Truth and Beauty are Compatible

Hare Krishna,
A nice article

By A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back to Godhead Magazine #15,1967

It has often been argued whether truth and beauty are terms compatible with one another. One would agree willingly, some say, to express the truth, 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 to this we may inform all concerned that Truth and Beauty are indeed compatible terms. Truth which is Absolute is always beautiful. It is so beautiful that it attracts everyone, including itself. Truth is so beautiful that many sages, saints and devotees have left everything for its sake. Mahatma Gandhi, the idol of the modern world, dedicated his life for experimenting with Truth, and all his activities were targetted towards Truth only.



Why Mahatma Gandhi?—every one of us is drawn by an urge towards Truth, because it is not only beautiful, but possesses all power, all resources, all fame, all renunciation and all knowledge as well.



Unfortunately, people have no information of the actual Truth, and 99.9 per cent of men in all ranks of life are following the principles of Untruth in the name of Truth and its quest. We are actually attracted with the beauty of Truth, but we are, since time immemorial, habituated to love untruth in the name of Truth. And therefore, to the mundane thinker, Truth and Beauty are incompatible terms.

Mundane Truth and beauty are explained as follows:



A man fell in love with a beautiful girl. He was very powerful and strongly built, but his character was doubtful. The girl, meanwhile, was not only beautiful in appearance, but also saintly in character. As such the beautiful girl did not like the proposal of the powerful man. The powerful man, however, insisted upon his lustful desires, whereupon the beautiful girl requested the man to wait for only seven days and after that she fixed up a time when they could meet. The strong man agreed, and with high expectations began to count the hours, waiting for the moment when he was fixed to meet the girl.



The saintly girl, however, in order to manifest the real beauty of relative Truth, adopted a means which is very instructive: She took a very strong dose of purgative medicine, and for seven days continually she passed loose stool and vomitted all that she ate. All the loose stool and the vomit she stored up in suitable reservoirs. As a result of this laxative medicine, the so-called beautiful girl became lean, thin as a skeleton, and turned gloomy of complexion, with her beautiful eyes pushed into the socket of the skull.



At the appointed hour, she was waiting anxiously to receive the man in love.

The man appeared on the scene well-dressed and well-behaved, and asked the waiting girl, who was depressed in appearance, about the beautiful girl who had called him there. The man could not recognize the waiting girl, as the same beauty whom he was asking for. The girl was in a pitiable condition, and the foolish man, in spite of repeated assertions, could not recognise her. All due to the action of the medicine.



At last the girl told the powerful man the story of her beauty, that she had separated the ingredients of beauty, and stored them up in the reservoirs. She told him that he could have and enjoy the juices of beauty stored up in these reservoirs if he wanted them. The man agreed to see the juices of beauty, and thus he was directed to the store of loose stool and liquid vomit, which were emanating unbearable odors. Thus the whole story of the liquid beauty was disclosed to him. The characterless man, by the grace of the saintly girl, was now able to distinguish between the shadow and the substance, and thus he came to his senses.



That is the real position of every one of us who are attracted by false material beauty. The girl above-mentioned developed a beautiful material body as she desired in her mind, but she was actually apart from that temporary material manifestation of body and mind. She is in fact a spiritual spark, and so also is the man in love, who was attracted by the false skin of the girl.



Many great thinkers, poets, artists and people in general, 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 one and the same time. The spiritual spark is so beautiful that on its leaving the body no one any longer wishes to touch it, even though the body may be decorated with the most costly jewels.



And because we are all after a false, relative truth, we find it to be incompatible with real beauty. The truth is so permanently beautiful that it maintains the same standard of beauty as it is for millions upon millions of years. Besides that, the spiritual spark is indestructible. The beauty of the outer skin can be destroyed in a few hours time by one small dose of strong purgative, but the beauty of Truth is always the same, and is indestructible just as it is. Unfortunately, mundane writers are ignorant of the beautiful sparks of spirit, as well as of the fiery resources of these spiritual sparks and their interrelations of transcendental pastimes.

When these pastimes are displayed here by the Grace of the Almighty, the foolish persons who cannot see beyond the gross senses mistake such pastimes of Truth and Beauty as being within the same field as the store of loose stools and liquid vomit. Thus they come to despair, and then declare that Truth and beauty cannot be accommodated at one and the same time.



The mundane thinkers do not know that the Whole Spiritual Entity is the beautiful Person attracting everything as the Prime Substance, the Prime Source and the Fountainhead of everything that be. And the infinitesimal spiritual sparks, as parts and parcels of the Whole Spirit, are qualitatively the same—beautiful and eternal entities. The difference is that the Whole is eternally the Whole, and the parts are eternally the parts. Both of them are the Ultimate Truth, Ultimate Beauty, Ultimate Knowledge, Ultimate Energy, Ultimate Renunciation and Ultimate Opulence.



Any literature which does not describe such Ultimate Truth and Beauty is a store of loose stools and liquid vomit of the relative truth. Real literature is that which describes this Ultimate Truth and Beauty

Recognize the Cause not the Instrument

It is certainly good to recognize and appreciate people for their efforts and good work. It goes a long way in encouraging any individual. A small amount of encouragement for the qualities and work performed should be recognized and eulogized. While we give lot of stress on appreciating and encouraging people for their contributions and hard work, often we fail to recognize the actual doer and the cause behind all the achievements. In the Bhagavad Gita Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna instructs Arjuna to Fight as a matter of duty and be an instrument, since the result of the war was already decided and arranged by the Lord

tasmät tvam uttiñöha yaço labhasva

jitvä çatrün bhuìkñva räjyaà samåddham

mayaivaite nihatäù pürvam eva

nimitta-mätraà bhava savya-säcin [ B.g. 11.33]

“Therefore get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by my arrangement, and you, O Savyasäcé, can be but an instrument in the fight.”

 

In other places in Bhagavad Gita Sri Krsna mentions that as living entities we have the right to perform our duties, but we are not entitled to the fruits of our action, and he warns us that we should not think ourselves to be the cause of our actions.

karmaëy evädhikäras te
mä phaleñu kadäcana

mä karma-phala-hetur bhür

mä te saìgo 'stv akarmaëi


“You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.”

So it is evident as part and parcels of Lord Sri Krsna we are the instruments in the hands of the Lord and if we understand this constitutional position of our existence we will be in peace. In fact in every activity we perform knowingly or unknowingly we are being helped by Lord and /or his Energies. For Example, with the human intelligence, today we are able to create big airplanes which take us from one place to another within hours, the intelligence to build this plane, the energy and the raw materials used are all Krsna’s energies as mentioned in Bhagavad Gita

bhümir äpo 'nalo väyuù

khaà mano buddhir eva ca

ahaìkära itéyaà me

bhinnä prakåtir añöadhä [ B.g. 7.4]

“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.”

So the living entities who are parts of his spiritual energy are using these material energies to transform them into a usable form and that much credit we certainly have, that we have become the instruments to create such a nice machine. But if we start claiming that we are the cause of the creation of the aero plane than we are cheating ourselves and incurring sins for stealing God’s property.

It is therefore imperative to always think of ourselves as instruments in the hands of an expert craftsman who can use us in developing magnificent things, just like it will certainly be wrong to praise the saw of a carpenter for making a beautiful closet. Generally we may agree to this fact but we still do not realize it and hence we end up thinking ourselves to be the doer and the cause of all that we do which only increases our false ego and puts us in a gross illusion away from the reality. It should be noted individually and collectively that when people are recognized they should be recognized as instruments in the achievement with the main credit going to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. Many people think of this as modesty on part of the person who gives credit to the Lord for the achievements which he is credited for, but it is not our modesty towards Krsna, but it is Krsna’s modesty towards the living entity that, he is giving us the credit for the insignificant service we offer him which he really does not require. As seen from the earlier verse 11.33, Krsna tells Arjuna that you take all the glories and enjoy the Kingdom, since the work has already been done and arranged for. Lord is very merciful to his Devotees and loves to give all the credit to the devotee, and the devotees knowing well that without Krsna nothing can take place and they can just become instruments in his hand want to give all the credit to Krsna. This is the sweet relationship between the Lord and His devotees.

Hence it is very important that when there are achievements of any kind of task instead of becoming falsely egoistic about it we recognize the cause of all the causes Lord Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead. As stated in Brahma Samhita, Lord Krsna is the cause of all causes that we see in this world.

éçvaraù paramaù kåñëaù

sac-cid-änanda-vigrahaù

anädir ädir govindaù

sarva-käraëa-käraëam [ B.s. 5.1]

“Krsna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.”

So let us all try to understand and realize our positions as servants of Krnsa and try to act as instruments instead falsely pretending to be masters. By realizing and recognizing the real master Lord Sri Krsna, there will be peace as stated in Bhagavad Gita by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.



bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà

sarva-loka-maheçvaram

suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà

jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati [ B.g. 5.29]

“A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.”

Krsna also mentions that it takes many many births of speculation and austerities for a person to come to the conclusion that Lord Sri Krsna indeed is everything, but by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and through the grace and valiant efforts of Srila Prabhupada, realizing Godhead has been made easy for this Age of Kali. Simply by chanting the Holy names of the Lord Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare individually and collectively one can realize the Absolute Truth.

Quality of a Pure Devotee : He Does not make Anyone his enemy

yasyästi bhaktir bhagavaty akiïca sarvair guëais tatra samäsate suräù [ S.B. 5.18.12]

“All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Väsudeva.”

 

There are 26 specific qualities of a pure devotee, which are described in Caitanya Caritamrta. One of these Qualities is that a Pure Devotee of the Lord never quarrels with or makes anyone his enemy.

From the lives of great Devotees like Prahlad Maharaja, Haridas Thakur, Jesus Christ and Srila Prabhupada, we understand, even though they faced insurmountable difficulties and had to undergo innumerable threats to their lives, they never considered anyone their enemy. Srila Prabhupada used to mention in his lectures that a person who becomes a devotee of the Lord will have many enemies, including friends and relatives. Prahlad Maharaja was put into various difficulties by his own father Hiranyakasipu, Haridas Thakur was beaten at 22 market places, Jesus Christ was crucified for preaching Krsna Consciousness and everyone knows how much opposition and trouble Srila Prabhupada had to go through in his life to establish the International society for Krsna Consciousness. In spite of all these difficulties faced by these pure devotees, they never considered anyone their enemies, on the contrary every one of them prayed and worked very hard for the spiritual upliftment of fallen souls.

Vision of a Pure Devotee is that of equality, as mentioned in Bhagavad-Gita, devotee does not look at the body but sees the soul accompanied by the Super soul within every living entity. Owing to this spiritual vision, devotees do not find any difference between, a learned Brahman, an elephant, a dog and dog eater outcast [B.G. 5.18]. Devotees understand that this idea of enmity arises on account of false identification of the soul with the body, which comes about due to the influence of three modes of material nature, based on living entity’s karma and desires. Hence instead of making enemies with people who are inimical towards them, devotees show compassion for the soul and try to deliver them from the influence of three modes of material nature, such is the magnanimity of a pure devotee. Therefore it is said that even a moment’s association with a pure devotee makes one’s life successful.

Lord Krsna mentions in Bhagavad-Gita that he is present in every ones heart, so how can a devotee make anyone his enemy, knowing that Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is present in every living entity. Based on this understanding a devotee sees everyone’s body to be a temple of Lord Krsna and does not wish to hurt even an ant. Just like iron in association with fire, becomes as good as fire, a devotee by constant association with the Lord develops all the good qualities of the Lord in himself. In this age of Kali the process of associating with the Lord has been made very easy by Lord Himself in his incarnation as Catena Mahaprabhu, Simply by Chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, one can develop all the good qualities of a Pure Devotee.