Music, dance, Sculpture and YAJNA

The white ambassador came to a stop. We walked briskly to once again behold the beauty of 'AmaraShilpi' Jakkanacharya's masterpiece - 'temple of Halebidu'.
All my previous visits to Halebidu were very brief and filled with guilt of having missed the opportunity to understand the background culture of a byegone era which created such a marvel. This time I was determined to convince my family to hire a 'guide'. With my resurgent interest in rational spirituality combined with the recent reading of the book 'Evolution of Theism in the Indian subcontinent', I was curious to know of any background of spirituality behind the immense dedication needed to build a structure of such intricate and detailed workmanship.
The guide was very fluent in English and had a passion for Archeology. We picked the best even though had to wait to get our turn. After a brief narration of how King Vishnuvardhana converted to Vaishnavism under the tutelage of Acarya Sri Ramanujacharya, we proceeded towards understanding the cultural and sculptural intricacies. The sculptures of 'Sri UgraNarasimha decorated with the garland of Hiranyakasipu's intestines ' and 'Ganges coming from Sri VamanaDeva's lotus feet with Bali Maharaja as onlooker' stood out among all of them. I realised that glorious activities of various Dasavataras was the common theme and motivation for Jakkanacharya and team. Shakuntala, Visnuvardhana's wife was a great dancer. The guide described the dance floor and the audience seating inside the temple precints. The diety ChannaKesava was frequently entertained by the various cultural performances. 'The temple is an extended cultural center'. Various kinds of music,dance,theatre was performed regularly for the pleasure and satisfaction of the Ishta Deva.
Why these artisans and kings spent decades together and consuming lots of resources for depicting activities of Visnu? Cant this time and effort used for economic development etc? My mind peaceful until now collecting observations became excited for the first time - Eureka! -> the culture was rooted in 'Yajna' - 'activities done for the pleasure of the supreme'. I had recently read the definition of Yajna and mention of it in 'The Gita' as a means for spiritual enlightenment.
Generally people think yajna means performing fire sacrifice or 'Homa'. But according to Gita, any activity performed with the intent of satisfying the supreme becomes yajna. Performance of Yajna emancipates the spirit self from the clutches of matter.These wonderful structures speak about the culture prevalent in Hoysala and Vijayanagar empire. One can easily assess how Spiritual emancipation was the central essence of human life and pivot of culture and arts. This was to such an extent that even forms of entertainment like Sculpture, Music, Dance and theatre were dovetailed towards Yajna with Paramapurusa as the center. Is there a better means of meditation than Sculpting any of the glorious activity of the Dasavatara for decades? With such intense meditation, the sculptors came in touch with more fundamental and joyful layer of existance and reality. Meditation became passionate addiction for these sculptors ……………………...
Back in the car all were silent, dumbstruck with awe at the work and dedication of the Sculptors. One of my cousin broke the silence by initiating discussion on the origins of carnatic classical music and its correlation to Yajna (the act of satisfying the supreme). I narrated slokas from the Bhagavatham glorifying Nama Sankirtan as the only effective way of doing yajna in this age of faults - Kali Yuga. The divine musical science and art with the various ragas practiced in Vaikuntha descended onto the earthly realm thru Sriman Purandara Dasa - Father of Carnatic classical music. With the Vedic scriptures unanimously declaring 'Nama Sankirtan' as the primary means of spiritual perfection in kali yuga, compositions and rendering of Purandara dasa enabled many to adopt the method of congregational glorification of the names of Supreme Lord Hari. When music is practiced for the pleasure of the supreme, it is called Sankirtana Yajna. When we were having coffee at the roadside dhaba, I read aloud the following verses from the Gita which summarised all the discussions we had throught out our wonderful trip

9.27 -> Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.
9.34 -> Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.


- Inner Voice
Inspired by the Divine Grace of Saints

At your service,
Ram