The Third Eye of Indian Art: Aesthetics as Vedanta

Traditional Indian art lends itself to multiple levels of experience, from the creator to the created, from an initial objective sensation to a deeper contemplative subjective experience, from our two outer eyes to an inner or third eye. The Third Eye of Indian Art encourages a rediscovery of India by contemplating its creative vision. While the creation and enjoyment of beautiful objects, vastu, is central to the Indian world view, the discourse on Indian art or aesthetics, saundarya mimamsa, has suffered because we do not have an independent position on aesthetics and have had to borrow from many traditions to create an aesthetic discourse. This book takes us on an enchanting and blissful aesthetic experience showing us how to use the third eye to not only recognize and celebrate what is objectively beautiful, but to rest in the inner, subjective, serene state of beauty. And as we taste beauty (sundaram) and experience truth (satya) through our third eye, there will be a smaranam—a remembrance of who we really are.