ART AND YOGA. IN INDIA, 55

Observe how Vya&a demanded of Ganesha that he should
write down his slokas without stopping. A public speaker
is at his best when he ' forgets himself '; and if-the thread
-of his discourse is broken, he becomes self-conscious, and
the remainder of his speech may be spoilt. Many speakers
too, could not repeat or remember afterwards, ' in:cold
blood,' the : words they used when i carried away ' by the
temporary stimulus. Very significant is the way in which
Sri Krishna, when asked to repeat the Gita after the battle
was not able to do so—he had forgotten it. ' We cannot
,-kindle when we will the fire that in the soul resides' ; or
would it be truer to say that in some measure we can.j
when by ; standing still from self-thinking and self-willing
(Behmen) room is left for greater things, from which at
ordinary times self-consciousness divides us ?

Such, is the teaching of yoga, and such also if>
the meaning of art.

u Of beauty they have sung in every age

He who perceives it i« from himself set free."

The Indian conception of the artistic imagination?
whether in artist or spectator, is akin to that of religious
ecstasy. The great philosopher Abhinavaguptapadacharya
explains that, when we enjoy a beautiful piece of poetry,
we realise our own higher self. What is called bhoga
(delight) is nothing but the revelation of our own higher
nature conditioned by sattva (truth), and previously
obscured by rajas (selfish activity,) and tamas (inertness).
Since our higher nature is essentially blissful, the delight
we experience is comparable to Brahmanic bliss.* ]

This view is akin to that of the neo-Platonlsts.
According to Plotinus: u The explanation of delight in
sensible beauty, so far as it can be explained, is that
* Prof. V. V, Sovani, Vedic Mag. Vol. II, No. 10.