The artist as spiritualist

[Gauracandra]

Do you think it is possible that artists, who are more in tune with their emotions, may have a greater capacity to be spiritual? I'm not sure I'm phrasing this correctly. But to give you an example... Have you ever seen Bob Ross the painter on PBS. He seems like such a cool guy. My favorite quote of his is "There are no such things as mistakes, just happy accidents". He seems so mellow and happy, and genuine. I don't know anything else about him, but he seems to have a nice approach to life.

 

And I've seen shows on QVC with Peter Max where he'll be totally "Peace, I love you". He also seems like a really mellow person.

 

I'm not saying these guys are the spiritual ideal. But they got me to think about the relationship between art and spirituality. Any thoughts?

 

Gauracandra

[JRdd]

I wonder if it is that spiritually inclined people tend more to be artists, in the sense of being more attuned to expressing their spirituality through painting, writing, cooking, dancing, etc etc.

 

Or I wonder if spirituality is more APPARENT in artistry than in other forms of expression. I mean, as we know someone can be totally spiritually focused while sweeping a floor, though this would be harder for others to see than if that person was painting a picture of Krsna.

 

Then again, I have often wondered the same thing as you begin this thread on. A devotee is naturally artistic, be it through dressing the Deities or making an attractive feast for the Lord or writing a poem to the spiritual master or decorating the temple before a festival or building a Rath cart. Because everything about Krsna is so beautiful devotees get to tap into glorifying that beauty in some way.

 

Personally I have long felt and said that everyone is an artist, in some way or other. I guess then it gets down to deciding how we want to define art.

[JRdd]

If emotions and artistry are indeed connected, then if devotees get more attuned to their emotions, through fixing their senses and intentions around the glories and glorification of the Lord, it makes sense to me that artistry would be expressed more through such people.

[Gauracandra]

Yes, JRdd I think you are right. I have it backwards perhaps. It is not that artists are more spiritual, but perhaps spiritualists are more artistic..? isn't one of the qualities of a Vaisnava that he/she is poetic? I don't think that the technical artistic skill is necessarily there, but the mood perhaps... its kind of like your webpage JRdd, I like its name "The Open Heart" because I think that is what true artists/spiritualists bring. A real openness which I think would run parallel with spirituality.

[talasiga]

Originally posted by JRdd:

I wonder if it is that spiritually inclined people tend more to be artists.....................................

Or I wonder if spirituality is more APPARENT in artistry than in other forms of expression. I mean, as we know someone can be totally spiritually focused while sweeping a floor, though this would be harder for others to see than if that person was painting a picture of Krsna.

..............

Personally I have long felt and said that everyone is an artist, in some way or other. I guess then it gets down to deciding how we want to define art.

 

 

I absolutely love it when you write like this.

But fear not ! You won't find me a peering fan

at your dawn doorstep.

 

(You are certain to say something that will upset me soon )

 

Yes, I have not yet seen a greater painting

than my weather worn village aunts sweeping

the cowdung hearth in a thatched kitchen.

 

________

 

Gauracandra,

I thought this quote has a place in this thread:

 

 

".....Chaitanya aimed at the culture

of the emotions, and thus arose a subtle classification of love,

which could be cultivated in many ways......

love is the supreme regulating principle of the universe.

The universe is a poem, and the spiritual soul alone is privileged to read its deep poetry."

 

Mohinder Singh Randhawa & Doris Schreier Randhawa,

Kishangarh Painting

page 5

Vakils, Feffer and Simons Ltd

Hague Building

9 Sprott Road

Ballard Estate

Bombay 400 038

 

(NB no ISBN appears in the edition that I have)

 

 

.

.

.

.

.

 

 

------------------

talasiga@hotmail.com

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by talasiga (edited 11-28-2001).]

[bhaktashab]

haribol,

Any ability or talent that one may have is bestowed by Krishna alone. Krishna's devotees are the greatest artists. Who is better than Arjuna when it comes to the art of war? Who can sing like Lalita Devi? Who can cook as good as Srimati Radharani? Who is funnier than Madhu-Mangala?

 

"Also upon those beautiful, jeweled walls are exquisitely crafted paintings of

parrots, so apparently real that even the household parrots like to perch near them for

companionship. When the gopîs saw them, they thought, “Are these alive, or is it

those?” They were so bewildered that for a long time they were unsure as to whom

they should offer some pomegranate seeds." (Ånanda-vrndåvana-campüh 1.153)

 

Of course the paintings in Krishna's house are going to be the best.

All these qualities, talents etc. are bestowed by Krishna and they are meant for Krishna's pleasure.

 

 

 

------------------

shab.

[Gauracandra]

I like that quote alot Talasiga.

[JRdd]

I just came cracking up from the beadbag thread. Now this one is really getting nice. Especially since I found some compliment directed my way. (I love the quotes by Shab too.)

 

Originally posted by talasiga:

I absolutely love it when you write like this.

But fear not ! You won't find me a peering fan

at your dawn doorstep.

If I do shall I send it your way? Is it the kind one peeks coyly from behind? Or--?

 

(You are certain to say something that will upset me soon )

I will try. But I'm not sure I'm up to it tonight. Especially after reading that quote about Sri Caitanya and the culture of love, and the description of the village aunts. I have a similar lasting memory of the women in Vrindaban, early in the morning squatting down and sweeping the roads outside their temples or homes with those long swishy handleless brooms. Everything was always so clean. A temple town. I was thinking of art as action and now you bring up the observer's artistry. Everything--we--are tiny elements in Krsna's collage.

 

Jayaradhe

[suryaz]

...If emotions and artistry are indeed connected...???????????

 

 

Humm The hydrogen atom – the greatest artist of all.

 

What emotion does the hydrogen atom have?

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by suryaz (edited 11-29-2001).]

[bhaktashab]

Hydrogen Atoms?

Can you explain yourself a bit better there?

 

------------------

shab.

[suryaz]

Originally posted by bhaktashab:

Hydrogen Atoms?

Can you explain yourself a bit better there?

 

 

"Protium is better known as hydrogen, which is made up of one proton and one encircling electron. Hydrogen, in evolutionary physics, is the atomic emergent: the primal chemical entity. Subsequent elements created by the natural fusion process are thereby derived from hydrogen. H2 is the molecular emergent."

 

 

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/ser_post-sciedu.html

 

This need not necessarily contradict with creation theorists –

 

It may just be another way of looking at creation

 

 

[bhaktashab]

Atomic particles of matter are simply a distortion in the ether. They have no independent existence from God. Creativity has an energetic source and atoms being energy are not the causes of creation. The living entities are empowered to create by the Supreme Lord. Unconscious matter is not a source of creation it is simply the clay with which God molds the universe from.

 

------------------

shab.

[suryaz]

Originally posted by bhaktashab:

Atomic particles of matter are simply a distortion in the ether. They have no independent existence from God.

 

 

Are atomic particles not His? Are such not of Him?

 

Humm ‘distortion’????

 

I think this ‘distortion’ you speak of belongs to your vision

 

 

[Tarun]

George Harrison: Artist as Spiritualist

Taxman, Little Piggies: 12th Canto Kaliyuga Realization

Within You, Without You: "Brahman" Realization

While My Guitar Gently Weeps: "ParamAtma" Realization

My Sweet Lord: "BhagavAn" Realization

 

[bhaktashab]

Originally posted by suryaz:

Are atomic particles not His? Are such not of Him?

 

Humm ‘distortion’????

 

I think this ‘distortion’ you speak of belongs to your vision

 

 

I quote Sataputa Prabhu when I explain the gross matter as a distortion of the ether. He says that our dimension is a distortion of the ether just like waves are a distortion on the surface of the ocean. Similarly there are many other dimensions which also co-exist along side this one. Even the material scientists who are splitting atoms down to the tiniest subatomic particles are coming to the conclusion that matter is simply a vibration. The omkara is the resting place of the material universe. This divine sound, which is a representation of the Supreme Lord, has an absolute relationship to the ether and in this way countless material manifestations come into being.

 

“The Vedic sound vibration omkara, the principle word in the Vedic literature, is the basis of all Vedic vibrations. Therefore one should accept omkara as the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the reservoir of the cosmic manifestation.” (Cc.Adi-lila, 7.128)

 

Suryaz, you shouldn't have insulted me just because I disagreed with you. The point you are trying to make about unconscious hydrogen atoms having some kind of spiritual artistic ability makes absolutely no sense to me. No doubt the material universe is created from such matter, but the matter is not the creator and therefore has no artistic relevance. It's like you are trying to say paint creates paintings. This is simply illogical - the painter creates paintings with paint.

 

 

 

------------------

shab.

[suryaz]

Originally posted by bhaktashab:

[suryaz, you shouldn't have insulted me just because I disagreed with you.

 

 

“you shouldn't have insulted me”

 

That was not my intention – please forgive my lack of clarity.

 

According to Krsna in the BG the material energy is his “divine energy”. I just think far too often some delegate it as something “other”. He calls it His “divine energy” and we should respect it as that.

 

 

[Gauracandra]

Tarun,

 

You are right about George Harrison as a spiritual artist. I was surprised when I found a site with many of George Harrison's song lyrics. So many of his songs have a point. They aren't pop music. They have some philosophical basis. Some were directly about God, others about not being materialistic, or the nature of the body and souletc... Bob Ross and Peter Max seem cool enough, but George Harrison really brings this topic into focus. He embued his songs with his spirituality.