One pre-occupation that brought Balan back to Delhi regularly was concern for his long-time friend Shroff, who was suffering from a terminal illness. Balan felt helpless in the confrontation with his friend’s physical and mental anguish. His conviction grew - “Wealth, position, loving parents, wife, child - all of these might be there, as Shroff himself had but nothing stands by one, when one is suffering. Life is empty and shallow without the inner expansion, the inner depth.” 

 

Shroff breathed his last. Balan took the remains of Shroff in a pot and the recurring thought that kept circulating through his mind: “The man who is usually with me is now in that small basket - a few bones and ashes are all that remain. Flesh and life are gone. Flesh and life are gone.” How strange wealth really is no security against sorrow nor is woman a sure promise of happiness. Yet in two ridiculous pursuits man comes to waste all his powers while the sacred life in him ebbs away imperceptibly. Picturing the uncertainty of life itself Sankara’s melody flows on.

 

 

nalini-dala-gata-jalam-ati-taralam 

tad vad jeevitam atishaya chapalam

viddhi vyaadhyabhimaana-grastam

lokam shokahatam ca samastam

 

 

Life is unstable, it is as unsettling as the dewdrop playing on a lotus petal. Understand this that life in this world is riddled in pain, consumed by disease, ……seek Govind, Seek Govind, Govind alone you seek.

 

Design Notes

 

Sceptic to Sannyasi

 

In this exhibit, there are digitally printed panels in the form of sails that rise from the water and extend up into the sky. Made of light tensile fabrics, they are dynamic and metaphorically represent the journey of Swami Chinmayananda from a Sceptic to a Sannyasi. The panels are situated on the river as the events depicted during this time of his life occurred around the river Ganga.