On the Contrary

A new post in the series - When a Picture Leads

Be honest. Do you look at the world as black or white? 

Liberal or Conservative? Left or Right? Progressive or Traditionalist? Global-citizen or Chauvinistic-nationalist? Internationalist or Jingoist? Secular or Fundamentalist? Rational or Superstitious? Believer or Infidel? Reason-able or Blindly-faithful? Idealist or Practical? Abstract or Realistic? Spiritualist or Materialist? Mystical or Down-to-earth? Pro-development or Pro-environment? Pro-market or Communist? Individualistic or Socially-chained? Free or Oppressed? East or West? Right or Wrong? This or That? The list is endless....almost.

We, yes, we all -- the educated ones, the well-read ones, the intellectual ones -- are all victims of such dichotomous lines of thinking. Not because we have been put into one or the other categories, but because we ourselves end up doing the same thing to others we meet and interact with. We like to put people in boxes so we can feel a sense of understanding. We like to read 'into' what people say or write, we even read 'into' their silences by hearing and reading those unspoken and unwritten words. Categories make life simple. Categorizing people makes it simpler.

In our  intellectually egoistic moments we pretend that we have actually transcended these narrow black and white dichotomies and that we don't put people into one or the other category. We like to think that we actually see and appreciate the various grays of the world. We like to tell ourselves (and whoever else will listen) that we don't judge the intention of someone just because the person says or writes something that is ideologically or politically completely opposite to our preferred ideology or politics. 

But that is not generally the truth of ourselves. And the true truth is that we know it. Deep down we know it. We know that we haven't really stopped judging or categorizing people. We know that we still divide the world into black or white. We know that despite all the complex intellectual postmodernism we have consumed we are inwardly still highly fond of simplistic modernistic binaries that are perhaps demonstrative of a deeper truth of the nature of mind, the rough and unrefined instrument we are given to make sense of the world as it exists in its un-evolved existence. 

The mind in its natural state can essentially "accept" only one side of the truth. In order to truly accept all the other possible sides of the truth as equally true, it needs a light from the regions above itself. It needs the assistance of faculties higher than mind. But our un-refined mind refuses to even accept that such light, such faculties are even possible. How could it accept that? It only sees itself as right and others as wrong. This or that, remember? 

We, yes, we all are prisoners of our mind, the willing or unwilling victims of this tendency of mind to categorize and create opposite categories. Perhaps this tendency of mind is itself demonstrative of a deeper truth of the nature of Nature herself. Perhaps it has something to do with the nature of Manifestation itself. Perhaps it has something to do with the nature of the relative plane of existence on which the Absolute Existence chose to manifest and express itself. Perhaps....

Or perhaps we still haven't figured out a way to transcend the limitations of our mind, the limitations of our nature, the limitations of our relative existence. 

Or perhaps we have started to enjoy this mental world of contraries and have gained a certain mastery in how to 'use' such oppositional categories for our relative gain. Which, by default, would lead to a loss for the other. 

Or perhaps, we have yet to realize that hidden deep behind these outer mentally-constructed binaries of 'this or that' rest much deeper contraries of our un-evolved nature. We are wise and stupid. But outwardly we choose to see ourselves as wise and others as stupid who simply don't get how wise we are. We are strong and weak, but outwardly we choose to see ourselves as strong and others as weak who need our assistance to save them. We are righteous and sinful, but of course for the outsiders we are always on the right side and those others are full of sin and vices. We are free and imprisoned, but certainly we are the free ones charged to liberate the others who are still in chains (of their minds or the ones created by society). We are this but others are that. We or others. 

When will we realize that we are indeed creatures of contraries? Ruled by our attachment to our dividing, categorizing minds? 

When will we realize that we are limited and imperfect, we cannot stand for too long the deeper call to transcend our limitations and imperfections? That we are too used to our littleness, to our smallness and are reluctant to change, to expansion, to evolution? 

When will we realize that it is because of this divided nature within that our higher aspiration (momentary as it maybe) of an inner self-exceeding is rejected, the very next moment, by our limited, narrow mind? 

Man, the Despot of Contraries

I am greater than the greatness of the seas,

A swift tornado of God-energy;

A helpless flower that quivers in the breeze

I am weaker than the reed one breaks with ease.

I harbour all the wisdom of the wise

In my nature of stupendous Ignorance;

On a flame of righteousness I fix my eyes

While I wallow in sweet sin and join hell’s dance.

My mind is brilliant like a full-orbed moon,

Its darkness is the caverned troglodyte's.

I gather long Time's wealth and squander soon;

I am an epitome of opposites.

I with repeated life death's sleep surprise;

I am a transience of the eternities.

~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems

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To see previous post in the series, When a Picture Leads, click here.

To see all posts in the series, click here.

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Linking this with ABC Wednesday, C: C is for Contrary, Creature, Categories

Eyes that Dance: Performance of Anguliyankam

June 12, 2014. SPIC MACAY CONVENTION, IIT-Madras, around 9:00 pm

The wonderful performance by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt had just finished. The soul-stirring music of Mohan Veena was still ringing in the ears and creating a peaceful vibration within. A group of people were busy rearranging the stage for the Koodiayattam performance by Shri Margi Madhu and his accompanists. Margi Madhu is a performer, choreographer and teacher, and has also been involved in research projects on various aspects of this art form. A recipient of many awards, he is one of the few performers left of this most elaborate and beautiful dance form. Margi Madhu and his wife, Indu G, who holds a PhD in Koodiyattam, run the Nepathya center for excellence in central Kerala. 

This was my first real exposure to Koodiyattam, also called Kutiyattam, one of the oldest dance forms in the world, originating from Kerala. This 2000+ year old Sanskrit dance-drama was traditionally performed only in special venues called koothambalams in Hindu temples and only by Chakyars, a particular community in Kerala. This ancient and living art form is now recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Characterized by slow and steady movements, Koodiyattam is a very difficult art form to perfect, especially because the artist must express the varied emotions mostly through the use of only his upper body, and particularly through his eyes. Koodiyattam performances are lengthy and elaborate affairs, and traditionally range from 12 to 150 hours spread across several nights.

That night of June 12, Margi Madhu’s performance Anguliyankam (Presentation of the Ring), based on Hanuman’s search for Sita in Lanka was a sheer delight for the senses. It brought to life the Sundara Kanda of the epic Ramayana, especially the part when Hanuman finds Devi Sita in Ashok-vatika at Ravana’s place and gives her the ring of Lord Rama. The performance also thrilled the audience in its portrayal of Hanuman’s appearance in Ravana’s court after he is caught by the soldiers of the demon-king.

                     

Typically the ritualistic performance of a single act such as Anguliyankam from the Sanskrit play Ascharya Choodamani is enacted over a period of 12 days. In 1993, Margi brought it outside temple premises and presented the entire text over two-and-a-half years by way of weekly performances. In June 2012, Nepathya Koodiyattom Centre presented the first full-length continuous performance of Anguliyankam outside temple precincts over a period of 29 evenings. This programme was held in collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where many students and research scholars in Indology and Sanskrit have been engaged in a deep study of the intricacies of this rare art form under the leadership of the noted Indologist and Koodiyattam aficionado Dr. David Shulman. (Read a fascinating account of that performance by Prof. Shulman here.)  

On the evening of June 12, 2014 at the student center of IIT-M campus, setting the stage took about 30-45 minutes. After this, the audience were given a brief but highly informative session by Dr. Indu, explaining some of the richness and subtleties of Koodiyattam, including the sacred nature of the art form and the musical instruments used in the performance. An outline of the story of Anguliyankam was also provided, in which through hand gestures she demonstrated some of what the audience were going to witness in the actual performance.

Margi Madhu’s performance lasted for a little more than 2 hours. But that in no way diminished the intensity of experience. The expression on his face, especially the movement of his eyes, the beats of the sacred copper drums known as mizhavu, the wonderful harmony between the dancer’s movements and the drummers' beats, all of it was enough to take you to a world where everything else sort of disappears and you just want to focus on the subtleties of the drama being unfolded in front of you. 

Margi Madhu's eyes expressed deep emotion compelling the spectator to take up the challenge of exploring deep into the layers, not only of the particular sequence in the story but also of the reality itself. As you begin to appreciate the slow and patient perfection through which subtle movements and gestures depict the richness of an emotion or a feeling, you begin to feel a connection with the moment itself. It is as if you have become that emotion itself for that fraction of the moment. Imagine what it would feel like to experience a full length performance over several days and weeks!

When I recall my experience of sitting through this marvellous performance, two things strike me the most. 

In today’s time when everything is about a fast pace of life and people (children, youth and adults alike) are being forced to move faster and faster and do more and more, what Koodiyattam represents is an opportunity to appreciate the deep and hidden beauty in all that is ‘slow’, ‘repetitive’, ‘patient’ and hence 'perfect'. 

Secondly, in our present age when it has become so common to speak of and even complain of reduced attention span and extremely limited concentration abilities, watching a performance of this dance form from thousands of years ago in itself is a great lesson in developing and practicing deep concentration skills.

~ Photos by Suhas Mehra

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For my previous post on the Mohan Veena performance at SPIC-MACAY convention, click here.

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Linking this post with ABC Wednesday, A: A is for Anguliyankam

So, What are You Working on?

A new post in the series - Satyam Shivam Sundaram

A series featuring inspiring words from various sources, words that speak of  timeless truths, words that remind me of the deeper and hidden truth behind surface events and phenomena, words that shine light when all seems dark, words that are just what I need - 

for this moment and for all times to come.

Early Study. Painting by The Mother, 1895. Oil on canvas

“In work too there is an austerity. It consists in not having any preferences and in doing everything one does with interest. For one who wants to grow in self-perfection, there are no great or small tasks, none that are important or unimportant; all are equally useful for one who aspires for progress and 

self-mastery.” 

~ The Mother, Four Austerities and Four Liberations

Imagine living this ideal. What a complete contrast with the typical things we often hear ourselves and others saying –- “oh, I really don’t care for my job, it is so boring, so mundane... I want to do something that is meaningful, that satisfies me, that makes me happy…etc. etc…”

What do we know about what we are really supposed to be doing, especially when we don’t really know who we truly are and what is our true nature? And still we keep looking for that perfect work that will make us happy? Happiness has nothing to do with the real, true Delight we should be seeking…which is not dependent on any one particular type of work…it should be there in all that we do.

But how, oh how, do we tread the long path… By doing…by practice, by aspiring, by rejecting, by surrendering…But this big “I” and its demands and preferences keep coming in…oh god!

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Previous posts in this series:

Inner Truth of a Flower       On Sensitivity and Appreciation of Beauty     

"No Construction Without Destruction"