Chapter from: Sanathana Sarathi – Bhagavan 70th Birthday Commemoration Volume, Nov. 1995
Discovering the Divine through Art
V. Balu
Art comes from the heart, according to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The heart referred to is the spiritual heart of the Spirit; for Bhagavan adds: “All Sundaram (beauty) must lead man to Sathyam (truth) and all Sathyam to Sivam (auspiciousness or bliss).” The holy connection between art and divinity is also emphasised in Sai Baba's pronouncement: “God is Beauty and Beauty is God.”
The quest for Beauty began for me as a self-taught artist with sketches and cartoons. After a while, I did oil paintings in the impressionistic style. Then I changed over to the medium of collage - the art of cutting paper of different colours, pasting the pieces on boards and making compositions. Paper collage has been my medium for over three decades now and I am often asked why I prefer paper. As a former Government executive how can I not like paper work?
At first my artistic work consisted of arranging forms and using hues, tones and tints to obtain chromatic harmony. Then there was the urge to be creative, followed by the need to express ideas and themes. The advent of the Divine Master in my life propelled me to take to art as spiritual sadhana and as a way of reaching the goal of the soul. Though I had worked earlier too on philosophical and spiritual themes, the approach was more intellectual than in-depth. Thus I was intuitively inspired by Bhagavan to move from creativity and communication in art to communion with the Divine through art.
I was fortunate to have Bhagavan Baba's benediction from the very first interview He so graciously accorded, eighteen years ago, to me and my family (my wife Shakuntala and three sons, Ashok, Vivek and Sanjay). I made bold then to present the print of a collage on "Ganesha Shakti" which He scrutinized with loving interest.
ABOUNDING GRACE
On May 1977, He graced the studiocum-gallery at my residence with a visit. As he went round and saw the works of art, his hands swept the gallery in a wide gesture. He signed one of his portrais and His sweet words, as He was leaving greatly touched me: "Bangaaroo: lnkaa enno paintingulu unnai nee hrudpmulo." (Golden One! There are still many more paintings in your heart!)
Some years later, in 1980 to be exact, I was asked for breakfast by Bhagavan. Rather excited I went up the stairs and sat at the dining table with Baba and a few others. Soon I felt extremely happy, as never before, to see in the dining room the 1980 calendar of the Mysore Paper Mills. This calendar of six sheets, which also won an award, had been made exclusively with my collages and I had with much trepidation presented a copy to Sai Baba. It was gratifying to see that calendar adorn the wall of Bhagavan's dining room. Can one ever reckon the value of such abounding grace?
Often, as I work on my collages, my mind gets uplifted and I lose myself in bouts of bliss. Thanks to the divine Master my humble contribution to the cause of peace through art, which I began in 1982, continues to grow and a book on this theme, titled SHANTI, has been well received. I had my presentation on peace at the UN in New York besides many other parts of the world.
My Peace exhibition arranged at the Headquarters of the UNESCO in Paris from May 5 to May 20, 1992, was unique in more ways than one. There was the question of the wedding of my son Ashok which Baba said He would celebrate without specifying the date. Finally, when He announced that He would have the
wedding on May 5 in Brindavan, I was extremely happy. At the same time I was worried about the exhibition. I asked Sai Baba whether I should postpone or cancel the exhibition. He smiled and said, "That would'nt be necessary .... You can go on with that too!"
BABA'S MESSAGE OF PEACE
Ashok's wedding, celebrated by Bhagavan, delighted us with divine benediction. Thereafter, when I left Bangalore and arrived at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, I was unable to believe my eyes. For even if I had gone in advance, as I had planned earlier, I could not have arranged the exhibition better. Some Sai devotees in France whose help I had informally sought not only cleared all the packages of the collages from the customs, with the help of the UNESCO Authorities, and opened them, but also arranged the works of art so well that the exhibition looked beautifully simple and simply beautiful. To cap it all, they had started the exhibition with the collages of the Messengers of Peace. The very first collage to greet all visitors to the exhibition was that of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, with his peace message capttoned in English and France: In the sentence ‘I want Peace’ if you strike out the ‘I’ or ego and ‘want’ or desire, peace will remain with you!”
Keats said that a thing of beauty is a joy forever - a statement that has profound significance. The beauty of all material objects is impermanent and cannot give joy forever. However, from the beauty that is patent, one can through spiritual discipline realise one's oneness with the beauty of the Spirit that is latent. Only this latent reality of absolute beauty is joy forever. The beauty of nature and the external world is merely a reflection of the real inner beauty of the Spirit. The artist who discovers this inner beauty sees God in the world and lives in quiet joy without being affected by the challenges and problems of life and daily living.
Great artists like Michelangelo related so much to the spirit behind matter that though they look to art a living they knew well the art of life and living. Once a friend of Michelangelo asked him during a discussion, “Don’t you think you would find it hideous to look at death after leading such a wonderful artistic life?” Michelangelo replied: “If life is joy, death too should be so, as it is form the same divine source!” The real purpose of art is to touch the inner core of one’s being. Hence, a true artist is a saint who paints. Totally lost in his search for inner beauty, he is above jealousy, anger, hatred and greed, besides likes and dislikes. He is pure at heart, filled with humility and knows that as an artist he is just an instrument of God the Beautiful.
To me, my divine Master, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, is the Supreme Artist, who emphasizes more the art of life and living than just a life of art. He inspires people to think good and beautiful thoughts, speaks and write good and beautiful words and perform good actions in a beautiful manner. Sai Baba stress that unity of thought, word and deed leads people to a life of absolute beauty.
V. Balu, Bangalore
Be like the ant: when the ant gets a mixture of sand and sugar, it selects only sugar. It neglects the sand; see only good in others. Pay no attention to the bad. – Sathya Sai Baba
