Question: Does creativity help purify our vital by redirecting our energies?

Sri Chinmoy: It depends on what you create. Suppose you are an artist and you have painted say, an eggplant, or a carrot or a pencil; this will not purity your life. But if you draw my picture, if you draw something that has tremendous spiritual significance behind it, certainly it will help you. If you draw the sky, then the sky will give you a feeling of vastness. If you draw the ocean, then the ocean will give you consciousness. If you draw a boat, then the boat will give you a feeling of journey. You have to see the symbol behind the thing that you have drawn. No matter how beautifully you draw a carrot, or an eggplant or a tomato, still the consciousness will be limited. Even if it is extremely beautiful, how far can a tomato take you? Again, look how far the ocean or sky can take you. So you have to know what you are creating. Creation should be vast, boundless, sublime, so that it can carry you. Then you get the scope to purify your life. Otherwise, you will be bound by your own creation. If you enter into the ocean, it purifies you; If you enter into the sky, it purifies you. But if you enter into the carrot-consciousness, then it will not be able to purify you.