prabuddha Bharata 18
melodious prose which had a direct appeal to the
human heart. Te Haridasas, who like the Maha
rashtra saints, believed in the divineness of music,
as a sadhana of selfrealisation, and regarded their
own kirtanas and Music as twinbornwith the
result that all the Haridasas turned out to be pro
fcient in raga, tala [time and tempo], and sruti
[tone] to make themselves eligible for the love of
God; and they preached the doctrine that a Soul
without music in his soul, the language of divinity,
would not be able to attain salvation (989).
Afer the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire in the
sixteenth century the political life of South India
disintegrated. As in other felds, decline in arts like
painting and sculpture led to the loss of a valuable
tradition. However, all was not bleak. Even in this
period of decline, music and spirituality continued
to fower, mutually enriching each other, and saints
like Purandaradasa and Tyagaraja touched the
hearts of people with their exquisite devotional
music. Tyagaraja is credited with reaf rming gna
mrga, music as a means to liberation:
Tyagaraja was one who underwent a poignant life
of devotional and spiritual striving and by the
meaning and message packed in the passages of
his songs, he takes his place among the musician
saints of our country, like Kabir, and Purandara
dasa. Among the music composers of his time,
Tyagaraja was a poet, preacher and philosopher.
Tose that have heard his songs again and again
and have been carried away by their music, have no
suspicion of the wealth of idea[s] that lies under
neath, like gems within the ocean. Te gusto
with which he preached and the volume of valu
able wisdom and experience he impounded in his
songs place him among the saints whom we revere
for the service they performed by periodic spir
itual rehabilitation of our land. Tyagarajas songs
will therefore be not only a huge dam storing for
us our precious musical heritage, but one more of
the bibles which our saints have given to the com
munity at large for their spiritual salvation.12
In one of his songs, Tyagaraja says: Come one
and all and sing the hundreds of gemlike melo
dies which Tyagaraja composed for the salvation
of humanity; songs which contain the essence of
the Vedas, the six Sastras, Puranas, and Agamas,
which the Bhagavatas congregate and sing forth
and which show the right path to attain the bliss
realised by the Yogins! (35).
He af rms that it was due to sweet music that
he could realize the Divine: Susvarapu nda pha-
lamo. Summing up, as it were, the fruits of spiritual
music, he says in his song Sangita Jnanamu that
the knowledge of musical lore would confer on
one wealth, fame, good conduct, grace of the Lord,
love for good men, devotion and love, and above all
the bliss of oneness with the Lord (50). In his song
Svara Raga Sudha Rasa he says that bhakti associ
ated with the ambrosia of svara [tone and accent]
and raga is verily paradise and salvation. To know
and realize the nature of nda, originating from the
mldhra, is itself bliss and salvation. According
to Advaita Vedanta, one attains salvation through
brahma-jna, knowledge of Brahman, which may
take several births. But he who has the knowledge
of rgas along with natural devotion is indeed a lib
erated soul. In his song Mokshamu Sada, he asserts
that music in itself can secure one jivanmukti, liber
ation in life. In numerous other songs too we fnd
Tyagaraja glorifying music as a path to the highest
goal of human life (502).
Tere is a wonderful galaxy of Indian mystics
whose approach to the Divine found expression
and consummation in music. Let us now briefy
see how Ramprasad, the melodious mystic of Ben
gal, reached the highest goal through this path. Sri
Ramakrishna says: Ramprasad achieved perfection
through singing. One obtains the vision of God
if one sings with yearning heart.13 Ramprasads
legacy of songs, bhajans, and kirtans is a veritable
spiritual treasure:
Just as Tyagarajas bhajans move the hearts of
hundreds and thousands of devotees in the South
India, Tukarams in the West, and Miras in the
North India, likewise Ramprasads songs enkindle
the hearts of hundreds and thousands of devotees
in Bengal. As long as there would be worship
pers of Sri Rama, Vithoba and Nandadulala in
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Music: A Direct Means to the Highest 19
those parts of the country, Tyagarajas, Tukarams
and Miras songs would be sung; as long as Shakti
worship continues in Bengal, Ramprasads songs
will be sung.14
Ramprasad is particularly known for his songs
to Mother Kali. Tese are not mere poetry. Tey
display the yearning for Kali expressed in music.
Tey are the manifestation of Kali in sound. Te
vibrant presence of Kali in these songs is authen
ticated by Sri Ramakrishna, who constantly sang
them. Ramprasad asserts his devotion and protests
against Divine Mothers silence. We fnd him in
the mood of a sadhaka, a desperate seeker, pining
for the vision of the Mother. He is convinced that
the Mother isthere is never any doubt about that
fundamental positionand therefore the agony is
all the more acute. In a frontal manner he asks the
Mother a question:
O Mother, how long would you
make me go about
Like the bull with blinkers on
Round and round the oilpress?
Tying me down to the trunk of this world
You are incessantly making me
go round and round
Due to what ofence, may I ask
Have you made me a slave to the six oilmen?
Births countless of beasts and birds and so forth
I have seen through,
Yet the cessation of this sufering is not in sight.
Te word Mother is soaked in afection,
Te way of the world is that
When the child weeps the Mother
takes it on her lap,
Am I outside the world?
Countless sinners got delivered
By just chanting Durga, Durga, Durga;
O Mother, for just once, remove
the blinkers from my eyes
So that I may behold your fearless feet.
Wicked sons there are, ever so many,
but never a wicked Mother.
(Keep Prasad, your wicked son,
bent at your feet.)
O Mother, Ramprasad hopes to stay
at Your feet in the end (701).
Ramprasad saw the Mother as the only cause of
the universe, and his songs faithfully refect this vi
sion. While frantically searching for God Sri Rama
krishna would cry before the image of Kali saying:
You revealed yourself to Ramprasad, Mother; then
why not to me? I dont want wealth, friends, rela
tives, enjoyments of pleasure, and so on. Reveal
yourself to me (69). And Mother did reveal her
self to Sri Ramakrishna as she did to Ramprasad:
Today we have Ramprasads testimony reinforced
by the life of Sri Ramakrishna. If the Mother is hid
den from us, it is because we have not suf ciently
pressed our claim and thrown ourselves whole
heartedly at her feet (90).
Sri Ramakrishna,
Swami Vivekananda, and Music
Music is inseparable from Sri Ramakrishnas life
and it has added to his charm. Tis becomes very
clear as we go through the pages of the Gospel of Sri
Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna, says Swami Viveka
nanda in his famous Khandanabhavabandhana
stotra, was bhsvara-bhva-sgara; ocean of re
splendent emotions. Sri Ramakrishna used this
powerful medium of music for various purposes: i)
as an earnest aspirant longing for the vision of the
Divine Mother, ii) as an aspirant singing in great joy
afer having the vision of the Mother, iii) as a spir
itual teacher instructing his disciples and devotees.
Let us now see some of the sayings of Sri Rama
krishna, which are not mere words but his actual
experiences, that clearly show how music can
take a true spiritual aspirant to the highest goal
of human life:
If a person excels in singing, music, dancing, or
any other art, he can also quickly realize God pro
vided he strives sincerely.15 Sri Ramakrishna said to
a singer: You are ferrying many people across the
ocean of the world. How many hearts are illumined
by hearing your music! (600). At another time he
said: One should listen to singing to awaken the
inner spirit (695). He also said: In the Kaliyuga
the best way is bhaktiyoga, the path of devotion
singing the praises of the Lord, and prayer (143).
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Prabuddha Bharata 20
As in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, in Swami
Vivekanandas life also music had played a very im
portant role, which is clearly refected in several of
his sayings:
Te greatest aid to this practice of keeping God
in memory is, perhaps, music. Te Lord says to
Narada, the great teacher of Bhakti, I do not live
in heaven, nor do I live in the heart of the Yogi,
but where My devotees sing My praise, there am
I. Music has such tremendous power over the
human mind; it brings it to concentration in a
moment. You will fnd the dull, ignorant, low,
brutelike human beings, who never steady their
mind for a moment at other times, when they
hear attractive music, immediately become
charmed and concentrated. Even the minds of
animals, such as dogs, lions, cats, and serpents,
become charmed with music.16
Further: Music is the highest art and, to those
who understand, is the highest worship(5.125).
Drama and music are by themselves religion; any
song, love song or any song, never mind; if ones
whole soul is in that song, he attains salvation, just
by that; nothing else he has to do; if a mans whole
soul is in that, his soul gets salvation. Tey say it
leads to the same goal (6.102).
Towards the Goal of Life
It has been pointed out that the realization of the
immortal soul of music is its philosophical foun
dation. Terefore, we ought to educate ourselves
about this soul of music. Proper training and edu
cation alone can harmonize the chords of the phe
nomenal music with those of the transcendental.
Musicians should develop themselves and their
music to attain the highest level of spirituality.
Tey need to keep in mind the grand truth or phil
osophy of India that man can see God face to face,
can get an immediate awareness of the Absolute, as
the task of philosophy of India is to solve the riddle
of the universe and to discover the ways and means
to mans perfection in life.17
Sage Yajnavalkya, the great Smriti authority,
says:
Yath-vidhnena pahan
sma-gyam-avicyutam;
Svadhnas-tad-abhyst
para brahmdhigacchati.
V-vdana-tattvaja
ruti-jti-virada;
Tlaja-cpraysena
moka-mrga niyacchati.
Intoning the sma songs in proper manner and
without break, and practising them with care, one at
tains the supreme Brahman. One thoroughly conver
sant with the principles of playing on the vina, and
an expert in matters of intonation, melody, and time,
attains without exertion the way to liberation.18
Purandaradasa says: God will listen to you sit
ting if you sing from a lying posture; He will stand
to listen, if you sing sitting. He will open the gates of
heaven for you, if you sing standing and dancing in
raptures of joy. Moreover, He who plays the strings
to music, crosses the ocean of births and deaths; he
who listens to music joins the category of the angels;
he who sings in praise of You, experiences the Vision
of the Transcendental. Vadiraja observes: Blessed
are they who sing the praises of the Lord, for they
belong to the camp of the immortals. 19 Here we are
reminded of Sri Ramakrishna: One obtains the vi
sion of God if one sings with yearning heart. 20
Te main object of Indian music is to attain
spiritual illumination. Indian music has preserved
that solemn tradition and ideal all through the ages,
so the authors of music have laid the greatest em
phasis upon its spiritual side and said that practice
of music is a sadhana which unfolds the grand mys
tery of human life. Music is recognized as spiritual
food and divine blessing to men and women, and
by its practice they attain immortality even while
they live in mortal frames. Te human soul fnds in
it the goal of [a] seemingly unending journey, and
gets tranquillity and everlasting bliss. 21 Music is
one of the best means to the highest good; adopted,
nurtured, and nourished with care, and followed
with concentrated attention and efort, it will help
us reach the goal of life. P
(References on page 631)
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Indian Classical Dance
and Spirituality
Shruba Mukhopadhyay
rom a mere gesture expressing feelings to
a sublime experience, from a source of amuse
ment and pleasure to a means of spiritual uplif,
dance is that divine thread which connects the in
dividual with the universal. Even though all Indian
art forms have a spiritual aspect, perhaps dance is
the only genre where the artist has the unique priv
ilege of portraying through abhinaya, expression,
not only devotion but the deity himself.
Origin and Purpose of Indian Dance
Legend has it that dance originated from Brahma,
the Supreme Creator, when he was approached by
Indra and other deities to provide a means of amuse
ment that could be seen and heard by all. Te re
sult of this was the ffh Veda, which took words
from the Rgveda, gestures from the Yajus, music
and chanting from the Sama and sentiments and
emotions from the Atharvaveda. Unlike the other
Vedas, this Veda was not taboo to the Sudras and its
main purpose was to provide pleasure and delight
both to the ear and the eye irrespective of caste. 1
Tis theory put forward by Bharata in his Natya-
shastra may not be regarded as a historical fact, but
as Kapila Vatsyayan points out it could have been
conceived only in a society where dance enjoyed
prestige and honour. Trough this theory, Bharata
attributes to dancing a divine origin, a literary and
religious heritage both in thought and technique
and an aesthetic secular purpose. Te story of the
handing over of this art by Siva to Tandu and then
to Bharata asserts the religious, literary and secular
aspect of this art (ibid.).
Humans realized that they could express their
emotionsjoy and sorrow, anger and love
through disciplined movement. Tey noted that
just as discipline and discernment were essential to
organize a society that places universal happiness
on a higher pedestal, far above individual happiness,
the disciplined movement of dance ought also to be
formalized in such a way as to transcend the barri
ers of mind and body for accessing a higher realm.
Tus, dance was conceived as a means of dedicating
oneself to the higher Self.
A Godcentred character is a common fea
ture of all dance systems of India: Bharatanatyam,
Kathakali, Manipuri, Odissi, Kuchipudi, and others.
All Indian dances are grounded in bhakti; a major
ity of them originated as temple dances and were
performed by devadasis, Gods servants, for prais
ing and pleasing God. In fact, bhakti is at the centre
of all Indian arts. Indian music and dance are two
important oferings to God. Tough it is accepted
that there are many ways to reach God, music and
dance are believed to be the easiest and most de
pendable of all paths.
From time immemorial dance has been in India
an important part of any ritualan essential of
fering. Music and dance are ofered with the same
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Prabuddha Bharata 22
spirit of devotion and surrender as other materials of
worship: fowers, incense, camphor, sweets, and the
like. And it is not only the devotee who dances be
fore God, the Indian mind was so captivated by the
beauty and serenity of movements that it also had
the gods themselves dancing. Besides, later thinkers
sought to explain natural phenomena in terms of
dancing, problems of the world through the sym
bolism of rhythmic movements, and even questions
pertaining to the Atman and the jiva in the vocabu
lary of dance, as is seen in the Bhagavata.
From Indra, who has been called the leader of
dancers in the Rig Veda, all the divinities of the
Hindu pantheon have themselves danced on one
occasion or the other. Most of the godsGane
sha, Murugan, Kali, Saraswati, Krishnahave their
nritya-murti, dance forms. To top it all, there is
the Supreme Bhagavan Shiva as nataraja, king of
dancers. Te story of the gopis dancing with Sri
Krishna is nothing but an allegory of the human
soul dancing with the Infnite. Radhas dance with
Sri Krishna is nothing but the jivas union with
Paramatman. Dance was an integral part of temple
rituals and there were temple dancers as wellthis
is not something that happened by chance, it was
the direct result of a continuous process of thought
and living. As Vatsyayan observes:
Nowhere are we made so aware of the rich reli
gious background, the vast literary heritage and
yet entirely aesthetic purpose of an art form, as
we are in a classical dance performance, whether
it is Bharatanatyam or Kathakali or Manipuri
or Odissi. Te artist of this dance never seeks to
express personal human emotions or subjective
states of mind; he or she is constantly represent
ing themes relating to gods and goddessesSiva
and Parvati, Krisna and Radha and the apsaras
and the pangs and yearnings of these supernat
ural beings who pine more than the human beings.
If the human or the subjective is represented at
all, it is only the devotees love for the One, the
Almighty, not the separation of the mortal lover
from the beloved. Te themes of dance in which
ever style invariably relate to the lives of divine
beings, their battles and epic conficts; never are
they the sociological problems of the day (ibid.).
But the ultimate tribute to the art of dancing
is provided by Bhagavan Nataraja performing the
cosmic dance. As Ananda Coomaraswamy says:
Whatever the origins of Sivas dance, it became in
time the clearest image of the activity of God which
any art or religion can boast of. 2 Te essential sig
nifcance of Shivas dance is threefold: First, his
dance is taken as the source and image of all move
ments within the cosmos; second, the purpose of
his dance is to release the countless souls of human
beings from maya or illusion; third, the place of the
dance, Chidambaram, the centre of the universe, is
within the heart.
Of the various dance performances of Shiva,
Coomaraswamy has written about an evening
dance in the Himalayas where Saraswati plays
on the vina, Indra on the fute, Brahma holds the
timemarking cymbals, Lakshmi begins a song,
Vishnu plays on a drum and all the gods stand
Kathakali performance
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Indian Classical Dance and Spirituality 23
round about (ibid.). Te other wellknown dances
of Shiva are the Tandava and the Nadanta. While
the Tandava is performed in cemeteries and burn
ing ghats, where the tenarmed Shiva dances spir
itedly with the Devi, the Nadanta is held before
the assembly in the golden hall of Chidambaram.
Te dance, in fact, represents His fve activities
(Pancakritya), viz: Shrishti (overlooking, creation,
evolution), Sthiti (preservation, support), Sam-
hara (destruction, evolution), Tirobhava (veiling,
embodiment, illusion and also, giving rest), Anu-
graha (release, salvation, grace). Tese, separately
considered, are the activities of the deities Brahma,
Vishnu, Rudra, Maheshvara and Sadashiva (87).
Dance as a Spiritual Practice
Can dance be defned? Experts believe that if taken
to a level of perfection dance can become a symbol
of the universal energy, the voice and movement
of God. Eminent Bharatanatyam dancer Balasaras
wati says: Dance is the natural and therefore uni
versal activity of the human species through which
it fnds unity with the cosmos and its creator. Te
cosmos is the dynamic expression, in orderly and
beautiful movement, of the static source, the one
supreme spirit.3
For her, Bharatanatyam is a yoga, a spiritual dis
cipline to control the wayward mind and perfect it
to thoughtfree serenity. Te expertise of the artist
enables him or her to gain the equipoise of yoga in
a rapid change of difering moods. Singleminded
contemplation is difcult even when there is no
activity. In Bharatanatyam actions are not avoided,
but it is the harmony of various actions that results
in the concentration we seek.
Te Kuchipudi dancer Kaushalya Reddy says
that the act of standing on a plate and dancing on
it symbolizes detachment from all earthly connec
tions. Te dancer gets so engrossed in the rhythm
as she has to produce the sound the percussionist is
playing and concentrate on her balance that all other
worldly thoughts simply disappear from her mind.
Balasaraswati also refers to this concentration
amidst intense action when she says:
Te feet keeping to time, hands expressing gesture,
the eye following the hand with expression, the
ear listening to the dance masters music and the
dancers own singingby harmonizing these fve
elements the mind achieves concentration and at
tains clarity in the very richness of participation.
Te inner feeling of the dancer is the sixth sense
which harnesses these fve mental and mechanical
elements to create the experience and enjoyment
of beauty (ibid.).
It is this spark which gives the dancer a sense
of freedom in the midst of the rigid discipline of
dance. Comparing a dancer with a yogi, the dan
seuse says that the dancer brings together the feet,
hands, eyes, ears, and singing into a fusion that
transforms the serenity of the yogi into a torrent of
beauty. Just as in yoga exercises, the dancers body,
in the process of making rhythmic movements, is
cleansed of its human weaknesses and is purifed
into a conduit of the spiritual and the beautiful.
Bharatanatyam dance
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Revealing her own experience during performances,
Balasaraswati further says:
Even for an ordinary being like myself, on some
occasions and in some measure, dance and music
have enabled a deep experience of the presence of
God. Tis experience may occur only once in a
while but when it does, for that little duration, its
grandeur enters the soul not transiently but with
a sense of eternity. As one gets involved in the art,
with greater and greater dedication, one can con
tinuously experience throughout the few hours of
the dance, this unending joy, this complete well
being, especially when music and dance mingle
indistinguishably (10).
To eminent Bharatanatyam dancer and re
searcher Padma Subramaniam, dancing is like
meditation. She says: When you are learning
Bharatanatyam you have to train each and every
limb for that perfect movement. But when you are
dancing, you have to forget your body. Te body
consciousness is simply not there. Recalling her
experience in one of her village shows where she
injured her foot while dancing, Padma says she did
not even feel the pain, it was a big nail and it [her
foot] was bleeding, but I did not feel it. Only afer
I fnished my performance, I could see it and feel
the pain. It happened because body consciousness
was not there (ibid.). Dance can give wings to an
aspiring soul to soar higher; and for Padma, her
research on Bharatas Natyashastra was not just an
intellectual exercise but a spiritual journey.
It is also the responsibility of the performer to
allow the rasika, the wellinformed audience, to
get a feel of this spiritual transformation. In their
shared involvement, the dancer and the spectator
are both released from worldly woes and experience
the divine joy of the art with a total sense of freedom.
Tat is why, Kaushalya says, several times I have
seen spectators being moved to tears afer our dance
on vishwarupa darshana or Krishna Lila, as if they
have viewed the Lord himself on the stage. How
ever, it all depends on the calibre of the performer.
According to Natyashastra, every place where
dances are staged is transformed into a temple
because all devatas, gods, congregate there to ap
preciate the performance. Tat is precisely the rea
son why avahana, invocation, is such an important
part of classical dance.
Every performance of Kuchipudi will start with
vandana, adoration, of Ganapati, Shiva, or Vishnu.
Trough this dance form the artiste narrates a story
either from mythology or the Krishna Lila or the
Draupadi Chiraharana (Disrobing of Draupadi).
Kaushalya says: Kuchipudi is unique in the sense
that here the dancer is not only portraying a charac
ter, he or she is actually living it. Tus while perform
ing Krishna Lila, the artiste is not only referring to
Vasudeva, but actually becoming the Lord himself.
It is a complete transformation as the dancer forgets
his or her personality, the lesser self.
While choosing a theme Padma is always selec
tiveshe picks up ideas from the Advaita phil
osophy or the Bhagavadgita. Her favourite subject is
Sri Krishna as purna avatara, the perfect incarnation,
where she seeks to portray the multifaceted person
ality of the deity. But how can a dancer experience
freedom in the midst of the constraints and discip
line of classical dance? Dance is like language, says
Padma, you learn the grammar and then what you
write is your choice. Surely, you cannot write poetry
by looking into a dictionary. In dance, the rules are
like grammar and having a thorough profciency in
grammar will help one to become more creative.
In sum, from the Indian perspective, dance is
not merely an art or even an expression of emo
tions. It is a sadhana to bring an aesthetic order to
an otherwise haphazard life. Trough this sadhana
the dancers commune with the Divine. Terein lies
the fulflment and perfection of dance. P
References
1. KapilaVatsyayan,Classical Indian Dance in Litera-
ture and the Arts(NewDelhi:SangeetNatakAka
demi,1968),142.
2. AnandaCoomaraswamy,Te Dance of Shiva: Four-
teen Indian Essays(NewDelhi:MunshiramMano
harlal,1970),84.
3. Bala on Bharatanatyam,comp.andtrans.SGuhan
(Madras:Sruti,1991),9.
615 PB November 2010
hat tribute can one pay Sri Rama-
krishna, the great seer and saint of our
times, on the auspicious occasion of his
175th birth anniversary? His gaze was comprehen-
sive. From the earth to the sky, from the fowing
waters of the Ganga to the universal shakti of the
Divine Mother Kali, he saw God in all Creation.
For him, as he ofen said in his conversations, God
permeates the animate and the inanimate world.
He stressed that one could not take the part to be
the whole. In one illuminative moment he said:
He who has attained God knows that it is God
who has become all this. Ten he sees that God,
maya, living beings, and the universe form one
whole. God includes the universe and its living
beings. Suppose you have separated the shell, fesh,
and seeds of a bel-fruit and someone asks you the
weight of the fruit. Will you leave aside the shell
and the seeds, and weigh only the fesh? Not at
all. To know the real weight of the fruit, you must
weigh the whole of itthe shell, the fesh, and the
seeds. Only then can you tell its real weight.1
He then explained this metaphor:
Te shell may be likened to the universe, and the
seeds to living beings. While one is engaged in dis-
crimination one says to oneself that the universe
and the living beings are non-Self and unsubstan-
tial. At that time one thinks of the fesh alone as
the substance, and the shell and seeds as unsub-
stantial. But afer discrimination is over, one feels
that all three parts of the fruit together form a
unity. Ten one further realizes that the stuf that
has produced the fesh of the fruit has also pro-
duced the shell and seeds. To know the real nature
of the bel-fruit one must know all three (328).
What Sri Ramakrishna said is a seminal truth
of the many manifestations of Indian art. Neither
Indian architecture nor Indian sculpturesthe
images of Shiva, Vishnu, or Devi, for instancecan
be broken up into categories or understood in terms
of only their formal elements, poses, and gestures.
Tey have to be absorbed as a whole.
Indian art is a spiritual experience, although
through a diferent trajectory. Art in India, particu-
larly Indian architecture, is also akin to a pilgrim-
age. A pilgrimage is undertaken with the purpose
of ascending from the mundane to the spiritual in
a constant attempt at refnement, elevation, and
merger with the Divine, which transcends not only
the mundane but also symbolizes the whole, as Sri
Ramakrishna said.
In this brief and modest tribute to the Great
Master I have put down some thoughts on how
gatewayswhether they are the toranas of the
Entrances and Gateways
to the Indian Pilgrimage
Dr Kapila Vatsyayan
W
Entrance to Arunachaleshvara temple, Tiruvannamalai
PB November 2010
Prabuddha Bharata 26
stupa or the gopuras of the South Indian temples
are not only doors to a physical journey but also to
a spiritual journey from the outside to the inside,
from outer sunshine to inner enlightenment.
Universal Structures
Te Indian landscape is interspersed with monu-
ments made in wood, brick, and stone, each sym-
bolizing the human journey to the Divineknown
and unknown, concrete and abstract, but in the last
analysis the formless and unmanifest. Awareness of
the eternal waters which sustain humans, the earth
which supports them, the heaven and ether which
protect them, and the cardinal directions and space
which circumscribe them led them to recreate the
cosmos in words, stones, line, paint, colour, sound,
and movement. Each time they recreate for a par-
ticular duration of physical timea few moments
or a whole day, week, month, or year, a cosmos on
earth in its never-ending rhythm of creation, evo-
lution, and destruction.
Te homes, cities, temples, stupas, churches, and
mosques humans built in permanent material also
articulated this self-conscious awareness of their life
on earth and their journey towards the Infnite, the
Divine, the Unmanifest. In each case the structure
would frst require the establishment of a centre
corresponding to the seed, bija, the mythical navel
of the earth as also of the human body; thereafer
came an immediate enclosure, a square or circle en-
casing the centre; a larger outer space lay next; and
fnally there was the outermost space, with gateways
that represented the cardinal directions. Tus, the
entire building space was diferentiated from the
mundane secular space outside. Te enclosure was a
hallowed sacred space and a pathway to the Divine.
Te sacred space extended vertically too: the seed at
the centre emerging as the tree, the pillar, stambha,
which fnally reached the pinnacle. Sacred architec-
ture of all faiths followed these essential principles.
Tis primary conception of consecrating time
and space through either ephemeral or perennial
art sums up the universal conceptions underlying
both gateways and shrines; and these conceptions
were known to all cultures at all times. Although
the remains of Mohenjo-daro and Harappan cul-
ture are fragmentary, it is clear that the citadel of
Mohenjo-daro must have had a grand entry. Te
Vedas speak in many beautiful hymns of the eternal
waters, earth, heaven, ether, fre, and the lords of the
directions, dik-palashumans have always invoked
the elements for protection. Te rituals of the Brah-
manas concretized those conceptions by delimit-
ing space in the shape of an enclosure, shala, in
which were established the
three fresdomestic, ter-
restrial, and celestialin
the shapes of a semicircle,
circle, and square respec-
tively. Te sacred altar was
built with bricks of difer-
ent sizes. Trough incanta-
tions and chants, ablutions
and rituals, the cosmos was
recreated for seven, eleven,
or twenty-one days, and f-
nally destroyed. Te mul-
tiple forms merged back
to the formless; dust unto
dust was the culmination.
Te ritual over, mundane
Kashmir temple: Gandhara style
Typical small countryside
Hindu temple
Plan of the above temple
A conjectural
restoration of the
Avanti Swami temple
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617 PB November 2010
Entrances and Gateways to the Indian Pilgrimage 27
time and space returned. In terms of structures
and as an outward symbol of this inner process, the
outer enclosure, the three fres, and the circumscrip
tion of space were essential.
With time, the Vedic ritual carried out in open
areas gave place to the daily worship performed
inside monuments. Te earliest archaeological re
mains of the historical period manifest the human
aspiration and need to relate to the elements and to
the vegetative, animal, human, and celestial worlds
all around. Later, many religions were founded and
each was responsible for giving a distinctive expres
sion to those fundamental concerns. Te language,
form, shape, design, and architectural style were dif
ferent, but the underlying unity was unmistakable.
Divine Gateways
An outstanding feature of all these edifcesbig or
small, domestic or sacred, of perishable or durable
materialswere the entrances, single or multiple,
attached to them. In domestic architecture the sin
gle entrance led to the centre of the home, the inner
courtyard. In the plan of the city, the roads led out
to the cardinal directions and converged on a cen
tral place, usually the sacred centre of the citya
shrine, a stupa, a temple, or a mosque.
In Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas each
entrance was guarded by a specifc deity. Te east,
south, west, and north had their particular deities
they represented their domains on the four slopes of
the quadrangular central mountain of the universe.
In the Indian tradition it is believed that Mount
Sumeru rises from the midpoint of the earths sur
face as the vertical axis of the eggshaped cosmos.
Te slopes of this mountain are peopled by a multi
tude of life: aquatic creatures like crocodiles, ser
pents, and fsh; aquatic vegetation like the beautiful
lotus; and the land animals, particularly deer, ele
phants, and monkeys. Gnomes, dwarfs, and yakshas,
as well as the fying celestial female apsaras and male
gandharvas follow. On the quadrangular summit
stands the palatial abode of the gods, who are death
less, amarafor this reason the summit is known
as Amaravati, the immortal town.
Tis mythology of Mount Sumeru and Amara
vati was adapted in the early Buddhist stupas of
India to commemorate the life and preaching of
Buddha. Te gateways represent the four quarters
protecting the sacred world. Te human fgures or
deities carved on the gateways are called loka-palas,
protectors of the world. Tey stand and guard the
four entrances of the railings of Buddhist stupas. As
Buddhas doctrine spread, these deities of the four
quarters also travelled far and became integral to
the architectural designs of monuments in China,
Korea, Japan, and Indonesia.
Te most impressive amongst the early Buddhist
monuments are the sites of Bharhut and Sanchi.
Te stupas have a simple form. Teir interior is a
compact heap of earth, pebbles, or stones enclosed
by a layer of bricks; the bricks are in turn covered
with a facade of polished stone. One or several ter
races, quadrangular or circular, can form the base,
madhi, and around this base there is enough space
for clockwise circumambulation. Te whole struc
ture is enclosed by a railing, vedika, of wood or
stone. In the case of both Bharhut and Sanchi, it
is stone. Tese railings have vertical pillars, stamb-
has, and interlinked horizontal beams. Finally, there
is a coping or a crown symbolizing a diadem or a
turban. Staircases, sopana, may lead to terraces sur
rounding the central bulwark called the egg, anda,
or the womb, garbha, which contains the seed, bija,
namely the relic. It is crowned by a quadrangular
housing or terrace, harmika, above which rises one
or several canopies, chhatra. Te stupa is a symbol of
enlightenment and the vehicle carrying the message
of Buddha to the four quarters. Te stupa is also an
instrumenta design, a yantrafor the guidance
of devotees who take the upward journey of the soul
by circumambulating clockwise the structure in a
reverent attitude, to fnally ascend to the top.
Te gates and railings of Bharhut and Sanchi
represent the beginning of this spiritual journey.
Tey are richly carved with reliefs that illustrate the
world with its vegetation and its aquatic and terres
trial life. Among these are the reliefs of the vase of
fullness, purna kumbha, which stands for fertility
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Prabuddha Bharata
618 PB November 2010
28
and fulflment. Also there is an abundance of reliefs
of the lotus, which symbolizes the cosmic order,
and of the wheel, which represents the frst preach-
ing of Buddhas doctrine. Tere are beautiful ani-
mals, rows of elephants and deer, and winged lions.
Tis is the mundane world, samsara, from where pil-
grims begin their journeyplenty and abundance
lead them to restraint and the desire to know the
past lives of the bodhisattva. Terefore, the hori-
zontal and vertical columns of the gateways depict
in profusion the numerous lives of Buddha in his
journey towards enlightenment. Te Jatakas depict-
ing Buddha as Mahakapi, Mahajanaka, Vessantara,
Saddanta, and innumerable other beings are seen
in the reliefs in the architraves in Sanchi as well as
in the railing medallions in Bharhut. All these re-
liefs are symbolic of the devotees personal journey.
When pilgrims reach the crowning terrace, they
have anticipated in a fgurative way their own en-
lightenment and the extinction of all their passions,
which fetter them to the round of rebirth. Te di-
dactic function of the stupa is clear in all the stupas
ranging from Sanchi in India to Borobudur in Java.
Te architectural plan provides the physical
opportunity for this fgurative jour-
ney of the devoted pilgrim.
Te north gate of Sanchi is im-
pressive for the two vertical pillars
that support three super-
imposed architraves
on two imposing
capitalseach
with four
elephants back to back. Each of the faces of these
pillars and architraves is richly decorated with re-
liefs illustrating Buddhist legends. Te southern
gateway is similar to the northern. On the outside
of the upper architrave there is a beautiful standing
fgure of Lakshmi with two elephants surrounded
by a luxurious atmosphere of water, vegetation,
and birds. On the middle architrave there is a
panoramic view of Ashokas visit to the stupa of
Ramagrama. And on the lowest architrave there
are six dwarfs with spouting lotus stalks amongst
leaves, buds, and lotus fowers. On the eastern gate-
way there are depictions of some of the Buddhist
symbols: the young elephant representing concep-
tion, the tree symbolizing enlightenment, and the
wheel of the doctrine. In the middle architrave is
seen the great renunciationa riderless horse sug-
gesting Buddhas departures from the palace. Te
lowest architrave depicts Ashoka followed by a
crowd of warriors and servantshe steps down
from the kneeling elephant to worship the sacred
bo tree. Yakshini, the dryad, is the most outstand-
ing fgure here. Her arms are intertwined with the
branches of the tree while one of her
feet touches the tree trunk. Te
western gateway has similar
scenes. Trough each of these
gateways the pilgrims enter
the sacred stupa and gradually
make a circumambulation.
Te gateways are the begin-
ning of this journey.
Buddhist Stupa, Sanchi
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619 PB November 2010
Entrances and Gateways to the Indian Pilgrimage 29
Gateways to Enlightenment
Elsewhere in India, instead of the four gateways
there are impressive entrances and facades to rock
caves. Bhaja and Karle caves in western India have
stupendous entrances leading the pilgrim into a cave
like structure with a basilican plan, nearly sixty feet
long and twentyfve feet high. At the end of the
cave is the altar in the form of a stupa, around which
the devotees can walk. Te facade of Karle is decor
ated with massive fgures in high relief. Outstand
ing amongst these are those depicting couples who
seem to be fying in the air, the fowing curves of
their bodies soaring towards the heavens. Tese rock
cut caves of India were the abode of monks; famous
monasteries were established here. Te horseshoe
facade and the entrance were a single unit, with only
one source of lightagain suggesting metaphori
cally the journey of the pilgrim to the Divine. Tese
cool halfdark vaults receive dim light through the
entrance above. Occasionally there is an additional
vaulted upper window. Pure space without matter,
weight, or any fgurative sculpture inside invites de
votees to enter into the sphere of nirvana and face the
symbol of their outer extinction and inner enlighten
mentthe small stupa within denotes nirvana.
Te gateways and entrances are an essential part
of the architectures of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain
monuments. In Ajanta and Ellora there are facades,
single entrances, and gates, if not gateways. At the
Kailasanatha temple of Ellora, also a masterpiece
of rockcut architecture, the pilgrim is greeted with
two fgures of the water deities Ganga and Yamuna.
One stands on a crocodile and the other on a tor
toise; both represent the gateway to Mount Kailas
or Hemavata. Ganga and Yamuna are the entries in
the journey to spiritual ascension. All sanctuaries
in Indiafrom Kailasanatha in Ellora to the medi
eval temples in the plains of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, and Rajasthan, to the temples in Assam
the two water goddesses representing the two mighty
rivers are carved on the entrance gates of temples.
Te fgures of Ganga and Yamuna as guardians
of the entrances continue to be popular. In add
ition, howeverparticularly in South Indian, In
donesian, and Cambodian templesthere are also
the ferce fgures of the dvara-palas, doorkeepers.
Tey ward of evil and protect the innermost shrine.
Sometimes they are simple warriors seen in their
Indian, Chinese, or Japanese garbs; at other times
they are weird fearsome demons that guard and
frighten. Figuratively, they are the demons within
the human psyche who have to be reckoned with
and ultimately conquered before taking the inner
journey towards enlightenment.
Devotees enter the South Indian temples
through their massive gateways, gopuras, as if they
were entering a fort. Te door lintels are also richly
carved with minor and major deities as well as with
the life of the vegetative, aquatic, terrestrial, and
celestial worlds. But the dominant fgures are the
dvara-palas, who ride elephants, lions, or other
mythical beings. Te great gopuras overlook the
four directions from the outermost enclosureas
in Sanchi, though now enlarged a hundredfold. Te
temple is the temporary abode of the gods on earth,
their fort on earth, or a recreation of the cosmos.
Te central shrine is metaphorically the Sumeru
or Kailas. Devotees enter through the gateways to
take this journey, circumambulate the larger outer
spaces, move inward into smaller enclosures, and
fnally enter the garbha-griha, the womb house,
and the sanctum, which represents the seed of all
Creation. From outer light devotees move inward
into areas of physical darkness. Te natural light
gradually diminishes. From the world of multi
tudes of formsthe ignorance and darkness of the
physical statedevotees move towards the shrine,
which brings inner light. Te doors of perception
are opened physically and psychically through the
gateways, entrances and facades, the mythical god
desses of the waters, and the guardians of the stupas
and the temples. Tey are the starting point of the
pilgrims journey towards enlightenment. P
Reference
1. M, Te Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
2002),3278.
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PB November 2010 620
The Spiritual in Art
Prof. Amal Ghosh
rt has always had a unique position in
being one of the most important elements in
spiritual life. It had a historical role and a
divine function when it was used solely for religious
purposes. In those times it was normative for art to
be an important element in spiritual life. Tese days
spirituality of that sort does not seem very evident
either in art or in other aspects of life in general. It
is my personal opinion that for an art object to be
defned as spiritual it should evoke some sort of
subliminal response, some sort of depth of recog
nition of otherness in the viewer; it should be cap
able of transporting them to a diferent place. And
this article is necessarily just a personal refection
on the relationship between art and spirituality.
Defning the Spiritual in Art
Te moment one tries to confront this concept
of the spiritual in the context of art, complex and
ofen contradictory issues which are actually unre
solvable arise. In the frst instance, although I have a
working defnition, it is almost impossible to defne
this concept with any precision. It is, in fact, easier
to say what it does not mean. Firstly, it does not
mean religious. Tere is an enormous volume of re
ligious visual two and threedimensional art which
has ritualistic, devotional, or cultic functions, but
which does not hit the spot in any attempt at evok
ing the spiritual as I have initially and personally de
fned it. Spiritual does not mean noncommercial;
some artists actually make art with an intention of
evoking a subliminal spiritual response, and some
of these may be so efective that the work achieves
a considerable commercial and investment value. I
would defne Mark Rothko (190370) as an art
ist in this category. It also does not mean abstract,
although the actual defnition of a category of art
as spiritual was initially derived from the work of
various European and American abstract painters.
But there is much abstract art that produces an
opposite efect. It does not have to be representa
tional; indeed in the formal categorization of the
work of abstract artists who frst formally added
spiritual to the diferent twentiethcentury cat
egories of art, it cannot be representational.
Te confusion is further complicated since two
or more people are involved in the judgement: the
artist or creator and the viewer(s) or perceiver(s)
of the art. It also follows that as diferent people
respond diferently, what may for one person be
an object of spiritual veneration may for another
be just an item, more or less commercially valuable,
of decorative furniture. Te spiritual dimension in
art also crosses cultural boundaries. Much of tan
tric art evokes a response from viewers from widely
diferent cultures, as does much of the calligraphic
art and architecture of Islamic culture. Te whole
purpose of stained glass windows in medieval Euro
pean cathedrals was also intended for the enlight
enment and spiritual transportation of the viewer.
Te other side of the coin is the intention of
the artist or creator. But even artists with spiritual
intentions may not actually succeed in achieving
this objective in their art, while other artists may
produce, without intending to do so, works whose
contemplative qualities can transport a viewer to a
diferent level of perception and contemplation. In
my view such an artist is Van Gogh. Tere is cur
rently a superb exhibition of his works at the Royal
Academy in London which provides a unique op
portunity to reappraise his work in the context of
his creative intentions. It is apparent that though
Van Gogh was not consciously thinking of the spir
itual in art, he was nevertheless steeped and imbued
A
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621 PB November 2010
Te Spiritual in Art 31
with a deep inner need that triggered these great
works. Visiting the exhibition prompted in at least
this viewer the recognition of a spiritual dimension
in many of the works. In his isolated and ofen very
humble dwelling, Van Gogh created a succession of
master works unsullied by the passage of time. Even
today they look fresh and other worldly. Tis deep,
sage-like, one-minded concentration amounts, in
my view, to a state of spiritual grace.
Tus, in terms of my fairly ad hoc defnition,
spiritual art can be abstract, representational, two-
dimensional, three-dimensional, religious or non-
religious, from any cultural background, and even
independent of the intention of the artist as long
as it is able to evoke some sort of subliminal re-
sponse and depth of recognition of otherness in
the viewer, although not necessarily every viewer.
Contemporary History
of the Spiritual in Art
With this level of complexity it is hard to know
where to begin, but as modern art was being for-
mally produced and defned as spiritual in the twen-
tieth century in America and Europe, I shall begin
with a brief overview of these artists and their ideas.
I have also decided to follow this up by examining
the work of two artists who are known to me per-
sonally, whose work intention was to produce the
response I have described as spiritualwhether
they failed or succeeded is a diferent matter. Tey
include an Indian artist, Dhirendra Nath Brahma,
who actually encapsulates spiritual intention in his
work, and a British artist, Cecil Collins, whose en-
tire artistic output and personal philosophy has
been the transformation of the viewers perception
in relation to the spiritual.
Historically speaking, European art of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries began to
explore ideas of the spiritual in art as defned above.
Artists used abstract painting to refect their de-
sire to express the spiritual, utopian, or metaphys-
ical ideas that they felt could not be expressed in
traditional pictorial terms. Between 1907 and 1915
painters in Europe and the United States began
to create completely abstract works of art. Wassily
Kandinsky (18661944), Frantisek Kupka (1871
1957), Piet Mondrian (18721944), and Kazimir
Malevich (18781935) were the forerunners of ab-
stract art based on spiritual issues and beliefs.
It was the Russian Wassily Kandinsky who intro-
duced the idea of the spiritual in art as a distinct
category of artistic expression when he wrote Con-
cerning the Spiritual in Art in 1912. Tis is perhaps
the most important and infuential doctrine posited
by a twentieth-century artist. Kandinsky was born in
Moscow in 1866 into a well-to-do aristocratic family.
Te familys wealth supported him during his long
years of study. He studied political economy and law
in Moscow, turned down a professorship in Estonia,
and went to Munich to study painting when he was
thirty years old. He formed several arts groups and
joined the most radical painters of Europe. He was
the frst modern painter with the intuitive and spir-
itual freedom to eliminate entirely the hindrance of
intellect from the art of vision.
Kandinsky painted unfathomable beauty with
the sole use of the spirit and an intuitive sense of
the cosmic order. He created absolute forms for
the realization of spiritual joy and the sole purpose
of elative beauty. Kandinsky speaks of the artist
as having a secret power of vision and of art as
Wassily Kandinsky
PB November 2010 622
Prabuddha Bharata 32
longing to the spiritual life. But he was not elit
ist about art. He wrote that to feel the beauty of
art, the layman does not have to know the various
modes of painting. Because of his profound infu
ence on European art, he has been recognized as
the father of spiritual art in Europe.1
Arthur James Eddy, writing in 1914, also re
fected the interests of abstract artists in expressing
the spiritual: Pure art speaks from soul to soul. It
does not depend on imitative forms. Spiritual art
springs from the soul and is produced by the inner
need. 2 Spiritual art is a mystical inner construction,
transmitting inner meaning through the quality of
the whole, available only when the proper set of
mind and feelings towards it have been activated
(134). Te main value of the spiritual lies in contem
plative communication: It is part of a religious life
and a conscious acceptance of the purity of spirit.
Spiritual art involves art that is pure, which no
longer represents but presents out of an inner neces
sity the mystical inner construction; and the inner
necessity has the purpose of spiritual expression.3 It
has the power of transforming the perception of an
ordinary object to create an understanding of dif
ferent kinds of meanings. It can demonstrate with
sensitive perception the hidden connection in the
unity of the material and immaterial. For example,
Mark Rothko (190370) talks about creating a si
lence in his paintings, and his profound paintings
are a feast of mysticism and a spiritual experience as
well. Teir transcendental beauty and spiritual in
tensity transports the viewer to a diferent realm.
A new interest in the spiritual arose in the West
in the late 1960s with two exhibitions focusing on
tantric diagrams as sources of abstract art. Te frst
of these exhibitions titled Fify Years of Tantric
Art was held at Los Angeles County Museum of
Art in 1969. Tere, diagrams were presented as yan
tras. Tis was followed by a popular exhibition at
the Hayward Gallery in London in 1971. At frst it
seemed that these exhibitions reawakened and re
established the potent power of visual abstraction
as a spiritual source in art. But this feeling turned
out to be short lived. Te contemporary problem
of art with a sense of the spiritual is that it has to
defend itself and to articulate the core value of its
products in a commercial, antithetical, and hostile
socioeconomic environment.
Consequently, abstract art, which at one point
was developed to counter materialism, has now it
self become part of the materialistic world. Te ma
terialistic philosophy of society has reduced art to
another ordinary communication and denied any
spiritual connection to the artist who wishes to join
in the mainstream of social communication through
the spiritual. A successful work of art is unique and
can have a high market value. Paintings are among
the most costly humanmade objects and have come
to symbolize status and commercial value. Te ne
glect of inner meaning has created a condition of
art for arts sake, and the spiritual gifs of contem
porary art have almost disappeared. Te arts of easy
communication have gained the upper hand and
have created a commodity that is readily marketable,
either as understood by the masses or propelled by
curators and major art purchasers, as vehicles of in
vestment. Tus, a single Van Gogh painting is worth
millions of dollars today. But during Van Goghs
lifetime his work did not sell and he was supported
throughout his life by his brother Teo.
Two Spiritual Artists
Given the situation narrated above, it should not
be a surprise that the two artists that I have chosen
to concentrate on, in relation to the spiritual in art,
are not and have not been commercial successes or
achieved the full recognition I believe they deserve.
I have chosen to focus on them because knowing
them at a personal level perhaps gives me a greater
insight into their work and motivations as individ
uals. Both were my tutors and later became my men
tors, so I have a more intimate knowledge of them
as both artists and individuals. Tis, I believe, en
ables me to focus on their work with more personal
understanding. Dhirendra Nath Brahma was my
undergraduate tutor at the Government College of
Art and Craf, Kolkata. Cecil Collins was the tutor
in charge of my threeyear postgraduate study at
623 PB November 2010
Te Spiritual in Art 33
Central School of Art and Crafnow Central St
Martins College, University of the Arts, London.
Both these artists have made the notion of spir
ituality in art pivotal to their practice over many
years, sustaining a strong belief and understanding
that amounts to the spiritual. Te lives of both
these persons were shaped by the ethos of spiritu
ality. Te art world neglected them; this only made
their convictions about their chosen paths more
fundamental to their respective lives. Tey have
both taken the lonely path of the seeker and have
been prepared to forfeit commercial success and
the acceptance of the artistic community, although
both have eventually achieved a degree of recogni
tion, especially Cecil Collins.
Dhirendra Nath Brahma Every year, when
I visit Kolkata, I have a deep need to spend time
with Dhirenbabu, though
this proves to be a combin
ation of the exhilarating
and the totally exhausting.
His depth of knowledge
and understanding is over
whelming. Yet, one almost
feels as if he does not exist
in this world. He is hardly
aware of his physical sur
roundings and works in a
tiny space with myriads of
mosquitoes around.
His initial under
standing of art developed
from a deep awareness of it
being a part of every aspect
of life in the villages of Ben
gal. Right from a young age
he watched his mother per
forming ceremonies, mak
ing ritual drawings with rice
paste and fowers, and dec
orating household images
with garlands, ornaments,
and coloured fabrics. And
as art has a profound func
tion in life he experimented with the traditional
style and technique of Indian painting, of which
he has been a strong proponent. But for the last
two decades, or more, he has explored new and
uncharted possibilities from the deep reservoir of
the Indian tradition: symbolic forms and marks, in
tricate small paintings. If they are not viewed with
an inner perception, they could be rejected as mere
calligraphyit is the deeper and penetrating look
that reveals diferent dimensions, new vistas that
open passages to the inner world for the seeker.
Dhirenbabus symbols have a resonance with an
cient tantric fgures. However, he does not use them
merely as traditional symbols. He juxtaposes and in
tegrates them through dynamic fuid passages with
deep meaning. A sacred word provides a glimpse
of another dimension, and the work becomes po
tent, becomes a true work
of art. If art has something
more than outward beauty,
these works bend that inner
power and intensity to cre
ate a master work. To the
inner eye of the artists en
quiring mind were revealed
a number of symbols com
municating ideas of inner
realization and leading to
visible forms with deep
meaningful motifs.
This development has
taken his work to an inner
world with a deep spiritual
perspective. A fastidious
and insistent process of ex
ploration and experience
pursued throughout his life
helped Dhirenbabu under
stand the other mean
ing of markswhether
symbol, script, or scribble.
Te visible world is tempt
ing in being acceptable to
many, but the active seek i
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PB November 2010 624
Prabuddha Bharata 34
inner depth can reveal an intimate relationship
to that other world which is accessible only to the
sincere seeker. In the catalogue for his one-person
show at Horizon Gallery, London, in 1987, Dr
Kalyan Kumar Ganguly, Rani Bagiswari Professor,
University of Kolkata, wrote that looking at the
paintings in this exhibition, there comes from the
inner eye of the enquiring mind, sacred symbols
held as readably communicable ideas of deep real-
izationa combination of visible form with intense
inner meaning. Te titles of the works are indica-
tive of the intention: Goodman, God man, Fusion:
unity, Cheat Not Oppress Not. Tey provide an
active glimpse into how the vision of the artist has
turned from the outer world to the diverse expanse
of the inner perspective. Dhirenbabus later works
disclose an intimate relationship with Indian phil-
osophy. Tey provide access to a visual world that
draws discerning viewers away from and beyond
the perspective of the visible world.
Te director of the Birmingham museum saw
the exhibition at Horizon Gallery and invited
Dhirenbabu to exhibit his works in Birmingham.
Viewers were surprised to fnd that this solo ex-
hibition provided an ambience of peace and tran-
quillity as well as a great feeling of happiness. Te
demand for his workshops was an indication of
the esteem in which the audience held these works.
Tese calligraphy-like works are unique examples of
intuitive wisdom and knowledge; they are master-
pieces. Te recognition that Dhirenbabu achieved
in Europe is not perhaps refected in India. Only re-
cently has his workas a teacher who has inspired
generations of students and remained dedicated
to an idealbeen formally recognized. I was priv-
ileged to be present when he was made professor
emeritus of the Kolkata University and of the Gov-
ernment College of Art and Craf, Kolkata.
Cecil Collins As was the case with Dhirendra
Nath Brahma, Cecil Collinss deep understanding
of art as involving the totality of life was born of his
early childhood experiences in the natural world
surrounding his parental home. He coined the word
seed experience to describe how his childhood ex-
perience of the woods behind his house was the
source of the inspiration that lasted, as well as sus-
tained, his whole life. Cecil Collins was born in Ply-
mouth in England in 1908. He studied at the Royal
College of Art and taught at Dartington Hall, Devon,
where he made friends with Mark Toby (18901976).
Mark Toby is best known for his distinguished mys-
tical and oriental technique and aesthetics. White
writing was the hallmark of this refned abstrac-
tionist who anticipated Jackson Pollocks (191256)
all-over style. Cecil also met Rabindranath Tagore
(18611941) at Dartington. When I asked him about
this meeting, Cecil recalled it as being a bright sunny
day when the poet walked with the artist under the
trees without uttering a word. Te forest was full of
sounds and the earth and sky whispered the secret.
It was a memorable day for Cecil. Dartington was
founded by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst. Teir
work with Tagore resulted in Shantiniketan and
Dartington sharing a similar ethos.
Just before he died in 1989, Cecil Collins fnally
achieved serious recognition from the establishment
when he had a major retrospective exhibition at
Tate, London. In September 2009 I jointly created
a solo show of Cecil Collinss art at the Letherby
Gallery, London. Tis centenary exhibition, with
the title Fools and Angels, was an attempt to refect
his vision of what painting ought to be.
Art for Cecil Collins was not an end in itself, it
had a function: that of transforming the world of
matter by bringing into it other levels of conscious-
ness. For him the angels, the fools, and the femi-
ninethe three main themes of his workwere
the instruments of that transformation. He talks
about his paintings as objects of contemplation,
and in this respect they belong to a universal reality.
His vision was the vision of paradise, a paradise
where angels and stars become the main protagon-
ists in the creation of a perfect consciousness and
gestalt of life. He further says, My own painting
is essentially of the heart. Te saint, the artist, the
poet, and the fool are one for him. Tey are the
eternal virginity of spirit, which in the dark winter
of the world continually proclaims the existence of
PB November 2010
Te Spiritual in Art 35
new life, giving the faith
ful promise of the spring
of an invisible Kingdom,
and the coming of light.
Cecil maintained a
deep inner life and sus
tained, against all the odds,
a poetic and prophetic vi
sionary approach to his
work throughout his life.
Te lyrical and the poetic
saturated his inspiring
paintings, each work as
serting the mystical vision
of a grand universe, with
men and women as parts
of it. To his eyes, light
shining on a drop of rain
glitters like diamonds and
a thrush singing becomes
the shape of the song.4
Rediscovering the world
with precision and union
with reality as afrmation
of the oneness of Creation was for Cecil essential
to the development of the inner world. Te long
ing for exquisite happiness juxtaposed against heart
breaking melancholy became the subject of his own
personal and private vision. Te wound beneath all
beauty, the sublime imagination of the artist and
the poet, and a deep longing for the innocence and
purity of consciousness became for Cecil the driv
ing forces behind his images.
Cecils works have a healing power; his vision
ofers a new beginning, a world where pain, suf
fering, and happiness mingle into a single state of
being, a mind and life free of constraint. He ques
tioned the relationship of humans with the Divine.
He nurtured this relationship and said, In my art
and in my life, I feel a pilgrim, and added, Art is not
talent; it is knowledge. Beauty is a form of cogni
tion, he always afrmed to us, his students; what
we contemplate, we become. To him the image
ofered by the artist is a bridge between the tangible
and the intangible. Tose
images, he said, are born
out of the world of imagin
ation, a world sometimes
called the unseen world,
essentially recognizable by
its ambience. In that world
the ego is not welcome, it
must be lef behind.
He talked of the con
temporary definition of
art and the role we, as
painters and poets, are to
assume: Te art of the fu
ture shall be to feed the
interior life of individuals
and will not be dominated
by any theory; political,
philosophical or religious.
I believe there must be in
the world a spiritual revo
lution now. A spiritual
revolution is the move
ment of the human con
sciousness from the ideas of fear and desire, victory
and defeat, courage and cowardice, possessions
onto the idea of intelligence which is humility. 5
In conclusion I have to return to my own be
liefs. Te spiritual is a mystical inner construc
tion, the sense of tradition is a memory of spirit
and I believe an eternally returning memory of
the spiritual. P
References
1. See Modern Art and Modernism, ed. Francis Fra
scinaandCharlesHarrison(London:Harperand
Row,1986).
2. ArthurJEddy,Cubists and Post-impressionism(Chi
cago:McClurg,1914),122.
3. Frank Mark, Spiritual Treasures (New York: Vi
king,1974)59.
4. JonathanStedall,Where on Earth Is Heaven(Ports
mouth:Hawthorn,2009),355.
5. Cecil Collins, Te Vision of the Fool and Other
Writings,ed.BrianKeeble(Ipswich:Golgonooza,
2002),2930. i
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PB November 2010 626
Transcending the Metaphor
Swami Madhurananda
o consider that this universe is the
metaphor of God is a spiritual practice that fol
lows basic tenets of Vedanta. Advaita Vedanta
in particular as well as some scientists since the
twentieth century maintain that Godor Con
sciousnesswe, and this metaphorical universe
are essentially same. Sri Ramakrishna still throws a
unique light on these principles through his tran
scending metaphors. Te following lines gradually
unfold these concepts, discovering on the way the
value of art in spiritual life.
Contemporary Theory of Metaphor
Metaphor commonly means expressing one thing
to intend another, making implicit comparisons
between things linked by a common feature. Te
studies done in the feld of metaphor during the
last century are impressive indeed. Around 1980
George Lakof, a linguist, and Mark Johnson, a
philosopher, reviewed the studies done till then.
Tey experimented with a number of metaphors
deeply ingrained in our daily life to reach some
interesting conclusions:
Metaphor is for most people device of the poetic
imagination and the rhetorical fourisha matter
of extraordinary rather than ordinary language.
Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as char
acteristic of language alone, a matter of words
rather than thought or action. For this reason,
most people think they can get along perfectly
well without metaphor. We have found, on the
contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday
life, not just in language but in thought and ac
tion. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms
of which we both think and act, is fundamentally
metaphorical in nature.1
For these two researchers, previous theories de
rive from a naive realism that there is an objective
world, independent of ourselves, to which words
apply with fxed meanings. But they are conscious
not to jump to the opposite and embrace a wholly
subjectivist view that the personal, interior world is
the only reality. Metaphors, for Lakof and Johnson,
are primarily matters of thought and action, only
derivatively of language. 2 Trough their research
the defnition of metaphor is adjusted, and they
conclude that the essence of metaphor is under
standing and experiencing one kind of thing in
terms of another.3 Tey further express:
Many of our activities (arguing, solving problems,
budgeting time, etc.) are metaphorical in nature.
Te metaphorical concepts that characterize those
activities structure our present reality. New meta
phors have the power to create a new reality. Tis
can begin to happen when we start to compre
hend our experience in terms of a metaphor, and
it becomes a deeper reality when we begin to act
in terms of it. If a new metaphor enters the con
ceptual system that we base our actions on, it will
alter that conceptual system and the perceptions
and actions that the system gives rise to.
Te idea that metaphor is just a matter of lan
guage and can at best only describe reality stems
from the view that what is real is wholly external
to, and independent of, how human beings con
ceptualize the worldas if the study of reality
were just the study of the physical world. Such a
view of realitysocalled objective realityleaves
out human aspects of reality, in particular the real
perceptions, conceptualizations, motivations, and
actions that constitute most of what we experi
ence. But the human aspects of reality are most of
what matters to us (1456).
Tese concepts created such an impact that were
amply considered in diferent areas of knowledge
T
627 PB November 2010
Transcending the Metaphor 37
from science to philosophy, sociology, psychology,
and many other felds. And since each feld de-
mands diferent languages and thought structures,
these theories were incorporated fully, utilized
fundamentally, or revised and reframed. None-
theless, there seems to be general consent at present
that human thought processes are largely meta-
phorical: the way we think, what we experience,
and what we do every day is very much a matter
of metaphor (3).
As the purpose of this article is to apply meta-
phor theory to spirituality, metaphor deconstruc-
tions and controversies are not considered here. We
rather bring out what matches in metaphor theory
with authentic spiritual experiences recorded in
relevant texts.
Religious Metaphor
As religious language and thought is highly meta-
phorical, several thinkers have reached remarkable
levels of understanding regarding the interaction
between metaphor and truth. Tis subject has been
widely discussed well before the two authors cited
above. Reviewing a couple of them, who are some-
how independent well-known thinkers, will take us
few steps towards our purpose.
A thoughtful theologian in the English language
is Sallie McFague, who considers that in a religious
metaphor the two subjects, ordinary life and the
transcendent, are so intertwined that there is no
way of separating them out and, in fact, what we
learn is not primarily something about God but a
new way to live ordinary life.4 She further says:
Metaphor unites us and our world at a level
below subject-object, mind-body; it is the nexus
of man in the being of the world, the intimation
of our original unity with all that is. To see con-
nections, to unite this with that, is the distinctive
nature of human thought; only human beings, it
appears, can make novel connections within their
familiar worlds in order to move beyond where
they are (56).
What is at stake in this perspective is episte-
mologically radical; that is, it is not being pro-
posed that metaphorical language simply has a
place in human knowing, a place ultimately super-
seded by conceptual language. Rather metaphor,
as Sewell understands it, is the human method of
investigating the universe. And if the problem of
human knowing is How does one investigate,
interpret, inquire into a system of which the ob-
server is an inseparable part? then the answer must
include the observer at every point; it must be a
method in which one fgures itself in on whatever
fguring process one is at work upon (59).
Quantum physics reached the same conclusion
about the material world many years earlier, that
the answer must include the observer at every point.
Terefore, McFagues theology, and almost all non-
traditional theology of the twentieth centurya
century in which scientifc discoveries amply in-
fuenced the worlds intellectualsis still deeply
grounded in the feld of reason. Ten, let us now
situate ourselves at the border between meaningful
twentieth-century reason and spiritual intuition by
quoting one more thinker who was relatively close
to the Ramakrishna tradition:
How, in the contemporary period, can we evoke
the imagery that communicates the most profound
and most richly developed sense of experiencing
life? Tese images must point past themselves to
that ultimate truth which must be told: that life
does not have any one absolutely fxed meaning.
Tese images must point past all meanings given,
beyond all defnitions and relationships, to that
really inefable mystery that is just the existence,
the being of ourselves and of our world.
If we give that mystery an exact meaning we di-
minish the experience of its real depth. But when
a poet carries the mind into a context of mean-
ings and then pitches it past those, one knows that
marvelous rapture that comes from going past all
categories of defnition. Here we sense the func-
tion of metaphor that allows us to make a journey
we could not otherwise make, past all categories
of defnition.5
Is this true? Does a metaphor exist that allows
us to pass all categories of defnition?
PB November 2010
Prabuddha Bharata 38
Beware of Maya!
Before proceeding, one note of warning, especially
for those too grounded in Indian, particularly
Vedantic thought. In the metaphor that considers
the universe as Gods metaphor, the word meta-
phor is not to be equated with the word maya;
otherwise, one loses the power of the metaphor
and, even worse, one loses the opportunity to tran-
scend it. Maya is primarily a philosophical con-
cept; however, we cannot transcend the worldthe
metaphor of the worldwith philosophy alone.
Tere needs to be a practical feld that correlates
with philosophy. When we attempt to live philo-
sophical principles what we need is artunder-
standing art as the materialization in the physical
world of abstractions related to the essence of ex-
istence. Art generally expresses itself through sym-
bolic language, which can be visual, verbal, musical,
spatial, or otherwise. As we have seen from the con-
temporary theory of metaphor, we are, by our very
human constitution, naturally living philosophy
through metaphors. And this experience occurs not
only in our mind but in our daily actions as well.
Tere is a tendency in philosophy to try to asso-
ciate a new concept with a previously known one.
Tis occurs because a mind established in a par-
ticular system experiences confusion when faced
with something that cannot be related. Associat-
ing something new with something known gives a
kind of relief, sometimes even intellectual pleasure.
However, if in a given frame of reference the new
concept carries a value that is not identical with the
known related concept, this association may prove
to be an obstacle to any further progress towards
improving a philosophical system or ascending to a
higher level of consciousness, as would occur in the
context we are discussing if metaphor is associated
with maya. Moreover, to fully grasp any new con-
cept demands a mental efort, and the tendency of
the mindof the buddhi, discerning facultyis to
automatically associate a new concept to a known
one to thus reduce or avoid the efort that realizing
a new concept requires. If the new concept is found
to be right, it may demand an even greater efort:
to restructure our entire way of life! Te relentless
fear of the mind towards challenge is known as fear
of death in psychology and fear to lose ones ego
in Vedanta. Tis idea can be better illustrated with
a real transcending metaphor used by Sri Rama-
krishna. While Sri Ramakrishna was explaining the
knowledge of Brahman to a devotee, the following
discussion took place:
Master: A man attains Brahmajnana as soon as his
mind is annihilated. With the annihilation of the
mind dies the ego, which says I, I. One also attains
the Knowledge of Brahman by following the path of
devotion. Each ego may be likened to a pot. Sup-
pose there are ten pots flled with water, and the sun
is refected in them. How many suns do you see?
A devotee: Ten refections. Besides, there cer-
tainly exists the real sun.
Master: Suppose you break one pot. How
many suns do you see now?
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629 PB November 2010
Transcending the Metaphor 39
Devotee: Nine refected suns. But there cer-
tainly exists the real sun.
Master: All right. Suppose you break nine pots.
How many suns do you see now?
Devotee: One refected sun. But there cer-
tainly exists the real sun.
Master (to Girish): What remains when the
last pot is broken?
Girish: Tat real sun, sir.
Master: No. What remains cannot be de-
scribed. What is remains. How will you know
there is a real sun unless there is a refected sun? 6
Girish ofers the typical answer that refects the
workings of our mind when confronted with such
a metaphor. Reason reaches the logical conclusion
of the metaphorthat real sunwhich in this
case represents Brahman. And here we stop, proud
of having reached the correct and logical conclu-
sion. Tere is no art in this thinking process or in
its conclusions, there is only philosophy. Sri Rama-
krishna breaks the automated tendency of the bud-
dhi by artistically transcending the metaphor. He
categorically negates what is believed to be the ob-
vious conclusion, and at the same time he afrms
the truth, which lies beyond reason. Te powerful
efect of this method to carry someone to higher
levels of consciousness is simply extraordinary. It
is a method that uses both philosophy and art. It
is the method of the Upanishads, which, when ac-
cessed with art, with involvement, leave us at the
door of Truth. Crossing the door is the last step.
Regarding the concept we are discussingthis
whole Creation is the metaphor of Godif we
allow our buddhi to associate metaphor with maya,
we then lose the artistic aspect of the metaphor by
keeping only its philosophical side. We thus render
the opportunity of transcendence futile. Te rea-
son we have focused so much on metaphor is that it
unites reason and imagination. Reason, at the very
least, involves categorization, entailment, and infer-
ence. Imagination, in one of its many aspects, in-
volves seeing one kind of thing in terms of another
kind of thingwhat we have called metaphorical
thought. Metaphor is thus imaginative rationality.7
In religious terms: Te metaphorical languages of
both mythology and metaphysics are not denota-
tive of actual worlds or gods, but rather connote
levels and entities within the person touched by
them. Metaphors only seem to describe the outer
world of time and place. Teir real universe is the
spiritual realm of the inner life. Te Kingdom of
God is within you. 8
We are not playing down here the value or use-
fulness of the concept of maya, which, probably, is
one of the pinnacles the human mind has reached
in philosophy. We are simply not bringing in our
present discussion, for the reason mentioned above,
something that is, as Acharya Shankara puts it,
anirvacanya, unutterable, indescribable. Afer all,
from the relative standpoint, is not stating that this
universe is all maya yet another metaphor?
We Appear as What We Perceive
Te stars, the earth, the light that illumines what
you are seeing around yourself, the air you are
breathing now, your eyes swinging through these
lines, the thoughts you are producing while reading
these lines, your ego witnessing those thoughts; and
just a step behind you are close to the real you. Try
to perceive yourself watching your thoughts; try to
hold yourself there.
Tere you and I are same. But the moment
we stop being there, we reinsert ourselves in the
metaphor of the universe by again bringing into
our range time, space, and the rest. It is precisely
by bringing in all these things that we go on produ-
cing the metaphor. Yes, you, I, all of us are creating
this great metaphor of the universe. Tis we in its
totality is what is called God.
Each event, each sight, each feeling, each con-
crete or abstract entity in this universe points to
a reality that lies behindtheir intrinsic Reality.
Tere is a consciousness manifesting itself in every-
thing and at every instance of our existence; and if
we are its manifestations, then that consciousness
cannot be diferent from us. We create the great
metaphor and seem to be outside it, at the same
time we exist in the metaphor and seem to be it:
No bleed here
PB November 2010 630
Prabuddha Bharata 40
Yath prakaymyeko dehamena tath jagat;
Ato mama jagatsarvamathav na ca kicana.
As I alone reveal this body, even so do I reveal this
universe. Terefore, mine is all this universe, or
verily nothing is mine.9
It is comparatively easier to perceive that we
are unconsciously or consciously writing this meta
phor of the universe, for instance, by seeing the
shape of our hands, as it is our thoughts and ac
tions that have shaped them. Without much dif
fculty we can sense the workings of a universal
intelligence by becoming aware of our heart beat
ing, and by extension we can sense our connec
tion with every creature whose heart beats. But it
may not be so easy to understand that we are also
involved in the production of mountains, wind,
and constellations. Our mind is bewildered by
the intelligence that created the form, texture, and
colour of the crown fower, the social organiza
tion of bees, and the force of gravity. But perceiv
ing that intelligence behind a puddle in a street, a
telephone bill, or a silly dream appears to be im
possible. Nonetheless, if we pursue the analysis to
its farthest reaches, we fnd that everything in the
Creation is interrelated. Te heat we individually
and collectively generate changes the temperature
of a region, which afects its atmospheric pres
sure; in turn, that change of pressure creates a cur
rent of air. We not only can contribute to create
wind, we sometimes even determine the direction
it blows!
Yattva payasi tatraikastvameva pratibhsase.
You alone appear as whatever you perceive (15.14).
Te discoveries of science are showing more and
more that everything in this Creation is interrelated.
Scientists increasingly point to somethingsome
even dare to call it consciousnessunderlying all
that exists. Centuries ago Samkhya and Vedanta
cosmology had explained these same universal
principles in detail. Tis interrelation makes us not
only part of Creation but part of the creational pro
cess as well. And if art is necessary for any creational
process, then we also need art to follow the reverse
processto read through Creation.
As if It Were Real
Trying to perceive everything as diferent meta
phors that express the Reality behind them, or in
trinsic to them, and fnally to perceive Creation as a
single metaphor that passes all categories of defn
itions is a spiritual practice that neither denies nor
afrms Creation. Tis practice also does not force
a false identifcation with Reality while one is fully
identifed with the world:
Aya sohamaya nha vibhgamiti santyaja;
Sarvamtmeti nicitya nisakalpa sukh bhava.
Completely give up such distinctions as I am He
and I am not this. Consider all as the Self and be
desireless and happy (15.15).
Considering all as the Self is accepting that the
universe and Godwe in its totalityare one.
Ten, how do we transcend the metaphor of
the universe? It is the way we live in the metaphor
that determines our possibility of transcendence.
Vedanta proposes to consider the universe as if
it were real, exactly in the same way we consider
metaphors: as if they were that which they repre
sent, though knowing well they are just revealers
of another reality. Finally, when we realize that
the universe, God, and we are essentially same, the
metaphor of the universe and what it represents
become one. Tose who have achieved transcend
ence tell us:
Tta cinmtrarposi na te bhinnamida jagat;
Ata kasya katha kutra heyopdeyakalpan.
My child, you are pure Consciousness itself. Tis
universe is nothing diferent from you. Terefore,
how and where can anyone have the idea of accept
ance and rejection? 10
Sri Ramakrishna expresses the same with an
other transcending metaphor he artistically shaped
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631 PB November 2010
Transcending the Metaphor 41
to awaken sublime devotion in Narendranath
Swami Vivekanandaa young future monk with
a strong intellectual bent of mind:
I said to Narendra: Look here, my boy. God is
the Ocean of Bliss. Dont you want to plunge into
this Ocean? Suppose there is a cup of syrup and
you are a fy. Where will you sit to sip the syrup?
Narendra said, I will sit on the edge of the cup
and stick my head out to drink it. Why? said I.
Why should you sit on the edge? He replied, If I
go far into the syrup, I shall be drowned and lose
my life. Ten I said to him: But, my child, there
is no such fear in the Ocean of Satchidananda. It
is the Ocean of Immortality. By plunging into It a
man does not die; he becomes immortal. 11
Sri Ramakrishna creates a metaphor and then
transcends it, leaving the mind, or the heart, of the
disciple at the threshold between the metaphor
and Reality. He shows us that the metaphor is not
real in itself, but he also makes us understand that
we need the metaphor, as it is only through it that
we reach transcendence: What is remains. How
will you know there is a real sun unless there is a
refected sun? P
Notes and References
1. George Lakof and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We
Live By(Chicago:UniversityofChicago,1980),3.
2. Colin John Holcombe, Metaphor: Theories,
<http://www.textetc.com/theory/metaphor.
html>accessed7July2010.
3. Metaphors We Live By,5.
4. Sallie McFague, Speaking in Parables: A Study in
Metaphor and Teology (Philadelphia: Fortress,
1975),45.
5. Joseph Campbell, Tou Art Tat: Transforming
Religious Metaphor (Novato: New World Library,
2001),89.
6. M, Te Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
2002),7767.
7. Metaphors We Live By,193.
8. Tou Art Tat: Transforming Religious Metaphor,7.
9. Ashtavakra Samhita,2.2.
10. Ashtavakra Samhita,15.12.Toillustratetheideas
ofthisarticletheAshtavakra Samhitawasselected
(Continued from page 610)
References
1. SeeSwamiVirajananda,Strive to Attain God (Cal-
cutta:AdvaitaAshrama,1994),7.
2. SeeSwamiPrajnanananda,Historical Development
of Indian Music (Calcutta: Firma K L Mukhopa-
dhyay,1973),14.
3. SwamiPrajnanananda,A Historical Study of Indian
Music (Calcutta: Anandadhara, 1965), 304, 386,
4267.
4. SeeMVKrishnaRao,Purandara and the Haridasa
Movement(Dharwad:KarnatakaUniversity,1966),
601.
5. Swami Prajnanananda, Music: Its Form, Function,
and Value (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal,
1979),7.
6. Purandara and the Haridasa Movement,63.
7. SeeBhagavata,7.5.23.
8. SeeSwamiHarshananda,Arati Songs of the Rama-
krishna Order(Calcutta:AdvaitaAshrama,1989),1.
9. SeePurandara and the Haridasa Movement,64.
10. SeeMysoreVenkataKrishnaRao,A Brief Survey of
Mystical Tradition in Religion and Art in Karnataka
(Madras:WardhaPublishing,1959),21112.
11. Quotedin A Brief Survey of Mystical Tradition in
Religion and Art in Karnataka,212.
12. DrVRaghavan,Te Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja
(Madras:RamakrishnaMath,1958),1,335.
13. M, Te Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
2007),363.
14. Swami Budhananda, Ramprasad, the Melodious
Mystic(Kolkata:AdvaitaAshrama,2002),64.
15. Gospel,427.
16. Te Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,9vols
(Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 18, 1989; 9, 1997),
4.9.
17. A Historical Study of Indian Music,419.
18. SeeTe Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja,46.
19. Quotedin A Brief Survey of Mystical Tradition in
Religion and Art in Karnataka,212.
20. Gospel,363.
21. Historical Development of Indian Music,46970.
because, apart from its lofy metaphors, this an-
cient Vedantic treatise was used by Sri Rama-
krishna to instruct his disciple Narendranath in
Vedanta.
11. Gospel,456.
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PB November 2010 632
Mysticism and Mystic Visions
Swami Prabhavananda
Te text of this article forms part of the authors new
bookRealizing God,editedbyMsEdithTipple.
et us first try to understand what is
meant by mysticism. A mystic has the frm con
viction that God or the ultimate Reality or
Brahmanwhatever name you give itcan be ex
perienced in this very life, and that Brahman is the
indwelling Self within each one of us. It is when
that vision opens up that we become true mys
tics and then see that this whole universe is flled
with the presence of Brahman. Tere is the same
Self, Ithe true I, the Being that I amdwelling
within everyone in the universe. Tere is no distinc
tion between man and man, man and woman, race
and race, nation and nation. My own Self, my own
Being, the same Reality, dwells, exists, everywhere
in the universe.
The Highest Goal
In the words of Swami Vivekananda, religion is the
manifestation of divinity already existing in man.
We see that divinity everywhere. And in the words
of the Greek mystic Plotinus, I shall restore the Di
vine in me to the Divine that is all. Tis is the pur
pose and the one supreme goal of every human life.
Our human life will be wasted if we fail to realize
that Truth in this very existence. Tatthe highest
goalmust be the one goal.
Swamiji said:
We must even have the highest ideal. Unfortu
nately in this life, the vast majority of persons are
groping through this dark life without any ideal
at all. If a man with an ideal makes a thousand
mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal
makes ffy thousand. Terefore, it is better to
have an ideal. And this ideal we must hear about
as much as we can, till it enters into our hearts,
into our brains, into our very veins, until it tin
gles in every drop of our blood and permeates
every pore in our body. We must meditate upon
it. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth
speakest, and out of the fullness of the heart the
hand works too.
It is thought which is the propelling force in
us. Fill the mind with the highest thoughts, hear
them day afer day, think them month afer month.
Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they
are the beauty of life, these failures. What would
life be without them? It would not be worth having
if it were not for the struggles. Where would be
the poetry of life? Never mind the struggles, the
mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only
a cownever a man. Hold the ideal a thousand
times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the
attempt once more.
Of course, everyone has some goal in life. A per
son wants to become a politician, another a lawyer,
a doctor, or something else. I do not object to such
things. We need politicians, lawyers, doctors, and
businessmen. But they must learn to spiritualize
their lives and move toward the supreme goal: to
experience God within themselves.
Why is there such chaos in this world? Why is
there violence and youth rebellion? Because we have
forgotten the ideal! Tat ideal is not even taught in
churches. Yes, there are scriptures, there are gospels,
the truth, the revealed words of Godbut what
good are they if there is no living example of those
truths? Until you have that experience for yourself,
you have not yet drunk of that fountain which makes
reason unreason, mortal immortal, this world a zero,
and of man a God. in the words of Vivekananda.
To quote Shankara: Tose who echo borrowed
teachings are not free from the world. But those
L
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633 PB November 2010
Mysticism and Mystic Visions 43
who have attained samadhi by merging the exter
nal universe, the sense organs, the mind, and the
ego in the pure consciousness of the Atmanthey
alone are free from the world, with its bonds and
snares. Why should I have to see God and realize
him? What is the efect? Te efect is this: the knot
of ignorance in the heart becomes loosened, all
doubts cease to exist, all the efects of past, present,
and future deeds are wiped out.
In the Upanishads it is called turiya, the fourth
transcending the waking, dreaming, and dreamless
sleep states. Is it then that we just know God as I
know you? In fact, I do not know you; I do not
know anything at all. I only read what my senses
carry to my mind. Immanuel Kant pointed out that
thethinginitself remains unknown and unknow
able, whereas the seers point out that It is more than
known and knowable: it is being and becoming, the
untying of the three knots of knowledgesubject,
object, and the process of knowledge. Te knot of
distinction between subject and object has to be
untied to reach unitary consciousness.
How is it possible? When the heart is purifed
there is constant recollectedness of God. Now re
verse the process: practise thinking of God, hearing
about the ideal, until it gets into your blood, as it
were. And then naturally the heart becomes puri
fed. My master [Swami Brahmananda] used to say
again and again: Practice, practice, practice. Tere
is a line in Sanskrit: Adopt any means by which you
can keep your mind in the Lord. Tat is the secret.
When we realize the supreme Truth, can we ex
press what it is? Has anybody been able to express
that? Sri Ramakrishna used to say that even the
scriptures have been defled because they have been
uttered by the lips of man. But the ultimate truth
of God has never been uttered by the lips of man.
It is not possible. Tat is why you fnd in the same
scripture one seer says something, another seer says
something elsebecause they are relative expres
sions of the same.
Tough it is not communicable, Truth can
be transmitted. Not by words, but I have known
how my master, with a touch, could transmit that
power. A mystic can describe some of these ex
periences, and they are true spiritual experiences
and visions, but they are not the supreme Truth. If
we stop and do not move onward, we miss the ul
timate Reality. Tat ofen happens: mystics having
some visions or experiences think they have seen
God, have realized the ultimate Reality, and they
do not study anymore. But my master told me this
truth: Light, more light, more light, more light! Is
there any end to it?
Psychic Experiences against
Spiritual Experiences
Let me point out the diference between halluci
nations, delirium, and spiritual visions. Tere is a
saying in the Bible: for the tree is known by his
fruit. Hallucinations weaken the brain, and the
character is not transformed. Delirium is from a
diseased brain. But when spiritual visions come, the
efect is a stamp on the character; it is transformed.
Love, compassion, sympathy, devotion arise in the
heartas does selfcontrol.
I have ofen heard that mysticism is escapism,
but suppose the house is on fre. Wont you try to
escape? Tis is the escape from sufering and misery
to reach that domain where there is no night but
only light and bliss.
Psychologically speaking, a human being is
Spirit encased in sheathes: physical, subtle, and
causal. Terefore, each one of us is essentially a spir
itual being, because our true nature is the indwell
ing God. Just as we consist of sheathes, similarly
Brahman is encased in sheathesphysical, subtle,
and causal. A seer experiences this physical universe
as Brahman everywhere. When you see clay dolls of
many diferent kinds and forms, you know it is all
clay, only the names and forms are diferent.
Tere is another kind of experience brought out
in the Mundaka Upanishad: Heaven is his head,
the sun and moon his eyes, the four quarters his
ears, the revealed scriptures his voice, the air his
breath. Try to feel that you are breathing the breath
of God. Te universe his heart, from his feet came
the earth. He is the innermost Self of all.
PB November 2010 634
Prabuddha Bharata 44
Now again, we experience the physical universe
with our ordinary fve senseshearing, touch,
smell, taste, sight. Similarly, when we rise to the
psychic plane, there is sound, smell, sight, and so on.
You can hear a sound, taste something, see some
light. Not only that, powers may come to youfor
instance, clairvoyance or clairaudience, or read
ing the thoughts of others. Patanjali says: Te psy
chic powers may be obtained either by birth, or by
means of drugs, or by power of words, or by the
practice of austerities, or by concentration. Drugs
can give psychic power or vision momentarily, but
the efect, if continued, is that the brain becomes
completely deranged. Beware!
A spiritual aspirant tries to avoid psychic powers.
My master taught me that even if you are not seek
ing psychic powers, if you are simply meditating
and counting your beads and trying to pray to God
for love, devotion, and knowledge, you may sud
denly feel a power in you. Try to test its validity
once, but never try a second time. If you do not try
anymore, you lose that power.
Patanjali also points out that these are powers
in the worldly sense, but obstacles on the spiritual
path. Tey are temptations. Do not trust anyone
who shows such occult powers. Both Patanjali and
Swami Vivekananda point out that the spiritual
progress of those who show such powers is com
pletely blocked.
In some spiritual aspirants visions may come
but not in all. If they do not, it does not mean
there is no growth. Te main thing is character:
love, devotion, purity. Tese are the things we have
to achieve.
Direct Experience
Tere is a kind of vision called lower samadhi, in
which you have the vision of what I may call a per
sonal God, formless or with form. Of course, great
joy and bliss come, but there is still a feeling of sep
aration, because you are having the vision and ex
perience. Do not stop there. Te highest, what we
call nirvikalpa samadhi, unitary consciousness, we
must struggle and struggle for until we realize: I am
Brahman. I am He. Everything that I see before me
is my own Self, is the one Lord in so many forms.
Just consider! If only a few of you realize that, you
can bring a complete change in the whole world!
Te knowledge gained from inference and study
of scriptures is knowledge of one kind; the know
ledge which is gained from samadhi or transcen
dental experience is of a much higher order; it goes
beyond inference and scriptures.
Tus, we fnd that our fve senses give us the ex
perience of this worldwe cannot deny these ex
periences as long as we are experiencing themand
also we gather certain data out of which we can
come to an inference, and this is called inferential
or empirical or scientifc knowledge. It is also true.
Tere are philosophers in the West who try to
prove the existence of God through inferential
knowledge, and there are others who, through rea
son, can disprove the existence of God. Te point
is: Suppose we prove the existence of God. What
does it mean? What have we proved? For instance,
Hegel proved through his dialectic process the ex
istence of an absolute reality, but he proved only
an idea of the Absolute. Is there any guarantee that
his idea of the Absolute and the Absolute itself
are identical? In other words, until you have dir
ectly experienced that Absolute, it does not mean
anything.
Now take the revealed scriptures. We come to
some understanding because they are experiences of
great sages and seers, and so we believe in the exist
ence of God. Does that give us any satisfaction? It
is just like somebody being sick and another taking
medicine for him. Scriptural knowledge gives us
no ultimate satisfaction because the absolute Truth
is indefnable and inexpressible. It is a matter of ex
perience. You have to reach a stage of unfoldment
when, it is said, scriptures are no longer scriptures,
the Vedas become no Vedas. How bold is this state
ment! To quote Swami Vivekananda: Realization is
real religion, all the rest is only preparationhear
ing lectures, or reading books, or reasoning is merely
preparing the ground; it is not religion. Intellectual
assent and intellectual dissent are not religion.
635 PB November 2010
Mysticism and Mystic Visions 45
In the presence of my master, who was flled
with God, you didnt have to ask whether God is
or is not. You could feel the presence tangibly. Not
only that, he would make us feel that God is so
near that he is just like a fruit in the palm of our
hand. And he would always insist that as others
have realized their union with God, it is also pos
sible for you.
In the Mahabharata King Yudhisthira was asked:
What is the greatest wonder in the world? He re
plied: Te greatest wonder is that we see people
dying, but still we do not believe we shall die. We
think that we shall live forever, because there is eter
nal life. But we seek that eternal life in this surface
life of the body.
Concentration, meditation, and absorption are
the direct means to realization. Shankara puts it
a little diferently. He says: Faith, devotion, and
constant union with God through prayerthese
are declared by sacred scriptures to be the seek
ers direct means of liberation. To him who abides
by them comes liberation from the bondage of
physical consciousness, which has been forged by
ignorance.
Faith is having faith in the words of the guru
and the scriptureswhat we call shraddha. We
must have faith that what the scriptures say is true,
that God can be attained. And faith in the guru,
who has attained realization and says: Yes, it is
possible for you, for everyone, to realize Tat. And
then also to have a confdence in yourself that, yes,
I can realize God. Tis is the frst thing.
Nirvikalpa Samadhi
Tere are seven centres of spiritual consciousness.
Generally the minds of all people dwell within the
three lower centresthe anus, the sex organ, and
the navel. Te mind begins to dwell in the fourth
centre, in the heart, when you begin to meditate
upon God. Ten, love grows in your heart. During
that time you may see a light or something. When
the mind goes to the next higher centre, in the
throat, you have become purifed. When the mind
goes there you cannot bear, at least for some time,
to talk or think of anything but God. If somebody
talks about other things, it jars you.
Ten when the mind comes to the centre be
tween the eyebrows, you enter into samadhi. Tere
you see either God with form or God without form,
and you enjoy such bliss, such happiness, as you
have never felt in your life. Tat is known as lower
samadhi. When the mind comes to the thousand
petalled lotus, in the centre of the brain, there is
what is known as nirvikalpa samadhi, union with
Brahman. In the lower samadhi, savikalpa, though
you see Reality, there is still a distinction between
you and God. You are, as it were, a part of God;
you are experiencing God. But when you go to the
very highest, the ego is wiped out completely. As
Patanjali points out: When the impression made
by that samadhi is also wiped out, so that there are
no more thoughtwaves at all in the mind, then one
enters the samadhi which is called seedless. Tat
is nirvikalpa.
In this connection let me quote to you Sri Rama
krishnas experience. He frst had the experience of
the Divine Mother in savikalpa samadhi. He said:
Every time I gathered my mind together, I came
face to face with the blissful form of the Divine
Mother. However much I tried to free my mind
from the consciousness of Mother, I did not have
the will to go beyond. But at last, collecting all the
strength of my will, I cut Mothers form to pieces
with the sword of discrimination, and at once my
mind became seedless and I reached nirvikalpa
samadhi. It was beyond all expression.
Philosophically, it is called triputi bheda, the
untying of the three knots of knowledgesub
ject, object, and the process of knowledge. You see,
in all our knowledge there is I, ego, experiencing
something, and there is the process of knowledge.
But when these three knots are untied, there is the
unitary consciousness in which the consciousness
of subject and object is dissolved away. Ten, in
fnite, unitary consciousness alone remains. And
fnally, one knows the bliss of nirvana while still
living on earth.
(To be concluded)
PB November 2010 636
Vedanta-sara
Swami Bhaskareswarananda
(Continued from the previous issue )
The text comprises the edited notes of Swami
Bhaskareswaranandas classes on Vedanta-sara, con-
ducted between 8 December 1954 and 20 January
1955. Te notestaken down by some residents of the
Ramakrishna Math, Nagpurhave been edited and
reconstructed by Swami Brahmeshananda, Secretary,
Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Chandigarh.
68. Anusandhntmikntakaraa-
vtti cittam.
Memory (citta) is that modifcation of the
inner organ which remembers.
C
itta is the peaceful deep mind in
which samskaras, impressions, remain;
from there memory arises.
69. Abhimntmikntakaraa-
vtti ahakra.
Egoism (ahakra) is that modifcation of
the inner organ which is characterized by
self-consciousness.
Egoism gives the sense of me and mine. Tere
is a manifestation of knowledge and the self-
consciousness of sattva gua in it. All these modi-
fcations together form your subtle body. Know
this and surrender.
Te gross, subtle, and causal bodies as well as
Brahman beyond them have been described. For
convenience in spiritual practice, these have been
further divided into fve koas, sheaths, and it is
shown that the Reality, Brahman, Godand not
Iis behind each of these entities. Each of these
phases of personality is a cover for God, as it were.
He alone, through his my-akti, is sporting as these
fve koas. Surrender to him with this knowledge.
To begin with, the vijnamaya koa, is being
described.
70. Ete punar-kdi-gata-sttvikebhyo
militebhya utpadyante.
Tese, be it noted, are produced fom the
combination of the sattva particles of ka
and the rest.
71. Ete praktmakatvt-sttvika-
kryatvam.
On account of their being luminous, they are
said to be the products of sattva particles.
72. Iya buddhir-jnendriyai sahit
vijnamaya-koo bhavati.
Tis intellect, together with the organs
of perception, constitutes the sheath of
intelligence, vijnamaya koa.
We have a defnite subject-object consciousness:
I am so and so, he is my father, and so on. Ini-
tially, sensations come in through the organs of
perception; this is followed by knowledge in a def-
inite form, such as he is my father. Tis occurs
due to the buddhi, intellect. Terefore, it is said
that the intellect and the organs of perception to-
gether constitute the vijnamaya koa. For the
spiritual aspirant it is important to note that this
is the main personality, the jiva, and that intellect
is all important.
73. Aya karttva-bhokttva-sukhitva-
dukhitvdy-abhimnatveneha-loka-
para-loka-gm vyavahriko jva
ity-ucyate.
637 PB November 2010
Vedanta-sara 47
Tis vijnamaya koa, on account of its being
conscious that it is an agent and enjoyer, that
it is happy or miserable, and so on, is called
the phenomenal jivathe individual self
subject to transmigration to this and the other
worlds.
Tis personality with its defnite subjectobject con
sciousnessI am happy, I am miserable, I am the
doer, I am the enjoyer, and so onand the Reality
behind constitute the jiva. Tis jiva associated with
the vijnamaya koa transmigrates. At the time of
death vibrations arise from this intellectual sheath
and the jiva migrates, in accordance with its karma,
to higher spheres like satya-loka, or to lower bodies
such as that of a dog or a donkey. In every creature
there is this vijnamaya koa, and behind it is God.
Tis illumination will make you surrender at the feet
of God, making your spiritual life an ideal one.
74. Manas-tu jnendriyai sahita
san-manomaya-koo bhavati.
Te mind together with the organs of
perception constitutes the mental sheath,
manomaya koa.
Sadananda now shows us the second phase of our
inner life. Te natural sequel of defnitive know
ledge in the vijnamaya koa is that you start
thinking about the object. Tus, thinking is always
preceded by defnite subjectobject knowledge. If
this subjectobject knowledge is pure, if the convic
tion about the object in the buddhi is pure, then the
thinking also will be pure, on the same lines. If, for
example, you intellectually consider an object as a
means of enjoyment, your mind will also think in
that line. But if your outlook towards the objects of
the world is transcendentalthat is, if you consider
them divinethen the vibrations in your mind too
will be divine. Our whole life, our thoughts and ac
tions, depends upon the vijnamaya koa. Tere
fore, this koathat is, the organs of knowledge
and the intellectmust be purifed and trained.
75. Karmendriyi
vk-pi-pda-pypasthkhyni.
Te organs of action include the organs of
speech, the hands, the feet, and the organs of
evacuation and generation.
76. Etni punar-kdn rajoebhyo
vyastebhya pthak pthak
krameotpadyante.
Tese are produced separately in consecutive
order fom the active rajas aspects of ka and
other elements.
Although there is sattva and tamas in the organs
of action, rajas is predominant. It is for this rea
son that the organs of action are dynamic, always
active. Tere is more of sattva in the mind and in
tellect. Te more you think and engage in intellec
tual activity, the more will sattva manifest in you.
Similarly, the dynamism of the organs of action
goes on increasing once you make them active by
encouraging them to work. Once they become dy
namic, it is difcult to check them. Activity goes
on increasing, gets intensifed. Remember this
and be cautious.
77. Vyava prpna-
vynodna-samn.
Te fve vital forces are the following: pra ,
apna , vyna , udna , and samna.
Te organs of action were frst described because
the pramaya koa, vital sheath, is to be described
next. If there is a problem at the level of the sheath
of intelligence, the mind is disturbed. Tis leads
to irregularity in the organs of action, and fnally
respiration, pra, gets disturbed. All the various
aspects of the vital breathpra, apna, vyna,
udna, and samnaget disturbed.
You must also remember that God is present
behind all these aspects. Terefore, change your
outlook towards the world and the mental sheath
and all other facets of the personality will reach a
balance. Te rishis started with the vijnamaya
koa. If you try to control the organs of senses and
action through physical or mechanical means, you
will fail. If there is an evil outlook at the level of
the vijnamaya koa, it will lead to evil thinking
No bleed here
PB November 2010 638
Prabuddha Bharata 48
at the level of the mind. So, if you think you will be
able to control the hands working out this evil, you
are mistaken; for rajas predominates at the level
of the karmendriyas. Hence, if you want to lead a
noble life, rectify your outlook at the level of the
vijnamaya koa.
78. Pro nma prg-gamanavn-
nsgra-sthnavart.
Pra is that vital force which goes upward
and has its seat at the tip of the nose.
79. Apno nmvg-gamanavn-
pyvdi-sthnavart.
Apna is that vital force which goes downward
and has its seat in the organs of excretion and
the adjacent areas.
80. Vyno nma vivag-gamanavn-
akhila-arravart.
Vyna is that vital force which moves in all
directions and pervades the entire body.
81. Udno nma kaha-sthnya
rdhva-gamanavn-utkramaa-vyu.
Udna is the ascending vital force which helps
the passing out (of the jiva) fom the body and
has its seat in the throat.
82. Samno nma arra-madhyagatita-
ptnndi-samkaraakara.
Samna is that vital force which assimilates
food and drink and has its seat in the middle
of the body.
83. Samkaraan-tu paripka-karaa rasa-
rudhira-ukra-purdi-karaam-iti yvat.
Assimilation means digestion of food and its
conversion into chyle, blood, semen, faeces, and
other materials in the body.
84. Kecit-tu nga-krma-kkala-devadatta-
dhanajaykhy pacnye vyava
santti vadanti.
Others say that there are fve more vital forces
known as nga , krma , kkala , devadatta ,
and dhanajaya.
85. Tatra nga udgiraakara. Krma
unmlanakara. Kkala kutkara.
Devadatto jmbhaakara.
Dhanajaya poaakara.
Of these nga is that which causes vomiting
or eructation, krma opens the eyelids, kkala
creates hunger, devadatta produces yawning,
and dhanajaya nourishes the body.
86. Ete prdivantarbhvt-
prdaya pacaiveti kecit.
Some say that on account of their being
included in pra and other forces, the vital
forces are really fve in number.
87. Etat-prdi-pacakam-kdi-gata-
rajoebhyo-militebhya utpadyate.
Tese fve vital forces, namely pra and others,
are produced fom the combination of the
active rajas aspects of ka and other elements.
88. Ida prdi-pacaka karmendriyai
sahita sat-pramaya-koo
bhavati. Asya kriytmakatvena
rajoa-kryatvam.
Tese fve vital forces, pra and others,
together with the organs of action constitute
the vital sheath, pramaya koa. Its active
nature shows that it is the product of rajas.
(To be continued)
I
f we observe closely the changeableness of things
outside as well as within, we can be convinced of the
unreality of the entire world. Every change perceived by
thesensesashappeningoutsidehasitscounterpartwithin
us. In proportion as the outer world is changeable, so is
theinnerworld.Bytherealityofathingismeanttrulyits
existenceatalltimes,eternally.
SwamiShivananda,
A Man of God,70
No bleed here
639 PB November 2010
Mahendranath Gupta:
Last Days with Sri Ramakrishna
Swami Chetanananda
(Continued from the previous issue )
S
txun, .o xovzxuzu zaas At 6.00 a.m.
M arrived and found the Master asleep. He
and Shashi went to visit Dr Sarkar. Shashi
gave the doctor details about Sri Ramakrishnas
condition. Dr Sarkar then said: If this is true, then
he will die. Te statement shocked both M and
Shashi. Shashi begged Dr Sarkar: Te Master is
sufering from excruciating pain. Please give him
some efective medicine. Afer saying this, Shashi
lef the room. He had brought a sample of the Mas
ters blood to show the doctor. Te doctor then
spoke frankly to M: It seems that it is cancer. Tis
was the frst time that the doctor had openly de
clared Sri Ramakrishnas disease to be cancer. M
was extremely upset. He said plaintively: Sir, you
must assure us that his sufering can be mitigated.
Is there anything lacking in his care? Te nursing
is going well, Dr Sarkar replied, but his sufering
will increase day by day. You can go now.
M lef the doctors residence. Afer walking
for a while, he sat down on a bench in Welling
ton Squarenow Subodh Mallick Squareand
began to weep. He lamented: O beloved Master,
how shall I live without you? Returning home, he
told his wife everything and then went back to the
Shyampukur house. Te Master was feeling a lit
tle better. M went to Vidyasagars schoolat 100
Shyampukur Streetand read the notes that he
had written on the Masters life in Kamarpukur.
At 5.00 p.m. M returned to the Master and
found him in great pain. He was restless. He told
Surendra: I have never felt such pain before. M
was very sad and felt helpless when he heard this.
Soon Dr Sarkar arrived.
Master: It is very painful. Please give me some
medicine. Te doctor examined Sri Ramakrishnas
throat and gave him some medicine. Te Master
then went into samadhi. Afer a while he told Dr
Sarkar: I tried to suppress my ecstasy, but failed.
My mind merged into the Infnite. Nowadays I
dont see any forms anymore. His face was shin
ing with bliss.
Monday, 30 November 1885 Te day had
been uneventful. In the evening the Master was
sitting up, surrounded by Narendra and other de
votees. He said: I see that everything is maya. Tis
body is like a sheath. God is in everything and He
has become everything. He was silent for a while,
and then he said to Narendra: I hesitate to give up
this body lest you boys be submerged in grief. As
they witnessed the Masters sufering, the devotees
decided to begin Ayurvedic treatment. Someone
went to Dr Navin Pal, who arrived at 10.00 p.m. He
gave Ayurvedic medicine to the Master and asked
No bleed here
PB November 2010 640
Prabuddha Bharata 50
him to gargle with hot water. But the Master said:
No garglingit hurts too much.
Tuesday, 1 December 1885 M arrived at 2.00
p.m. from Vidyasagars school. Te Master told M
that he had been coughing the night before and
needed medication. Sharat went to Dr Sarkar and
Dr Pal.
Te Master was impatient. He said: Navin [Pal]
has not yet come. What kind of person is he? I am
depending on him. M was ready to fetch the doc
tor, but the Master stopped him.
Wednesday, 2 December 1885 M arrived at
12.30 p.m. and collected information on the Mas
ters health for the doctors. Sri Ramakrishna had
been having difculty swallowing food, and he was
coughing and felt dizzy. M lef to deliver his reports
and returned at 5.30 p.m.
Te Master may have been thinking about re
turning to Dakshineswar because he sent Rakhal
to see Trailokyanath Biswas, Mathurs son and
the caretaker of the Dakshineswar temple. How
ever, the gatekeeper would not allow him to see
Trailokya. Rakhal sent his message to him through
someone else.
When Dr Sarkar arrived, he asked about the
Masters health in detail. As a man of science, he
had a low opinion of Ayurvedic medicine. None
theless, Dr Sarkar and Dr Pal both continued to
treat the Master. For the next two days the Master
was tolerably well.
Narendra said to the Master: Let us go back to
Dakshineswar. Mother Kali dwells there. Is not
Kali here? replied the Master.
Saturday, 5 December 1885 On his way to
work, M came to see the Master and found him
sleeping. He heard that the previous night Sri
Ramakrishnas condition had been critical. He
was shivering so much that even the quilt was not
efective. His attendants were anxious and called
Dr Biharilal Bhaduri. Seeing Shashi and Rakhal
weeping, the Master said: Dont cry. Does the
body last forever?
M had urgent business at Vidyasagars school,
so he wrote his report on the Masters health and
sent it to Dr Sarkar through another devotee. M
returned at 12.30 p.m. and found Girish and some
others in the Masters room. Dr Sarkar arrived
shortly thereafer and learned that the Master was
eating rice gruel and bathing daily. He did not ap
prove of this. He then said that the air pollution in
the Shyampukur area was terrible. Te smog was
most heavy in the mornings and evenings when
people used their coal stoves. He suggested that
the Master be moved to a gardenhouse on the out
skirts of Calcutta.
Narendra fed the Master. Dr Sarkar observed
that he was having difculty swallowing even a li
quid diet. When the doctor lef, Ramchandra told
Sri Ramakrishna: Sir, Dr Sarkar has suggested that
we fnd a gardenhouse outside Calcutta. Shall we
look for it now?
Te Master consented: Yes, fnd a place. Here I
have no good digestion or appetite. Ramchandra
and the devotees began to search for a suitable
place for the Master.
Sunday, 6 December 1885 Dr Sarkar pre
scribed broth, which gave Sri Ramakrishna some
strength. Te attendants and devotees were, for
the time being, relieved. M arrived at 8.00 a.m.
and found the Master slowly walking around his
room. He said that the meat soup was giving him
some strength. Te soup had been made from a
goat that had been sacrifced in front of the Kali
image.
Ramchandra Datta went to Trailokya to ask
for a room in the Kuthi at Dakshineswar for Sri
Ramakrishna, but Trailokya would not provide one.
When Ramchandra returned, he told the Master:
Trailokya refused. Shall we look for another place?
Master: Yes, fnd another place. I have no appetite
here. M said to Ram: Please go today.
Dr Sarkar arrived at noon. He asked Narendra
and others to sing some songs in an adjacent room.
When Narendra began singing, the Master came
into the room and joined the group. M sang a song
by Mirabai. Te Master returned to his room when
the singing was over.
Monday, 7 December 1885 M was on his way
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641 PB November 2010
Mahendranath Gupta: Last Days with Sri Ramakrishna 51
to see the Master early in the morning when he en
countered Narendra on the street. Tey walked to
the Shyampukur house together. When the Mas
ter saw them, he said: I had a thick haemorrhage
last night and now I have a throbbing pain. Cap
tain Upadhyay arrived. Te Master talked to him
briefy and then washed his mouth. He cautioned
his attendants that the rinse water should be dis
posed of hygienically. Narendra assured him that
it would be.
Te Master asked for a mirror. He then turned
it around like a child and saw his emaciated body
in it.
Master: What next?
M: Sir, your disease has taken a good turn and
you will be cured.
Master: What do you say?
Narendra: You are getting well.
Master: Is that so?
M: Yes, sir. Dr Sarkar says that you are improv
ing because you no longer bathe or eat rice gruel.
Tese remarks reassured the Master.
Tuesday, 8 December 1885 M arrived at
5.00 p.m. and learned that Sri Ramakrishna had
coughed throughout the night and had a throb
bing pain. Despite Dr Sarkars diagnosis, M still
believed that the Masters disease was clergymans
sore throat. He told the Master: I believe that you
have got the right medicine and your disease will be
cured. No one has ever talked as much as you, and
your singing is unparalleled.
Sri Ramakrishna smiled. He then got up and
began to walk slowly in his room. Suddenly he
began throwing up blood. His attendants and de
votees were alarmed. Narendra and Ramchandra
rushed to the room. M could not bear the Masters
sufering, so he lef the room. But soon afer he
came back and noticed that the Master had ral
lied. Why does this happen? the Master asked
Narendra. Perhaps the sore is drying up because
I have not had a bath. Ramchandra said to the at
tendants: Please do what the Master says now. M
went home that night and sent his maidservant to
clean the Shyampukur house.
Wednesday, 9 December 1885 Te Master
was feeling better. M came by in the morning and
then lef to see Dr Sarkar and Dr Kali Kaviraj, an
other Ayurvedic practitioner. Later M returned
to the Master and informed him of the doctors
suggestions.
Mahimacharan Chakrabarty found a garden
house at 90 Kashipur Road in Kashipur for the
Master. When Dr Sarkar heard about the location
of the gardenhouse, he approved. Te Master said
to M: Now make arrangements to move.
Thursday, 10 December 1885 The Mas
ter appeared to be improving. M arrived in the
evening. Te devotees told Sri Ramakrishna that
the Kashipur house would cost eighty rupees per
month. Immediately the Master said: I dont need
such an expensive place. Let whatever is in my fate
happen. It is better that I go back to Dakshineswar.
Afer a long discussion the devotees persuaded Sri
Ramakrishna to agree to the move. Surendra prom
ised to pay the rent and signed a sixmonth lease.
Te last night at Shyampukur passed smoothly. M
stayed at night.
Friday, 11 December 1885 At 5.00 a.m. M
took over the nursing duty from Shashi. While re
turning from the bathroom, the Master asked M:
What does the doctor say? Is it cancer? Avoiding
the question, M said: Sir, it is cold here. Let us go
inside the room. M lef at 6.30 a.m. Afer running
several errands, he returned at 2.15 p.m.
Shashi told M that Dr Sarkar had arrived to see
the Master.
Dr Sarkar: Now you are better. Please go to
Kashipur and get well.
Master: Will you visit me there? I know it is a
little far.
Dr Sarkar: I want a report on your health every
day, and I shall visit you occasionally.
In the afternoon Sri Ramakrishna left for
Kashipur by horse carriage with Holy Mother,
Latu, Kali, and Senior Gopal. Other attendants
took another carriage with the household belong
ings and necessities. Sri Ramakrishna had lived at
the Shyampukur house for seventy days.
PB November 2010 642
Prabuddha Bharata 52
At the Kashipur Garden-house
On 11 December at 10.00 p.m. M and Girish ar-
rived at the garden-house in Kashipur by horse car-
riage. Tey entered the Masters room on the upper
foor. A lantern was lit. Tere were many mosqui-
toes, so the Master was lying on his bed under the
mosquito curtain. His bed consisted of a mat on
the cement foor with a cotton carpet over it, and
over that a mattress and sheet. His bed was situ-
ated in the southwest corner of the room, two yards
from the western window.
Sri Ramakrishna was awake. Girish and M
bowed down to him. He sat up and said: I have
no cough or wheezing sound in my chest, but my
stomach is not normal. Te Ayurvedic doctor
lives in Baghbazar. Will he be able to come here?
M replied: Of course, he will come soon. He will
take a carriage. Shortly afer this Girish and M
lef for Calcutta.
At this time Dr Rajendralal Datta, a famous
homeopathic doctor, began to treat the Master
with Dr Sarkars approval. He prescribed Lyco-
podium 200, and this kept the Master well for
about two weeks.
Sunday, 13 December 1885 Te news spread
that Sri Ramakrishna had been moved to Kashipur.
It was a holiday, so many devotees came there. At
2.00 p.m. M arrived and bowed down to the Master,
who was seated facing north. His body was thin, but
he was cheerful. M was sufering from blood dysen-
tery. When Sri Ramakrishna heard that M was ill,
he asked him to get some medicine from Ramlal.
Te Master assured him that within three days he
would be cured. M took his leave at 4.30 p.m.
Wednesday, 23 December 1885 M arrived in
the evening. Te Master asked M to buy a stool
for him.
Master: Well, can you tell how long it will take
me to recover from this illness?
M: It has been aggravated a little and will take
some days.
Master: How long?
M: Perhaps fve or six months.
[Master:] So long? What do you mean?
M: I mean, sir, for complete recovery.
Master: Oh, that! I am relieved. Can you ex-
plain one thing? How is it that in spite of all these
visions, all this ecstasy and samadhi, I am so ill?
M: Your sufering is no doubt great; but it has
a deep meaning.
Master: What is it?
M: A change is coming over your mind. It is
being directed towards the formless aspect of God.
Even your ego of Knowledge is vanishing.
Master: Tat is true. My teaching of others is
coming to an end. I see that everything is Rama
Himself. Tis illness is showing who belong
to the inner circle and who to the outer. Tose
who pay occasional visits and ask, How are you,
sir? belong to the outer circle.
(To M) When God assumes a human body for
the sake of His devotees, many of His devotees ac-
company Him to this earth.
Te Divine Mother also showed me in a vision
the fve suppliers of my needs.
It was revealed to me in a vision that during my
last days I should have to live on pudding. During
my present illness my wife was one day feeding
me with pudding. I burst into tears and said, Is
this my living on pudding near the end, and so
painfully? 11
Saturday, 26 December 1885 M arrived in the
morning and met the Master. Kishori, Ms brother,
was also a devotee. M told the Master what Kishori
had said to him: My guru may leave me, but I shall
not leave him. Wonderful! Sri Ramakrishna joy-
fully remarked.
Sunday, 27 December 1885 Te Master was
feeling much better. He sat up, surrounded by
the devotees. Ramchandra strongly believed that
the Masters disease was mere pretence and that
he could cure himself at any time. One moment
he would be sufering from pain and the next he
would merge into samadhi. Ram, Nityagopal, and
other devotees began to sing kirtan on the ghat of
the western pond. As he listened to the kirtan, Sri
Ramakrishna went into deep samadhi. Aferwards
he said: I see my spiritual state is intact; only my
disease has suppressed it. It is Satchidananda
who descends into the human body.
Mahendranath Gupta: Last Days with Sri Ramakrishna 53
Monday, 28 December 1885 Afer work M
arrived at Kashipur and found Girish, Ram, and
others talking with the Ayurvedic doctor of Bagh
bazar. M went upstairs to the Master and bowed
down to him. Te Master asked him to buy two
glass bowls. He reminisced about how, when he
was young, he would make clay images of Krishna
with his fute as well as other gods and goddesses.
Te devotees and disciples were singing and danc
ing downstairs, and with Sri Ramakrishnas permis
sion M joined them.
Friday, 1 January 1886 Swami Saradananda
described the events of this momentous day, when
Sri Ramakrishna became the Kalpataru, the wish
fulflling tree.
Te Master felt better and expressed a desire to
walk in the garden for a short while. Because it
was a holiday, the householder devotees began
arriving at the Cossipore garden afer midday in
dividually and in groups. Te Master came down
from upstairs at 3.00 p.m.; there were more than
thirty people talking amongst themselves inside
the house and sitting under the trees in the gar
den. Tey all stood up reverently and bowed down
when they saw him. Te Master went out through
the western door of the hall, descended onto the
garden path, and proceeded slowly southward to
the gate. Te devotees followed him at a little dis
tance. When he reached the midpoint of the path
between the house and the gate, the Master saw
Girish, Ram, Atul, and a few others under a tree
on the west side of the path. Tey bowed down to
him and came to him joyfully.
Before anyone had spoken a word, the Master
addressed Girish, asking him: Girish, what have
you seen and understood (about me) that makes
you say all these things (that I am an avatar, and so
on) to everyone, wherever you go? Unperturbed,
Girish knelt down at the Masters feet, folded his
hands before his raised face, and responded in a
voice choked with emotion: What more can I say
of Him? Even the sages Vyasa and Valmiki could
fnd no words to measure His glory! Girishs sincere
faith expressed in those words so moved the Master
that he said to the devotees, while looking at Girish:
What more need I tell you? I bless you all. May you
all be illumined! He became overwhelmed by love
and compassion for his devotees, and went into ec
stasy afer uttering those few words.12
M was not present that afernoon, but he was
at Kashipur in the evening. Sri Ramakrishna said
to the devotees: Seven years ago, I thought that
many people would come here [to himself ], and
a gatekeeper would have to control the crowd. At
7.00 p.m. M took his leave and went with Mahima,
whose house was nearby. Mahima told M: I have
never seen another person in India like Sri Rama
krishna Paramahamsa.
Saturday, 2 January 1886 Te Kalpataru
Group picture taken at Kashipur a day after Sri Ramakrishnas passing (in the circle Mahendranath Gupta)
PB November 2010 644
Prabuddha Bharata 54
event had taken a toll on the Masters fragile body.
M arrived at 1.30 p.m. Sri Ramakrishna asked Nava
gopal to give some blankets to his attendants and
asked M to massage his feet. Te Masters sore had
been aggravated and he was in pain. He put a small
amount of ghee in his mouth, as one of his doctors
had said it would lubricate the open sore.
Master: I see I have become everything. M: Yes
sir. Te Lord also said in the Gita (7.7): Everything
is strung on Me as a row of gems on a thread. M
lef at 5.00 p.m.
Sunday, 3 January 1886 M arrived in the
afernoon and found Ram, Devendra, and other
devotees in the Masters room. His throat haemor
rhaged twice that day.
In the evening Harish brought the Masters meal,
but the Master noticed that Harish had smelt the
food so he could not eat it. Sri Ramakrishna then
chewed a black myrobalan, which is a laxative, but
stopped when M reminded him of its efect.
Narendra brought Dr Pratap to see the Master.
He examined the wound and gave Sri Ramakrishna
some medicine.
Monday, 4 January 1886 M arrived at 4.00
p.m. Narendra was in the Masters room. M learned
that Narendra had cried for God and begged Sri
Ramakrishna to give him samadhi. Shashi told M
that the Master had had a lot of bleeding that day.
At 9.00 p.m. the Master got up from his bed and
talked about Narendras longing for God. M spent
the night there.13
Tuesday, 5 January 1886 M arrived at 4.00
p.m. and found the Master seated on his bed. He
talked about the renunciation of his young dis
ciples and how they were unwilling to enter family
life. Ten the Master asked M: Well, all my joy, all
my ecstasywhere are they now? M replied: Per
haps you are now in the state of mind that the Gita
describes as beyond the three gunas. Master: Yes,
the Divine Mother has put me into the state of a
child. Tell me, wont the body live through this ill
ness? M remained silent (938).
Wednesday, 6 January 1886 At 3.30 p.m. M
came to Kashipur with his wife and son. He heard
the following story about his student Subodh:
Knowing about the recent aggravation of the Mas
ters throat pain, Subodh simply said: Sir, you
used to live in a damp room in Dakshineswar. As
a result, it seems you have a sore throat because of
the cold. Please take tea. Whenever we have sore
throats, we drink tea and the soreness goes away.
If you want, I can bring some good tea from my
home. Immediately the childlike Master called
Rakhal and said: Look, I want to drink tea. Tis
boy says that I will be cured if I drink tea. Rakhal
said: Sir, tea is very hot; it may aggravate your
throat. You may not be able to bear it. No, then
it is not necessary, said the Master. He consoled
Subodh, Hot tea will not suit me. Subodh was
moved by the Masters childlike nature.14
Thursday, 7 January 1886 Although M
had a fulltime job as headmaster of Vidyasagars
school in Calcutta, almost every day he visited the
Master in Kashipurwhich is quite a distance
from Calcutta. M arrived at 4.30 p.m. Te Master
was teaching Narendra how to practise sadhana.
Narendra asked M: Well, you practised sadhana
under the bel tree in Dakshineswar for a month.
Could you tell me what you achieved? M replied
with a smile: I achieved him [pointing to the Mas
ter]. Te Master laughed.
Friday, 8 January 1886 M arrived in the af
ternoon. Observing Narendras longing for God,
the Master asked him to sing a few songs praising
Krishna. Narendra sang three songs. It was the Mas
ters suppertime, but his meal had not arrived. Te
Master sent M downstairs to enquire about it. When
the food was brought, Sri Ramakrishna ate a small
amount of farina pudding. Afer supper the Master
asked M to massage his feet. When he fnished, M
covered Sri Ramakrishna with a quilt and lef.
(To be continued)
References
11. Gospel,9324.
12. Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play,926.
13. Gospel,9357.
14. SwamiChetanananda,God Lived with Tem (Kol
kata:AdvaitaAshrama,2001),539.
645 PB November 2010
REVIEWS
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publishers need to send two copies of their latest publications.
Ayodhy: The Abode of Rma
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54 Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi 110 055.
2009. Website: www.mrmlbooks.com.
xxx + 138 pp. Rs 350.
yodhya, the impregnable; an icon of dharma
guarded by heroic kings and idealist princes. A
city of renunciation for creating a life divine for hu-
mankind; of desecrations in the name of religion; of
the common mans heroism as well as his moral tur-
pitude. Ayodhya, a big question mark today.
L P Pandey brings a lifetimes historical scholar-
ship, marked by deep erudition, to examine the area
and its resonant tangled history. Studying Indian his-
tory is quite diferent from historical investigations
elsewhere in the world. In India mythology mingles
with history, historical fgures are worshipped even
today as divine beings, and it is perilous to take a one-
sided view of it all. Pandey rightly criticizes the Pro-
crustean analysis of Indian Marxist historians who
reject age-old traditions, base themselves only on
truncated socio-economic processes, and generally
caw about secularist talk without any understanding
of what secularism really means.
Demolition of the age-old traditions, therefore,
can hardly help a historian to reconstruct. A rich
cultural heritage is an asset to a country. Tat is its
real wealth which is traced by making a study of
its values which are known from various symbols,
motifs, myths, art-forms, and traditions. Meanings
of life and society are to be traced. Tis is the real
subject-matter of a historians research (xiv).
With this healthy and holistic view Pandey pro-
ceeds to trace Ayodhyas presence in the Vedas
through the Ikshvaku dynasty which ruled over it.
Enough has been brought out as archaeological ma-
terial to trace Ayodhyas history from the sixth cen-
tury onwards, but then without having the entire city
of Ayodhy dug on a large scale, its antiquity and full
period of life can never be known (6). Te author
scours Jain and Buddhist literatures apart from the
writings of the Vedic lineage to tell us the history of
a new settlement, Saketa, in ancient times. It was a
highly developed society in every way. Indo-Greek in-
vasions during the second century bce led to a com-
plete breakdown of civil administration as Saketa was
heartlessly plundered. Most of the citizenry migrated
and Saketa was identifed with Ayodhya henceforth.
In the course of centuries Buddhism and Jainism
waxed strong, but Vaishnavism also took a great leap
forward. Ashvamedha and other sacrifces were per-
formed with clat. Te Ramayana yields a good pic-
ture of these centuries. Te third phase of Ayodhya
belongs to the age of the Guptas. From Kalidasas de-
scriptions we know that it was a highly developed land.
Te texts of all the three religions, epigraphs, and coins
help Pandey give a cogent history of Ayodhya.
An important revelatory text for post-Gupta
times comes from the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang.
Places of worship for all religions abound in Ayo-
dhya, which was considered the holiest of the holy
places of Hindus in whole of India by the early medi-
eval period. It was also a fourishing city as detailed
by the Jain work Tilakamanjari. So invincible was
the city that even the infamous Mahmud of Ghazni
did not come near it, and the Ayodhya-based King
Chandradeva seems to have repulsed the second in-
vasion of Ghaznis scourge. We learn that the Treta-
ka-Takura temple, built by the last Gahadavala
emperor Jayachandra, is probably now known as
the Rama-janma-sthana temple.
Te concluding chapter surveys again the land
traversed so far by researchersliterature, records,
pottery, Copper-Hoards artefacts, including
weaponsto limn the history of Ayodhya: a fascin-
ating tale. But Pandey also places before us the un-
seemly controversy created by a section of historians
bent upon demolishing the past. Te little archae-
ology that has been done belongs to the Saketa por-
tion of Ayodhya and not to its original core area.
It is then not surprising that the archaeologists
A
No bleed here
PB November 2010 646
Prabuddha Bharata 56
have not found traces of old structures at Ayodhya.
At this point of time it seems perfectly reason-
able to think of the entire area of Ayodhya as the
Rama-janma-sthana.
A rich set of appendicesincluding one on the
antiquity of Bharadwaja Ashrama in Allahabadde-
tailed notes, a plentiful bibliography, and an index
make Ayodhy: Te Abode of Rma a very important
publication by a balanced historian of our times.
Dr Prema Nandakumar
Researcher and Literary Critic
Srirangam
Primary Hinduism
Seeta Lakhani; ed. Jay Lakhani
Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai
600 004. Website: www.chennaimath
.org. 2009. vi + 116 pp. Rs 225.
mbitiously setting out to cater for all children rang-
ing from fve to fourteen years oldkey stages
one to threethis book must necessarily pack a lot of
information into its modest 116 pages. Not only does
it achieve this difcult task without embroiling read-
ers in a confused jumble, it does so with astounding
grace and artistry. Te large pages are brought to life
with wonderfully colourful illustrations and the gen-
eral layout is both attractive and easy on the eye. Over
ten chapters the rudimentary foundations of Hin-
duism are presented in an appealing and lucid man-
ner, each chapter concluding with a simple summary,
a number of points to stimulate discussion, and sug-
gested classroom activities. Younger pupils will enjoy
the illuminating stories and vivid pictures whilst elder
students will be urged to tackle such weighty topics
as religious pluralism, third-world debt, and the role
of science in spiritual life. Supporting the contents of
the book are educational extras ofered on the afli-
ated Hinduism for Schools website, which supplies
additional resources for all age groups.
A pivotal theme fowing in a gentle undercurrent
through the pages is one of religious harmony coupled
with universal consideration, and the message is so
sensitively conveyed that children will be lef morally
and ethically elevated, without realizing they have
been on the receiving end of that much-loathed thing
called advice. Primary Hinduism is a positive contri-
bution to religious education and is bound to be well
received by teachers, parents, and children alike.
Br Mark
Somerset
Views from a
Vedantic Window
Swami Amarananda
Centre Vedantique, 63 Av dAire 1203
Geneva. 2009. Website: www.centre
vedantique.org. xviii + 157 pp. Rs 50.
he mild Hindu, the dreamy Hindu, the philo-
sophical Hindu, and other similar phrases are
pass. However, the words Hindu and Hinduism
bring out sharp reactions even today. Tis is true
among Hindus and non-Hindus in India as well as
abroad. Te reactions are both positive and negative,
depending on the level of acquaintance with the an-
cient and still thriving religion of India.
Hinduism has grown over the millennia and the
staggering diversity has become confusing to many
Hindus themselves, not to speak of those belonging
to other religions. Tis book, written by a learned
monk of the Ramakrishna Mission, is a kind of rebut-
tal of some wrong conceptions with regard to certain
aspects of Hinduism, while at the same time clarifes
and presents a modern perspective on those aspects.
Te contents of the book are particularly helpful
for Western people and occidentalized Hindus who
have been adrif from their original moorings. Swami
Amarananda had represented the Ramakrishna
Order in the third and fourth Worlds Parliament of
Religions in Cape Town, South Africa, and Barce-
lona, Spain, respectively. Te two papers the swami
presented on those occasions form the core of the
book. Other papers and articles form the fringe.
Te author, in his two decades of living in Geneva,
learned well what issues in Hinduism confuses non-
Hindus and hence has discussed, for instance: poly-
theism, idolatry, cow worship, caste, reincarnation,
marriages, and so on. Being a compilation of difer-
ent papers at world forums, some information over-
laps. A little more diligence could have eliminated
the few typos.
PB
Indian Saints and Mystics
Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Cul-
ture, Gol Park, Kolkata 700 029. Web-
site: www.sriramakrishna.org. 2009.
296 pp. Rs 125.
n important landmark in the cultural history of
medieval India was the silent revolution in so-
A
T

A
647 PB November 2010
Reviews 57
ciety brought about by a host of socioreligious re-
forms, particularly the bhakti movement. Te chief
characteristic of the bhakti movement was believing
in one God as well as worshipping him with love and
devotion irrespective of ones caste and creed. Tis is
the central theme of the life stories of saints presented
in this book. Te bhakti movement spread slowly
across North India because of the eforts of notable
saints like Namadeva, Tukarama, and Ramananda.
Tis book contains twenty-seven biographical
sketches of saints and mystics of the bhakti move-
ment, largely from Maharashtra. Originally pub-
lished between 2001 and 2006 in the Bulletin of
the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, these
well-researched articles have now been presented in
a compendium.
Every life in the book is unique. Each of them
portrays various facets of the personality and teach-
ings of these saints. Many facts hitherto unknown
to common readers make for interesting read. Te
incidents in the life of Namadevalike ofering of
ghee to a dogare inspiring and establish the unity
of consciousness in all beings. Tese lives seem to
echo the ethos of Indian scriptures. Indias spiritual
tradition has been kept alive for centuries by these
saints. Tey believed that God could be seen and re-
nounced everything to attain God-realization, the
sole pursuit of their lives. Due to their faith and de-
votion, God revealed to them and ofen acted as their
saviour. God was enslaved by the love and devotion
of these saints.
Te poetic outpourings of the devotion of these
saints have been gracefully translated in verse. Te
lives of less-known saints like Kurmadasa enrich this
volume, which could help researchers working on In-
dian saints and strengthen the devotional fervour of
spiritual aspirants.
Sukanya Sinha
New Delhi
Self Knowledge
Nome
Atma Jnana Publications, PO Box 597,
Soquel, California 95073. 2003. xvi +
481 pp.
amana Maharshi laid stress on Self-inquiry lead-
ing to the knowledge of the Self. A teacher of
Ramana Maharshis philosophy and of Advaita Ved-
anta, Nomealso known as Jefrey Smithhas put
in simple English truths inaccessible to many because
of a lack of familiarity with Sanskrit. Te frst glance
at the book may make one exclaim: Oh! A tome
from Nome! But careful study establishes its value
as a reference work for the followers of the path of
Self-inquiry propounded by Advaita Vedanta and
Ramana Maharshi.
Divided into four parts, this volume contains aph-
oristic verses, transcripts of lectures, and answers to
questions bringing out various aspects of Advaita
Vedanta. English equivalents of the Sanskrit sutras,
the verses explicate various traditional ideas like a
rabbit with horns (64) or a fruit in the hand (68).
One is reminded of a parable of Sri Ramakrishna by
the following lines: Practice, practice, practice in-
tensely/Like a man drowning/Reaching for air (32).
Te book elucidates various fundamental tenets
of Advaita Vedanta and keeps one constantly re-
minded of the true nature of ones Self. Te nature
of the Self, of guru and grace, and concepts like self-
annihilation are discussed in detail. Te witty and
lucid style of answering persistent questions encour-
ages perseverant striving for knowledge. Truly, the
answer comes when the mind turns from duality to
nonduality (432). For anyone interested in attaining
Self-knowledge, this could be a good guidebook.
Swami Narasimhananda
Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata
Social Philosophy of
Swami Vivekananda
amulya ranjan Mohapatra
Readworthy Publications, A-18, Mohan
Garden, New Delhi 110 059. Web-
site: www.readworthypub.com. 2009.
x + 110 pp. Rs 140.
S
wami Vivekanandas philosophy of service to
humankind had the realization of their innate
divinity as its basis. His ideas of root and branch
reform were born out of a holistic world view. Tis
handy book highlights the socialist perspective of
the swamis thought. It establishes him as a social
reformer and activist who knew education to be the
panacea of all ills. Trough a beautiful collation of
Swami Vivekanandas utterances, the author points
out that the swamis philosophy of humanism up-
holds the ideals of renunciation and service. To
the swami, serving humanity was serving God. For
anyone interested in serving fellow human beings,
this book would ofer help.
Swami Narasimhananda
R
PB November 2010 648
RepoRts
News from Branch Centres
Swami Prabhananda, General Secretary, Rama-
krishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, laid the
foundation stone for the proposed Sri Ramakrishna
block of the Vivekananda College at Ramakrishna
Mission Vidyapith, Chennai, on 8 August 2010.
From 8 to 10 September the Vivekananda Insti-
tute of Human Excellence at Ramakrishna Math,
Hyderabad, celebrated its 10th anniversary in the
presence of Sri E S L Narasimhan, governor of
Andhra Pradesh, Swami Prabhananda, and several
other dignitaries.
During the month of September Ramakrishna
Mission, Kadapa, celebrated the centenary of the
Ramakrishna movement in Kadapa by conducting
various programmes, including the inauguration of
a newly built multipurpose hall and the renovated
shrine, both at its city centre.
Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Ashrama,
Raipur, held a symposium on universal brother-
hood that was inaugurated by Dr Raman Singh,
chief minister of Chhattisgarh, on 11 September.
Srimat Swami Smarananandaji Maharaj, Vice
President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna
Mission, inaugurated the newly built frst foor of
the technical section building of the girls school
at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sarisha, on
18 September.
Te annual convocation of the Ramakrishna
Mission Vivekananda University, Belur, for its fac-
ulties of Disability Management and Special Edu-
cation (DMSE) and General and Adapted Physical
Education and Yoga (GAPEdY) was held at the uni-
versitys faculty centre in Coimbatore on 25 Septem-
ber. For the above faculties, 95 and 313 successful
candidates respectively were awarded degree and di-
ploma certifcates. Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, Project
Director, Chandrayaan-1 & 2, isro Satellite Centre,
Bengaluru, delivered the convocation address.
Srimat Swami Smarananandaji Maharaj in-
augurated the newly built frst foor of the pri-
mary school building at Ramakrishna Mission
Ashrama, Sargachhi, on 28 September.
Relief
Flood Relief During the month of September
devastating rains and fash foods lef a trail of death,
sufering, and massive destruction in Chhattisgarh,
Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Tree centres close to
the afected areas immediately started relief opera-
tions. Narainpur centre served to the victims cooked
food (poha and khichuri) and distributed 251 mats,
250 chadars, 250 blankets, 125 sets of ladies garments
(each set containing 1 sari, 1 petticoat, and other
items), 125 shirts, 125 pants, and 125 sets of utensils
(each set containing 4 aluminium pots, 1 steel bucket,
1 steel drum, 1 steel plate, 2 steel glasses, 2 steel bowls,
1 ladle, 1 rice spoon, 1 khunti, and 1 karai) to 125 af-
fected families of 8 villages in Narainpur district.
Chandigarh centre provided medical relief to 200
food-afected patients of the Panipat district. Kan-
pur centre distributed 3,980 kg rice, 1,592 kg pulses,
1,592 kg sugar, 318 kg rusk, 199 kg cake, 796 plastic
buckets, and 796 sets of steel utensils (each set con-
taining 2 glasses, 3 cooking vessels, and 2 plates) to
796 families of 7 villages in Kanpur district. Further
reports are awaited.
Flood Rehabilitation Belgaum centre con-
tinued the construction of 213 houses for the victims
of the October 2009 food at Gokak and Sindhanur
taluks in Belgaum and Raichur districts respectively.
Till September the centre had erected 88 houses up
to the plinth level, 17 to the lintel level, and 91 to the
roof level. P
Relief activities at Narainpur
5
The sixty-five memorable lectures on the Bhagavad Gita delivered
by Swami Abhedananda in America before scholarly audiences form
the contents of this work in two volumes. Swami Prajnanananda has
critically edited and annotated these lectures, with portions of
commentaries of Shankaracharya and Madhusudana Sarasvati and
glossaries of Anandagiri and Sridhara Swami, wherever necessary.
He has also written the valuable preface. Also, the Sanskrit texts of
chapters I & II of the Gita together with their English translations by
Swami Abhedananda have been appended.
These lectures are new and scientific expositions of the
BHAGAVAD GITA carrying an original and scholastic stamp of their
own. The book is of Medium Octavo size and printed in good quality
paper, and is unique in its field having the following two parts :
PART-I With 521 pages containing 32 lectures in 32 chapters with an
appendix, and
PART-II with 490 pages containing 33 lectures.
This second edition of the book containing a tri-colour picture of
Sri Krishna and Arjuna by Late Nandalal Bose is available with cloth
binding with beautiful jacket at a nominal price of Rs. 300/- only per
set of two parts. Forwarding charges extra.
THE DIVINE MESSAGE
Swami Abhedananda
BHAGAVAD GITA
RAMAKRISHNA VEDANTA MATH
PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT
19A & B, Raja Rajkrishna Street, Kolkata-700 006, India.
(91-033) 2555-7300 & 2555-8292
E-mail : [email protected]
Website : www.ramakrishnavedantamath.org
66
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