BY M. S. GOPALAKRISHNAN, M.A.
THE Hindus are worshippers of images and plates
with Yantras carved on them. These seem to express to them some aspect
of some deity or other. Though we acknowledge in faith that God is Power beyond
the approach of our minds, our endeavour to search in matter a right response
to the demands from an invisible source, we think, is a way of learning. It is
not to discover any law of nature the Hindu mind aims. It prays before an
image–an expression of its own complete force, when it forgets what is base, to
become what is incomprehensible to itself. Of the senses I am the Mind, says
Lord Krishna in the Gita.
The image of Uma Maheswara is not new to the Hindu
priest, prince, and peasant. It is only a symbol of the indirect presence of
the Creative Power. This power is a perennial flow in every masculine and
feminine seed of cause, which is given attributes. So, that which is devoid of
attributes is given attributes to reach its own state of negation. With all
knowledge of the ancient texts the Hindu is a victim of superstitions. To
annihilate his own doubts and gain his peace he surrenders himself to this
image. With eyes fixed on it he answers his own questions. In that state of
introspection he admires the glory of creation: himself. Uma is to him the
great Mother who is ageless, radiant, attractive, and benevolent. She is the
ocean of mercy. Maheswara has given her a part of his own body to reside.
Uma is the expression of imagination, a light by
itself in the soul of an artist. The principle of unity in creation, the
strength to perceive that abstract principle in the very being of objects
animates an artist’s temper. When the artist rises beyond the limits of man he
becomes conscious of the power of his own intellect. Intellect gives him the
heat essential for creation.
The face of Uma is a representation in matter of
human imagination in which the wish and will to save and create is
interminable. It is imagination that makes us see what we are; and what we are
in relation to our environments either gains meaning or appears stupid.
Imagination is the womb of creative activity. Who
is Maheswara? Scriptures say that without Shakti, Siva is a corpse. But what
enlivens the corpse? It is imagination. Creative activity commences always in a
Silent Land. But how are we to know that there is activity? The very wish to be
safe and secure is activity. To perpetuate the greatest happenings visible to
the inward eye we strive our best; we look around, we see matter, we give life
to it, we are prepared to die.
The mind when it links itself with external objects
impels the senses to action. We must seal our senses to apprehend Reality. To
create is not easy. Intellect is a check on imagination.
We see the figure of a woman on Maheswara’s knotted
hair. The artist has the good sense to conceive intellect as a feminine being.
The Eternal Feminine inspires as well as limits activity.
It is said that Maha Rudra inhabits the burial
ground. Why? When the rule of the body is over, the inner passive spectator,
the soul who is the preserver acts as the destroyer. Cessation of the
intellectual and imaginative faculties in the very being itself makes for
illumination. “The memory of the eternal illumination,” says Radhakrishnan,
“has enduring effects and calls for renewal.”
To say I am Brahman is easy. But how to experience
it? Uma Maheswara image is sure to aid discerning seekers. It is to find the
presence of the spiritual in the physical, the presence of ends in means, the
presence of the Immortal Zero in all that we are, we see, we struggle.
In this land, with the growth of human culture,
brute force has not diminished. Although there are works of art to inspire and
guide, the questioning tendency of the Upanishadic times has lost ground. In
his Epicurean tastes man has missed the brilliance of his own personality. He
visits an art-gallery to spend a holiday but cares little to be guided by those
wonderful images shedding life and light. We forget that stones have wisdom in
them and we have to forgive ourselves for our sins.