An illustrated lecture by Dr. Madhu Khanna, “The Cosmos in the Yogic Body in the Art of Tantra” , was yet another valuable contribution by Mahua Gallery to Bangalore’s cultural activity. The presentation presupposed the audience’s basic grounding in Hindu philosophy, the title of the lecture being an indication of its esoteric content.
Dr Madhu Khanna is a scholar of Indic studies, currently a Tagore Fellow at New Delhi’s National Museum, and she also serves on the Academic Council of Nalanda University.
Her area of specialization for her doctoral degree from Oxford University was Hindu Shakta Tantra, and she was described by London’s Sunday Times Magazine as “the respectable public face of modern Tantra”. She has written/edited books on her field of special interest and related topics.
Monotheistic religions consider Creation as ex nihilo – born out of nothing – but Hinduism’s view is creatioex deo , that all Creation stemmed from the One, an androgynous kernel which manifested itself in the cosmos as purusha-prakriti, matter-energy. The goal of spiritual seekers is reunification of man’s soul, jivatman, with that non-differentiated Divine, brahmatman. Attaining moksha is described in ancient Hindu systems such as Agamas and Vedas, and disciplines like Yoga and Tantra provide the sadhak with practical methodology for such self-realisation.
The slides were interspersed with historical and philosophical background. Some eastern belief systems, such as Buddhism and Jainism, consider the human body as bondage, an impediment to be overcome by denial and penance, whereas Tantra uses – even celebrates - the body through which transcendence is achieved. It describes how Energy and Consciousness are embodied in Kundalini Shakti, and codifies the process of its ascent through nadis and chakras to attain enlightenment. Hindu transformative disciplines also recognise koshas or sheaths – energy, mental, wisdom, spiritual bliss – that coexist and interact with the gross physical body.
Paintings were valuable visual aids to these verbal and written philosophical concepts and practices. The male body is depicted symbolically, a microcosm of active embodiment and states of consciousness of the macrocosm. The individual artist freely expressed his own visions of cosmology, resulting in a delightful variety of imagery, expressing the personality of the artist, as well as regional variations.
There is interesting speculation as to whether such pictures were an artist’s individual attempts to visualise cosmic notions, or if they were collaborative efforts, with philosophical or practical inputs from someone with knowledge and experience, such as a pandit or yogi, to instruct or direct the artist. Many of the paintings have texts alongside the images, reinforcing the idea that these paintings were to serve as instruction and guidance, as well as aids to concentration.
This genre of artwork is post 16th century and Dr Khanna chose a cross section of slides from museums and private collections. In a 17th century painting, the standard image of the meditating yogi with nadis piercing the chakras in their ascent, the Kangra artist has introduced two distinctive differences: the yogi’s slightly bulbous form suggests he is in kumbhaka; and the delightful addition of a little black creature is the artist’s version of papa- purusha, the negativity that is to be expelled as one achieves meditational purity.
Other memorable illustrations: the contrasting slides between an opened sahasrar chakra, its myriad petals ethereally glowing [one does not need to take ‘sahasrar’ literally, as having only a thousand petals] and a contemporary medical slide showing the brain similarly pulsating with innumerable neuron connections. It gives credence to the conjecture that old systems of thought knew of structures and concepts that are now being proved by science, except that they had not the modern terminology to express them, and therefore resorted to imagery or metaphor [though one has to draw the line at “our ancient mastery” of plastic surgery and aircraft!].
One set of paintings showed each of the seven chakras of the kundalini’s ascent. The seventh in the series is completely blank, and initially it was assumed that the image had faded or that the painting was in some way damaged. Till it was accepted that it was meant to be blank, a most audacious innovative way of “depicting” sahasrar, the final subsuming light of Bliss. Eat your heart out Rothko, Neuman et al – this anonymous Nepal artist conceptualised Colour Field in the 18th century!
Dr Khanna rued the fact that ancient knowledge systems are not systematically studied in India as part of any academic course. “Agamic, Upanishidic and other philosophical and practice systems challenge modern day understanding of the body as a purely physical, biomedical entity. Cartesian dualism split mind and matter, or soul and body. Unfortunately, yoga today is mostly practised to benefit only the physical body.
Our old cultures of understanding and instructions are particularly relevant today because they have been tried and tested by sadhaks for centuries, modified and codified. They have to be experientially reconstructed to be practised and absorbed by today’s youth. The physical, psychic and cosmic can bring about a paradigm shift in understanding that the human body is a multi-layered cosmo-centric entity.
There are more institutions in the US and the West studying comparative religion, some concentrating solely on Hinduism, such as the Centre for Hindu Studies at Oxford University. It is ironic that in India there are few opportunities to study what these other centres of learning consider so valuable. I wish some corporate/s would fund an institution where there could be a consolidation of resources, enabling an exchange of knowledge and research, where our Hindu wisdom could be properly studied .”
If such a centre could bring about the renaissance of sanathana-dharma, enabling the true spiritual and cultural core of Hinduism to hold its own against so-called “secular” forces on the one hand, and political Hindutva hijacking on the other, it would indeed be just what India needs. And if our indigenous verities can co-exist with global colonization, it would be ideal.
