AT THE FEET OF THE MOTHER
Ask Alok da

While I was watching your talk on the Worship of Beauty, a question came to my mind. Why is it that our bodies are unable to reflect our inner reality? There are people who are not physically very beautiful but are very beautiful on the inside. Likewise, there are attractive people who are mean and cruel. This is probably the Divine’s Play but again, it does not answer anything. So why is beauty here so out of place? In the future will the outer reality reflect the inner reality of a person🤔? 

Very pertinent observation. The reason of course is a lack of translation or correspondence between inner Reality and outer truth in general. The material world does not necessarily reveal the Divine Reality within. It obscures and even distorts it. This is so because there are numerous intermediary forces that have gone into creation, each of which as if acts independent of the others. The result is a chaos and clash rather than a developing harmony.  The Mother comments on these lines from Savitri. 

It lends beauty to the terror of the gulfs

And fascinating eyes to perilous Gods,

Invests with grace the demon and the snake.

Sri Aurobindo: Savitri 

The Mother’s comments: It’s charming!

That’s exactly the nature of the vital, what Théon called the “nervous world.”

It is true of the physical world in general. 

For example a very generous person with a beautiful heart may be poor and vice versa, a truly courageous and helpful person may not be necessarily physically strong and vice versa. Two people who are meant to be together are far separated in time and space. And yes an inwardly beautiful person may not outwardly look as beautiful in appearance. It is so because the outer nature is the stronghold of ignorance and is moulded largely by the force of heredity but the inner nature is largely moulded by the forces of the environment as well as under the pressure of the soul. So right now there is no clear correspondence. But one day it will be so as the forces of material nature will obey the Spirit and reflect and manifest fully the beauty of the inner being and the soul. 

Affectionately,

Alok Da

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