The Taj Mahal As Objective Art
You will be surprised to know that the Taj Mahal was created on Sufi principles. This is not discussed in history, because the people who write history do not understand such depth, nor do they try to. They think it is just a memorial made by some emperor for his beloved and the matter is finished. But they have never looked into the fact that the emperor was advised and counselled by great Sufi mystics. The Taj Mahal was made in such way that on a full moon night. If you sit for a whole hour, just looking . You will become meditative. It is an example of marvelous reigious art. If you look in a special state, with a special feeling and from a special angle, then the Taj Mahal is a temple, not a tomb. It is a matter of how you look.
The images we have made of Buddha and of Mahavira are not merely evidence of the art of sculpture. Sculpture is secondary. We have attempted to contain buddhahood in these statues. If you sit in front of a statue of Buddha and go on looking at it without blinking then you will quickly find that something has stopped inside of you, has become still. Your process of thought has stopped, inside of you thoughtlessness has slowly come. In the form of that statue, in the style, in the color is a program for producing meditation in you. That statue is a device than can give an impetus to meditation inside of you.
I will also speak on the art of sculpture. I will speak on every aspect of life, because I am religious. For me no dimension of life is not to be touched upon, nothing will be left untouched. I do not accept any part of life as untouchable. I am not a politician, but I will speak on politics. I am religious, this is why I will speak. Politics is not only politics, much in your life will be determined by it. In this determination your religion will also be influenced.
-Osho, “Death is Divine, #10, Q1”
Painting can come out of the mind, can be beautiful, but cannot have that depth which it will have if it comes through meditation, when it comes from no-mind. When it doesn't come from you, when you are just a vehicle, a hollow bamboo, just an instrument in the hands of the divine or the whole, then painting has a totally different dimension to it.
Gurdjieff used to call it 'objective art', because it will not have any impact from your mind, from your subjectivity; it will be free of you. It will not be a projection of your desires, memories, imagination, conditioning. It will be completely free of you, and then it has tremendous beauty.
There are still a few things in the world which belong to the dimension of the objective art. Just seeing the piece of objective art, whatsoever it is -- sculpture, architecture, painting, poetry, a parable -- whatsoever it is, just by seeing it, listening to it, being with it, you start disappearing into the no-mind.
For example, the Taj Mahal is an example of objective art. When the moon is full just meditate on it. Just sit silently and look at it, and something starts disappearing in you. A moment comes soon when you are not and the observer has become the observed. It is a piece of Sufi art. Tourists will never understand it because they will not give time to it. The whole day people are passing in the Taj Mahal, coming and going -- the whole day. If it was in my hands I would prevent these people entering the Taj Mahal unless they are prepared to meditate for a few hours. That should be the entry fee; otherwise they should not be allowed. It is profaning something sacred. It has to be approached in a certain attitude, in a prayerful attitude, at a certain time.
When the moon is full -- the full-moon night is the night for the Taj Mahal -- exactly in the middle of the night when the moon is just on the top of the Taj Mahal, sit for one hour looking at it and you will disappear, and you will never be the same person again.
So are the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, and the temples of Khajuraho and Konarak and the pyramids of Egypt. They were not just mind things; they were created by people for posterity to meditate on. Music is perfect when the listener reaches the same state of mind or no-mind as was the state of the musician when he created it. Only then is it successful; otherwise it is not successful.
Much potential is in you. Much more is to come; what you have done is just a preface. And always remember that -- that whatsoever one has done is always a preface, because there is no end to our potential; it is inexhaustible. And the more you share it with the world, the more you will be given.
-Osho, “Hallelujah! #30”