Art and religion are simultaneously similar and radically different. Their similarity resides in the fact that both transcend the material plane; their expressions on the physical plane are mere reflections. What they paint is not on the canvas; what they dance cannot be seen in their movements; what they say does not dwell in words; what they express cannot be heard in their songs. Both are expressed physically from distant planes. The voices of artists and religious people are heard in the museums and churches, however, both transmit from a distance. On the other hand, the difference between the two is the same as the difference between the mind and the soul.
Mozart is as distant from Śaṅkara as the mental realm is from the spiritual realm. Art can be very subtle and abstract, but still breathes in a mental atmosphere. Religion, on the other hand, belongs to the great beyond, the spiritual world, the soul.
Artistic and religious experiences demand renouncing the personal for the generic. Art and religion both touch the universal, but art becomes religion only when it rises above mental limits. Art is the expression of the artist’s psychology in a piece of work; it becomes religious when it does not originate in the mind, but the soul. Art is born in the mind, religion in the beyond. Art may reach subtle and abstract levels, but is still mere art as long as it limits itself to manifesting the artist’s subjectivity. Religion is art that emerges from a universal experience. As subtle as artists’ creations may be, they originate in their own psychology; on the contrary, religious people transmit what blossoms in silence, from a void. Artists give us access to their past, but enlightened beings are doors to the present. Artists express themselves from yesterday, religious beings, from now. Artists manifest their misery; saints, their bliss. Artists create works of art while enlightened beings are their own magnum opus.
Art arises from a desire or need to express, while religious experience is in itself expressive. If artists are deprived of expressiveness, they feel frustrated. Artists are the principal rebels against restrictions on freedom of expression. On the contrary, enlightened beings are not slaves to desire or need because their expression is natural and spontaneous.
Art allows artists to empty themselves of their psychological complexes and to calm inner chaos. On the other hand, there are no conflicts that emanate from religious experience, which emerges from silence and peace. Existence itself is creative, as seen in trees, flowers, animals, and stars. Those in total harmony with life breathe with life and allow it to flow spontaneously through them.
When religion emanates from the mind, we call it art; when art comes from the soul, we call it religion. When identifying ourselves with what is physical, our feelings are instinctive. When identifying ourselves with our minds, our emotions are no longer expressed as barks but as songs. However, only by situating ourselves in the essence of what we are—in the soul—is religion born. From this great nothingness, divine art blossoms and that is religion.
