विग्नानाम् नाशनम् कर्तुम् भूतानाम् रक्षनाय च

देवानाम् तुस्टये चापि प्रेक्षकानाम् विभूतये||

श्रेयसे नायकस्यात्र पात्रसम्रक्षनाय च

आचार्य शिश्य सिध्यर्तम् पुश्पान्जलिम् मदारभेत्||

vignAnAm nAshanam kartum bhUtAnAm rakshanAya ca
dEvAnAm tusTayE cApi prEkshakAnAm vibhUtayE
shrEyasE nAyakasyAtra pAtrasamrakshanAya ca
AcArya shisyasidhyartam pushpAnjalim madArabhEt”

This is a prayer shlOkA from abhinaya darpanam, one of the foremost texts on bharatanATyam. This shlOkA is a treasure house of meaning for the artist in the practice of the art form. I am only taking one part of the shlOkA, namely, prEkshakAnAm vibhUtayE (प्रेक्षकानाम् विभूतये). The endeavor of the artist is to elevate the audience from the mundane to touch deeper parts of themselves.

We were in the rangapravEsha program of kumAri Aditi Sudheer last evening. As the program unfolded, I got pulled in to the adbhutam of the jail doors opening automatically, the yamuna giving way for vasudEvA carrying the baby krishNA and AdishEshA becoming the umberlla to protect the baby from the rains. In that moment, I felt the magic of the moment in my being, beyond my usual rational, intellectual part of me analyzing the story.

One of the oft repeated narratives that I come across in my engagements with people in the corporate workshops or in our svAdhyAyA sessions (where the practitioners are a little more diverse), is the lack of excitement to engaging with life moments. Much of the current day context makes one focused on task delivery, numbing the inner evocations and provocations. One finds oneself becoming more and more of an automaton, going from one task to another. How can I make life really meaningful – dhArmic and rasAtmic, if I am not in touch with my inner feelings beyond the tasks of the moment.

When I allow myself to be absorbed in to the performance of the artist, who has put in long years of practice with shraddhA (giving utmost sacrosanctity to the craft), I have the possibility of touching magical possibilities. To me, the moment of adbhutam that I touched through Aditi, is not about a story that might have happened centuries ago nor about the fantasy that all my troubles will magically vanish, but an embodied release beyond the mundane routines and the safe intellectual escapes from the present moment, to experience the magical, evocative possibilities in my own life. I recognize, this is not a mere cognitive process, but one that goes beyond the conscious.

In anchoring the expressions and explorations on the purANAs and itihAsAs, our traditional art forms give the possibility of touching the magic from within. In that moment, I get a glimpse of living life beyond getting drowned by the tasks at hand.

The artist ought not to perform to please the audience but to elevate them to touch their inner possibilities – prEkshakAnAm vibhUtayE (प्रेक्षकानाम् विभूतये) – this is the prayer.

What are those moments in your life in the past few weeks / months that you have experienced magical moments? What were the triggers?