I’ve been itching to tell it like it is about spirituality and the arts.
Here goes.
Recently, when I found myself facing certain issues in my artistic practice for which I had no rational answers, I skipped ahead and did what always seems to work.
I held my befuddlement up to God for His wise, compassionate counsel.
The answer came instantly, as a quiet intuition. I heard the voice of my spiritual teacher, Swami Kriyananda, who spoke words that startled me: “You’ve never taken a photograph for yourself.”
I started in photography fifty-seven years ago. At the time, I was in rough shape. I had emerged from drug addiction, and I’d been paralyzed from the chest down for three years – two serious health conditions, no doubt; but they were as nothing, compared to my absolute despair over not knowing the meaning of life.
One night, I had a powerful dream. I lay on my back on cold cobblestones at the bottom of a deep well. High above me I could see the mouth of the well and the night sky and stars shining beyond and high above.
I knew that if I would follow the light of the stars, I would gradually rise until I emerged from the well, and that I would ascend toward the stars until their light would absorb me as its own.
Months before, I had had a profound experience of Spirit, in which my ego had shrunk to nothing, and I had known that I was part of the One and Only Blissful Thing that is. I had lost my familiar identity, but I knew the fearless wonder of being merely a tiny speck of the great light of God.
Returning to my regular existence, I was possessed by a desperate need to know that all-satisfying joy.
I knew that it would be a long process, but I was certain that if I would go forward patiently, taking one small step at a time, I would make progress.
As part of my healing, I borrowed my father’s camera. It was an old clunker, a 1937-vintage Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 2.8. I carried it during long walks, looking for pictures that would reveal God in His creation as joy, love, beauty, healing kindness, compassion, and simple happiness.
I didn’t want to horde those qualities for myself, I wanted to get out of the way so that I could share them transparently to enrich and heal the lives of others. That would be my happiness.
It would take me a very long time to begin to understand the practice of inviting God to take pictures through me; but I had many encouraging successes along the way. I’ve shared some of them, and will continue to do so.
To sum up, here’s what I learned. This is my advice to artists who want to fill their practice with spiritual inspiration.
Be an advocate for others. It will separate you from ninety-nine-point-nine percent of other artists. It’s the hardest thing to do, and the most necessary. Difficult, because you’ll have to turn yourself inside out, forgetting a great deal of what you’ve learned.
Once you get used to it, though, you will find it such an enjoyable way of making art that you will never go back.
You will slip occasionally. You’ll be in a hurry, or you’ll be feeling rushed, pressured, and impatient, and you’ll think, “I’ve got this – I’ve done this before, no need to stop in midstream and offer the whole shebang to God.”
But you will always be unhappy with the results and the experience. This is guaranteed.
Why not opt for joy? Why not co-create with God?
Years ago, at a time when I was having a rough go of making a living, I finally threw up my hands and opened my heart to God, defenses down, humbly eager to receive any answer.
At that moment, I heard the voice of God as the Divine Mother. She said, a bit impatiently, “We are partners!”
It’s so simple, so practical, and so ultimately easy.
Which is not even to speak of what a heavy weight it will lift from your shoulders, when you can leave the important decisions to God and get yourself in a frame of childlike devotion and humble service.
Not always easy, but always wonderful.
Try it. I can sit here and tell you stories all day long. But I can’t motivate you. You have to get the experience for yourself.
Just sit quietly, anywhere, anytime, even for five minutes. Or go for a long walk, and talk with God in a way that lets Him know you really mean business. You are placing your need in His hands. You are wholeheartedly intent on doing whatever He might suggest.
You are testing the testimony of every saint who ever lived. If God is real, the saints tell us, He must answer. And He will.
This is the ultimate spiritual truth. Either God is everything, or He is nothing.
Find out for yourself. Don’t listen to atheists, cynics, doubters, fundamentalists, and other opinionated persons who are either too unaware, blockheaded, or lazy to conduct the scientific experiment of Faith.
You are not! You are a brave mountaineer! You must know. And you will. You will find no better guide, for your life, your art, and your heart and soul. He will guide you along the lines of your spiritual growth. He will inspire you with art that is uniquely your own.
Do you want to do art that will be good for others? Why not apprentice yourself to the Master? He is waiting. He is eager. He is with you everywhere, always.
— Rambhakta