By Damodar Prasad das
In a Back to Godhead article entitled “Truth and Beauty”, published in 1950, Srila Prabhupada claimed that not only were truth and beauty compatible terms, but “the actual truth, which is absolute, is always beautiful” (SSR).
In the article Srila Prabhupada relates the story of the mundane poet, attracted by the physical beauty of a young pious girl. In order to rid herself of his unwanted attentions, she takes a strong dose of laxatives and purgatives, storing the loose stool and vomit in jars. When the poet approaches her again after some time, he is astonished at the transformation of her body, and even more so when she shows him the “ingredients” of her beauty.
“Mundane intellectuals and aesthetics,” Srila Prabhupada writes, “are deluded by outward beauty and attraction of the relative truth and are unaware of the spiritual spark, which is both truth and beauty at the same time.” (SSR)
How much this simple story teaches us about the nature of beauty!
The modern era saw an attempt to separate beauty from truth, in the form of separating art from truth. Oscar Wilde famously stated, in a controversial prologue to his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” that “All art is quite useless.” These words heralded an approach to art which condemned any attempt to make art subservient to moral teaching. “Art for art’s sake” or art pour l’art became the motto of this era.
Whistler, the American painter bore a grudge against Wilde for what he thought to be plagiarism of his own views, expressed at a public ten o’clock lecture delivered in Prince’s Hall, Piccadilly in February 1885.
The ten o’clock lecture must have sounded magnificent, but it makes for poor reading. In it, the speaker fulminates and bellows against all who misunderstand and misrepresent art, and they appear to be legion. He objects at the connection which people try to find between art and life, and the expectation that a work of art should in some way elevate the viewer. Art is a “whimsical Goddess”, “her strong sense of joy tolerates no dullness”, and thus he views Art, the goddess, doting on scoundrels of “the East,” “the opium eaters of Nanking”, seeking thrills in dens of vice and neglecting the unfortunate Swiss in their piety.
There is no need to express further the salacious views Mr Whistler holds of the relationship between art and the artist, but it is clear that in this relationship there is no concern for morality. Indeed, these views seem to be directed solely to establishing a license for artists to flout conventional notions of morality in the pursuit of beauty, a view which led to unfortunate consequences for many artists, both successful and failed. Beyond his colourful metaphorical language, no attempt is made to define art.
Art, in the early usage of the term, applied not only to the decorative or sensual arts, but referred to the principles and techniques by which any human activity was carried out. Thus, one might have spoken, as one still occasionally does, of the art of baking, the art of medicine, the art of law, or the art of work. Such phrases imply not only the standard techniques by which these activities are carried out, but also some principle which transcends the ordinary regulations guiding a certain activity. By the perfect performance of a particular activity, one discovers the art of it.
This is described by Krishna as “yoga” in Bhagavad-Gita, or “the art of all work (Bg 2.50), which is further explained as working without a fruitive mentality. The best and simplest way of working in such a way is to work for Krishna as the true muse and inspiration for all work. Working in this way not only elevates the work to “art”, but also elevates the artist and the beneficiaries to the kingdom of God.
The idea of art for art’s sake has been traced to the eighteenth century writings of the Earl of Shaftesbury (Belle-Vilada, 1986), who, although emphasising the importance of the appreciation of Beauty, also took pains to establish how such activities should be conducive to the development of character.
That the beautiful and the good are inextricably connected, in Shaftesbury’s view, follows from the fact that what we judge to be beautiful is taught by nature: Just as the sense of harmony and proportion in shape inspires our notions of the beautiful, so must harmony and proportion in action inspire our sense of the good. And so what is beautiful, and what is good, is connected by an innate, eternal principle of proportion and harmony (Cooper, 2015).
It is also to be noted that beauty is perceived by the mind (viz the soul) not by the body, or the senses. The admiration of beauty in nature, or in forms, in its proper function, remains as a form of dispassionate contemplation. The desire to control the beautiful thing removes us from any appreciation of its beauty. For example, we may admire a field, but were that admiration to lead us to purchase the field, the act of purchase would in no way enhance our appreciation of its beauty (Cooper, 2015).
This meditation is concluded by the realisation that the contemplation of beauty by the soul, or by a conditioned soul, teaches the soul to discover a corresponding beauty within itself (Cooper, 2015). The real artist is one who views and pursues beauty as a means of self-contemplation and self-discovery, and so true art has a vital use for conditioned living beings. True art inspires the viewer with a sense of his own beauty as a spiritual spark which is truth and beauty at the same time, and which participates in a greater all-encompassing truth and beauty. “When his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness” (Bg 2.56). By such contemplation, the artist creates within himself an enduring work of art which lays the foundation for an eternal peace.
Damodar Prasad das (BCaiS)
References:
Belle-Villada G.H. (1986) The Idea of Art for Art’s Sake: Intellectual Origins, Social Conditions, and Poetic Doctrine. Science & Society, 50(4): 415-439.
Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translated by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami (Mumbai: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1986)
Srila Prabhupada. Truth and Beauty. Science of Self Realisation. (Sidney: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1997)
Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury, The Moralists: a Philosophical Rhapsody: A recital of certain conversations on natural and moral subjects, ed J Bennet (2015).