IN THESE few words, Pratibha Prahlad defines the purpose of art so precisely, so meaningfully! Art -- dance or vocal or instrumental music or painting or sculpture or even acting -- offers this challenge, this opportunity, this scope for the artist to reach his or her own full potential. There is a beautiful alternative suggestion to this process -- self-actualisation! Those who pursue art as the pursuit of the soul, therefore, do not chase petty goals such as just fame or money. They seek fullest self-expression, self-actualisation. And as they engage themselves in that almost-divine pursuit, they play on the canvas of the soul. They stretch themselves beyond their own limits, beyond their faults and foibles and flaws and travel to the farthest frontier of excellence.

 

Of course, this is a domain that challenges each grain of the artist’s being. The artist uses all his -- her -- faculties. As he -- she -- does that, the artist tries to bring out of oblivion the reality -- the Brahma -- silently, secretly enshrined in the universe. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore verbalises this process beautifully when he says, “What is art? It is the response of man’s creative soul to the call of the Real.” And what is the outcome of this response? Let us resort to Gurudev Tagore again: “In art, man reveals himself and not his objects”. In still other words of Gurudev Tagore, “Art is the expression of the universal through the individual...”!

 

This is the actual purpose of art. It is one domain that offers scope to the artist to actualise self to the fullest. It symbolises the travel of the individual to the universal. It embodies the ideal of Aham Brahmasmi -- I am the Brahman! In me, the universal represents itself. I look for it -- within me, and then I travel out to dissolve my sense of self in the universal reality. There is a wonderful equipment in the artist’s hand -- besides the physical or material tools of the craft: Imagination.

 

The artist trains and then stretches his imagination to its farthest and deepest and highest frontiers to actualise self. Indian classical music has a simple but wonderful term for this process of stretching imagination -- Khayaal! It is not just a structural arrangement. Much to the contrary, it is a spiritual domain in which the music master allows his trained intelligence and imagination to manifest to the fullest. It is in Khayaal, therefore, that a raag in a classical rendition expresses itself in all its shapes and sizes and colours and fragrances and flavours and flairs. This flight of imagination is art! -- from individual to universal!