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Quotes on art

“Art is not something to be understood; it is something to be felt.”

Sri Chinmoy 1

“Divine art cannot exist without spiritual freedom, but ordinary art can and does exist without spiritual freedom. Ordinary art is the art that plays only with colour and form, totally ignoring the supreme importance of the spirit and essence.”

Sri Chinmoy 2

They say, “Art for art’s sake.” I say, “Art is not for art’s sake — Art is for God’s sake.”

Sri Chinmoy 3

“If you enjoy art with your heart’s love, then automatically you are getting inspiration from it. But if you enjoy it with your mind, then you are stuck there. You are only measuring the art, judging it. At that time, even if you enjoy it, still the art does not come as an inspiration. But if you enjoy it with your heart, you are identifying yourself with the work.”

Sri Chinmoy 4

“Art is at once evolution and revolution. Evolution is a slow, steady and unerring flight towards the ever-transcending Beyond. Revolution is a dauntless, sleepless and priceless fight against ignorance-supremacy.”

Sri Chinmoy 5

“When I look at a painting, I try to feel its inner existence, which we call the soul. If a painting gives me an immediate inner thrill or a feeling of joy, if it touches my aspiring heart and makes me want to become a better person, then I feel that painting is meaningful for me.”

Sri Chinmoy 6

"Jharna-Kala means ‘fountain-art.’ A fountain is something that comes from within spontaneously, without any outer strain. It is something effortless, easy. Constantly somebody within me is coming to the fore with infinite inspiration and with infinite dedicated service-light. That is why my paintings flow spontaneously from within."

Sri Chinmoy 7

Question: What do you feel when you are painting?

Sri Chinmoy: Most of the time when I paint I get a kind of inner joy and a kind of inner discovery. When I paint, I discover something which I did not know before. That is why I get tremendous joy, most of the time, when I am painting.

Sri Chinmoy 8

On Soul-Birds

“For me, birds have a very special significance on a spiritual level. They fly in the sky, and the sky is all freedom. So when the birds fly in the sky, they remind me of the soul’s infinite freedom. The soul has come from Heaven. When we think of birds, we are also reminded of our Source, and this gives us enormous joy.”

Sri Chinmoy 9

“These birds represent unity in multiplicity. Here we have 70,000 birds. Each bird is different, but when you look at them, you feel unity. As soon as we think of the bird-consciousness, it is one. The bird-consciousness represents the consciousness of our soul’s inner freedom.”

Sri Chinmoy 10

“Each bird embodies a prayerful and soulful heartbeat of my earthly existence. May all the birds that I have offered to You fly in the Sky of Your ever-expanding Compassion for the progress of humanity.”

Sri Chinmoy 11


  1. Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 3, Agni Press, 1995.↩︎

  2. Sri Chinmoy, Art's life and the soul's light, Agni Press, 1974.↩︎

  3. Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 38, Agni Press, 2004.↩︎

  4. Sri Chinmoy, Art's life and the soul's light, Agni Press, 1974.↩︎

  5. Sri Chinmoy, The oneness of the Eastern heart and the Western mind, part 3, Agni Press, 2004.↩︎

  6. Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 3, Agni Press, 1995.↩︎

  7. Sri Chinmoy, AUM — Vol.II-2, No. 5, May 27, 1975, Vishma Press, 1975.↩︎

  8. Jharna-Kala: The art of Sri Chinmoy, Jharna-Kala.↩︎

  9. Sri Chinmoy answers, part 03, Agni Press, 1995.↩︎

  10. Sri Chinmoy answers, part 36, Agni Press, 2004.↩︎

  11. Sri Chinmoy answers, part 38, Agni Press, 2005.↩︎