Satish Gujral is a painter, sculptor, muralist, writer and architect.
What does Spirituality mean to you?
When the word spirituality is used, it often is equated to religion. And I am definitely not a religious person. I actually harbour a profound dislike for organized religions. They have done more damage to the idea of spirituality than anything else. They pretend not to teach hatred for other religions, but in fact they are based on the very denial or other faiths. Otherwise how could they claim to own and be the ultimate truth? Religions are based on dogma. And when there is dogma, the substance is gone. Instead of liberating us and encouraging us to question, they try to convert and convince us of an absolute truth.
Also, I do not believe in the idea of God. There is definitely a catalyst enabling for things to happen. But as we can see on the material plane, the substance that catalyzes disappears once the process has taken place. You cannot see it afterwards.
So for me spirituality has nothing to do with religion. And I very seldom consciously ponder over it. Still, I cannot help but feel that there is something sublime beyond the logical plane. At some point, logic and rationality simply do not work anymore. I see it mostly in my work and in the process of creating, in that awe-inspiring transformation of an idea into a form. What was the process that helped this conversion? It was not consciously done, in a way that could be intellectually described. In those moments, I have no choice but surrender to my belief in spirituality.
Do you believe you are guided and protected by a superior force?
It is very difficult for me to say. I find myself in a conflict whether to believe so or not. At times, certain things happen, for instance when I create something that I cannot explain to myself, how it came, what guided it --- then for a moment, I do surrender to the idea of a force beyond. But after that moment has passed, logic takes over, because as a thinking person, I am enslaved by logic, and insist on seeing a proof of everything.
Do you believe you have a special mission or purpose in this life?
Most definitely. Life would be wasted if there was no specific mission, even if one is not necessarily defining it...
