Sri Chinmoy's family on Jharna-Kala

A Veritable Feast for the Eyes: Sri Chinmoy’s Art

The Supreme who is the machine-mover in every heart is the Real Artist who inspires every artist with vision. Those who are open to Him and are in direct contact with Him through their soul can be rightly guided by Him. Their creations then do not remain their limited ego’s creation. With the tinge of cosmic Beauty they become cosmic.

The Supreme Artist is an eternal Boy. He is the Dancer Nataraj, whose every movement of foot is an indication of rhythm, expressing manifestation from the unmanifest, preservation and dissolution. He is the Musician whose flute constantly vibrates and is behind all happenings. He is the Poet whose poetry is the universe. He is the Architect, the Mechanic who gives shape to all wonders and impossibilities.

In the human artist Sri Chinmoy, the Divine Artist as a playful boy plays and plays with his brush and colour on paper (or wall) as He does in dusk and dawn, on the sky. Like the Supreme, his Inner Pilot, Sri Chinmoy does not need any plan, nor the help of any scale or instrument to measure the length and breadth of anything to make it appear as real. The earliest poet, Valmiki, saw something in his inner consciousness and wrote the life of Rama in poetry. Rama came afterwards only to live like that and make the epic real. Here also, Sri Chinmoy gives shape to his inner consciousness through forms with brush and colour and the artists find that they have become works of real Art.

As flowers in the garden of the earth and as stars in the garden of Heaven they bloom and give delight to the eyes. Flowers and stars and clouds at dawn and dusk are the Play of the Supreme Artist. Sri Chinmoy’s paintings also are his play with colour and beauty. We do not see the Inner Pilot, the machine-mover. We see only the man, the machine, and wonder how his fancy does so untiringly without thinking, spontaneously flowing continuously, like a fountain (jharna), without looking backward to see how far it has proceeded. It is due to his allowing his Inner Pilot to move him freely and to His Grace in choosing Sri Chinmoy as His perfect instrument to reveal to the world His Nature, the constant play of Delight with form and beauty. These paintings serve a veritable feast of light for the eyes.

From Chitta Ranjan Ghosh:

How to convey my feelings about Sri Chinmoy’s paintings! In the modern photographic age, where is the place of the painters? To paint a picture a painter may take hours, days, even years. But a photographer may take it in no time. But the photographer cannot take what is not there, whereas a painter can paint from his vision what is not outwardly visible. Sri Chinmoy has got vision and swiftness. Through his hand the Supreme Painter plays freely, so his paintings do not take time. But they are perfect, pleasing to the eyes and full of inspiration — something new for art lovers. Here we find some expressions of the unmanifest. His paintings call us and silently tell us, “Look at us, follow us! We shall take you beyond your limited consciousness of sorrow and suffering to the harmonious Heaven of delight.”

— Chitta Ranjan Ghosh

From Mano Ranjan Ghosh:

In eight months Sri Chinmoy has completed 27,000 paintings by the infinite Grace of the Supreme and the goddess Saraswati. Freud once said that to be creative is to be prodigious. In Sri Chinmoy’s paintings the Light and Wisdom of the Supreme has been manifested. His paintings display the unique play of a variety of colours. They have descended gracefully from a high spiritual world. To paint 27,000 paintings is indeed a difficult task, but it has been possible because the Supreme has given this capacity as a gift of blessingful Love. From time to time the Supreme acts in this way so that humanity receives light and delight from the spiritual life. Those who love divine art must see something new, beautiful, soulful and fruitful in Sri Chinmoy’s art. I pray to the Absolute Supreme that the general mass unreservedly appreciates these paintings, as they so richly deserve to be appreciated.

From Lily Rani Ghose:

Some people appreciate my youngest brother’s spirituality and philosophy, while others appreciate his poetry and music. Still others appreciate his art. And I appreciate and have always appreciated his simple, sincere, pure and childlike heart.

I am extremely fond and proud of my brother not only because he is of us — born in a little Indian village — but also because he is for all truth-seekers and all God-lovers and for God’s entire creation.