Dancing Mirrors Spirituality – Part 1

In a spiritual country like Bharat, where the realization of consciousness or spirit has been the supreme goal of life, it is not a wonder that art becomes a form of sadhana.

All Indian classical dances are a combination of body movements and facial expressions perfectly synchronized to represent a given context, through the perfect vehicle i.e. the human body or human being. Though it is the body that moves, it is man’s inner consciousness or soul that directs his movements. This results in a harmonistic dance form that combines music, rhythm and movement, all of which cater to the command of man’s inner feelings.

Emotions and feelings of human beings are the basic truth of human life. “The poetic (aesthetic) insight into the emotional life and its artistic presentation, are the source of beauty (soundarya) and delight (ananda)”[1]. Thus, the artist, through the medium of art, educates and elevates the audience to a higher plane “by widening our understanding of life and intensifying our appreciation of the deeper values of life”. Art modifies the outlook of the conscience through rasa-experience (emotional connection) which is also relish of art. This aesthetic theory is the underlying belief and philosophy of all Indian classical performing arts called rasa theory.

The basic principles implied in the rasa theory or creation of art are: (i) There is an experience which an artist feels compelled to reveal or communicate; (ii) This revelation or communication demands a particular construction or structure of presentation and thus the gestures stipulated; (iii) Thus revealed, the experience affects emotionally; (iv) It also becomes very enjoyable because it is felt to be an experience of beauty— rasanubhava [2]

During presentation of a performing art both the artist and the spectator are active. They are developing emotions and sentiment in their minds respectively. If we interpret the word mind philosophically, “it is ‘manas‘[3], derived from the root man, ‘to think’. ‘Manas‘ is the Cosmic Mind, the principle of cognition, in samkhya philosophy. It is concerned with the ‘this’ aspect of the universal relationship, ‘I am this’.” And “the ‘manas‘ is the entire internal organ of perception, the faculty or instrument through which thoughts enter or by which objects affect the Soul (atman) as in vaiseshika philosophy. It is applied to all the mental powers, that is, the intellect, understanding, perception, sense, conscience and will”. Thus, the function of the manas or mind is to feel, think, express, understand and make sentiments. So, can we say that the experience of developing a sthayi bhava is a spiritual expression for the artist? And also, can we say the harmonious interpretation of the art presentation is a spiritual exercise for the spectator?

Then, we can say that – this aesthetic experience of art called rasa-experience involves the soul or spirit of man, it is a spiritual experience. The artistes of the performing arts, of yore, felt they could take it a step further. Not only did they try to realize pure consciousness and understand reality of life through art; but also tried to realize moksha (union of self with Absolute Self), however fleetingly, presenting philosophical themes as expounded in bhakti yoga.