Spiritual aspect of Art

Prof. Sanghal writes in his book "Bhartiya Chitrakala Paddhati" about spiritual aspect of art - 

Amongst the three major timeless substances - God, creatures and nature, only God is considered as sat (truth), chit (consciousness) and anand (bliss, a state of pure happiness). Creatures have sat (truth) and chit (consciousness) but are devoid of anand (bliss).  Nature has sat (truth) but is devoid of chit (consiousness) and anand (bliss).  Hence, in creatures along with sat(truth) and chit (consciousness), there are struggles of sadness and happiness, so it became their goal to keep trying to attain the state of anand (bliss). In Rigveda Sanskrit verse it is said in a prayer form ‘Always keep me in a state of joy, pleasure and happiness.’ To attain anand (state of bliss), man invented pure fine arts along with many other means. Man thought joy cannot be attained through fine arts alone, so he invented poetry, music, painting, sculpture, architecture as the five main fine arts. Each of these fine arts had certain limitations, so to completely express the complete extrovert quality of human, all fine arts have been trying to attain their ultimate goal. They may be able to attain partial success but its success is evaluated on the basis of its progress, inspiration and inclination towards joy it provides.

The human soul wants to break the wall of disappointment and it wants to get absorbed and surrender in the devotion of God. Hence this deepest nature can also be referred as ‘Anandaubhutivad’ (the ultimate joy), inspired by which an artist gets into the hearts of art lovers and makes them experience the joy.