Beauty is a form of bliss. Where there is beauty you will also find joy. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. What is beauty? Is it the world, which imparts beauty to a thing, or is it already inherent in the object? We have seen how all things undergo change. Consider all these things, which undergo change, how long, can they remain beautiful? Only that which is permanent can be beautiful? The one permanent entity is God and so, God alone is beautiful. There is nothing in the world, which is more beautiful than God. The most important duty of a devotee is to drink the nectar of bliss, which emanates from that beauty. To imbibe and fill yourself with this divinity, which is so full of beauty, there is the need for acquiring certain virtues. In order to develop these virtues, you will have to destroy the weaknesses and shortcomings that fester within you. (DBG, pp. 172-173)
For the hand, charity lends beauty.
For speech it is truth that lends beauty.
For ears, wisdom lends beauty.
What more beauty do you need than these?
For life, service to humanity is beauty.
In Kannada there is a wise saying that houses make a village beautiful, flowers make the branch of the tree beautiful, moon beautifies the sky, waves beautify the Ocean and character makes a person beautiful. (SSS Vol.26, p. 32)
Once Ravana felt very angry. He could not control himself. He went to Lord Shiva and said, ‘O Lord, how biased you are! How narrow-minded you are! You endowed ladies with such beauty, charm and exquisiteness and created man like a shapeless log of wood. What is the reason for this? The Lord Shiva laughed and said ‘O madcap! You are drawing such comparisons only because you don’t know what beauty means. Tell me; where in women is elegance of peacock’s feather in peahen? Where is the grandeur of the humped back of bull, in the cow? Hearing this Ravana shut his mouth. Therefore, god bestows beauty where it is required and to those that require it. Beauty is related to the heart. If your heart is pure, you look beautiful in the eyes of all and give happiness to all. If your heart is impure, only profane things will attract you. I had mentioned earlier while speaking on Ramayana that once Surpanakha who deemed herself most beautiful, approached Rama saying, ‘Rama! Does Sita possess the beauty that I do? She looks emaciated. Look how beautiful I am. Rama and Lakshmana laughed within themselves at this. Everyone considers himself/herself good looking but may appear ugly to the others. So, they did not want to argue with her. They told her ‘We don’t match your good looks. Please find someone who is beautiful as you are.’ It is easy to criticize but very difficult to analyse. But in this world many criticize divinity in many ways.
Every aspect of Indian culture radiates beauty and joy. There is beauty in joy and joy in beauty. Beauty is joy and joy is nectar of life. Some great books define the nature of god in particular ways. You must read everything about Indian culture with reverence and interest. Indian culture does not differentiate one faith from another. All faiths are one. All forms are one. For instance everyone pays homage to the dead body when someone passes away. Why do they do that? If you ask Mohammedans they would say, ‘Sir, the soul which had permeated this body was precious and beautiful. Since such soul had lived in this body we salute it’. Similarly, Christians would say, ‘we had ignored when the beautiful soul was present in the body. Today since the soul has left, we honour this body’. They perform various funeral rites religiously. Since every religion has belief of treating human body with respect, we too must do it. What does human body represent? Deho Devalaya Prokto Jeevo Deva Sanathana (body is the temple of and the eternal In-dweller is God). This body is indeed a sacred temple. We should realize the divinity within. (SSB 2002, pp. 206-208)