The Artist And The Yogi
Sruti|July 2018

There is a beautiful story in the Upanishad. A student asks his teacher who am I? The teacher says, “Go, my child and engage with yourself.

Jyotsna Narayanan
The Artist And The Yogi

There is a beautiful story in the Upanishad. A student asks his teacher who am I? The teacher says, “Go, my child and engage with yourself. Come back with what you have experienced”. After a while the student returns and says, “Sir, I am my physical body.” The teacher smiles and says, “That you are. But go back my child and reflect”. After much reflection, the student returns once more and says, “Sir, I am vitality, prana. It is subtler than the body; it determines that my body is alive”. The teacher smiles and says, “That is true, my child. But reflect further.” In a while the student returns, “Sir, I am my mind, governed by my senses and desires, my emotions that direct my vitality”. The teacher says, “And that too”. But adds, with a smile, “Continue to reflect my child.” The student returns, “I am an individual, Sir, with a unique personality that focuses the activities of the mind, who perceives with clarity”. “How true” says the teacher, still smiling, “But… go further”.

This could be my story. For example, as a novice in dance, I believe that dance is anga suddham—the lines of the body. At that stage, this is my truth. But as I further my sadhana, there is the awareness of vitality or prana into which these lines are resolved. Gradually this vitality is resolved into the dictates of emotions and the mind with all its activities of perception… imagination… and I believe this interpretative delineation of emotions is dance. Then arises the question, “What am ‘I’ bringing to these emotions?” So individual expression is celebrated over mimicking of technique. Here, the truth for me is in the ‘my’ and the ‘I’, in all its unique individuality. “But…”says the smiling teacher of our story—”Go further”.

This story is from the July 2018 edition of Sruti.

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This story is from the July 2018 edition of Sruti.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.