Mysticism

A paper on Mysticism, Reason, Art, Literature.....for a seminar that I never went.

The Weft and Warp of Mysticism in Literature and Art

- By Akhilananda Bharati

On the role of poetry, Sri Aurobindo says in his essay on The Human Cycle: To us poetry is a revel of intellect and fancy, imagination, a plaything and caterer for our amusement, our entertainer, the nautch-girl of the mind. But to the men of old, the poet was a seer, a revealer of hidden truths, imagination no dancing courtesan, but a priestess in God's house commissioned not to spin fictions, but to image difficult and hidden truths; even the metaphor or simile in the Vedic style is used with a serious purpose and>expected to convey a reality, not to suggest a pleasing artifice of thought. The image was to these seers, a revelative symbol of the unrevealed and it was used because it could hint luminously to the mind what the precise intellectual word, apt only for logical or practical thought or to express the physical and the superficial, could not at all hope to manifest. My personal experience in mysticism and a corresponding development of my latent talents in music, photography, poetry, journalism and>sports can be taken as an ideal example to explain the relationship>between mysticism, literature, art, reasoning and every aspect of the>thinking mind on planet Earth.>Mysticism is described in the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary as>the belief that knowledge of God and of real truth may be reached by>directing one's mind or through spiritual insight, independently of>reason and the senses. "There is a strong element of mysticism in his>poetry", is an example the Dictionary gives.>My plunge into Mysticism or I prefer to call Spirituality started>when I joined a 13-day programme called Sahaja Sthithi Yoga, devised>by Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev. Involving a compact course on Pranayama,>Meditation, a bit of Yama and Niyama on food and other habits, though>I did not have any idea what I was in for when I joined, I found that>the whole programme was like going through LKG to Std. XII.>Whatever were the inputs, there was a drastic change in my perception>of people, situation and things. The meaning behind the Carnatic>music songs and all the Sanskrit slokas I learnt in my childhood>began to reveal itself. My voice acquired a new tenor and my vocal>and instrumental music, besides my conversation acquired much depth>and ease.>While my photography before Yoga were people-oriented - the subjects>being mostly my children, members of my family and myself, post-Yoga,>I indulged in taking pictures of vast nature, of people whom I met>and had a significant feeling to convey - but totally unconnected. So>much is the contribution to art that a difference in mental>perception can contribute.>I equate here the practise of all forms of Yoga with Mysticism.>Another major result of my Yoga and meditation practise was that one>fine day, I started writing poetry. Till then, all my writing was>confined to news stories, some features with poetic expressions. I>have written a couple of poems when at school. But my poems on Women,>Friendship, Anxiety, Hope, Peace,on the Gujarat Earthquake, a diary>full of them culminating with the latest one on Vande Mataram and>Life, in English and Tamil trace the expanse of my thinking - i.e.>from my teeny-weeny individual self to the Universe and beyond.>I have also a word here to say about my participation in seminars.>While earlier, I was a journalist contained to my beats, after Yoga,>I was invited to participate in seminars and present papers. The>trend I noticed each time I spoke, the moderators and audience made>it a point to say that it came straight from the heart. Nevertheless,>I was able to feel the impact of what I spoke - touching the heart of>the listener.>Mysticism I feel makes the person more intense as all practices like>Yoga and meditation works on the physical and energy bodies and the>mind infusing freshness in action and thought. In my experience as a>journalist, I have noticed the difference between the works of art in>any area, whether it is fabric design, music, pottery, acting or you>name it anything. A person in tune with nature, some call God or>Divine, either through practise of Yoga and meditation or just prayer>- a spiritual being rather than a physical being, their product is>richer in tone with more depth and feeling than those who are not in>tune with any such practises.>The reason I observed was that, in the case of a spiritual person, he>has surrendered his ego which gives him the energy to travel vaster>expanses than those who think from within an iron wall of the ego.>The former's actions are light while the latter hovers on the gross.>So Mysticism adds colour to painting and photography, depth and truth>to poetry and brevity and conviction to prose. The weft and warp of>mysticism in any area of knowledge whether in science, reason, art,>literature is the factor that binds that everything in the Universe>looks different but in fact it is one. With the veil of Maya or form removed, a mystic painter, literatteur, musicianm artist or scientist>discovers that every form and object in the Universe is one - Sarvam Brahmamayam.
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