THE SIXTY-FOUR ARTS AND SCIENCE

-"Arts as a medium to reconnect with the Divine"

Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā

By His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis

tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ

goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

TRANSLATION

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.

Are arts beyond what we think ?

All that we experience and relish in performing fine artistic work has its origin from the transcendental sphere. It means everything that exists in this world will always have a more meaningful dimension.

Do you know that the well celebrated dance bharatanatyam took its origin when Lord Krishna performed His famous dance on kaliya in kaliya daman leela!

The sixty-four arts do in reality exist unstintingly only in Goloka Vrndavana, the spiritual abode of Lord Krishna. All these arts manifesting their own eternal forms are ever visible in the region of Gokula as the ingredients of rasa or transcendental mellows of loving exchanges.

Kṛṣṇa indulges in eternal pastimes in Goloka. Nija-rūpatayā means “with the attributes manifested from the ecstatic energy.”

According to Śrīla Rūpa and Śrīla Sanātana, the saints of the Vaishnava tradition, all those pastimes that have been visible in Gokula, exist in all purity and free from all tinge of limitation in Goloka.

The mastery of many of the 64 traditional arts known as the Chausath Kalas or Chathusashti Kalas, formed an important basis in the development of a cultured individual in many parts of ancient India.

The Master of all arts :

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna is the source of all kinds of knowledge,to set a perfect example to everyone for receiving right knowledge from the right source he played the role of an ordinary human being and agreed to take knowledge from a spiritual Guru Sandipani in the city of Avanti (Ujjain). After hearing only once from the teacher, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma learned all the arts and sciences. In sixty-four days and sixty-four nights, They learned all the necessary arts that are required in human society.

The transcendental arts:

Learn sixty-four arts and sciences,practice and serve with joy.

What are the 64 transcendental arts?

(1) gīta—art of singing.

(2) vādya—art of playing on musical instruments.

(3) nṛtya—art of dancing.

(4) nāṭya—art of theatricals.

(5) ālekhya—art of painting.

(6) viśeṣakacchedya—art of painting the face and body with colored unguents and cosmetics.

(7) taṇḍula-kusuma-balī-vikāra—art of preparing offerings from rice and flowers.

(8) puṣpāstaraṇa—art of making a covering of flowers for a bed.

(9) daśana-vasanāṅga-rāga—art of applying preparations for cleansing the teeth, cloths and painting the body.

(10) maṇi-bhūmikā-karma—art of making the groundwork of jewels.

(11) śayyā-racana—art of covering the bed.

(12) udaka-vādya—art of playing on music in water.

(13) udaka-ghāta—art of splashing with water.

(14) citra-yoga—art of practically applying an admixture of colors.

(15) mālya-grathana-vikalpa—art of designing a preparation of wreaths.

(16) śekharāpīḍa-yojana—art of practically setting the coronet on the head.

(17) nepathya-yoga—art of practically dressing in the tiring room.

(18) karṇapātra-bhaṅga—art of decorating the tragus of the ear.

(19) sugandha-yukti—art of practical application of aromatics.

(20) bhūṣaṇa-yojana—art of applying or setting ornaments.

(21) aindra-jāla—art of jugglery.

(22) kaucumāra—a kind of art.

(23) hasta-lāghava—art of sleight of hand.

(24) citra-śākāpūpa-bhakṣya-vikāra-kriyā—art of preparing varieties of salad, bread, cake and delicious food.

(25) pānaka-rasa-rāgāsava-yojana—art of practically preparing palatable drinks and tinging draughts with red color.

(26) sūcī-vāya-karma—art of needleworks and weaving.

(27) sūtra-krīḍā—art of playing with thread.

(28) vīṇā-ḍamuraka-vādya—art of playing on lute and small x-shaped drum.

(29) prahelikā—art of making and solving riddles. (29-a) pratimālā—art of caping or reciting verse for verse as a trial for memory or skill.

(30) durvacaka-yoga—art of practicing language difficult to be answered by others.

(31) pustaka-vācana—art of reciting books.

(32) nāṭikākhyāyikā-darśana—art of enacting short plays and anecdotes.

(33) kāvya-samasyā-pūraṇa—art of solving enigmatic verses.

(34) paṭṭikā-vetra-bāṇa-vikalpa—art of designing preparation of shield, cane and arrows.

(35) tarku-karma—art of spinning by spindle.

(36) takṣaṇa—art of carpentry.

(37) vāstu-vidyā—art of engineering.

(38) raupya-ratna-parīkṣā—art of testing silver and jewels.

(39) dhātu-vāda—art of metallurgy.

(40) maṇi-rāga jñāna—art of tinging jewels.

(41) ākara jñāna—art of mineralogy.

(42) vṛkṣāyur-veda-yoga—art of practicing medicine or medical treatment, by herbs.

(43) meṣa-kukkuṭa-lāvaka-yuddha-vidhi—art of knowing the mode of fighting of lambs, cocks and birds.

(44) śuka-śārikā-prapālana (pralāpana)?—art of maintaining or knowing conversation between male and female cockatoos.

(45) utsādana—art of healing or cleaning a person with perfumes.

(46) keśa-mārjana-kauśala—art of combing hair.

(47) akṣara-muṣṭikā-kathana—art of talking with letters and fingers.

(48) mlecchita-kutarka-vikalpa—art of fabricating barbarous or foreign sophistry.

(49) deśa-bhāṣā-jñāna—art of knowing provincial dialects.

(50) puṣpa-śakaṭikā-nirmiti-jñāna—art of knowing prediction by heavenly voice or knowing preparation of toy carts by flowers.

(51) yantra-mātṛkā—art of mechanics.

(52) dhāraṇa-mātṛkā—art of the use of amulets.

(53) samvācya—art of conversation.

(54) mānasī kāvya-kriyā—art of composing verse mentally.

(55) kriyā-vikalpa—art of designing a literary work or a medical remedy.

(56) chalitaka-yoga—art of practicing as a builder of shrines called after him.

(57) abhidhāna-koṣa-cchando-jñāna—art of the use of lexicography and meters.

(58) vastra-gopana—art of concealment of cloths.

(59) dyūta-viśeṣa—art of knowing specific gambling.

(60) ākarṣa-krīḍā—art of playing with dice or magnet.

(61) bālaka-krīḍanaka—art of using children’s toys.

(62) vaināyikī vidyā—art of enforcing discipline.

(63) vaijayikī vidyā—art of gaining victory.

(64) vaitālikī vidyā—art of awakening master with music at dawn.