THE BEAUTY OF SELF- REALIZATION
These boys,
these girls, how they have become so nice? They are known as
“bright-faced.” Why? Because näräyanah-paräyanah: they have taken
seriously Krishna as the object of worship. So actually if you want
happiness within this world, peace, and prosperity, just become Krishna
conscious. All problems will be solved and you will be happy. SB 6.1.17 lecture
Because of being experienced in self-realization, a transcendentalist certainly becomes bright-faced. ---SB7.13.18p
"The dead body has no beauty because no one will accept the dead body of a
so-called beautiful woman. Therefore, the conclusion is that the spirit
spark is beautiful, and because of the soul's beauty one is attracted by
the beauty of the outward body." -SB1.10.16p
THE TRANSCENDENTAL TONIC
"A devotee’s material body may literally transform into a spiritual one, like the body of Dhruva Mahäräja just before his ascent to Vaikuntha...'Before getting aboard the Vaikuntha airplane, Dhruva Mahäräja worshiped and circumambulated it, and also offered obeisances to the associates of Vishnu. In the meantime he became as brilliant and illuminating as molten gold. He was thus completely prepared to board the transcendental plane.' (SB 4.12.29) ...Srila Sridhara Svämi explains hiranmayam as meaning “full of effulgence.” In other words, Dhruva Mahäräja obtained a new body made of pure spiritual energy. To thus obtain a better body is quite possible. Srila Sanätana Gosvämi mentions that even drinking a special herbal tonic can give one a more attractive material body; then what to speak of the attractive form one can attain by always drinking the transcendental tonic of bhakti-rasa." -SBB 1.3.61p
GOODNESS
“There are nine gates in the body: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, the genitals and the anus. When every gate is illuminated by the symptoms of goodness, it should be understood that one has developed the mode of goodness. In the mode of goodness, one can see things in the right position, one can hear things in the right position, and one can taste things in the right position. One becomes cleansed inside and outside. In every gate there is development of the symptoms of happiness, and that is the position of goodness." Bg14.11p
“The river Ganges flowing in the heavenly planets is full of golden
lotus flowers, and we, the residents of those planets, eat the stems of
the flowers. Thus we are very beautiful, more so than the inhabitants of
any other planet. This is due to the law of cause and effect, for if
one eats food in the mode of goodness, the mode of goodness increases
the beauty of his body.” -Antya 1.92
HOUSEWORK FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY Evening Darsana, Feb. 15, 1977:
Prabhupāda: In India the practice was hand grind daily. The women
will do that. That's exercise for them, and they keep their body fit and
beautiful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oxen can also grind, I think. Can oxen also?
Prabhupāda: No, there is no need oxen. Individually, small
grinding- chapki(?). And in the morning they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and grind.
(sings) Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare
Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare... This is very nice process. Whatever they
require for the day, they grind fresh. Very nice system. And actually,
by this exercise, they keep their body beautiful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Keeps them well engaged.
Prabhupāda: And engagement. Yaśodāmāyi was doing that, even she
is the queen of Nanda Mahārāja, what to speak of other women. Churning
milk, grinding the wheat, this is their household. We have got that
picture. Full engagement. Otherwise gossiping...
Prabhupāda: (chuckling) "Idle brain, devil's workshop."
DEVOTION TO ONE'S HUSBAND
From Conversation that happened in Fiji in 1976:
Prabhupäda: A woman’s beauty is how much she’s devoted to her husband. That is beauty, not personal beauty. One who is ugly, his beauty is his knowledge. Similarly, woman’s beauty is how much she’s devoted to her husband. One bird is black just like a crow but her voice is so sweet. The more a woman is devoted to her husband, she’s beautiful. That is Vedic culture.
Room Conversation Los Angeles June 23, 1975
Prabhupada: Woman is not trained up now to become a chaste wife. That is the defect of the civilization. Formerly, woman was trained up only to become, remain faithful to his [her] husband, that’s all. Nari-rupam pati-vratah: “Woman’s beauty is how she is faithful to her husband.” That’s all. ... .... If a woman is trained up not to talk with any other man except her husband, that is her beauty. That enhances the beauty and prestige. This is Vedic knowledge.
Jayatirtha: In today’s society that standard is unimaginable.
Prabhupada: Yes, therefore there is no adjustment. Everyone is suffering in spite of so-called education. Nobody is happy
Prabhupada: Yes, therefore there is no adjustment. Everyone is suffering in spite of so-called education. Nobody is happy
Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk, March 19, 1976, Mayapur, India
Prabhupada: And the women are declaring, “independent.” They are begging door to door to a man, “Please give me shelter. Give me a child,” and they’re independent. One American woman,was…. She was speaking that “In India the woman are treated as slave. We don’t want.” So I told her that it is better to become slave of one person than to slave of become hundreds. (laughter) The woman must become a slave. So instead of becoming slaves of so many persons, it is better to remain satisfied, a slave of one person. And our Vedic civilization says, nari-rupam pati-vratam: “The woman is beautiful when she remains as a slave to the husband.” That is the beauty, not the personal beauty. How much she has learned to remain as a slave to the husband, that is Vedic civilization… And the beauty of woman is how much she is devoted and obedient to the husband. So it is very difficult.
SHYNESS
"(A)woman’s shyness is...beauty. We have got practical experience. And command(‘s respect) also....My friend came, Dinanath Mishra. They were our neighbor. So one day we were sitting on the corridor of the house. One sweeper woman, she wanted to come within, but very shyful, and with a covering of the head, although with broomstick and bucket, she was waiting because we were sitting both (in)side. So she was feeling little shy not to enter the house. So we decided to move so that she may come. This example is given. She is a sweeper, not very respectable, maidservant or sweeper, but on account of her shyness we had to welcome, 'Yes, we are moving. You come in.' Just see. This is psychology." --SB 5.6.4 lecture, Vrndavana, 10/26/76
This shyness is a gift of nature to the fair sex, and it enhances their beauty and prestige, even if they are of a less important family or even if they are less attractive." --SB1.10.16 purport
THE BEAUTY OF MOTHERHOOD
Prabhupäda: Without husband, woman is very, very unhappy. Therefore according to Vedic system the father has got a very responsible duty to get the daughter married. It is a responsibility of the father. In the absence of father, elder brother. Now the scientists have given them contraceptives. Don't marry and use contraceptive. This is scientific advancement. And the contraceptive user of girls, they're never beautiful. Natural beauty... Natural beauty's lost. Did you mark it? Between a woman having natural children, her beauty's better than the girl using contraceptives. It is natural. As soon as you check natural system, you become in difficulty. Morning Walk 4/30/73, L.A.
Side Note: There is a marked difference in women who've had children, as Prabhupada points out here, and perhaps a biological one, considering that each time a woman conceives a child, her entire system goes through a cleanse and rejuvenation period while forming the baby.
THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
One’s bodily luster and beauty, one’s constitution, one’s activities and one’s qualities all depend on the law of cause and effect." -Antya 1.92
to be continued