{"id":2539,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2539"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:18","slug":"63-painting-music-dance-and-yoga-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/27-letters-on-poetry-and-art\/63-painting-music-dance-and-yoga-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","title":{"rendered":"-63_Painting, Music, Dance and Yoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\nPainting, Music, Dance and Yoga <\/font><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/b>
\n\t\t\tYoga and the Arts <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the new creation would there not be great musicians, painters, poets, athletes etc. created from the Ashram? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAll kinds that are needed for the work or the manifestation would, I suppose, come. <\/p>\n

24 May 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Painting and Sadhana<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPainting also is sadhana; so it is perfectly possible to make them one. It is a matter of dedicating the painting and feeling the force
\nthat makes you paint as the Mother’s force. <\/p>\n

4 September 1935
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nOf course everybody is here for Yoga and not for painting.
\nPainting or any other activity has to be made here a part of Yoga and cannot be pursued for its own sake. If it stands insuperably
\nin the way, then it has to be given up; but there is no reason why it should if it be pursued in the proper spirit, as a field or aid for
\nspiritual growth, or as a work done for the Mother. <\/p>\n

\n18 January 1936
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYou have painting and music in you and if you apply yourself
\nthey will develop in you. Only it is best to do it as an instrument of the Mother and as an offering to her, and not allow any
\npersonal desire for fame or appreciation by others or any personal pride to be the motives
\n―for it is that that gives
\ntrouble. All work done as an offering is a great help and does not give trouble. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-733<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Is it really possible to get anything simply by faith and surrender? I heard Mother said to Sanjiban that if one wants to be
\nan artist one must work hard. What is true of art, is true of everything, isn’t it? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nFor heaven’s sake, don’t be so universal in your rules. Art means a technique (especially painting, sculpture, etc., music also, poetry less), and technique has to be developed. But that does not mean that there is nothing that can come by simply faith and
\nsurrender. <\/p>\n

6 April 1935 <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let Thy grace abide with me so that I may keep the right
\nattitude towards Thee at the time of painting. Often I feel a vital atmosphere around me and a sort of vital excitement in
\nme. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhat do you mean by vital excitement? There is an intensity and
\nenthusiasm of the vital without which it would be difficult to do any poem, picture or music of a creative kind. That intensity is
\nnot harmful. <\/p>\n

7 October 1933 <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother finds the pictures of Tagore hideous and monstrous,
\nshe would not dignify them with the name of art. But it is not because they depart from tradition. The Mother does not believe
\nin tradition ―she considers that Art should always develop new forms ―but still these must be according to a truth of Beauty
\nwhich is universal and eternal ―something of the Divine. <\/p>\n

8 December 1933
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Music and Sadhana <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n<\/b>
\nI quite understood your main point to which I shall answer, but
\nthere were many side-issues which obscure the main one in your letter and I took the occasion to try to get rid of one of them
\nat once. For the moment I am answering only to your question about the music. Let me say at once that all of you seem to have
\ntoo great an aptitude for making drastic conclusions on the   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-734<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nstrength of very minor facts. It is always perilous to take two or three small facts, put them together and build upon them a big
\ninference. It becomes still more dangerous when you emphasise minor facts and set aside or belittle the meaning of the main ones.
\nIn this case the main facts are (1) that the Mother has loved music all her life and found it a key to spiritual experience, (2) that she
\nhas given all encouragement to your music in special and to the music of others also. She has also made clear the relation of Art
\nand Beauty with Yoga. It is therefore rather extraordinary that anyone should think she only tolerates music here and considers
\nit inconsistent with Yoga. It is perfectly true that Music or Art are not either the first or the only thing in life for her,
\n―any more
\nthan Poetry or Literature are with me, ―the Divine, the divine consciousness, the discovery of the conditions for a divine life
\nare and must be our one concern, with Art, Poetry or Music as parts or means only of the divine life or expression of the Divine
\nTruth and the Divine Beauty. That does not mean that they are only “tolerated”, but that they are put in their right place. <\/p>\n

Then the minor facts and their significance. The Mother limited the concerts to one hour because that was the utmost
\nshe could give to them in the afternoons for which they are fixed and that meant checking a very natural tendency to spread over
\na greater length of time. On this occasion she first wanted it to be a half an hour affair because the more important occasion was
\nto be reserved for November. But it was found that certain very undesirable psychological movements were tending to appear
\nwhich would turn the occasion not into a part of the preparation for true expression or a part of the Yoga, but an occasion for the
\nexhibition of a very mundane, almost professional egoism, vanity, rivalry, anger and spite at one’s talent being “neglected” etc.
\nIt was decided that this anti-Yogic stuff should not be allowed to mix with the atmosphere of the 24th November and therefore
\nthe Sunday concert could be lengthened out and the November one dropped ―and this was what was written to Venkataraman.
\nIt is not an objection to music that the decision represented, but an objection to bringing into music here these very undivine and
\nunyogic and, if human, yet not very reputable human elements   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-735<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and movements. The Mother said nothing to you about it because these things did not directly concern
\nyou <\/i>and she did not
\nbesides care to make the causes of the change public. <\/p>\n

Let us have music by all means; but also more rhythm and
\nharmony in the atmosphere! <\/p>\n

29 October 1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n*<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI don’t think I can say anything about your non-appreciation of
\n[X’s] singing or rather your failure to feel it, for this is a matter of personality and its responses. [X] has put me the question
\nas coming from you and I have made some kind of answer. His idea is that you have no appreciation of his music from
\nthe aesthetic point of view because it is new in its lines and you cling conservatively to the traditional music. If that is so,
\nit is obviously a mental and aesthetic limitation. But what you say is that you admit his genius and the qualities of his singing
\n―only you don’t feel what you seek in his music. That is a different matter. Your interpretation may then be the right one.
\nIn any case what is important for you is to develop your inner realisation till it can take up all the feeling and outer action
\n― whether for your own singing or for a new appreciation of music in general that is the one line opened to you and the one thing
\nneedful. <\/p>\n

8 September 1937 <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI meant exactly the same thing as when I wrote to you that the
\n“famous singer” must disappear and the “inner singer” take her place. “The old psychological lines” means the mental and vital
\naesthetic source of the singing, the desire of fame or success, singing for an audience
\n―the singing must come from the soul
\nwithin and it must be for the Divine. <\/p>\n

What I wrote about the conservative clinging to traditional
\nmusic was in answer to Dilip’s supposition about the source of your non-appreciation. I said if it were that it would be a mental
\nlimitation. I had written before that I gathered from what you had written that it was not that but a temperamental difference
\n   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-736<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nor a seeking for another vibration than what his music could give. As to the newness of Dilip’s music and how far he has been
\nsuccessful, I am not a musical expert and cannot pronounce. It was the Mother who gave him the advice and impulse to create
\nsomething new. If Tagore’s most recent verdict is sincere, he has succeeded in doing it, since Tagore speaks of him as a creator in
\nmusic. <\/p>\n

A new creation need not be on one line only, each creator
\nfollows his own line, otherwise he would be more of an imitator than a creator. There are many who receive inspiration from me
\nin poetry but they do not all write on the same line. Nishikanta’s poetry is different from Dilip’s, Nirod’s from Amal’s. <\/p>\n

As for your singing, I was not speaking of any new creation from the aesthetic point of view, but of the spiritual change
\n― what form it takes must depend on what you find within <\/i>you when the deeper basis is there. <\/p>\n

I do not see any necessity for giving up singing altogether. I only meant,
\n―it is the logical conclusion from what I have
\nwritten to you not now only but before, ―that the inner change must be the first consideration and the rest must arise out of that.
\nIf singing to an audience pulls you out of the inner condition, then you could postpone that and sing for yourself and the
\nDivine until you are able, even in facing an audience, to forget the audience. If you are troubled by failure or exalted by success,
\nthat also you must overcome. <\/p>\n

10 September 1935 <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If Sahana gives up music,
\n―I presume it is only a temporary
\nstep ―I suppose it must be for a reason personal to her sadhana. There is no incompatibility in principle between music
\nand sadhana. <\/p>\n

28 June 1931 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n*<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can learn the song and sing
\n―do it as Mother’s work with
\nout desire, such as even the wish to sing before her ―but simply as something to be done for her service. <\/p>\n

Only you must not allow it to interfere with your painting   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-737<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

which is your main work ―that in which you are making much progress. That you must go on doing every day. <\/p>\n

\n

7 December 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Can I take up the esraj when my hands get tired from practising the sitar? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nOne instrument is enough. If you feel tired so soon, it may be that the physical takes no pleasure in it, and then you should
\nnot trouble to learn. <\/p>\n

10 October 1932 <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I first took up the sitar, I could practise only for ten
\nminutes without exhaustion, then went on to half-an-hour. But Dilip says if I can’t do it for at least three or four hours a
\nday, I should give it up. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhat Dilip says is not untrue. It is hard work if you want really
\nto learn and otherwise it is not much use. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is only for myself when I am alone and tired of other things
\nthat I want music. I really want to learn one instrument. I hope you will not forbid my asking Nirod or someone else for help. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI don’t think it will be very helpful to your sadhana; but if you want to ask, you can do so. <\/p>\n

28 January 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t*<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yesterday suddenly I felt a great desire or impulse to sing. The music seemed to come or rather pushed out from inside me by
\nan automatic force. Something was felt ―very tangibly so ―to be doing it as if I was a mere instrument in its hold. Since
\nthen I had tried again to do it, but it won’t come. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is no use trying ―it comes or it does not come. One must be
\nopen for its coming, that is all. <\/p>\n

9 April 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t*<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is absurd to say that you have narrowed or deteriorated be
\ncause one no longer sings erotic songs. One is not narrowed if<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-738<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

one loses taste for jazz and can hear with real pleasure only the
\ngreat masters or music of a high or exquisite quality. It is not deterioration when one rises from a lower to a higher plane of
\nthinking, feeling or artistic self-expression. Can one say of the man who has grown out of childishness and no longer plays
\nwith nursery toys that he has narrowed and deteriorated by the change? <\/p>\n

\n

26 August 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

I often catch myself acting as the great composer, musician, \u00b4<\/i>
\nlitterateur <\/i>and all that sort of rot. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWell, that is an almost universal human weakness, especially
\nwith artists, poets, musicians and the whole splendid tribe ―I have known even great Yogis suffer from just a touch of it!
\nIf one can see mentally the humour of it, it will fall off in the end. <\/p>\n

19 July 1943 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dance and Sadhana <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDance alone with rhythm and significance can express something of the occult or of the Divine as much as writing or poetry or
\nart ―why should it not and why should there be anything in it condemnable? <\/p>\n

17 July 1933 <\/font> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTo feel the vibration and develop from it the rhythm of the dance is the right way to create something true; the other way,
\nto understand with the mind and work out with the mind only or mainly, is the mental way; it is laborious and difficult and has
\nnot the same spontaneous inspiration. <\/p>\n

28 April 1932 <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After seeing Udayshankar dance, I asked him for instructions
\nand he showed me some exercises. May I know whether it is desirable for me to continue? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDancing is a private thing ―we can’t deal with it as part of the   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-739<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Yoga. So it depends on your choice. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Can dancing not become part of the yoga, like poetry, music
\nand painting? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIf it is done in the right spirit, it can. But we answered like
\nthat because Udayshankar’s coming brought only the vital side with it and dancing in its vital side is a personal affair and
\ncannot be part of Yoga. It would only raise the vital turn in the consciousness. <\/p>\n

15 October 1934 <\/font> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI know nothing about Udayshankar or his qualities; but if he was calm himself, his coming certainly did not create calm in
\nthe Ashram but much unnecessary excitement. I do not quite see how Udayshankar is to be useful to the Ashram. The visits of
\ncelebrities are not the means by which the work of the Ashram can be helped. These are ideas that belong to the ordinary external consciousness in which the coming of famous So and So creates an exultation and a flutter. <\/p>\n

5 October 1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-740<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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