DIVINE REMADIES

SCIENCE OF SCULPTURE

The Back drop

In the last chapter we discussed about the birth of deities and we are continuing it here (even at the cost of some repetition)for taking the discussion to another level.

Our sages were very clear in their divine vision. They wanted human mind to be ever evolving upwards so that the human race will be in sync with the divine wish of a super human being evolving.

For this they knew it will take several millions of years and until then these vedic wisdom and values have to be kept alive. They knew it is not an ordinary task because human mind craves for pleasures and if not kept on leash will become slaves for lust and greed.

They also realized human desires have no limit and therefore if one desire is satisfied another will crop up.Therefore the human mind is capable of and prone to falling prey to the deadly diseases of lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride and envy . They also knew that if ever that happens the human race will also meet with the fate of dinosaurs.

In our opinion god might have originally thought that dinosaurs would be capable of evolving in to super being having been vested with unchallengeable strengths. But they betrayed his hope by falling prey to greed and lust.

Then god must have realized that it is not the physical power that can bring about a super being but only a mind power. And that is why he had to evolve humans from animals getting them vested with the additional faculty of intellect, which is the discrimination faculty in addition to the faculties of mind that is present in the animals- which was purely bodily consciousness. In addition he is also investing his time and energy on human beings with fond hope the human race will rise up to his expectations.As we have discussed repeatedly human mind is capable evolving into a super mind and finally into an universal mind and that is the God’s purpose of creation.

Wandering human mind

But for this to happen, a conducive atmosphere is required and that too a for a long,long time to come and for that the human race has to remain civilized and cosmic conscious and not just licentious .

It was a terrible challenge. God has made this world with all the enjoyable things because he has also realized that he should be ready for a long haul to allow the humans to evolve and until such time their motivation has to be sustained. For this he has endowed on one side humans with desires and on the other side many things to fulfill his desires. No doubt he has laid the laws of nature for the man's desires to be dharmic and for a reprisal mechanism for non adherence.But the issue was how to ensure that human race be kept dharmic.

The sages were also aware of the other issue of  the fact that the individual human life is very short and he may or may not ,mostly may not, realize the gods law in his single life time and even if he realizes he has to fight hard to keep his urges under control. because He can also take a view that in any case I am not going to be there when this evolution is going to occur;my life is too short for that and so why I should not enjoy everything now because I am not going to be there tomorrow.

So the rishis were convinced that unless the humans as a race is protected from the evils of lust and greed the game is over here and now.

So the task before them was to keep the entire humanity which is a very big mass of individuals with each one having an  individual ego and an uncontrollable and fickle mind.

So there was a need to sanitize the entire human community if they had to avoid them going astray,

Birth of Idols

As usual their prayer to god, to lead them to light, started. God as usual descended and wisdom dawned.They already had identified various energy centres which are the nodal points for human welfare; they had manthras in place to invoke those energy nodes;,tantras in place to the process the invocation;  names for those gods to signify those power centres; the objects to store the energy centre by way of yantras .But all these were  abstract and can’t catch the human imagination with a capacity to sustain that imagination for millions of years ensuring  their mind concentration continues till the evolution finally happens.So they needed something more that the humans could relate and comprehend.

Luckily in their meditation they had also visualized a form for each energy entre-called as deiteies with their attributes and characteristics  and have recorded what they had  visualized as  dhyana sloka for each deity which describe the looks and features of the deities. Therefore they realized that they have a solution on hand.

They knew a mind is always happy with a three dimentional figure that too if it is colouful and varied. As mentioned before they had already visualised different deities, each having different attribute;different looks;different colors and differently dressed on the basis of the primary powers vested with  each of them.

With this breakthrough  they knew the answer has been fully found.Now all that they have to do is to  convert the features described in the dhyana slokas in to a three dimensional figure and for doing that, the science they developed was sculpturing.

They identified the minerals and metals on which the energy can be invoked and retained which at the same time lends itself for moulding a variety of shapes, incorporating all the nuances of the deities.

The full blown sculpturing science arose. They figured out the right material for every deity, right mantras to be recited while sculpturing and the right mantras for consecration. They also realised that this job of sculpturing can be rightly and elegantly can’t be done by any one and  everyone unless they imbibe certain virtues.So they put up a set of rules and living habits for them so that what they expect out of them will actually happen.

Their effort did not go waste. The profession of sculpturing attracted many capable talents and family of sculptors came up in many places. They were generally of good character as otherwise they were unable to get the divine manifested in the idol they make.With this setting up of temples, placement of different deities in different places for different purposes was possible. By this the temples came up in all places and they became the places of infusing the moral values into the society and kept the human mind under check.

Psychological Game Changer

Till then the true wisdom which was abstract suddenly became concrete,that too in human forms and that too of different varieties and that too with an option to choose what they liked. The impact of this on human psychology was immeasuerable as the god became very personal to them.

Since these deities were a product of powerful mantras ( with the regular reciting of the mantras on a daily basis) the holy presence of the energy centres called gods vibrating with life was possible in the temples.

In turn these temples with its many temple functions and festivities caught the imagination of the people of their times. Because of the stored energy in the deity the bakthas got good vibration through a rub off effect and consequently the peace of mind and happiness.

That is what the rishis wanted and once it happened  people started to flock the temples.That helped the general mind power of  human beings to be  kept to  operete within the permitted limits and not stray out.

With these multifarious deities made by these sculptures their objective was served.The temples consecrated with agama rules became the point of local social assembly and through them information was delivered to the masses and hence an orderly ambience was possible for human assembly and the controlling and coordination of  order and discipline became a reality. The civilization of humans was  kept alive and growing and the journey towards genuine spirituality was possible in right earnest,

The game changer was the sculpturing which made the wisdom that was abstract and monotonous and attractive only to the intelligentia to be taken to the comman man which made an orderly society possible to be in place to permit the evolution of a super man.

These sculptors took care of architecture of temples ,the samudrika lakshanas of each deity, the dhyana slokas of each deity  and the result obtained was amazing because it made people to be peaceful and happy by concentrating on these idols.. The culture of temple construction under the agama rules became the common practice everywhere and as the saying goes people were willing go to the extent of ordaining   that nobody should live in a place where  there is no temple.As a result in every place of human habitation a temple was set up.

If we look back we can only be awestruck with the achievement of these sages with such a foresight with little resources at their command and with little modes of communication.

That is why it is said the sages should be worshipped as much as we worship gods.

The sculptors like priests were pious,devoted,mentally and bodily pure and following the the required rules and regulations required to infuse the divinity into these idols.

The vedic rishis achieved what they wanted for the welfare of all of us.