|
Truth and Beauty
...for material beauty
only goes skin-deep
There may sometimes be
arguments about
whether "truth" and "beauty"
are compatible
terms. One would willingly
agree to express
the truth, one might say,
but since truth is
not always beautiful --
indeed, it is frequently
rather startling and unpleasant
-- how is one
to express truth and beauty
at the same time?
In reply, we may inform
all concerned that
"truth" and "beauty" are
compatible terms.
Indeed, we may emphatically
assert that the
actual truth, which is
absolute, is always
beautiful. The truth is
so beautiful that it
attracts everyone, including
the truth itself.
Truth is so beautiful
that many sages, saints,
and devotees have left
everything for the sake
of truth. Mahatma Gandhi,
an idol of the
modern world, dedicated
his life to
experimenting with truth,
and all his activities
were aimed toward truth
only. Why only
Mahatma Gandhi? Every
one of us has the
urge to search for truth
alone, for the truth
is not only beautiful
but also all-powerful,
all-resourceful, all-famous,
all-renounced,
and all-knowledgeable.
Unfortunately, people
have no information of
the actual truth.
Indeed, 99.9 percent of
men in all walks
of life are pursuing untruth
only, in the name
of truth. We are actually
attracted by the
beauty of truth, but since
time immemorial
we have been habituated
to love of untruth
appearing like truth.
Therefore, to the mundaner
"truth" and "beauty" are
incompatible terms.
The mundane truth and
beauty may be
explained as follows.
Once a man who was
very powerful and strongly
built but whose
character was very doubtful
fell in love with
a beautiful girl. The
girl was not only beautiful
in appearance but also
saintly in character,
and as such she did not
like the man's advances.
The man, however, was
insistent because of his
lustful desires, and therefore
the girl requested
him to wait only seven
days, and she set a
time after that when he
could meet her.
The man agreed, and with
high expectations
he began waiting for the
appointed time.
The saintly girl, however,
in order to manifest
the real beauty of absolute
truth, adopted a
method very instructive.
She took very strong
doses of laxatives and
purgatives, and for
seven days she continually
passed loose stool
and vomited all that she
ate. Moreover,
she stored all the loose
stool and vomit in
suitable pots. As a result
of the purgatives,
the so-called beautiful
girl became lean and
thin like a skeleton,
her complexion turned
blackish, and her beautiful
eyes sank into
the sockets of her skull.
Thus at the appointed
hour she waited anxiously
to receive the eager
man. The man appeared
on the scene well dressed
and well behaved and asked
the ugly girl he
found waiting there about
the beautiful girl
he was to meet. The man
could not recognize
the girl he saw as the
same beautiful girl for
whom he was asking; indeed,
although she
repeatedly asserted her
identity, because of
her pitiable condition
he was unable to
recognize her. At last
the girl told the
powerful man that she
had separated the
ingredients of her beauty
and stored them
in pots. She also told
him that he could enjoy
those juices of beauty.
When the mundane
poetic man asked to see
these juices of
beauty, he was directed
to the store of
loose stool and liquid
vomit, which were
emanating an unbearably
bad smell. Thus
the whole story of the
beauty-liquid was
disclosed to him. Finally,
by the grace of
the saintly girl, this
man of low character was
able to distinguish between
the shadow and the
substance, and thus he
came to his senses.
This man's position was
similar to the position
of every one of us who
is attracted by false,
material beauty. The girl
mentioned above had
a beautifully developed
material body in
accordance with the desires
of her mind, but
in fact she was apart
from that temporary
material body and mind.
She was in fact a
spiritual spark, and so
also was the lover who
was attracted by her false
skin. Mundane
intellectuals and aesthetics,
however, are
deluded by the outward
beauty and attraction
of the relative truth
and are unaware of the
spiritual spark, which
is both truth and beauty
at the same time. The
spiritual spark is so
beautiful that when it
leaves the so-called
beautiful body, which
in fact is full of stool
and vomit, no one wants
to touch that body,
even if it is decorated
with a costly costume.
We are all pursuing a
false, relative truth,
which is incompatible
with real beauty. The
actual truth, however,
is permanently beautiful,
retaining the same standard
of beauty for
innumerable years. That
spiritual spark is
indestructible. The beauty
of the outer skin
can be destroyed in only
a few hours merely
by a dose of a strong
purgative, but the
beauty of truth is indestructible
and always
the same. Unfortunately,
mundane artists and
intellectuals are ignorant
of this beautiful
spark of spirit. They
are also ignorant of
the whole fire which is
the source of these
spiritual sparks, and
they are ignorant of
the relationships between
the sparks and
the fire, which take the
form of transcendental
pastimes. When those pastimes
are displayed
here by the grace of the
Almighty, foolish
people who cannot see
beyond their senses
confuse those pastimes
of truth and beauty
with the manifestations
of loose stool and
vomit described above.
Thus in despair they
ask how truth and beauty
can be
accommodated at the same
time.
Mundaners do not know
that the whole
spiritual entity is the
beautiful person who
attracts everything. They
are unaware that He is
the prime substance, the
prime source and
fountainhead of everything
that be.
The infinitesimal spiritual
sparks, being parts
and parcels of that whole
spirit, are qualitatively
the same in beauty and
eternity. The only
difference is that the
whole is eternally the
whole and the parts are
eternally the parts.
Both of them, however,
are the ultimate truth,
ultimate beauty, ultimate
knowledge, ultimate
energy, ultimate renunciation,
and ultimate
opulence. Although written
by the greatest
mundane poet or intellectual,
any literature
which does not describe
the ultimate truth
and beauty is but a store
of loose stool and
vomit of the relative
truth. Real literature is
that which describes the
ultimate truth
and beauty of the Absolute.
|