The Endless Mind is an abstract dance and musical exploration of Annamacharya’s 15th century metaphysical poem ‘kadal udipi neeradaga… (You say you want to bathe when the waves aubside, is there an end to the endless mind?” The poem has both a meditative quality as well as an underlying restlessness – the poet’s persistent questions betray a self-interrogation, as his mind negotiates and re-negotiates with himself. The egotistical layer of the poet’s mind lays out conditions, which the more skeptical and introspective layer of his mind goes on to ridicule. Underlying this internal dialogue, consisting of introspective questions and retrospective answers, is the beautiful image of the ocean. “The ocean, like the mind, never really subsides,” explains Prof David Shulman, “There is no end. We can imagine the dialogue continuing endlessly in spiralling cycles…”.

The Poem

You say you want to bathe when the waves subside

Is there an end to the endless mind?

You say “First I’ll quench my thirst, then I’ll know the truth.”

Why should thirst be quenched? How can you know the truth?

You say you want to bathe when the waves subside

Is there an end to the endless mind?

All these days, you have a body

How can longing cease? How can you find joy?

You say you want to bathe when the waves subside

Is there an end to the endless mind?

You say “First I’ll know what lies ahead, then I’ll forget what was before.”

Can you know what lies ahead? How can you forget what was before?

You say you want to bathe when the waves subside

Is there an end to the endless mind?

That goodness that comes from knowing how to reach god/truth/knowledge/what you seek

You won’t find it in your wildest dreams.

Is there an end? Is there an end?

Credits

Concept, Choreography and Direction: Aranyani Bhargav

Dancers: Akshata Joshi, Aranyani, Gayatri Shetty, Ronita Mookerji, Seher Noor Mehra

Music : Fragment of Light (Ganesh Krishnaswamy & Leslie Charles)

Light Design: Deepa Dharmadhikari

Academic Support: Prof David Shulman

Presented by Natya Ballet Centre and The Raza Foundation