• Raga means passion.

• Khayal means imagination

• Akshara means eternal, nithya. Still it was given to letters which the minute you utter, vanishes with the wind.

• Swara, can be spilt into Swa meaning 'self' and Ra meaning 'to light or bring forth '

All these Sanskrit words above have one thing in common, it indicates the human effort involved!

Thus an artist, whether he is a dancer, musician, painter or writer needs to look deep within, a soul search so to speak, with honesty and integrity in his chosen field, to be able to produce a work of art. And added to this if the art piece arises out of an egoless state then it is blessed with divinity.  

A tall order indeed.

The Heart must merge with the Art and most importantly if the 'he' [the ego,ahambhavam ] in the H-E-A-R-T remains silent, then what is left is only ART.

Like J.Krishnamurthy says, beauty is there only when YOU are not.

Only when the artist realizes that the ART is bigger than him, can he have this type of oneness with his work. Indian music and dance calls for such shraddha and one-mindedness. Nothing short of a tapasya [penance], for our art is extempore, on the spot improvisations, unlike Western Classical which is completely scored.

To allow the 'muse' to take over is the secret of all great art.

In such a scenario where does the rasika stand?

At the core of all human effort is appreciation.

Any creative work, can flourish only when there is patronage.

'Many a flower is born to blush unseen;
and waste its sweetness on the desert air'

A Rasika is one who can enjoy the rasa [aesthetic emotion] brought about in any created work. A rasika has the same spark of genius as the artist himself, only the degrees might vary. If that is the case then a rasika is himself a kalakar [artist], its just that he has not polished his art to the extent of a fine art!

Have you heard of this?

You criticize a child, he learns to condemn. 
You praise a child, he learns to appreciate.

The child is the father of man or the mother of woman! All of us might not be able to produce those magnificent works, but let us not forget the delicate 'art' of appreciation, for it holds the seeds for future creativity.

For any work of ART to flourish, it needs to be applauded.

Those 'sabashs'  'Wah Wahs' or 'once more' is like adrenalin shots!

We cannot all be Tansens, but surely, we can train ourselves to be 'Kansens'?

The role of a rasika in a concert hall can never be exaggerated, for it is the rasika who lifts the artist to his creative best.

A rasika is a kalakar, 
And a kalakar is basically a rasika.

The twain shall meet,
when the magic begins to unfold.