BUDDHA AND THE INWARD LOOK
The number of Corona cases worldwide is close to the four-million mark.
Life in our city, which happens to be in a ‘red’ no-go zone, is at a virtual
standstill though people can go out to buy vegetables, milk, meat and, if one
is lucky, a bottle or two of the ‘tissue restoring’ stuff. In the meantime, the lockdown
continues and peace reigns. By and large, this is due to much reduced traffic
and the absence of planes which in normal times shatter the silence every few
minutes. As a result of this when I sit near the window, I can hear the calls
of at least a dozen different kinds of birds, most of whom I rarely paid any
attention to. I can recognize the sounds of the bulbul and the parrots among
them. Then there are the usual flock of seven sisters bringing the ceiling down
and of course, the koel with its mellifluent song. The ubiquitous crow and
pigeons we all take for granted while the noisy squirrels prance about chasing
each other or squeaking in alarm when a cat is around. Across the road is a
rooster that crows regardless of the time of the day. Perhaps it is not aware
that its duty is in the morning, though this allotment has been made by humans.
There is also a black brahmin bull that seems to hold discourses in the shade
of a tree with several devoted dogs in attendance who sit quietly.
Plants and trees are not to be left behind. Many gulmohar trees nearby
carry a canopy of flaming red flowers. I am not surprised that in many parts of
the world this flower, native to Madagascar (so says the ever-helpful
Wikipedia), is known as the flame of the forest. As the leaves of other trees
sway in the breeze and catch the sunlight, they display various shades of
green. Nature in full flow and most of us miss it most of the times, busy as we
are doing god only knows what and rushing about hither and thither, getting
stuck in traffic jams, eating breakfast in the car, cursing other commuters,
meeting mythical targets and making a nuisance of ourselves in general. Apart
from what we do to others we ill-treat our bodies giving it blood pressure,
diabetes and heart problems. I suppose the lockdown has forced on us the
realisation that life can be enjoyed to the full if we are relaxed and at peace
with ourselves.
Talking of peace, Thursday was Buddha Purnima (full moon), not just the
day of Gautam Buddha’s birth but also the day of his Mahaparinirvana.
Therefore, in the evening on that day a beautiful reddish yellow moon rose from
the horizon into the sky which I watched. The sight was unusual because of the
clear pollution-free skies but what I missed was a landscape bathed in
moonlight, one of the most soothing views. This was because of the excessive streetlights
that have become the norm these days to maintain security. Returning the topic
of Buddha, the most important thing that I can think of is that I live in a
district named after him – Gautambudhnagar. Though a bit long, it sounds much
better than NOIDA, an acronym for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority
set up more than three decades back. A wonderful giant statue of the Buddha
adorns the entry to the town though it is almost universally ignored.
I have, however to confess that my eyes were opened to the greatness of
this great founder of an atheist religion not in this city but in Ajanta, about
100 kilometres from the Maharashtra city of Aurangabad. I had often heard of
the Ajanta caves and the Elora rock cut Kailasa temple. But it was Ajanta that
I became really aware of the greatness of Gautam Buddha who began to spread the
message of peace five hundred years before Jesus Christ. The frescoes and
sculptures in the caves of Ajanta are simply marvellous. The peace that they
exude has to be seen to be believed. It is believed that some of these caves
were excavated in the second century B.C. and the rest in the fifth and sixth
centuries A.D. The peace exuding from these unsigned works of art made two
things evident to me – first that they were inspired by the Buddha who lived between
300 to 1000 years before the artists and second, the great humility that is their
hallmark. This seems to be extraordinary in our world today when the artist is
greater than his work of art!!
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Painting from Ajanta, Cave 1, Bodhisatva Padmapani
and the inward look
(By Unknown author - Hugh Honour y John Fleming:
Historia mundial del arte, Ed. Akal, Madrid, 2002, ISBN 84-460-2092-0, Public
Domain) https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12052163
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Reverence for the Buddha grew in me after this experience but I was
filled in with much more intricate details by photographer and art connoisseur
Benoy K. Behl. Behl is remarkable not just because he developed a technique of
photography in low light but also because he has managed to imbibe the philosophy
of Indian art as well as its techniques. It was no accident that I was thus
moved by the art in these caves located in the gorge of the Vaghora river which
he called an enchanted place. According to Behl, the Ajanta paintings are the fountainhead
of Buddhist painting around the world. In his lectures around the world at
which he showed these paintings, Behl found that art historians and critics
were of the unanimous view that “this must surely be the finest art of mankind…
not just of the fifth century but all the art of the renaissance, impressionists,
expressionists and modern art.” He says that in the vision of life in these
paintings is the “same that is in you and me and in all the animas, the birds,
the insects, the flowers, the leaves…” This vision sees a great unity in the
whole of creation and this imparted a great sense of compassion to every line
which the painter made.
The art of Ajanta is no longer viewed around the world as a flash in the
pan as it was earlier but was part of a continuous tradition of art that
continued for many centuries afterwards. The philosophy of aesthetics in ancient
India was very highly developed in which it was understood that the when one
looked on something beautiful, like the paintings of Ajanta, the experience was
that of “brahmananda itself. The ecstasy of salvation itself… for in that
moment the veils of the illusion of the material world or maya or mithya are
believed to be lifted and you are seeing the grace which underlies all that
there is.” That is the reason why art has played a fundamental and very
important role in the philosophic life of India.
The COVID19 virus has
brought the worst and best in humans throughout the world. But those in power should
remember that compassion and sympathy are much more important in the battle to
conquer fear, pain and misery. 
