Real art means something that helps you to be meditative. Gurdjieff called real art objective art, it helps you meditate. The Taj Mahal is true art. It's worth going there.
I would like to tell the story of how the Taj Mahal came into existence.
One person came from Shiraz, Iran. He was called Shirazi because he came from Shiraz. He was a great artist, the most famous in Shiraz. And he was a wonderful man. Before he came to India, there were a thousand and one stories about him. The Emperor was Shah Jahan; he had heard about these stories. He invited the sculptor to the court. Shirazi was a Sufi mystic.
Shah Jahan asked him:
“I heard that you can sculpt the entire body of a man or woman just by touching their hand and without seeing their faces.” This is true?
“Give me one chance,” Shirazi replied, “but on one condition.” Place twenty-five beautiful women from your palace behind the curtain. Let me touch their hands from behind the curtain. I will touch their hands and choose one, but with one condition. Whoever I choose, I will make a statue of her; if the statue is absolutely true, and you and your entire court are satisfied, then this woman will be mine. I want to marry her, I want a woman from your palace.
Shah Jahan was ready. He said:
- I agree.
Twenty-five beautiful slaves were placed behind the curtain. He went from the first to the twenty-fifth and rejected them all. Just for fun, Shah Jahan's daughter, who was standing behind the curtain when all twenty-five were rejected, extended her hand. He touched her hand, closed his eyes, felt something and said:
- Here is my hand.
And he put a ring on his hand as a sign that, if successful, she would be his wife.
The Shah looked behind the curtain and was horrified: “What has this girl done?” But he didn't worry because it was almost impossible to make a sculpture of a woman just by touching her hand.
For three months, Shirazi disappeared into his room. He worked day and night. Three months later, he invited the emperor, and the entire court and the emperor could not believe their eyes. She looked exactly like it! He could do it. The emperor did not find a single flaw - he wanted to find a flaw because he did not want his daughter to marry a poor man, but now there was no way out: he gave his word.
He was alarmed, and his wife became so alarmed that she became ill. She was pregnant, and while giving birth to the child, she died in agony. Her name was Mumtaj Mahal. And the king fell into despair - how to save his daughter? He asked the sculptor to come and told him the whole story.
- It was a mistake. The girl is to blame for everything, but look at my situation: my wife died, and she died because she could not agree for her daughter to marry a poor man. And I also cannot agree, although I gave my word.
The sculptor said:
- There's nothing to worry about. You should have told me right away; I will return to Shiraz. Don't worry. Forget it!
“But this is impossible,” said the king, “I cannot forget.” I gave you my word. Wait. Let me think.
The Prime Minister proposed:
- Do this thing: your wife died, this is a great artist, and he proved it. Let him make a copy in memory of your wife. You must create a beautiful grave, the most beautiful in the world. And make it a condition that if you approve this copy, you will have to give your daughter to him as a wife. If you don't approve of her, it's over.
This was discussed with the artist, and he agreed.
“And I,” thought the king, “will never approve.”
And Shirazi made many copies, and they were so beautiful, but still the king persisted and said: “No, no, no.” The First Minister was in despair because these copies were of rare beauty, and it was unfair to reject it. And he spread a rumor, making sure that it reached the sculptor, that the girl he had chosen was very sick. She was sick for a week, a week later she became even worse, and in the third week she died - according to rumors. When the sculptor heard rumors that the girl had died, he made his last copy. The girl died - his heart was broken. And this was the last copy. He brought it to the king, and he approved of it. The trick was that the girl was sick, and there was no longer any question of him marrying her.
This copy became the Taj Mahal. This copy was created by a Sufi mystic. How could he create the entire image of a woman just by touching her hand? He was probably in some other space. He was probably out of his mind at that moment. This moment was supposed to be a moment of great meditation. At that moment he touched the energy, and simply feeling the energy, he recreated the entire image.
Now this is much easier to understand logically thanks to Kirlian photography, because each energy has its own pattern. Your face is no accident; your face is like that because you have a certain energy pattern. Your eyes, your hair, your color are all because you have a certain personal energy pattern.
Meditators have been working on energy patterns for centuries. Once you know the energy pattern, you know the whole personality. You know it through and through, all of it, because energy creates everything. You know the past, you know the present, you know the future. Once the energy pattern is understood, you have the key, the understanding of everything that has happened to you and what will happen. This is objective art. This man created the Taj Mahal.
Meditating on the Taj Mahal on the night of the full moon, your heart begins to pulsate with new love. The Taj Mahal still carries the energy of love. Mumtaj Mahal died out of love for her daughter; Shah Jahan suffered because of love; and Shirazi created this model because he suffered deeply, because he was deeply wounded, because his future was dark. The woman he had chosen was no longer there. Out of great love and meditativeness, the Taj Mahal came into existence. He still carries that vibration.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru