The Flight to Infinity - Swami Swaroopananda

From the form to the Formless

The essence of Indian classical dance and music is their intrinsic spirituality. They are capable of transporting both the artiste as well as the audience to the heights of divine joy and bliss. The meditative quality of the art is a sadhana, a practice, to gain the Infinite.

There are various types of dances. The kinds of dances performed in nightclubs generally evoke emotions of lust and excitement. The movements are largely uncoordinated, random and wild, with little rhythm and logic. They may give some form of enjoyment but neither does the dancer require years of preparation and concentration nor do the spectators attain any peace. On the other hand, an Indian classical dance such as Bharatanatyam enchants and quietens the mind. There is a certain harmony in the coordination of the eyes, the gestures of the hand, the beating of the feet, and the movements of the body. It requires regular and sustained practice to achieve such synchronized and attentive concentration.

Unfortunately, our thinking is like a wild dance; there is no sense, coordination, rhythm, or harmony in the movement of one thought to another. However, the medium of classical dance captivates the mind so, that concentration is totally on the divine theme, the graceful movements and the delightful emotions that the dancer portrays. This is akin to a type of savikalpa samadhi; the dancer enchants the mind through her or his movements and invokes feelings of such devotion that it is totally centered on the dancer and perceives nothing else.

Little do we understand that the dancer through the medium of dance indicates something else. Our attention is on the dancer and the flowing, divine movements but all the movements are to enable us to be aware of the unmoving locus where the dance is taking place. Space is all-pervading but we fail to recognize it. The ultimate idea of the dance is not to show the movement but to reveal the unmoving steady space, to enable a shift of consciousness from the form to the Formless.

© "Tapovan Prasad" (June 2003) published by Chinmaya Mission, # 2, 13th Avenue, Harrington Road, Chetput, Chennai 600 031. Reprinted with permission.

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