In 2023, BhāratShakti through its Renaissance journal & Sri Aurobindo Integral Life Center (SAILC), Auro University, Surat joined hands to launch a project titled ‘Kala evam Adhyatma’ (Art and Spirituality).
Under this project, we organized an online series of Discourses on Art and Spirituality. Through this weekly series, the registered participants were able to dive deep into the spiritual foundations of Indian art as described by Sri Aurobindo.
Scholars and researchers of Sri Aurobindo’s works, artists, art enthusiasts, heritage enthusiasts and others interested in arts and spirituality were invited to share their thoughts and perspectives. We also explored how the spiritual view of art has influenced some of the contemporary artists and their works.
The weekly series began on March 29, 2023 and continued till October 25, 2023. Each of the invited speakers brought to light interesting and important dimensions to the relation between Art and spiritual development as well various expressions of the spiritual basis of art in India. Around 15-20 people participated in these online sessions.
In 27 sessions, a rich variety of themes were explored by different speakers. These online sessions are available on Sri Aurobindo Society’s YouTube channel.
Check out the full playlist HERE.
Session 1: Introduction to the Spiritual Foundations of Indian Art in the Light of Sri Aurobindo
Speaker: Dr. Beloo Mehra
Dr. Beloo Mehra is Director, BhāratShakti and editor of Renaissance. She has deep interest in Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s vision and work on Integral Education, Indian culture, social-cultural evolution, yoga and spirituality. She writes regularly in various journals dedicated to Sri Aurobindo’s vision and works.
Session 2: Sri Aurobindo’s Writings on Indian Art
Speaker: Dr. Beloo Mehra
Dr. Beloo Mehra is Director, BhāratShakti and editor of Renaissance. She has deep interest in Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s vision and work on Integral Education, Indian culture, social-cultural evolution, yoga and spirituality. She writes regularly in various journals dedicated to Sri Aurobindo’s vision and works.
Session 3: Sri Aurobindo’s Writings on Indian Art – 2
Speaker: Dr. Beloo Mehra
Dr. Beloo Mehra is Director, BhāratShakti and editor of Renaissance. She has deep interest in Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s vision and work on Integral Education, Indian culture, social-cultural evolution, yoga and spirituality. She writes regularly in various journals dedicated to Sri Aurobindo’s vision and works.
Session 4: Indian Art and Spirituality
Speaker: Dr. Narendra Joshi
Deeply interested in Sri Aurobindo’s and Swami Vivekananda’s works, Indian culture and spirituality, yoga and Indian philosophy, Dr. Narendra Joshi teaches a course on Indian Culture at Auro University, Surat.
Session 5: Spiritual Foundations of Indian Culture and Indian Art
Speaker: Dr. Narendra Joshi
Deeply interested in Sri Aurobindo’s and Swami Vivekananda’s works, Indian culture and spirituality, yoga and Indian philosophy, Dr. Narendra Joshi teaches a course on Indian Culture at Auro University, Surat.
Session 6: Spirituality and Indian Literature
Speaker: Dr. Vladimir Yatsenko
Dr. Vladimir Yatsenko is Director of Research at La Grace Sri Aurobindo Integral Life Center, USA. He has deep interests in Sanskrit, Vedic scriptures, Sri Aurobindo’s yoga and philosophy, and Linguistics.
Session 7: Indian Sculpture in the Light of Sri Aurobindo
Speaker: Dr. Pranjal Garg
Dr. Pranjal Garg specialises in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, and is currently teaching at the Department of History, Central University of Tami Nadu, Thiruvarur.
Session 8: Painting as an Expression of Inner Truth
Speaker: Ms. Bindu Popli
Ms. Bindu Popli is an award-winning artist who has been for the last 3 decades immersed in creating art that comes from a place deep within her. A graduate from Delhi College of Art, she currently works as the Head of the Art Department at a leading public school in Delhi.
Session 9: An Overview of Temple Architecture in the Light of Sri Aurobindo
Speaker: Dr. Beloo Mehra
Dr. Beloo Mehra is Director, BhāratShakti and editor of Renaissance. She has deep interest in Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s vision and work on Integral Education, Indian culture, social-cultural evolution, yoga and spirituality. She writes regularly in various journals dedicated to Sri Aurobindo’s vision and works.
Session 10: Spirituality and Performing Arts
Speaker: Ms. Krishnapriya Ramamoorthy
Ms. Krishnapriya Ramamoorthy is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer and an art producer and founder of Paallam Arts CIC, a multicultural arts management company based in Wales, UK.
Session 11: Āgamic Insights into Temple Architecture
Speaker: Mr. Sivasankar Babu
Mr. Sivasankar Babu is a temple heritage enthusiast who runs a youtube channel @Babu4Heritage to spread awareness about Indian temple architecture. As a certified Incredible India Tourism facilitator, he regularly speaks about Indian temple architectural and sculptural heritage and conducts guided tours on behalf of Tamil Heritage Trust.
Session 12: Temporal Rhythm in Aesthetic Experience of Architecture
Speaker: Ms. Ranu Singh
Ms. Ranu Singh is a US-based architect, urban designer and planner working on holistic architecture and urbanism projects.
Session 13: Imaging Bliss, Creating & Knowledge in Literature: A Spiritual Interpretation
Speaker: Dr. Ravi Bhushan
Dr. Ravi Bhushan is a professor of English literature and language at Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, Sonipat, Haryana. His research interests include cognitive semantics, oral literature and comparative literature.
Session 14: Saptaswaras and Us: Indian Classical Music for Healing
Speaker: Ms. Ruma Chakravorty
Ms. Ruma Chakravarty is a certified Executive Coach and a passionate music therapist practising for more than 14 years. She has published several research articles on the potential of Indian classical music for healing and therapy.
Session 15: Akriti se Sanskriti Tak: From Form to Culture
Speaker: Dr. Ashima Arora
Dr. Ashima Arora is an Assistant Professor at the School of Design at AURO University. Her areas of teaching and research include Fashion & Textile Design, Draping & Pattern Making, Garment Construction, Costume Creation, Sustainability, Design Management and Fashion Merchandising.
Session 16: Kala ek Sadhana: Transformative Power of Art
Speakers: Sahana Uppar and Usha Arvind
In this session, Sahana Uppar and Usha Arvind speak of their journey of inner growth through painting. They share their experience with Savitri Art Project at Auroville, and how it transformed their approach to life, art and sadhana. Sahana Uppar has a PhD in psychology and is currently working on developing an online course on Integral Psychology for the youth. Usha Arvind is an artist and has experimented with various mediums, and has a deep interest in art as a means for spiritual progress.
Session 17: Fundamentals of Indian Iconography
Speaker: Sneha Nagarkar
In this session, Sneha Nagarkar focuses on the spiritual foundations of Indian iconography. Drawing upon Sri Aurobindo’s writings on Indian art, she highlights through various examples across time and region to bring to the surface the deep connection between spiritual aspiration and thought and the diverse yet unified tradition of Indian murtishastra. Sneha Nagarkar is currently working as an Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies, University of Mumbai. Her fields of specialization are Ancient and Medieval Vaisnavism, , Mathura and the Vraja region, Ancient Indian Art and Architecture, Ancient Indian Religious, Political and Economic Histories.
Session 18: Understanding Sri Aurobindo’s View of Art and Spirituality
Speaker: Raghav Krishna
In this talk, Raghav Krishna gives an overview of Sri Aurobindo’s creative work as a poet, translator, art critic and outlines his vision of the role of art in shaping a culture and civilization.
Raghav Krishna has 21 years of experience spanning game development, learning and entrepreneurship. He has expertise in leading cross-functional creative product development teams, learning design and org culture. He was the co-founder and Assoc Dean academics at Rashtram school of public leadership and is the Founder and CEO of Bṛhat, a culture engine designed to power creatives, research and design rooted in the Indian civilizational consciousness.
Session 19: Three Purposes of Art
Speaker: Dr. Beloo Mehra
In this talk, Dr. Beloo Mehra summarizes a few essential points from Sri Aurobindo’s remarkable essay – National Value of Art to bring to light the deep importance of arts education for human development – both from an individual and societal/national perspective. She also highlights that in Integral Yoga and Integral Education, a great emphasis is given to the aesthetic development of the being as part of the education and refinement of the vital part of our being.
Dr. Mehra is editor of Renaissance journal and Director, BhāratShakti, Sri Aurobindo Society. This year-long project on Art and Spirituality is designed by her in collaboration with Dr. Kiran Singh, Director of Sri Aurobindo Integral Life Center at Auro University.
Session 20: Indian Art and Sanatana Dharma
Speaker: Pankaj Saxena
This talk emphasises that under the inspiration of Sanatana Dharma, art in India has always catered to the inner dimension while also aspiring to attain beauty in all outer dimensions. Through a series of examples from architecture, sculpture and painting, the speaker illustrates several key points in this regard.
Dr. Pankaj Saxena is co-founder Bṛhat, a culture engine designed to power creatives, research and design rooted in the Indian civilizational consciousness. His earlier positions include Director of Centre for Cultural Leadership housed under Rashtram School of Public Leadership. He writes on Hindu temples, Indian art, literature, history and culture. He is also deeply interested in cultural anthropology, evolutionary biology and ecology.
Session 21: To find highest beauty is to find God
Speaker: Charan Singh Kedarkhandi
For Sri Aurobindo, beauty is one of the vibhutis of God and not just matter for the aesthetic bliss and satisfaction of the outer eye of the rasika. To him, beauty is the footprint of where God has passed (Savitri). This talk takes all these higher, suprational, and spiritual dimensions of beauty into account and establishes the truth that cries – To find highest beauty if to find God.
Dr. Charan Singh Kedarkhandi did his PhD on Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. A poet and a sadhak, he teaches English literature at Govt college in Joshimath, Uttrakhand, and is closely affiliated with Sri Aurobindo Society, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Session 22: Janmashtami special session
This special session celebrates the influence of Krishna bhakti on various forms of Art in India, including music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry and more. Speakers shared their brief observations with an aim to create a joyful experience for all, and invoked the Divine presence through a virtual satsang.
Facilitators included: Kiran Singh, Beloo Mehra, Gayatri Majumdar, Bindu Popli, Sneha Nagarkar and Biswajita Mohapatra.
Recordings of Session #23 and #24 will be available soon.
Session 25: Art as an expression of Light
Speaker: Jesal Thacker
The presentation focuses on various artistic perceptions of light as experienced by artists, with a focus on painters, distinguishing between forms of light (physical, emotive, mental, intuitive, spiritual) and how they have been perceived and expressed through eons. The purpose is to awaken within us ways of seeing and appreciating art, looking beyond the physical forms of nature, objects, people and perceive the subtleties hidden beneath as layers of consciousness.
Jesal Thacker, a trained artist and graduate of Sir J.J. School of Art has taken a unique path by pursuing scholarship in art rather than art practice. An independent curator and founder of Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, she focuses on researching and publishing books on Indian art. Jesal’s research interests span various subjects, including abstraction and modernism in India, the impact of sound on artists and the human psyche, Indian miniatures, art education, and the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo.
Session 26: On Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry
Speaker: Gayatri Majumdar
This talk highlights the key components of Sri Aurobindo’s Future Poetry. The speaker also touches upon major themes of Sri Aurobindo’s poems based on the different phases of his life. She will also discuss the impact of Sri Aurobindo’s poetry and the environs of Pondicherry on her own writings, specifically on her poems.
Writer, editor and publisher Gayatri Majumdar is author of seven books including four poetry collections – Shout, I Know You Are Here, The Dream Pod, A Warm Place with no Memory and non-fiction The lotus of the heart – realization stories-I. She is curator of Pondicherry/ Auroville Poetry Festival and is associated with Auropublications, the publication wing of Sri Aurobindo Society as well as Sri Aurobindo’s Action in Pondicherry.
Session 27: Art and Yoga – An Experiential Session
Speakers: Monica Chand and Eele J. Raie Dey
This session is inspired by the Mother’s words: “The discipline of art has as its center the same principle as the discipline of yoga. In both one has to become more and more conscious; in both you have to learn to see and feel something beyond the ordinary vision and feeling, to go within and bring out from there deeper things.”Monica Chand is certified in Hatha yoga and therapy from Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). She has also attended several workshops and courses in Integral Yoga from Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi branch. She has taught Hathayoga both nationally and internationally for more than 2 decades. For the last few years she has also been exploring Art as a yogic discipline, with a special emphasis on indigenous art forms of India.
Lithuanian by birth, Raie has been living in India since 2004. She has been exposed to art since the age of 10, and has more than 30 years of experience creating a variety of art forms including traditional Indian arts. She has received her degree from London Metropolitan University and has been teaching art to children, besides running an interior design academy for the past 11 years in India. Inspired by the teachings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo she has attended courses at the Delhi ashram.