TRANSFORMATION IF a perfect manifestation of the Divine in material life is the end of evolution, transformation of human nature is the principal means of achieving it. Man in his unregenerate state manifests not the Divine but the animal from which he has emerged and upon which he stands in his endeavour to transcend himself. His inherent divinity lies asleep or half-awake within him, unable to come to the fore and express itself because of the crudeness and opacity of his natural instruments. Even when it is fully awake and strong enough to reveal something of its love and light and peace and purity, it finds only one or two parts of the nature purified and prepared to be t

YOGIC ACTION alone, it becomes a luminous channel for the outpouring of His Grace and glory upon earth. III "What action should I do and what should I refrain from doing ?" "What work will best help my self-offering and deliver me from my desires and attachments ?" "What kind of service will be acceptable to the Divine ?" These are some of the problems which often besiege and perplex the Karmayogin at the outset of his spiritual career. There is an aspiration in him, a sincerity, a faith, a fervid, if somewhat flurried, will to self- surrender, what is lacking is knowledge,—knowledge not only of the precise nature and implications of his goal, but also of t

THE OPENING ADDRESS At the Inauguration of the Exhibition of Paintings and Photographs of the artists belonging to Sri Aurobindo's Ashram and the International University Centre, Pondicherry at the Jehhangir Art Gallery, Bombay, on 2nd May 1955. Presided by Sir. C. V. Mehba. Page-72 It gives me great pleasure to invite you to open this small exhibition of paintings and photographs of the artists of Sri Aurobindo's Ashram and the International University centre at Pondicherry. It is not claimed that these works are masterpieces or that the artists are great masters. Nevertheless, we have thought it fit to make an exhibition because artist

v* I HAVE undertaken this task not because I want you to accept my ideas but because I have a liking and respect for some of our young artists and art students. I admire their earnestness and I want to be of some service to them in clarifying some of the fundamentals of art. I want to bring to their notice that besides European art there are other arts equally great and that there is much to learn and assimilate in them. I want to put before them some ideas of Sri Aurobindo on arts,-ideas which he gave to mankind in order that man may be able to fulfil his destiny, and live a divine life on earth. I want to tell you, students, that

-010_Some Extract from Sri Aurobindo^s Significance of Indian Art.htm SOME EXTRACT FROM SRI AUROBINDO'S : " SIGNIFICANCE OF INDIAN ART ", I " Indian architecture, painting, sculpture are not only intimately one in inspiration with the Central things in Indian philosophy, religion, yoga, culture,-but a specially intense expression of their significance". II " The great artistic work proceeds from an act of intuition, not really an intellectual idea or a splendid imagination,-these are only mental translations,-but a direct intuition of some truth of life or being, some significant form of that truth, some development of it in the mind of man. And so

II ON MODERN ART—QUESTIONS & ANSWERS* Q. The question of Modernist art which began in Europe and is now almost all over the world has been a great puzzle to me: So many claims have been advanced about its achieve' ments in the superlative degree that at times I wonder if my aesthetic faculty is really at fault, because I cannot bring myself round, to appreciate it. A. You can include in the field all arts—fine as well as plastic, for, behind all Modernist art is working an identical impulse and motive and the same creative force. Q. But can you tell me the nature of that art-impulse ? I have seen so many modernist works

III ON BEAUTY Q. What is the relation between beauty, art and spirituality ? Though I thought of asking you first what is beauty I gave it up realising the difficulty of defining such undefinable terms. A. If you like I might hazard a statement, not a definition: —"Beauty is the language of the All-pervading Delight of existence calling men to itself." Q. Does it mean that beauty is universal ? A. Yes, beauty is everywhere; from everything the All-Delight is calling men. Wherever man perceives beauty it is the Universal delight that is cilling him. And this delight (that he perceives as beauty) is present even in things ordi

ON ART AND BEAUTY: THE LADDER OF AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE* " Art is discovery and revelation of beauty. The aim of Art is to embody beauty and give delight." Sri Aurobindo: Future Poetry. Sri Aurobindo, the great Yogi, besides being a great artist, is a great aesthete. He unhesitatingly gave a higher place to Beauty and Delight than even to Knowledge. He wrote: " The day when we get back to the ancient worship of Delight and Beauty will be our day of Salvation ". He knew that the present age was rather far from the worship of beauty and delight. Art today is isolated from life. The modern European culture that dom

IV ON PICASSO There are so many critics who have given their views on Picasso's art and they are all so different. I give only two : 1."It is non-sense to pretend that no introduction is needed, that the pictures can be left to speak for themselves." —"Picasso." by Anthony Bertram 2. "There are paintings (of Picasso) that have no discoverable organization at all."—"Meaning of Art" Herbert Read I. Picasso Art Periods We shall examine briefly the technical side of Picasso's painting so that we may be able to judge and understand some of his ideas. The first period may be called the Negro period (1906. 1910). Durin

APPENDIX An extract from " A Study of History " by Toynbee may be cited here to stimulate the critical consideration of modern art: " The prevailing tendency to abandon our artistic traditions is not the result of technical incompetence; it is the deliberate abandonment of a style which is losing its appeal to a rising generation because this generation is ceasing to cultivate its aesthetic sensibility on the traditional Western lines. We have willfully cast of our souls the great Masters who have been the familiar spirits of our forefathers; and, while we have been wrapped in complacent admiration of the spiritual vacuum that we have created, a Tropical African spirit in