Creation and Appreciation of Art

The character of Lord Krishna, is one of the most astonishing and pleasant characters in any human mythology. In him there reside several qualities which otherwise and with reference to other normal or extra-ordinary persons are opposing each other up to an extent of contradicting each other. In the case of Lord Krishna these characteristics not only blend together leaving their inconsistencies but also create a loving feature in spectators who cherish him as an ideal but not far away from them. He, along with his deeds, becomes a part of life of all sorts of people giving them a feeling of pride and pleasure. The apparently inconsistent properties of his character do not create any confusion in the minds of the people who like and adore him. Rather these people develop an insight into their lives while facing challenges of complexities and inconsistencies. Thus he becomes a part of the ‘soul’ of those who adore him in various ways. Amongst devotees he develops a sight beyond ordinary perception to enter into the realms of spirituality. Amongst artists he enkindles the spark of imagination which enables them to transcend the common plane of creativity to rise to the world of divinity. The divine world created by such artists makes the appreciator or relish the finer and subtler peaks of creativity which belong to the ordinary world but gives a pleasure of the spiritual world.

The life of Lord Krishna along with his associates is full of ordinary passions, emotions, feelings, attitudes and tendencies which form the core of mundane life. However, the Lord transforms these elements and sublimates their lives to reach to the supra-mundane level; various artists live their lives imbibing the Lord in their consciousness and go on creating novel and pleasing images of the Lord which belong to the ordinary life but raise the planes of the ordinary life to higher levels liberating from the mundane attitudes and tendencies. The incidences, anecdotes, happenings in the life of Lord Krishna keep on adding out of the imagination of poets and artists. Although a part of his life is mythical, it is not inconsistence with the original character of his nature. The emotions, feelings, sentiments etc of love, compassion, serenity, playfulness and so on form the kernel of his original nature, which is consistently developed in different directions and multiple dimensions as an enrichment of his life-story. The extreme faith in and devotion to him make one feel that the enlarged life-story is a real history on his life, leaving no possibility, of any trace of myth into it. Although Radha is an unreal and mythical character, it is difficult to accept so because the character Radha is an extension and expansion of the feeling of love upto its logical extent. Similarly, the story of Parijata-harana has been appearing in different forms with different details by different creative minds in their imagination.

A famous Marathi drama Suvarnatula is a glaring example of a poetic imagination which does not allow us to believe that any of its details is a projection of unreal details of the basic story. Historically the story of Parijataharana is in fact, a small incident. But the literary artist has exposed and enlarged the subtle minute details of the delicate relationships in a square of four characters, viz., Lord Krishna, Rukmini, Satyabhama and Radha around the heavenly plant Parijata. The play Suvarnatula has some details which have no bearing upon the real happenings. But those elements are used to represent the concealed and veiled shades of love and jealousy which are not unreal. In fact, a literary artist creates a world of his own, but through using the elements of the real world and real happenings in it. He may give a twist at times to the real happenings, but neither to distort nor to defy the reality. He may make some illusions but not to confuse or deceive. Sometimes it is believed that artistic creations are illusory or hallucinatory taking away from the reality to make false impression. In some cases this is true. But this is not so in the case of all artistic creations. Artist’s creations are not meant for pushing men in utter falsehood. The world of art is real not just in the sense that it is felt so by the artist or art-appreciator but because the elements out of which it is created are rel. it magnifies the subtle and hidden elements without projecting into them the unreal and imaginary stuff of poet’s dreamy contemplations. A bare story, i.e. a statement of happening without a context of feelings is a dry record of a physical fact. The stream of human life, happenings in human life etc are much more than such a bare story. When a man looks at a part of life, he does so not because he just wants to take an ophthalmic exercise, but he takes an interest into it. His attitude of taking an interest into a part or story of life is for the sake of enjoying it. He takes an interest because he like that in which he takes an interest and in taking an interest. The enjoying of such an entire episode is a pleasurable experience for him. Although an experiencing is a natural happening due to the inbuilt mechanism of an organism, it is also a satisfying and a pleasing fact of its living. Man as an evolved living being excels into the satisfying and pleasing dimension of an experience. The enrichment of human life consists largely in this dimension of experience. Creation of art is a deliberate effort to increase the enrichment of life through the enrichment of experience. Man as a self-conscious being reflects on his experience to obtain further experience on a higher level. An experience out of reflecting an experience enables him to relish the experience. Getting an enjoyment on the physical level is a primary function of consciousness. The self-consciousness enables reflecting upon the experience and an enjoyment obtained through it is not on a physical level; it is relishment. The pleasure on engrossing the personality fully and reaching down to deeper level transforms man to transcend the mundane plane of his organic being and is obtained through relishing. A creative artist trains and enables a spectator to appreciate pieces of art. An appreciation also is a result of reflecting which is possible due to self-consciousness. It is a form of relishing. This training transforms attitudes and perspectives of man to look at the world and life. With this attitude man does not remain bound to the clutches of passions instincts and emotions. A man attuned to live following transformed attitudes and perspectives lives the life of happiness and freedom. This is an elevation from the mundane plane enabling to make possible transcendent it. He lives with his physical body the non-carnal life of self-consciousness. In the stories, whether historical or mythical, of divine personalities like Lord Krishna we live our transcendental life through their reflections on our personalities.

- Dr. S E Bhelkey

{Dr. Bhelkey is a professor of Philosophy in university of Pune. 

His areas of work and interests:

Indian & Western Logics,

Epistemology,Metaphysics,

Ethics & Aesthetics.

8 Books, 50 Papers, Ph.D students completed and visiting 

professor in 3 universities.}

"Happy Vijayadashami to all, from Samvaad"