Shri Hari ji – The Source of Liberation

Artist's Notes

“In each and every age, Shri Hari ji creates His devotees and maintains their dignity, O King Ram. Shri Hari ji killed Hiranyakashipu and liberated Bhagat Prahlaad ji. He turned His back on those who identified themselves with worldly things and those who slander others, and turned towards Sant Nam Dev ji. Servant Nanak serves Shri Hari ji as such that he be liberated in the end.”

– Guru Ram Das ji (Guru Granth Sahib, 451)

Bhagat paints a Symbol of that Being which underlies reality, that Screen which displays the world and in whom the world is perceived, that which is within us and within others. His painting of Shri Hari ji points towards our true nature, the understanding of which liberates us from our crippling beliefs and worldly bondage.

—

Some people get hung up on images. However this image is of that Source of good values into which all things dissolve, which cannot be depicted in image format. In fact, showing the Source in an image may mislead the viewer into making assumptions about the nature of the Source.

For example, showing the Source in the form of a dark-skinned or blue human being may lead one to think that it is a person. Indeed the Source of good values is within us, and so it is a person, but it is not limited to a person. It is there in flowers, birds and trees. It is there in the stars. It is there in the smile of your spouse.

This is why the Source is known as Vishnu. Vishnu means One who is everywhere.
It is also known as Hari, the One who liberates.

When Bhagat Prahlaad ji was tortured, Shri Hari ji was there to save him.
When Sant Nam Dev ji was tortured, Shri Hari ji was there to preserve his dignity.
When Guru Arjun Dev ji was tortured, Shri Hari ji was there by his side.

The Source is always with us in a multitude of forms. It is not limited to the form of the dark, blue-skinned man in meditation.

Guru Gobind Singh ji ki bani –
ਜਲੇ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਥਲੇ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਉਰੇ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਬਨੇ ਹਰੀ ॥੧॥੫੧॥
Shri Hari ji is in the water. He is in the land. He is in the heart. He is in the forests.

ਗਿਰੇ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਗੁਫੇ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਛਿਤੇ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਨਭੇ ਹਰੀ ॥੨॥੫੨॥
Shri Hari ji is in the mountains. He is in the caves. He is in the earth. He is in the sky.

ਈਹਾ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਊਹਾ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਜਿਮੀ ਹਰੀ ॥ ਜਮਾ ਹਰੀ ॥੩॥੫੩॥
Shri Hari ji is here. He is in the here-after. He is in the land. He is in the sky.
– Akal Ustati, Dasam Granth

What Guru Gobind Singh ji says here, is what Bhagat Prahlaad ji was also saying to his father. However, just like images, our languages are also limited.
Human languages, including the hymns we read, are limited when it comes to this topic.

For example, take this sentence – “Shri Hari ji is in the water”. If you search inside water, you will not find it. If you break apart water molecules, you will not find it. If you cut open a heart, with your scalpel, you will not find it.

This is what Hiranyakashipu did not understand. When Prahlaad ji told him where Shri Hari ji was, he started breaking those objects in an attempt to show there is nothing in the object.

It is a fundamental misunderstanding of these verses. Shri Hari ji is not in the water, just like how the Screen on which a film plays is not in the film. If you search within the film, you will not find the Screen. If the characters of the film start tearing up the objects in their film, in an attempt to find the Screen, they will not find it.

When we are told about Hari, the Being, the Source and the Screen, we start looking for it in the world, not realizing that it is through Hari that we are seeing the world in the first place.

So why paint Shri Hari ji?

This is due to our own nature because we are visually oriented. The person doing the painting and the person viewing the painting are both visual creatures. The medium of painting is also visual and can speak to visual creatures. The blue-skinned man, or the half man-half lion, and other such images that you see on my website, have been used as Symbols, for millennia, to convey something which cannot be put to words and images.

But why a person, a human being, specifically?

This is again to speak to us because we are human beings. The Symbol is not just there to be a mere symbol of the Source of good values, the Symbol also shows us good values by performing them. There are stories in which this Symbol acts out responsible actions and meditation, which form a bulk of our wisdom literature.

The Symbol is not there to simply look good. It points at something deep within us, and inspires us to become that. In that moment, we look at what it is pointing to and become it, we are liberated.