And what is beauty? Beauty is a perfect coordination, a perfect proportion of everything that is involved. It is in the hands of each one of us to build ourselves in a picture of beauty. You must have heard of an ancient people, the Greeks. Among other things, they specialised in building this beauty of body. They conceived that a human being has infinite possibilities of developing into a beautiful form, not only beauty of form, but also beauty of movement. Beauty is not only in your appearance, but also in the way you walk, the way you move, the way you arrange your life. There is a beauty of form, beauty of movement, rhythm, a beauty of thought. Good vibrations do good, carry happy tidings to everyone. There is a beauty of heart that loves; you always wish well of others, you feel well and make others feel well, impulsions like heroism, courage, sacrifice express beauty of life-form. And a perfect coordination, proportion and pattern is the beauty of physical life.
In the Ashram where I am living for the past 42 years, the Mother has developed a pattern of life where a great emphasis is laid on this ideal of building right from childhood, an all-round beauty, harmony, joy. The soul of beauty is harmony, harmony between the mind, heart and the physical body. To utilise things in the best possible way, not to waste, not to throw pell-mell, but respect things, to be aware that each form has a consciousness, treat things with care as you would treat human beings, this is part of beauty.
The Mother would tell us how when she came to Japan during the First World War, she was amazed to find the sense of beauty that fills Japanese homes. She was struck by the way they have flower arrangements, the way they tend gardens, the way they situate their temples in the mountains. She would remark how in each home pictures, paintings would be hung in particular places, and they would explain to you why a picture should be where it was and not elsewhere. The Mother had a great admiration for the Japan of those days as representing the aesthetic soul of the world. Their tea ceremony, their ways of functioning at home, everything had overtones of beauty, elegance, order and harmony. In India also we had it in our early days, we always spoke of one mind, one heart and the universe as a garden of God.
(Extract from Life Beautiful, Sri M. P. Pandit, Dipti Publications, Dipti Trust, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry)
In the Ashram where I am living for the past 42 years, the Mother has developed a pattern of life where a great emphasis is laid on this ideal of building right from childhood, an all-round beauty, harmony, joy. The soul of beauty is harmony, harmony between the mind, heart and the physical body. To utilise things in the best possible way, not to waste, not to throw pell-mell, but respect things, to be aware that each form has a consciousness, treat things with care as you would treat human beings, this is part of beauty.
The Mother would tell us how when she came to Japan during the First World War, she was amazed to find the sense of beauty that fills Japanese homes. She was struck by the way they have flower arrangements, the way they tend gardens, the way they situate their temples in the mountains. She would remark how in each home pictures, paintings would be hung in particular places, and they would explain to you why a picture should be where it was and not elsewhere. The Mother had a great admiration for the Japan of those days as representing the aesthetic soul of the world. Their tea ceremony, their ways of functioning at home, everything had overtones of beauty, elegance, order and harmony. In India also we had it in our early days, we always spoke of one mind, one heart and the universe as a garden of God.
- Sri M.P. Pandit
(Extract from Life Beautiful, Sri M. P. Pandit, Dipti Publications, Dipti Trust, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry)
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