Modern tendency is to depreciate the value of the beautiful and over-stress the value of the useful. Generations of Indians have been cut off from the ancient roots of their aesthetic cultural traditions, thanks to a mercenary and soul-less education. According to Sri Aurobindo, this situation can only be corrected if education can figure out… Continue reading Some Indian Views on Beauty and Art
“All great artistic work proceeds from an act of intuition, not really an intellectual idea or a splendid imagination,— these are only mental translations,— but a direct intuition of some truth of life or being, some significant form of that truth, some development of it in the mind of man.” (Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 20,… Continue reading Learning Art Appreciation with Sri Aurobindo
Life, a field for progress. An actual, real, throbbing, vibrant, pulsating, living field for putting to real, outward test whatever little progress there might have been on the inside. Is that inner progress real? Life asks the question, we have to answer it. Mind generally has a tendency to enjoy processing various kinds of inputs… Continue reading Life and Mind
The intricately carved pillars lead you into the chamber of Beauty and Divinity. Beauty in Divinity; Divinity in Beauty. Your eyes want to linger on the details of the pillars, take in every piece of carving and beauty. At the same time the inner quietude pulls you in. Disciple: Is form inseparable from the experience of beauty? Sri… Continue reading Divinity in Details
Every time I find myself getting somewhat lost or scattered in the multiplicity of noises coming from here and there, I feel this deep need to go back to the basics, I mean the most basic fundamentals of the path I aspire to pursue. This is one of the ways I have discovered which helps me to re-gain my inner poise,… Continue reading Surrender to the Guru
First published in Next Future, an e-magazine of Sri Aurobindo Society (July 2016) “The first and lowest use of Art is the purely aesthetic, the second is the intellectual or educative, the third and highest the spiritual. By speaking of the aesthetic use as the lowest, we do not wish to imply that it is… Continue reading An Afternoon at Ajanta
Yes, nobody can take Him away. Nobody. “वो यहाँ से जाने वाले नहीं…हम उन्हें जाने ही नहीं देंगे…उन्हें यहाँ से कोई नहीं ले जा सकता है…” (He is not the one to go from here…we won’t let Him go. Nobody can take Him away.) This was declared softly and simply by Maniram,… Continue reading “Nobody can take Him away!”
Navaratri special post: Nine nights of the Divine Mother. Some invoke Her in nine forms and names, some in three, some in four, some innumerable. “The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many-sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest… Continue reading Nine, who are One
कभी कभी जब मन कुछ विचलित सा होता है तो व्यक्ति कई उपाय खोजता है मन को स्थिर करने के लिए। ऐसा ही एक उपाय खोजते खोजते आज मैं अपने इस ब्लॉग पर एक वर्ष पूर्व की आज ही के दिन, अर्थात हिंदी दिवस के दिन की, प्रस्तुति तक पहुँच गई। उसे पढ़ा, उसके मूल सार पर, मुख्य भाव पर कुछ… Continue reading हिंदी दिवस के अवसर पर…On Hindi Day
A special post on Krishna Janmashtami Since times immemorial, Sri Krishna and His Lila remain a captivating source of inspiration for painters, sculptors, poets, musicians, dancers, storytellers and all types of classical, folk, traditional and contemporary artists in India. Krishna as balgopal stealing butter, his childhood antics and pranks, his acts of remarkable and extraordinary valour and courage,… Continue reading The Love of the Gopis
A special post for the special occasion of August 15, the birthday of Sri Aurobindo (15 August, 1872- 5 December, 1950) as well as the Indian Independence day. A day meant to celebrate the spirit of freedom. The truer, inner freedom. A post that hopes to remind us of the various knots we tie around and… Continue reading Of Knots and Freedom
We both stood still. For a few minutes, we just stood there. As the evening aarti at the temple was about to begin, we just stood there. Struck. In awe. In silence. At the entrance of this magnificent – no that’s not the right word for it but can’t think of anything else – temple. This was no ordinary… Continue reading The Gateway
