A few things about colours and painting pictures

Here I am discussing some of my findings while painting pictures. Hope students of fine art find them interesting, even if not very academic. These are just a few tips worth trying, though some may sound unconventional.

First imagine your picture in monochrome colour. That will help you to decide which particular colour will play the most important role in the painting you are about to do. That particular colour is the one that comes to your mind first when you try to visualize your painting in colour.

A very clear concept about complementary colours is necessary to give your painting a striking visual effect. My experience with colours show that red and blue are complementary colours. Violet and orange, reddish-violet and yellowish-white, yellowish-white and light-blue, brown and prussian-bluish-brown are some other complimentary colours. By placing complementary colours side by side, the visual effect of the painting can be increased many times.

Now a few words about warm and cool colours. Red, orange, yellow and brown are warm colours that evoke excitement. It should be mentioned here that diagonal lines also evoke excitement, whereas horizontal lines evoke tranquility. Upward brushstrokes evoke excitement, downward brushstrokes evoke tranquility. Also curved lines evoke love and affection. Warm colours catch the eyes first. Blue, green and violet are cool colours, though violet, with varying proportions of red, can, at times, work as a warm colour, as it contains red in it.

Warm colours tend to bring an object near, whereas cool colours push an object to the distance. Thus cool colours have a retreating effect. So the foreground of a picture should be in warm colours and the background in cool colours. This is the basic rule.

Complimentary colours can be mixed together to produce various types of grey colours. Grey colours, when placed near any of its constituent colours, give a good visual effect. Grey colours can also be used to reduce the effect of primary colours.

Shadows mean areas where there is less light. Proper colouring of shadow areas is very important. Colours of shadows also depict the time of the day.
In the morning shadows have a bluish-grey tinge. Morning light is slightly blue in colour.
Bright sunlight, as found during the afternoon, is yellowish white in colour. Afternoon shadows are bluish-violet in colour.
Evening light has an orange tinge and evening shadows have a reddish-violet colour. Length of the shadow also indicates the time of the day.

A coloured object reflects its own colour. So it tends to throw light of its own colour. This has to be kept in mind while handling light and shades. Primarily shadows tend to have some blue in it mixed with some other colour(s).

Borrow some colour from the main object of the picture and use it in a nearby area of the picture. This mostly gives a very good visual effect.

Pencil-sketch is the best thing to keep in constant touch, even if one fails to sit with brush and paints. After a long lapse, it is pencil sketching that will again bring back the touch. Every fine artist must do at least one pencil sketch every day.

Hope to share more of my experiences with pencil, pen, brush and paints again.

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Rediscovering Ourselves

Only one thing remains forever new till the end of life. It is knowing and rediscovering oneself constantly in new ways. All other things in life become old sooner or later. And how do we know, how do we rediscover ourselves? The answer is very simple. Life is an accumulation of numerous chapters just like a book. At every chapter of life we find ourselves in a new role. It is through our new roles that we come to know about ourselves in new ways. Only we need to keep ourselves engaged in some activity. The rest happens quite automatically. Thus we come to know about our strengths and weaknesses also. That prepares and equips us to face the external world.

At the early stage of life we are the children of our parents, then we become the life partner of someone, father or mother of our children. Then comes the stage to play the role of grandparents. Thus broadly also our life is designed in a way where we need to play different roles at different ages, multiple roles at the same age, and keep on rediscovering ourselves.

One must always try to be himself, not someone else.

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The Night

It is 12:35 am by my computer's clock. It is the month of July. The monsoon is in full swing. It is raining pretty hard outside. Just in front of my house there is a wood apple tree. Water is dripping, or should I say running, down its leaves. The street-light is getting reflected from the shinning leaves making the tree look like one that has been illuminated by a thousand lights. At a distance there is a palm tree, a betel-nut tree I suppose, standing tall against the dark sky. The sky at night appears a bit reddish in colour, rather than bluish, when there are rain-bearing clouds in the sky. Nights can be so wonderful, so mystic, yet very few people stay awake to see its beauty.

At least one half of the world is asleep, silent. The silence of the night is being disturbed by a continuous noise of falling water which possibly has accumulated on some neighbour's roof. But really is the night so silent as it appears? Possibly not. Silent nights are more lively and active than noisy day times. One has to have the inner eye to feel the silent harmony that exists in nature during the night. Such harmony cannot be found during the day time. It is during the night that everything grows. During the day time the world belongs to us. We use it according to our need. At night we belong to this world as it is during the night that we find ourselves in our spiritual form and all our spiritual longings come up to the surface. We tend to fall back during the night, whereas during the day time we keep on looking forward and we remain more human than spiritual. At night we feel selfless, compassionate, benevolent and altruistic. These characteristics can seldom be seen within us during day time.

It is darkness that brings us back to our spiritual senses. We keep on losing ourselves step by step during the day time, only to rediscover ourselves in a new light during the night. That way the night really does a world of good for us. Night has got an element of loneliness in it, which enables us to come within ourselves. It is at night that we can relate ourselves to the distant stars and the mystic moon. Our mind can then stretch itself as far as it wishes to. The mysticism of the moon can be understood very beautifully if we compare the distinct, different effects that a full moon has upon us as compared to the sliced moon. The sight of a full moon fills up our mind with love whereas the sight of a sliced moon arouses a tragic feeling. Darkness of the night reveals to us much more than what the broad daylight can. The night makes revelations, which have a profound, permanent, soothing effect upon us, which the daylight cannot. Night creates and recreates us so that we can carry on with our journey of life. At night we seem to communicate with some divine entity, some divine soul, that makes us fresh once again. Really morning never dawns upon him who cannot enjoy the darkness of night and hold it in his heart.

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The Wait

This is an old drawing done by me in pencil on wood. The picture has not come very good. Still I thought I can share.

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Essence of Complexity

Whatever we try to create ourselves, that becomes complex. Our relationships within the family are complex, our society is complex, and our lifestyle is complex, because these are man-made. Complexity makes things weak, simplicity makes things strong and easy to grasp. Religion has never been a complex stuff. From times immemorial, it has always been so easy to grasp. That is the universal religion, the religion of humanity.

If religious practices appear to be complex to us, that is because we have made it so. Instead of submitting ourselves to the simple religious faiths and beliefs, we have tried to mould religion according to our wishes, our needs, our faiths and beliefs. We have complicated religion with artificial practices, complex explanations and unrealistic imaginations, which make it so difficult to comprehend. We have curtailed religion in many a ways and tried to give it our own shape, and in the process fragmented it into innumerable parts and divisions. Religion does not change with time or place. As a gift of God, it remains same for everyone, same for every place and time.

We try to assume or imagine religion in a way that would bring comfort to our hearts. Our assumptions make it fragmented again and again, and we wrongly assume it as consisting of all the characteristics of this material world with its vast complexity. We try to build it in our own way. That eventually brings sorrow.

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Spirituality in easy words

Spirituality is an all-pervasive affair. It permeates into every facet of life. Religion provides the basis for it, but it transcends all religions, customs, practices, rituals and traditions. Basically spirituality extends beyond the limits of ordinary experience. It surpasses all that we perceive; it goes beyond the limit of all possible ordinary experience and knowledge. It goes beyond all our ordinary comprehension. To tell it in simple words, it begins at a place where perception of material existence ends. To reach that point seems to be our goal. Spirituality is to perceive and understand the easily unfathomable character of fundamental reality.

Our human experience always tries to digress us from the essence of spirituality, as we are humans. We are encircled by desires of all kinds. We tend to relate ourselves more and more to the material aspects of life. At every step we fail to keep us away from the corrupting influence of the material world. Material desires keep on growing. We fail to control it. We fail to perceive that desires are endless and materials are subject to decay. Sooner or later we will lose it. It is an inherent property of the material world. Our own joy and merriment engulfs us. We agree to do things which are acceptable in the human world but which are not approved in so far as purification of our souls is concerned. This list of humanly, but not spiritually, acceptable things are increasing by leaps and bounds. Many of these are spiritually unacceptable.

We tend to think that death can always bring us relief. We fail to comprehend that there is life after death. Our souls continue to live even after our death.

Even if we realize our mistakes, we feel afraid to rectify ourselves. Our ego prevents us.

In everyday life we hear things, we speak out words and we act in various fashions. We are mostly led by human thoughts, which are considered in isolation, without taking into account the distant effects of these thoughts. We do what we can do without ever considering the fact that it may not be honourable enough to do it. It may fill up my heart with joy and satisfaction, but it may rob someone else of his basic means of existence. We tend to consider love as a commodity.

We fail to comprehend that we all are connected, and in no way isolated. Whenever we think of us in isolation, we tend to go in the wrong way. We suffer. We fail to understand that we have not come to this world to enjoy all that is perfect and best. We have really come to this world to relate ourselves to the imperfections in a loving and caring manner so that these imperfections can be eliminated. We have to set things right in whatever small way we can. That is our job. From times immemorial, God is waiting for us to turn the imperfections into perfections. We have to improve upon the basic facilities that have been provided to us by nature and create a heaven on earth itself.

Also read: Spirituality in a nutshell | Spiritualization and common man

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Count your blessings

There is an unwritten principle in management study pertaining to decision-making. While selecting an alternative it is seldom a case of selection of the best. Mostly it is rejection of the worst. By keeping on rejecting the worst one can tend to move towards the best situation as much as possible and practicable. No harm if one cannot reach the best possible alternative. It may not be possible at all.

The same principle applies to various situations of our life. We must never feel annoyed if we are unable to reach the point which can be considered the best and the ideal. As much we can move towards that ideal, that much should be satisfying for us. Within such a compromise lies the essence of peace and happiness. To put it in other words, we must keep satisfied with what life has given us. However our endeavour should always be to attain the best possible. Our attainment, in most cases, may not be 'the best'.

We must always try to surpass our own achievements and keep on moving towards further prosperity. We must also try to honour our achievements. We must always try to count our blessings.

In a relationship also one must not make material pursuits its first and foremost basis. What one is supposed to gain out of a relationship is highly immaterial and abstract, which can only be felt by the heart. Failing to comprehend that feeling can disturb and destroy a relationship. Extreme caution needs to be exercised in all our dealings within a relationship. In a relationship one can only win by 'giving'. If one is not ready to give himself or herself, he is not worthy enough to enter into a relationship. If one can 'give', the 'takes' will pour in naturally.
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A bit of humour after some serious talk

There is a man in our neighbourhood who has arrived recently. Initially he tried to be very friendly with us and we found nothing wrong in it. But now I have made it a point not to entertain him any more. The reason is very annoying as well as ridiculous. During a conversation, while standing face to face, the man keeps advancing inch by inch towards the person he is talking to. God knows why. But really it is a very unacceptable and unpardonable habit. Initially, for two or three days, I kept on going back slowly to maintain the basic minimum distance between us. The more I retreat, the more he advances, without in any way interrupting the conversation. He literally breathes down upon the other person's face. Now the moment I see him, I just change my route and take a roundabout way to avoid him. How his family members tackle this problem I would really like to know. Such peculiar habits some people possess.
What if the other person is a woman?

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An all-pervasive feeling for the ultimate truth

Someone once asked Lord Buddha that from where do all these happenings of this world originate, where have we come from and what is our destination? Lord Buddha replied that we need not bother about all such questions. Now we only need to concentrate upon what is absolutely necessary. I know that you all are in great distress. You do not get what you want; what you get, you cannot cling or hold on to it; you fail to have a firm grip upon all your acquisitions; you cannot put your stamp of authority upon them; whatever you can save for yourself, you are not satisfied with that. These are creating endless sorrows in your minds. First try to solve these problems. Then only you will be able to move on to the bigger questions about life. He said that escape from sorrows and sufferings is our primary aim and asked us to join him in finding a way to total freedom from all such distressful conditions.

Here we must mention that freedom from sorrows and sufferings can never be the primary aim of life. That is definitely not in human nature. We can clearly see that in no way do we dislike sufferings and distress. Many a times we most willfully embrace certain sufferings and distress.

To survive and live, one does not need to climb at the top of Mount Everest or Alps. There was no need to set his foot there. But man has taken up all such troubles without any apparent reason. There are numerous examples like this.

The reason behind this is that man has a courageous and defying attitude towards sufferings and distress. He always tries to know it himself, and make it known to others that he can endure or put up with all sufferings, discomforts and distresses. He can confront suffering with boldness. The real cause behind this is that man wants to be great; he does not want comfort.

The great Greek ruler Alexander set out to conquer territories, leaving behind all the comforts and luxuries of the throne. What made him do that? A desire to bring other's territories under his control? Not really. He wanted to become great in some way, and thereby comprehend or grasp the true nature of his strength.

Man has never been able to save himself from this inherent desire.

One who wishes to amass wealth, and thereby attain greatness, it is useless to tell him how to get rid of his sorrows and sufferings. It is needless to tell him that he should give up all his desire for worldly enjoyment and comfort. Because he has already given up enjoyment and comfort in his quest for accumulation of wealth.

Thus the path that Lord Buddha has shown us to get rid of sorrows and sufferings is a very difficult one with numerous hindrances and obstructions. We can travel along that path only if we are willing to embrace suffering. By embracing suffering man becomes aware of his strength and his greatness. Wherever man can see there is an opportunity to become great, he rushes towards it.

Had this path led man to a place where there is no suffering or distress, then man would definitely have moved to a different path that only leads to suffering and distress. If we tell man that in order to get rid of suffering, you have to give up all comforts, he will ask for something greater than just plain relief from suffering. He is ready to give up all comforts, but against that he asks for something greater that just plain relief from suffering. What is that greater thing? It is man's ardent desire to be great! In wealthiness, in learning, or in fame, we are always sacrificing comfort and peace for greatness.

But this greatness is not so great a thing that acquisition of it can bring total comfort and fulfillment to our souls.

So if the one and only God can be placed in front of men as his ultimate aim, then we can satisfy his ultimate need to a great extent. Relief from suffering is not totally acceptable as the ultimate aim.

Many a people say that this attainment seems quite far-fetched. It requires renunciation, purification, devotion, celebration and all that. That which is our primary aim and objective, if that can be incorporated into our lives at the very beginning in some way or other, then all the material instruments like devotion, renunciation, ceremony, celebration, worship and purification does not turn out to be our ultimate aim.

So the realization of this ultimate truth 'to get united with God' should be incorporated in the early part of our lives. Then He alone will guide us all through our lives with utmost care. Then our journey of life will become joyous and smooth.

Learning grammar is for the sake of literature. One has to be careful that becoming an expert in grammar without ever entering into the realm of literature is not the aim.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore ("Bhuma" in Bengali)

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Graceful Subtlety

My viewers/readers are my honoured guests. Though I have posted this in Beautiful and Sublime, I thought I should also post it here for my TARRY A LITTLE's subscribers. This is a pencil drawing (2008), with a few digital touches.

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Two Trees

Two trees, standing on either side of the picture frame like twins. Painted - 2010. Click on the picture to view a larger and clearer image. Enjoy, share and give your valued opinion!

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Rabindranath Tagore - A few photographs

Rabindranath Tagore in Japan, 1916
















Rabindranath Tagore in Russia, 1930

















Rabindranath Tagore in Berlin, Germany , 1930

























Rabindranath Tagore in America, 1931
















Rabindranath Tagore in Tehran, 1937 (on his 77th birthday)
















































Rabindranath Tagore in a boat in W.Bengal, India, 1937
























Tagore at around 80. Never really stopped writing!!
























Rabindranath Tagore smiling!

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Baruch Spinoza - a name uttered with reverence

Whenever anything in nature seems to us ridiculous, absurd or evil, it is because we have a partial knowledge of things. We are ignorant of the order and coherence of nature as a whole, and because we want everything to be arranged according to the dictates of our own reason. What our reason pronounces bad and distasteful is not bad as regards the order and laws of universal nature, but only as regards the laws of our own nature, taken separately.

As for the terms 'good' and 'bad', they indicate nothing positive considered in themselves.....for the same thing can be at the same time good, bad and indifferent. Music is good to the melancholy, bad to mourners, and indifferent to the dead. Bad and good are prejudices, which the eternal reality cannot recognize.

Only knowledge is power and freedom; and the only permanent happiness is the pursuit of knowledge and the joy of understanding. ----- Baruch Spinoza

In the year 1640 he was just eight years old. After his death in 1677, at the age of 45, people considered, and still considers, him as a God-intoxicated man with invaluable philosophical thoughts, mighty enough to match the mountains and the sea. To build his statue in 1880-82 at Hague in Netherlands, contributions came from every corner of the world. Never did a monument rise upon so wide a pedestal of love. He still points, from his granite pedestal, out to all men the way of blessedness which he found.

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The Succulent Vitality

Our devotional religious endeavour has two sides - one deals with everything related to strength while the other deals with its succulent (juicy) vitality. The succulent vitality is the capacity to manifest the truth directly and instantaneously, which is full of life and vigour.

By strength we mean unquestionable faith arising out of moral and intellectual power. It is the firm belief that one possesses by virtue of his spiritual power, no matter what its extent is. It remains undisturbed under all circumstances.

This strength has got nothing to do with knowledge. It is not derived out of our belief about the existence of God. This faith or belief is a state of the mind. It is a sort of infallible dependency that cannot be thrown into confusion, that remains unperturbed under all circumstances. The mind always remains firmly grounded and it does not feel helpless in any situation. This faith is as firm as our universe. It is the safest haven for our minds. It has immense strength.

He who lacks this belief always finds himself in deep water, trying his best to survive by clinging on to whatever he can lay his hands upon. He fails to find solid ground under his feet. If he fails to have his grip on something, he drowns into deep sorrow. Then he finds no consolation anywhere. Hardship of life keeps on making him more and more frustrated. He fails to see the iron pillars of success. Fear and apprehension always keeps his mind disturbed. He tries to grab a floating, empty container to keep himself away from drowning. But one who has his both feet firmly grounded, though he needs empty containers to satisfy the needs of his day-to-day life, he does not need them to keep himself afloat, or save himself from drowning.

That is why one whose belief is firm and unquestionable, all his works bear a stamp of affirmation. He knows he has a firm ground to stand upon and a definite destination to reach. Even if he fails to see his destination clearly, even if he fails in his endeavour, in his mind he knows it very clearly that he has not been deprived altogether. His mind is ably equipped to foresee some success amidst failure. This immovable and undisturbed state of his mind is the eternal truth, which he can feel inside at every moment. He always enjoys a freedom from uncertainty and diffidence. This is that faith, that belief, upon which our whole religion is established.

There is a deep comprehension at the root of this firm belief, which is our utmost faith in God. Faith in God is a term, which is very easy to utter, and nobody ever confesses to believe anything contrary to it.

But unconsciously we deny his existence through our daily acts. We take up all responsibilities upon ourselves and try to accomplish everything on our own, leaving very little for the Almighty to take care of. We pray to Him for our well-being and yet we keep on worrying intensely about it. This way we keep on denying His existence. We seem to have more faith upon our own discretionary power than the grace of God.

The fact that God is holding all of us in the form of an eternal truth, sheltering us with utmost care is not the ultimate expression of the whole thing. This earth is built up with many a layers of stone. Had there been no such firmness, we would never have been able to glide upon its surface with such aplomb and ease. Upon all this firmness there is also a succulent (juicy) vitality, giving it a softness and tenderness which is so much inherent to it, and which adds zest and piquancy (a quality of enhancing enjoyment) to it. That is the ultimate form of our mother earth. It is soft, beautiful and kaleidoscopic.

Upon this eternal firmness of this earth, there is a constant playful movement, which has its own manifestation. This only gives this earth a complete form. Above the rock-solid foundation, there is a constant flow of life, flow of youth and flow of beauty. It is always expressing its beauty. There is no end to its youthful nature.

The juicy vitality is in a constant flow. It is capable of permeating into everything, thereby filling all that it permeates with delight. It is a constant manifestation of beauty, youthful vigour and nature. Where this juicy vitality dries up, the hard, lifeless inner core gets revealed.

All our devotional pursuit also requires this juicy vitality, without which it (our devotion) loses its complete form and worthiness. Our devotion then gets confined within a limit and its vision becomes one-sided and narrow. Such devotion always tries to bring down all others to its own way of thinking. This firm, obstinate nature of narrow devotion mistakes tenderness as weakness and variety as magical illusion.

The inner core is always hard. The outer appearance is always soft and tender. That gives our life the vitality it needs. The outer beauty is so essential for life to flourish.

Where our devotional pursuits flourish, there we find an incessant flow, a wide variety of feelings and manifestation of tenderness and politeness.

Politeness does not necessarily mean educative courtesy. Politeness emanating from or evolving out of educative courtesy is like the sharp edge of a sword. There is another kind of politeness, which is akin to the tender leaves of a plant, or to that which makes a flower bloom, or to the wind that caresses the branches of trees, or to the rain, which drizzles to a tune, or to the vibrating rays of the morning sun. It is that politeness which very easily establishes a link with everyone, which responds, which is agreeable, which transforms a faulty stroke into a tuneful one, and which, by virtue of/with the help of/in its own beauty, breaks down individuality, so that it can find its way into every heart. This politeness comes out of that juicy vitality, and not from that educative courtesy. This politeness is not burdened with dry restraint; it is filled up with juicy abundance. If it is at all burdened, then that is definitely with love, devotion and completeness.

The juicy vitality expresses itself in the form of joy. Joy can very easily give away all that it possesses. It always tries to distribute itself among everyone. If one remains unyielding, then it becomes very difficult for him to unify himself with others. This unyielding, proud nature can only be got rid of with the help of politeness.

This is where even the Almighty bows down to us. He is strong and firm, but even He cannot stay away from distributing all his joy and happiness among us. There He acts just like a loving parent, calling all his little children for embracement. On one hand He is eager to distribute all his joy and happiness among us and willing to hold all of us within Himself, while on the other hand He is controlling all that is happening in this universe with a firm grip.

His role as the loving parent is easily evident. This is expressed through His polite beauty, which is spread all around us. But His role as the controller is not so easy for everyone to comprehend. It took us a long time to understand His role as the controller of this universe.

A glacier is a frozen mass of ice. It is like that dry intellect, which is firm and brittle. But when a glacier melts, it starts flowing. Then it transforms into that juicy vitality. It takes everything in its stride. Every obstacle then lends it more variety and rhythm.

When strict discipline and stern practices make our religion dry, it gets subdivided. Walls and fences are built up to demarcate individual areas. Religion becomes weak. When this juicy vitality of religion pervades us, we get unified under one belief, one faith and one roof. Then we all flourish along with religion. We fail to get unified successfully when some need, some theological cause, some dry intellectual pursuit or some strict disciplinary practice lies at the root. Such things make us heartless, build up numerous obstacles, and give birth to religious pride, which in turn makes our mind and vision narrow. These are certainly not the ways to get united with God. Moreover, we also have to pick out and throw away the thorn of enjoyment, desire for which only weakens us.

Enjoyment is not the aim of love. Love should be such that it can embrace sorrow with joy. Through sorrow, good deeds and dedication we can make our love worthful. Acceptance of sorrow is the crown of love. No matter how hard a housewife works at home for the well-being of her family, it can never make her feel tired. Similarly, in case of a devotee, dictates of work can never turn out to be fetters for him. Those are his ornaments. Sorrow is his pride. His painstaking efforts never arouse any pain. He embraces sorrow; otherwise his devotion loses much of its essence. A devotee takes up every duty, which unfolds before him, with joy. Within sorrow and duty he finds his freedom.

One who has been motivated by this juicy vitality, for him there is no stoppage. During his journey of life, every obstacle lends him a different variety.

Without this juicy vitality, a person gets engulfed with all kinds of restraint. He then remains confined within a handful of daily duties, only to stay alive.

The main problem of man is not to find out a way by which he can get rid of all his sorrows and sufferings. It is not that he can conquer sorrow and banish it from his life with the help of some strength. The main problem of mankind is to find out a way with which he can embrace sorrow, to find that strength through which he can endure sorrow and still prosper internally. Those who talk about embracement of sorrow, they say that by relinquishing ego, prejudice and vanity, men can embrace sorrow. We can replace ego and vanity by love and devotion, if we want to conquer sorrow. All our problems get solved when we arouse the feeling of devotion within us. With a feeling of devotion all our work becomes a joy, and we feel glorious even among all kinds of sorrows.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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To be God-like

In the highest sense of spirituality, we can only say that may we keep on turning ourselves into someone like God. That can only be our constant endeavour. How far we will be able to proceed, that only time can tell. We do not know. But I can never say that I can get Him. How can I get someone within whom I am residing, of whom I am just a small part thereof? I can't bind Him and confine Him in my room. He is everywhere, in everything. The Divine Soul of God is in an already transformed, pure form. I have to keep on trying to transform my soul into that form, since nature wise we are alike.

A river can only keep on moving towards the ocean, so that some day it may become something like an ocean. But the river can never get the ocean within its course!

We also can only try to move towards Him, and be God-like some day. All other attempts to become someone else will turn futile. We surpass everything just like a river. A river surpasses all the hills and dales, valley and village to meet the ocean. But a river can't surpass the ocean. Similarly we cannot surpass God. In our endeavour, we will keep on breaking all barriers, giving up all pride, prejudice and vanity, and continue to move towards Him. That is our destiny.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore

Also read: About Rabindranath Tagore (click on the picture to see a larger and clearer image)

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The Lonely Tree

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Click on the picture to view a larger and clearer image.

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Rabindranath Tagore

The 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore is on 9th May, 2011. His actual date of birth is 6th May 1861. He was born in Calcutta, India, in a wealthy Brahmin family at Jorashanko, Calcutta. However his birthday is observed according to the Bengali calendar, on 25th Baisakh.

He is the first non-European to get the Nobel Prize for literature, in 1913. He was a literary giant, a poet, a musician, a dramatist, an essayist, an artist, a philosopher, a social reformer, an educationist and much more. That is why he is acclaimed the world over as 'Gurudev'. He is known as the renaissance man. He was a prophet.

On the way to England in 1912 he began translating, for the first time, his latest selections of poems, 'Gitanjali', into English. Gitanjali is a collection of Bengali poems, which are in the form of offerings made to God. Prior to that time, all his works had been written in his native language, Bengali. During the long sea voyage from India, he translated the poems of Gitanjali into English.

One of Tagore's friends, Rothenstein, a famous painter, came to know of the translations, and went through the notebook. He was astonished! Was it possible for someone to write such poems? He immediately took it to the famous poet W.B. Yeats, who later wrote the introduction to the Gitanjali when it was published in 1912. Soon the whole world came to know of Rabindranath Tagore and his works. It was like opening the door of Indian culture and spiritualism to the western world. His spiritual approach was such that the whole world got awestruck.

In 1915 he was presented the knighthood by the British Government. In 1919 he renounced his knighthood as a protest against the Jalianwallah Bagh massacre by British troops at Amritsar, in Punjab, India. Even he wrote a famous song pertaining to this renouncement. Two of his songs have become the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, the only poet to have achieved this distinction. His total works is so voluminous that it is not possible to complete them in one lifetime, let alone digesting them. In his works, one is sure to find an answer to any and every question or query, that he may come across in life.

He tried to mix the eastern culture with that of the west. He founded a university at Shantiniketan known as Viswa Bharati, in 1901. He later travelled all over the world and had discussions with such eminent personalities like Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw etc. It is said that one evening Tagore and Bernard Shaw were having discussions at Bernard Shaw's place. It went on for hours. It was quite late at night. Bernard Shaw's wife never used to come out when her husband had discussions with other people. As it was quite late at night, Bernard Shaw's wife came to the sitting room. Bernard Shaw asked her what was the matter? To this she replied that whoever comes to talk to her husband, they don't stay long. Possibly they get bored and leave soon. So she has come out to see the man who could spend several hours with her husband with such interest, without getting bored.

He died in 1941 in Calcutta, at the age of 80. In his name an international award for promoting universal brotherhood and fraternity has been initiated by the government of India on May 7, 2011.

He was a creative genius. He possibly came ahead of his time. His works have started finding more relevance now. His works are getting analyzed and cultured extensively in the educated world. His philosophy is being studied for the welfare of mankind. His message of humanity and universal harmony has reached the farthest corners of the globe. He rose above religion, caste, creed and colour. We, as Indians, can't help feeling proud of him. But no, not only Indians, but every citizen of this world must feel proud that a man of such supernatural stature once set his footprints upon this earth.

Rabindranath Tagore with his daughter 1n 1887, at the age of 26

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An Impressionist's Idea of Nature

This is purely impressionistic in nature, a clear morning view. There is a path in between, very rarely used. Click on the picture to view a larger and clearer image. Also please share it with your friends.

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A Global Feeling for Everyone and Everything

Who are those men who can be considered as the best among us? They are those pious men, who have learnt the ultimate truth of the existence of God, and have found eternal peace by gaining that knowledge. They are those men who can feel the presence of God in every soul, who feel the wisdom of the Almighty within their own heart, who, even after experiencing all the noisy confusion, recurrent motion, excitement and disturbance, find the eternal peace within themselves.

They have consciously perceived all events that make up an individual life. They have ventured into every territory, and have found the grace of God in everything they have perceived. They have entered into every kingdom of work, heart, knowledge and religion. Their feeling extends into every realm in which God's wish is fulfilled. They are not rich, they are not mighty so as to wield power, authority or resource, they are not confined within any passion.

They are always in a state of established relationship with the divine soul, and through Him, with every other thing, living or non-living. Their thoughts are like this, "Whoever he is, he is my friend." This makes a man supremely glorious. It fetches him the highest order of humanity.

That man can build or destroy, earn and acquire, discover and invent, does not make him supreme. His glorification lies in the fact that he can assign everyone a place in his heart. Only the power of his soul can extend its feeling and authority infinitely. Neither any might, nor any ability to earn, acquire or save, discover or invent can fetch this glorification.

Riches, fame, honour, power etc. make us alienated from others, and thereby alienates us from the Divine Soul. The supreme connectivity gets disturbed. We start keeping other at bay. Pride engulfs us. Our alienation keeps on increasing. We lose our right to enter into every realm in which the grace of God prevails.

God is everywhere. He is in everything, living and non-living. He is as much in water as in fire, as much in earth as in air, as much in sky as in our souls. In our ability to feel His presence everywhere, in everything, lies the essence of making our human birth a glorified success.

To drown ourselves in His state is the only way through which we can attain divinity. What is that state? It is a state where He is remaining ever-conscious of everything, living and non-living, from a grain of sand to the vast stretch of the ocean and the sky,..... and all that which comes in between.

Through consciousness He is constantly extending His feeling towards everything. A mother embraces her child, not with her arms and body, but with her feeling. It is just like that. That is the ultimate embracement. That is the ultimate state of God. This feeling is incessant. We have to unify with His feeling. Through this feeling, He is constantly exercising his authority,..... because as far as feeling extends, that far goes the authority.

To extend our feeling thus infinitely, we have to give our heart, submit our heart.

One who vies for supremacy or superiority is not only ignorant, but possibly cruel also. To him, his path towards supremacy appears to be the only true path. Thus ignorance seeps in!!!!!

The more one spreads oneself among others, the more his ego, desires and vanity go away. This way one first becomes a responsible man of domestic habits. Then he becomes a responsible member of the society, which further develops into devotion towards ones' country, which ultimately shapes into a global feeling. This way one has to keep on increasing his area of universal feeling in order to attain the highest order of humanity. Unification gives us eternal life; loss of unity or integrity pronounces death.

Definition of prosperity has taken a new shape. Those who are prosperous, they are also not consciously nourishing the idea of unification. They have created a boundary within which they are parctising unification, thereby keeping themselves engaged in a specified way of life. Through knowledge, feeling and dexterity, they are broadening their way to further prosperity. However, they think that whatever they perceive, that is the ultimate. There is nothing beyond that. If there is anything, that must be totally unnecessary.

Difference of opinion, differences in cultural and social practice, clash of interest etc. still keep us miles apart. We have to remove all these differences. Otherwise, God will not give us peace.

It is not that unification will make us mighty, bring us economic prosperity, or make us supreme among nations. It will give us an everlasting lease of life, by combining all our human elements into a universal whole. May this togetherness be our aim of life, our only path to ultimate prosperity. The Almighty is embracing all that is under the sky and above, by His feeling and consciousness, thereby forming a synthesized whole. How will we join our souls with the Divine Soul if we do things which are contrary to His wish, and live in total disintegration?

To attain this unification, we have to renounce all. The more we renounce, the more we get filled up. There lies the ultimate enjoyment, the blissful delight.

Every being, dead or alive, is connected with one another by a single thread. Let us not disturb this connectivity. Such a disturbance will bring more misery for us. Let us realize this truth.

Whoever or whatever is there in this universe, that is for the welfare of this universe. All are happening in accordance to His wish, His delightful wish. Let us also feel his presence everywhere, in everything. Let our hearts get filled up with His dear delight. Let our feelings grow magnanimously.

May loftiness of our spirit enable us to bear trouble and hardship calmly, may we disdain meanness and revenge, may we be able to sacrifice for worthy ends, may we be blessed to understand what is worthy, may we be able to show nobility of feeling and generosity of mind, may our enemies, if any, consider us magnanimous.

One day we will surely be able to embrace poverty, enjoy sacrifice, turn trash into treasure and delightfully embrace sorrow.

May our heads get bowed down in front of His grace. May all that we possess be taken away and our hearts be filled up with His grace and delight. May we realize that He is the ultimate and our only source of happiness.

His grace makes the flowers bloom, makes the birds flutter their wings and makes the clouds drift in the sky. His delight gives us air to breathe, water to quench our thirst, fire to keep us warm, earth to grow our crops, and the sky to look up to, and get connected with Him. He gives us everything to keep us knowledgeable, dexterous, prosperous and delightful.

It is by his grace that in spite of all our sorrows and sufferings, clash of interests, all our selfishness, we are still remaining safe and secure, prosperous and healthy, and delightfully connected with our near and dear ones. May we be able to experience the same happiness that a tree experiences by bringing its flowers into full bloom, and thereby advance the cause of unification. At His feet, may we find the safest place to dwell in. Once for all, do let us know that our humble unpretentious prayer, devoid of any vanity, is the ultimate prayer for mankind.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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Primary Responsibilities - Men and Women

In our society there are men as well as women. Both have their duties to perform towards the society. There is a vast difference between the duties of a man towards the society, and that of a woman.

The obligation of men towards the society has got everything to do with strength. He is supposed to carry the burden that requires strength. He will look after his family, he will give them all kinds of protection, he must save them from all kinds of dangers and he will provide them with all the necessities. If a wheel of the family-cart sinks into mud, he is supposed to pull it out, and make the cart rolling once again. He is destined to pull the heavy rope or chain and get the work done. If he moves away from this position, and be ignorant, society will discard him.

A woman is the epitome of love and compassion. As a mother, wife or sister, she is supposed to give love, care and affection to her family. There is no escape. That is the reason why she has been sent to this world. This is her primary responsibility towards her family and society. She is supposed to keep men under control through love and affection.

Lifting a heavy box or changing the car tyre is a primary duty of men. Whereas knitting and sewing are primarily women's jobs. Protecting and saving are basically men's responsibility, whereas bringing up the baby with love and affection is the primary duty of a woman. It is strength on one side, and love on the other. Women are the home-makers, while men are the home-savers. Men provides strength and valour that brings all kinds of safety and security, while women provides love and perceptual experience that brings all kinds of balance and harmony. These two keep the family and the society moving smoothly towards further prosperity.

After fulfilling their primary duties, both men and women can venture into one another's territory. There is no harm in that. But they must never forget their primary responsibility towards their family and society. This truth is eternal.

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Life, an insight

The widespread effect of life is constantly flowing through innumerable births and deaths, manifesting its inherent nature in every corner of this world, where there is habitation. It is also trying to spread its branches incessantly in areas where impenetrable desolation prevails or reigns supreme, trying to fill those areas up with noise and movement, warmth and hope. It tries to reach out to all such obscure places, which are barren and joyless.

Life is constantly attracting all that is lying in the past, carrying over its mighty shoulder all that is manifesting at the present moment, and feeling everything that is there in store for the future. Such is the strength and velocity of life, constantly revealing itself within our hearts, through joy and movement, variety and colour.

We have no access in those areas where life is mysterious. There it resides in total peace and tranquility. Where life is making itself evident to all our senses, there also we are able to feel only a small part of it. We cannot fathom all its outward manifestations at a time. However mysterious life may be, we are carrying on with it with utmost ease.

Life is apparent and self-evident, yet indistinct and uncertain. In so far as it is uncertain, it is mysterious. Yet this very life, with its inexplicable strength and vigour, manifests itself so easily even in the heart of a new-born child. That is what our dearest life is. It holds the centre-stage, around which we build up everything.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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The Ultimate

A green mango remains tightly bound to the branch of a mango tree. Its immature seed holds the green flesh very firmly. Every day the mango matures a bit. It keeps on extracting juice from the tree. As much as it matures, it gets loosened from the stem to that extent. Inside the mango, the seed also matures, and the flesh becomes ripe and loose. One day the ripe mango drops down from the tree. That is the ultimate result. There lies all the success of a fruit.

Similarly, we human beings also keep on extracting the juice out of life, and one day we drop out of life. Our body turns into dust or ashes. Inside us also there is an inner core, like the seed. It is composed of the strength of our senses and our humanity. All our passion, excitement, interest and devotion depend solely upon the strength of our senses and character. Sometimes we need to gear up all these aspects, sometimes we need to slow ourselves down. That is how we move along in life. There lies the true essence of success.

On one side, the ripe mango loosens itself from the stem, while on the other side the seed moves towards maturity to give birth to another mango plant. Similarly, we human beings also get depleted in the outside, while our inner core gets ripened up with knowledge and wisdom. Still, at the fag end of life, we are unable to detach ourselves like the mango. We must always prepare ourselves for the ultimate detachment.

The petals of a flower must drop out. Then only the fruit will appear. The ripe fruit must drop down on earth. Then only a new plant can come out of its seed.

The baby has to come out of the womb. Then only he can grow up. After he attains a certain level of intelligence and education, he has to come out of his own self and acquire a place in the society. With a healthy body, educated mind and strong character, he is born again in a much bigger world. One day, after completing the whole journey of life, he leaves this world, only to be born again in an eternal world. The human form of life, especially meant for realization of God, becomes a success.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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Come, Let Us Pray

"Philosophy sets our intellect free and allows us to see as God might see." Today this thought is hovering all around me. Personal well-being should give birth to collective well-being. Otherwise personal well-being is of little use. Come, let us pray for peace and happiness for everyone, for every living being on this mother earth. Let us pray that we remember the grace of the Almighty, once a day, and get connected with Him.

Let us pray that we may be able to set and keep us free from all narrow, personal aims and interests. Let us pray that we can set ourselves free from all ill-feelings, conflicts and anxieties. Let us pray that there is no lack of will power within us. Let us pray that we have the courage to know what is good for every living being on this earth.

Let us pray that we may set ourselves free from desires that keep us confined and imprisoned. Let us pray that we do not envy other people's success. Let us not forget that there are people suffering at various corners of the world. Let us pray that the less fortunate can live his life with dignity. Let us pray that everybody gets his due share, and there be no exploitation anywhere.

Let us pray that we do not mistake knowledge as a set of prejudices, habits and desires, and make an impenetrable veil between us and the outer world. Let us pray that ingratitude can never tarnish our character.

Let us pray that we be able to touch one another's heart with just a little bit of effort. Let us pray that our sense of wonder stays alive and we may be able to see familiar things in a new, unfamiliar, eternal light. Let us pray that truth, enlightenment and eternity reveal themselves in front of us. Let us pray that wisdom reigns supreme in our lives. May God keep everyone peaceful, happy and prosperous.

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The hills are alive

Completed the painting just now. It is fresh. Tried to finish it in a short time span. So I couldn't go into much details. Hope you like it.

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Keep things Simple

Many a things flash across our minds, sometimes consciously, or sometimes sub-consciously. Whatever flashes across our minds very easily, we mostly set it aside as of no value. This happens possibly because that thought, that knowledge has been acquired with utmost ease. We have heard people saying, "No, no, that can't be true. It sounds too obvious." This way we set aside the most obvious thoughts and conclusions, the most valuable truths of life. Consequently we make our lives painful and distressful.

We keep on searching for some very complex stuff, most of which ultimately turn out to be our own brainchildren. This way various complexities arise in our minds concerning a particular thing, person, entity or event. These thoughts arise only in our minds, and we fail to find its parallel in the external world. We feel helpless, we suffer and at times we get misguided by our own thoughts.

Instead, if we hold on to our simplest of thoughts, we can make our lives easy, simple and less stressful. So hold on to those truths, those thoughts, which reveal unto you so easily. It is an inherent characteristic of truth to reveal itself in the most easy way. Keep things and also your thoughts simple, in so far as situations permit you to do so.

However, there are certain situations, which require very complex analysis. But in those cases our conscience will instantly tell us whether to accept the most obvious or not. We are always guided that way by God.

I presume many people will not agree with me, but still I proclaim, in most of the cases, whatever dawns upon us in the most easy way cannot be anything else other that the truth, or something that will guide us to the truth. We must never ignore the most obvious, that descends upon us in the most natural way.

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Responsibility and Compulsion

Every man should be under some kind of a compulsion on a regular basis. The most common form of compulsion arises out of our need for subsistence, our need for making a livelihood. Need for money puts a great compulsion upon every common man. Sense of responsibility brings in compulsion. Responsibility towards our own family is probably the starting point. From there it may extend to any extent.

Those men who can guide themselves to success without any compulsion from any external source are simply great men. Great men do not feel the need for money so much. Their compulsion comes out of their noblest thoughts, ideas and desires. That only helps them to become great. They have a great ability to ascertain the right priorities for different tasks. They set their goals accordingly. They do not get lost amidst useless thoughts.

Compulsion sets us free. When we are compelled to perform a task, many a fake prejudices, vanities and inhibitions vanish from our minds, and we become free. Our minds become fresh as we are relieved of many a negative thoughts and aspects of our minds. We find it very easy to set aside all apprehensions. We can get rid of all false anticipation of adversity or misfortune, or false suspicion and fear of any future trouble or evil.

Compulsion keeps us disciplined, healthy and strong. We regain our lost confidence in this way. Our whole world gets refreshed with a fragrance of total healthiness.

When we are totally free from all kinds of responsibilities, we really become idle. That is possibly something built in within us. Idleness brings in all kinds of pain and agony.

So at all times we all need to be under some kind of compulsion and responsiveness. If responsibility and compulsion knocks at your doorstep or enters into your room, don't feel agitated or afraid. Most of the times it comes as a blessing in disguise. Responsibility and compulsion keep us reformed.

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Money - An Economic Overview

Evolution of Money: The fundamental aim of man is to satisfy his economic wants. In earlier days man produced whatever was needed by him. But in course of time, economic wants started to increase. So to satisfy all his economic wants, man started to exchange the goods. In earlier days the system that was followed for exchange is known as the Barter System. Under this system there was direct exchange of goods for goods. But man started to face many difficulties under this system. So to overcome these difficulties man introduced money.

First precious metals were used as money. Then, in course of time, a small quantity of a metal, with a with a stamp or mark put on it to indicate value, was introduced to serve the purpose of money. This process is called coinage. Now a days paper money, duly sanctioned by law, with appropriate signs and symbols, is used used universally as the medium of exchange. For small transactions, however, coins are still used.

Legal Tender Money: Legal tender money means money, the tender or payment of which constitutes, by law, the sufficient discharge of a debt.

The fundamental difference between money and other commodities is that money is generally acceptable in payment for goods, services, debts and compensations, while other commodities are not. People want other commodities for the commodity's sake - to consume, enjoy or otherwise utilize them, but money is wanted not for its own sake but because it has purchasing power over other goods.

The real significance of money is that it is a claim, which can be used by its owner to buy everything. As because general acceptability is the fundamental characteristic of money, we can define money as anything which is generally accepted by people in exchange for commodities or services, or in payment of debts or compensations.

Mr. Paul Samuelson: "Money is an artificial social convention."

Definition: Money is something, which serves as a medium of exchange. It is accepted unquestionably by everyone in exchange for goods and services. Different economists have defined money in different ways. According to Mr. Francis Walker "money is what money does."

We can define money as anything, which is accepted by the people

1. as medium of exchange,
2. as a measurement of value,
3. as a store of value,
4. as a standard of deferred value, and
5. as a transfer of value.

From this above definition follows the functions of money.

1. Medium of Exchange: Money promotes or facilitates exchange of goods and services. Our whole economic system depends entirely upon money, without which all modern forms of consumption, production, distribution and exchange will cease to exist.

2. Measurement of Value: Money assigns a value or price to any commodity or service. Every commodity or service can be weighed in terms of money. So it serves as a measuring instrument for value.

3. Store of Value: Money is the best form in which one can store his wealth. It has a universal usefulness at any given time, which makes it the best form as a store of value.

4. Standard of Deferred Value: Money serves as standard for deferred payments, that is payments, which are to be made in future.

5. Transfer of Value: Since any economic commodity or service can be weighed in terms of money, for any kind of value transfer it acts as the best medium.

Demand for money or reasons for holding money: J, M. Keynes forwarded three primary reasons or motives for holding money.

1. Transactions motive: Every man requires a certain amount of money to meet his daily expenditure. From this, the transaction demand for money arises.
2. Precautionary motive: People normally hold more money than what is required for his transactions purpose. He keeps some extra money in hand to meet the unforeseen circumstances, or any kind of emergency situation. This gives birth to the precautionary demand for money.
3. Speculative motive: Money, when invested, brings income in the form of interest. If someone decides to hold money he will be foregoing the interest that it would have yielded, if invested. Thus holding money means preferring liquidity, as money is the most liquid form of asset. When there is an expectation that interest will rise in the future, people purchase securities to earn higher interest income in the future. Interest is the reward for parting with liquidity. Thus individuals or institutions, who have sufficient money left after satisfying the first two demands, may also need some money for speculative purpose.

In the short run, transactions demand and precautionary demand are more or less fixed. Only under a situation of rising prices and consequent inflation, these two demands may increase in the short run. Otherwise in the short run, it is the speculatory demand for money, which determines the overall demand for money.

Supply of Money: The supply of money basically means the quantity of money in circulation. In simple terms, the total amount of cash held by individuals and institutions in the form of notes and coins, together with the total value of deposits held in bank accounts of commercial banks, together with bills and bank notes constitute the supply of money. Some writers prefer to use the term money in a narrow sense to mean only legal tender money. Others include deposits, but only such deposits as are withdrawable by cheques, thus excluding non-chequeable deposits. The measures that are taken to control the total supply of money in an economy are compositely called the Monetary Policy.

Value of money: Meaning: Value of money means the purchasing power of money. It means that goods and services can be purchased with money. When more goods and services can be purchased with money, the value of money is said to be more, and vice versa.

Determination of the value of money: There are two theories given by the economists for the determination of the value of money. The two theories are

1) Quantity Theory of Money
2) Income Theory of Money

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The Warm Summer Night

The warmth of the summer night lies in the colour composition of this painting, though I know the glow at the back is not looking anything similar to that of the moon. But do you feel it is anything else? Can't you feel the warmth of the summer night? Yes, that is the magic of colours!! Do enjoy the warmth and the serenity. Click on the picture to view a larger image.

Seeking your compliment as an artist.

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Paintings of Celebrities of Yesteryears

Name the four celebrities whose paintings are given below. Write their names in the comment/answer box. Come on, give it a try!! It's so easy.

1. Pencil Drawing - 2002. 2. Watercolour - 2004 3. Pencil Drawing - 2002.
4. Pastel and coloured pencil - 2008

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The reclining Lady

This is a typical reclining pose of a lady, which is a favourite for any artist.

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The Sun, the central point

The sun, the clock, the ultimate clock, which determines the time of happening or non-happening of everything in this universe. The sun - the ever-faithful sun. Obey the sun, obey its magnanimity. Does anyone know with certainty when it was created? Possibly not, though scientific principles can only assume.

The birds chirp and sing only when they see the first rays of the sun. Flowers bloom only to greet the arising of the sun. We also wake up in the morning for that very same reason. When he sleeps, the whole world also goes to sleep.

The more we try to move according to our timings, the more we invite trouble for us. The sun, the central point of all that is natural, is so much important in our lives. It is not a planet. It is a star, the brightest and the mightiest that we can comprehend.

Days pass on; we remain busy with our worldly life and never remember to give a casual thought to the grace that the sun bestows upon us. We need to establish some kind of connectivity with the sun, at least once a day, most likely in the morning, thanking it for whatever it is giving us incessantly. After all, the sun needs to be worshipped with utmost devotion, no matter what scientific explanations scientists give us with regard to its composition, age etc., thereby creating in our minds a concept or sense of objectivity about it.

Does he really sleep? No. The phenomena of arising and setting of the sun is so designed that he appears to have gone to sleep.

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Theory of Consumption - Revealed Preference Analysis

Introduction: In 1960 Mr. Samuelson introduced the Revealed Preference Analysis to explain the behaviour of the consumer. The fundamental difference between the Utility Analysis, Indifference Curve Analysis and Revealed Preference Analysis is that when the first two are based on the psychology of the consumer, the revealed Preference is based on the actual behaviour of the consumer.

Assumptions: In order to explain the behaviour of the consumer with the help of Revealed preference Analysis, Mr. Samuelson made the following assumptions.

1. Utility cannot be measured.

2. The consumer always prefers more of a good to less, until his income is exhausted.

3. It is based on the Principle of Strong Ordering. This means that if the consumer is given many commodities, he can place them in order of his preference.

4. It is based on the Principle of Consistency, and the consumer acts consistently. 'Consistency in choice' means that if the consumer chooses the commodity combination P in preference to all other combinations, then he will never subsequently choose any combination from the rejected ones in a situation in which P is also available. This is the key to this approach.

5. The choice made by the consumer will reveal the preference of the consumer for the commodity. If he chooses P over Q, then this choice reveals his preference for P.

6. The consumer's preference pattern maintains transitivity. If the consumer prefers P over Q, and Q over R, Then he definitely prefers P over R.

The substitution effect is always non-positive. It can never result into a reduction in the purchase of the commodity whose price has fallen.

In order to find out the consumer's equilibrium position with the Revealed Preference Analysis, we make the following assumptions.

1. The consumer has a fixed amount of income.
2. There are only two commodities available in the market, namely A and B.

On the basis of these assumptions we can now draw the following diagram and find out the consumer's equilibrium position.

Let us assume that the price line or budget line is XY. It represents all combinations of commodities A and B available to the consumer. The consumer can choose any of the combinations of commodities A and B, lying within, or on border of the shaded triangle OXY.
We now assume that out of all the combinations available to him, the consumer chooses to consume Oa of commodity A and Ob of commodity B. This combination is represented by the point P. Thus the consumer has chosen the combination P in preference to all other combinations lying within the triangle OXY. So in future he will never choose any combination from triangle OXY in a situation where P is also available.

Now there is a fall in the price of commodity B. The price of commodity A and the income of the consumer remains constant. Given the same income, the consumer can still consume OX of commodity A by spending all his income on commodity A. Also as the price of commodity B has fallen, he can consume OZ of commodity B instead of Ob, by spending all his income on commodity B. Therefore, XZ is the new budget line.

A fall in the price of a commodity is equivalent to an increase in real income. This income effect needs to be eliminated. This is done by moving the new budget line XZ towards the origin O, keeping it parallel to its original position, until it passes through point P. So the new budget line is X'Z', where the consumer is able to purchase his original combinations of commodities A and B at P, but at the new set of prices. (new price for commodity B only; price of commodity A has not changed). The consumer can now choose any point on X'Z'.

Considering the segment X'P: All points on segment X'P were available to the consumer before the fall in the price of commodity B. All these points were within the triangle OXY and rejected by him originally in favour of the combination at point P. So, in the new situation, where P is still available, he will definitely choose P rather than a combination previously rejected. This is because the consumer moves according to the Principle of Consistency.

Considering the segment PZ': The segment PZ' represents combinations of commodities which were not previously available to the consumer. It would therefore be quite consistent for the consumer to choose some combination along the PZ' part of the new budget line. This could mean consuming more of commodity B, whose price has fallen.

This implies that the consumer either consumes same quantity of commodity B as before by remaining at point P, or more of the commodity B by choosing a point on the segment PZ'. The consumer selects the point Q. If we now restore the income effect and return to the changed budget line XZ, the consumer will move to R on the changed budget line XZ, as a result of both income effect and substitution effect, where bc (the price effect) = bs (the substitution effect) + sc (the income effect).

Conclusion: The substitution effect can never lead the consumer to buy less of a commodity whose price has fallen.

Unless the income effect is negative and of sufficient magnitude to neutralize the substitution effect, under the assumption of consistency in choice, the demand curve of a consumer for any product will slope downward to the right.

Criticism: Some economists have said that this analysis is based on the assumption of Strong Ordering. But according to the critics if the consumer is given many commodities it will not be possible for him to follow the Principle of Strong Ordering. In the case of many commodities there may be a stage where the consumer will be indifferent.

Though there are some defects in this analysis, the advocates of this analysis regard this as superior to the other two because it is based on the actual behaviour of the consumer. So according to them this is more scientific because it is based on the actual behaviour of the consumer.

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