Culture Arts and Vision : Samskriti Kala aur Drishti part 1

SANSKRITI TATHA KALA DRISHTI Culture and Artistic sense It is a fundamental truth that we cannot go against our own nature. Modern psychology tells us about various physical and psychological diseases which occur due to suppression of natural desires and one’s own nature. Thus suppression is not a solution, at least for majority of people. Desires suppressed bring pestilence. Nature should be turned upwards to become Culture. There is a right way, right attitude to do every action, no matter what it is: then that pursuit will become culture. Culture is expression of ‘Consciousness of life.’ (Sri Aurobindo) This expression is in all the aspects of human life, individual as well as collective, mundane as well as spiritual. It covers life as a whole- Religion, philosophy, science, technology, literature, painting, sculpture, dances, dramas, social structure, economics, politics, …etc. Sri D.B. Thengadi in his ‘ Hindu Kala drishti’ has listed parameters of the term Samskriti (culture) The list includes geography, environment, agriculture, education, politics, economics, codes of morality, morality, religion, arts, romance, human relations, law and order, history, sociology…the list is very long. While education as it is today, deals with compartmentalized study of the above and that too mostly at mental level, culture aims at a holistic approach and moulds not just mind and body but also deeper levels of the being. The tool used for this is Samskara: a scientific way of repeating the things till they become automatic, subconscious responses for any future stimulus. Kala or arts is a very effective way to achieve this. It is unique compared to study and following of the rituals and scholarly scriptures, one because it can be more accessible to masses and second because it does so without drying up of the Rasa or sap of the truth it carries. In the words of Dr. Ananda Koomarswami, (The Dance of Shiva) ‘Dancing’ came into being at the beginning of all the things. The idea behind all these dances is the manifestation of the primal rhythmic energy. Primeval dancing was clearly set forth in choral dance of constellations and in the planets and fixed stars. Their interweaving and interchange and orderly harmony. In the Nataraja image drum means creation, hand represents protection, fire means destruction, foot aloft means release. Our lord is a dancer, who like the heat latent in firewood, diffuses his power in mind and matter and makes them dance in their turn. He further explained that there is no negation. All is harmonized. All the forces of life are grouped like a forest whose thousand waving arms are led by Nataraja, the master of dance. Everything has its place, each bein

g has its function, and all take part in the divine concert. Their different voices, their very dissonances lead to the most beautiful harmony. Whereas in the West, cold hard logic isolates the unusual, shutting it down from the rest of the life into a definite and distinctive compartment of spirit. India, ever mindful of the natural difference in souls and philosophies, endeavors to blend them into each other, so as to recreate in its fullest perfection the complete unity. Matching of the opposites creates true rhythm of life. Spiritual purity may not shrink from allying itself with sensual joy, and o the most licensed sexualism may be joined the highest wisdom. The amazing Sahaja tradition is, an extreme example a paradoxical challenge to forces opposed and mated. In the masterpieces of art we see the beauty wedded to science or to religion, for the harvest of intensely lived life is invariably garnered from the intermingling of many different seeds. Dr. Koomarswami emphasized that the essential contribution of India is simply her Indianness. The heart and the essence of Indian experience is to be found in a constant intuition of the unity of all life. India has passed through many experiences and solved many problems which younger races have hardly yet recognized. All that India can offer to the world proceeds from her philosophy. This philosophy is not indeed unknown to the others, … but nowhere else has it been made the essential basis of sociology and education. Hindus grasped more firmly than others the fundamental meaning and purpose of life and more deliberately than others organized society with a view to attainment of the fruit of life. This organization was designed not for the advantage of any single person or class, but to use the modern formula, to take from each according to his capacity and to give to each according to his need. Devnagari, city of gods was an ideal and philosophy was map of life. There were provisions made for interests and activities of spiritual immaturity. Else there would have been a division between sacred and profane, church and society, but such a thing was never allowed to happen. Puritanism forcing asceticism to everyone as opposed to industrialism forcing self assertion and competition for all both were avoided by the philosophy of Swadharma. While Brahmins understood self realization as the aim of life, they also understood that it will be illogical to impose it on all who are not yet weary of self assertion.