“I wanted to show a new dimension of spirituality to the world. This is why I decided to paint aghoris. Also, I believe that they are a dying cult and it is important to document their lives,” says yoga spiritual guru and yoga exponent, Bharat Thakur,” says spiritual guru and yoga exponent, Bharat Thakur.
His recent body of works encompassing figurative and abstract paintings is on show at the Visual Arts Gallery in a solo show titled, ‘Aureola- The Colours You Are’. Elaborating on his proximity with the subject, Bharat says that these aghoris frequent his house and he has lived with them his entire life. “They are the ones who meditate to win over death and invest their entire life in meditation unlike many others who meditate to attain peace and live a stress-free life,” he adds.
For the past two-and-a-half years, Bharat has focused on perfecting portraits of his subjects as he points out that “for a painter, it is important to know his subject to bring out their real emotions.” Also, he has not shied away from using varied mediums – from pastels, oil on canvas and acrylic and even watercolours. “I wanted to show the new dimension of spirituality to the world and these mediums helped me show variety.”
A known name in the yoga world, Bharat was taken to the Himalayas by his guru at the age of four. It was under the guidance that he mastered various asanas and read extensively about Sufism, Jainism and Buddhism. In fact, it won’t be wrong to point out that before the recent surge in popularity of yoga , the 45-year-old was steadily teaching yoga under his company, Artistic Yoga, which he founded in 1999.
At the time, India was just warming up to the idea of health benefits practising yoga entails hence his clientele included the likes of international faces Michael Douglas, Boris Becker and corporate titans like Sunil Bharti Mittal and Ratan Tata.
However, what not many know that Bharat always found solace in paintings as he used to paint extensively way back in 2000. “But then something happened,” he points out candidly.
“I only used to do abstract then and one day I decided to meet a prominent artist. When I showed him my body of work all he said was that everyone can make an abstract painting, but you should also learn how to make ‘naak’ (nose) and ‘kaan’ (ears).”
This statement hit Bharat hard. Primarily because he knew that his weakest link was figurative. “I wasn’t good at drawing.” So, what he learnt from this brief interaction was the fact that while figurative can be converted into abstract; he would first need to master the art of drawing. Then onwards, he relentlessly pursued sketching, learning on his own, making mistakes and mastering the art. So, this solo show, he points out, highlights his years of mastering the craft. “I consider myself a craftsman and not a painter.”
Creative outlet
While painting gives him a creative outlet, yoga will always remain his first love. However, the present scenario of yoga in India is making him restless and unhappy. He isn’t against the commercialisation of the practice but strongly feels that mediocrity has seeped into the craft, which ideally is attained by following the strict guru-shishya tradition.
“Nowadays you can be a yoga instructor just by doing a certified diploma or some six week course. This is astonishing. Do they know that there are around 84 lakh yoga asanas?” he asks. “What pains me the most is that we have failed to create a real yoga teacher – the one who has learnt under a proficient guru and comes with a dedicated practice of at least a decade.”
“Even after 40 years of rigorous practice under my belt, I still don’t know what yoga means. I am still learning. So, how can somebody, who has done a certificate course, claim to be a yoga teacher? Yoga is not a jumping jack profession, it is tapasya,” he adds.
This unwarranted commercial business of yoga has pushed Bharat to start a yoga university in Rajasthan and another in South Korea. “We will be offering three-year graduation course and masters as well. Learning yoga is a kind of sadhana and we will be giving an environment where yogis can nurture their skills and practice.”
