Heart is the seat of love. And love is bliss. One derives bliss from a true work of art. This bliss is the essence of the ever-blissful Lord. Rasa, the enjoyment of this bliss, is the essence of poetry. We enjoy not only the gladdening rasas such as brigāra, hāsya, and adbhuta, but also the saddening ones such as karuna, raudra, and bhayankara in sähitya.
A great literary work makes the reader forget his surroundings, time, and place. He transcends space-time entanglement. Time and space are the constituents of Mayä. A real work of art makes one transcend the shackles of Maya. That is to say, the best literature is that which confers on the student freedom from the mundane bondage and makes him realize his 'at-one- ment' with his own true self.
Emerson has said somewhere that a work that cannot stand a second reading is not worth reading. If one were to judge the worth of books with this criterion, how many books are there which may be considered readable? Very few, indeed. The Upanisads, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Maha bharata, the Bhagavata, the Ramayana, the Dhammapada, the Bible, and the Koran, and a few other similar books which treat of the glory and greatness of God alone are worthy of study. Other works are worthy of attention only in so far as they reflect these godly virtues. Those books which deal with ephemeral matters will be put aside as soon as the ephemeral needs are fulfilled. The immortal scriptures that speak of the eternal verity are an invaluable treasure until we realize the eternal Truth. The eternal and the external are always at loggerheads. The external is fatal to the truth-seeker. Sense enjoyments carry their own revulsion. Revelry repels. The supra-sensual will always attract the soul for that is the soul's true nature. The life in the senses is soaked in the brine from the cradle to the grave. Yet it is bearable only because there is the dim glow of the ever blissful even in the midst of this procession of tears, euphemistically called life. The sense- objects seem attractive because in them also there is a reflection, distorted though, of the ever-blissful Self.
- by Swami Siddhinathananda (courtesy : Prabuddha Bharat 1965 Oct)
To be continued ..
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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