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Toward a Spirituality-Based Theory of Creativity: Indigenous Perspectives from India

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Asian Indigenous Psychologies in the Global Context

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Indigenous Psychology ((PASIP))

Abstract

Research in creativity has hitherto neglected the contribution of indigenous cultures, and especially the relationship between spirituality and creativity. In this chapter, I present a spirituality-based theory of creativity by synthesizing theories from the microworld or academic world of theory using the wisdom of upaniSads, the repository of Indian philosophical and psychological theories, and the lifeworld or world of practice, using the teachings of sages from Indian culture. Theory from the microworld is derived from bRhadAraNyakopaniSad, and this is corroborated by the teachings of two sages, ramaNa maharSi and nisargadatta mahArAja, from the lifeworld. This is one of the few papers or chapters that have adopted the synthesis of the lifeworld and microworld, and that has also attempted to show how spirituality is the foundation of all creativity, building a bridge between the spiritual and the material domains. The paper further examines the relevance of major Western theories of creativity in light of this indigenous theory, thus enriching the field of creativity research. Within India, the theory needs to be examined in various domains like music, dance, art, architecture, literature, and so forth, to test the generalizability of the theory. We also need to examine whether the theory presented in this paper is applicable to other indigenous cultures by studying indigenous models of creativity and examining the role of spirituality in it.

Harvard–Kyoto protocol for transliteration for devanagarI is used for all saMskRita and hindI words and names, and the first letters of names are not capitalized. All non-English words are italicized.

अ a आ A इ i ई I उ u ऊ U ए e ऐ ai ओ o औ au ऋṛ R ॠṝ RR ऌ lR ॡ lRR अं M अः H क ka ख kha ग ga घ kha ङ Ga च ca छ cha ज ja झ jha ञ Ja ट Ta ठ Tha ड Da ढ Dha ण Na त ta थ tha द da ध dha न na प pa फ pha ब ba भ bha म ma य ya र ra ल la व va श za ष Sa स sa ह ha क्ष kSa त्र tra ज्ञ jJa श्र zra.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Lifeworld refers to knowledge created by people to solve problems of daily life, and wisdom is the highest form of coded knowledge in the lifeworld. On the other hand, researchers develop theories to explain phenomena or to solve problems in the lifeworld, and accumulation of a body of knowledge leads to the creation of specific or discipline-based microworlds that are necessarily academic in nature. It is posited in this paper that Indian philosophical texts like the upaniSads constitute the microworld, whereas the dialogues of knowledge seekers with saints constitute knowledge in the lifeworld.

  2. 2.

    See bhAwuk (2011, chapter 4), for a definition and discussion of manas, buddhi, ahaGkAra, and antaHkaraNaA. The closest translation of ahaGkAra would be ego, which comes at the cost of much loss of meaning. People often use mind for manas, which is simply wrong, since manas is the locus of cognition, affect and behavior, whereas mind is only cognitive. And buddhi is closest to the super-ego in Freudian parlance, but without ego, which makes the similarity rather superficial. And antaHkaraNa is the composite internal organ or agent combining manas, buddhi and ahaGkAra. Adisankara also includes citta in the definition of antaHkaraNa (see bhAwuk, 2014 for a discussion of citta).

  3. 3.

    Controller is one of the attributes of brahman, and is not the only one. brahman cannot be captured by any one label or by many labels, and so any attempt to describe it is avoided except when a sincere student approaches a teacher; and even then the teacher is quite circumspect. The Western readers can translate brahman as God, if they can remember that brahman has many attributes that are similar to the Abrahamic God (Armstrong, 1993), yet the differences are no less significant.

  4. 4.

    The spirit of niSkAma karma or karmayoga—being absorbed in the work. To be doing it blissfully means to enjoy it, but not to worry about it or even want the fruits of the work means renunciation. To put it another way, when one renounces the material life, then one is in joy.

  5. 5.

    bRhadAraNyakopaniSad 2.4.5. Sa hovAca na vA are patyuH kAmAya patiH priyo bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya patiH priyo bhavati. na vA are jAyAyai kAmAyajAyA priyA bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya.jAyA priyA bhavati. na vA are putrANAMkAmAya putrAH priyA bhavantyAtmanastu kAmAya putrAH priyA bhavanti. na vA are vittasya kAmAya vittaM priyaM bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya vittaM priyaM bhavati. na vA are brahmaNaH kAmAya brahma priyaM bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya brahma priyaM bhavati. na vA are kSatrasya kAmAya kSatraM priyaM bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya kSatraM priyaM bhavati. na vA are lokAnAM kAmAya lokAH priyA bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya kAmAyalokAH priyA bhavanti. na vA are devAnAM kAmAya devAH priyA bhavaty Atmanastu kAmAya devAH priyA bhavanti. na vA are bhUtAnAM kAmAya bhUtAni priyANi bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya bhutAni priyANi bhavanti. na vA are sarvasya kAmAya sarvaM priyaM bhavatyAtmanastu kAmAya sarvaM priyaMbhavati. AtmA vA are drSTavyaH zrotavyo mantavyo nididhyAsitavyo maitryyAtmano cA are darzanena zravanena matyA vijnAnenedaM sarvaM viditam.

  6. 6.

    bRhadAraNyakopaniSad 2.4.6: brahma taM parAdAdyo’nyatrAtmano brahm veda kSatraM taM parAdAdyo’nyatrAtmanH kSatraM veda lokAstaM parAduryo’nyatrAtmano lokAnveda devAstaMparAdAduryo’nyatrAtmano devAnveda bhUtAni taM parAdAduryo’nyatrAtmano bhUtAni veda sarvaM taM parAdAdyo’nyatrAtmanH sarvaM vededaM brahmedaM kSatramime lokA ime devA imAni bhUtANIdaM sarvaM yadayamAtmA.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to Professors Harry C. Triandis, Ananda parAJjpe, jaiballabh prasad sinhA, ramAnAth zarmA, AcArya satya caitanya, arindam cakrabarti, sthAnezwar timalsinA, zrInivAsa ekkirAla, James Liu, Michael Harris Bond, Louise sundararAjana, vijayan munusami and Anand candrazekhara for their intellectual support and guidance for my work on Indian Psychology for many years, and critical comments on this chapter. I would call the theory sRjanAko AdhyAtmik darzan (in nepAlI), sRjanakA AdhyAtmika darzana (in hindI), and sRjanAyA adhyAtmadarzanam or sRjanAyA adhyAtmatattvam (in saMskRta).

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  1. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Dharm Prakash Sharma Bhawuk

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  1. Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Kuang-Hui Yeh

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Bhawuk, D.P.S. (2019). Toward a Spirituality-Based Theory of Creativity: Indigenous Perspectives from India. In: Yeh, KH. (eds) Asian Indigenous Psychologies in the Global Context. Palgrave Studies in Indigenous Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96232-0_7

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