{"id":1293,"date":"2013-07-13T01:33:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1293"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:33:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:54","slug":"43-beauty-and-art-vol-09-the-future-poetry-volume-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/09-the-future-poetry-volume-09\/43-beauty-and-art-vol-09-the-future-poetry-volume-09","title":{"rendered":"-43_Beauty and Art.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n
\n

S<\/font>ECTION <\/font>
\nE<\/font>IGHT<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tBeauty and Art<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBEAUTY<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n1<\/b><\/p>\n

            B<\/font>eauty is the special divine
\nManifestation in the physical as Truth is in the mind. Love in the heart. Power
\nin the vital. Supra-mental beauty is the highest divine beauty manifesting in
\nMatter. <\/p>\n

19.2.1934<\/b><\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Beauty is the way in which the physical expresses the Divine \u2014 but the
\nprinciple and law of Beauty is something inward and spiritual and expresses
\nitself through the form.<\/p>\n

23.8.1933<\/p>\n

SUPRAMENTAL ACTION AND BEAUTY<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes\u2014supermind action is direct, spontaneous and automatic like that of
\ninframental Nature\u2014the difference is that it is perfectly conscious. As there
\nis no disagreement or strife within itself, it produces a perfect harmony and
\nbeauty.<\/p>\n

19.9.1933<\/p>\n

BEAUTY AND<\/font><\/span>
\nANANDA<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

1<\/b><\/p>\n

Beauty is Ananda taking form \u2014 but the form need not be a physical shape.
\nOne speaks of a beautiful thought, a beautiful act, a beautiful soul. What we
\nspeak of as beauty is Ananda in manifestation; beyond manifestation beauty
\nloses itself in Ananda or, you may say, beauty and Ananda become indistinguishably
\none.<\/b><\/p>\n

14.3.1933<\/p>\n

Page
\n– 491<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

                                                                                                                      
\n2<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

Beauty is not the same as
\nDelight, but like love it is an expression, a form of Ananda, created by Ananda
\nand composed of Ananda; it conveys to the mind that delight of which it is
\nmade. Aesthe\u00adtically the delight takes the appearance of Rasa and the enjoy\u00adment
\nof this Rasa is the mind’s and the vrtal’s reaction to the perception of
\nbeauty. The spiritual realisation has a sight, a per\u00adception, a feeling which
\nis not that of the mind and vital, it passes beyond the aesthetic limit, sees
\nthe universal beauty, sees behind the object what the eye cannot see, feels
\nwhat the emotion of the heart cannot feel and passes beyond Rasa and Bhoga to
\npure Ananda, \u2014 a thing more deep, intense, rapturous than any mental or vital
\nor any physical Rasa reaction can be. It sees the One everywhere, the original
\nbliss of existence everywhere, and all these can create an inexpressible Ananda
\nof beauty, the beauty of the One, the beauty of the Divine, the beauty of the
\nBeloved, the beauty of the eternal Existence in things. It can see also the
\nbeauty of forms and objects, but with a seeing other than the mind’s, other
\nthan that of a limited physical vision, \u2014 what was not beautiful to the eye
\nbecomes beautiful, what was beautiful to the eye wears now a greater,
\nmarvellous and ineffable beauty. The spiritual realisation can bring the vision
\nand the rapture of the All-Beautiful everywhere.<\/p>\n

26.10.1935<\/p>\n

3 <\/b><\/p>\n

    The
\nword "expression" means only something that is manifested by the
\nAnanda and of which Ananda is the essence. Love and Beauty are powers of Ananda
\nas Light and Knowledge are of Consciousness. Force is inherent in Consciousness
\nand may be called part of the Divine Essence. Ananda is always there even when
\nSachchidananda takes on an impersonal aspect or appears as the sole essential
\nExistence; but Love needs a Lover and Beloved, Beauty needs a manifestation to
\nshow itself. So in the same way Consciousness is always there, but Knowledge
\nneeds a manifestation to be active, there must be a Knower and a<\/p>\n

Page
\n– 492<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

    Known. That is why the
\ndistinction is made between Ananda which is of the essence and Beauty which is
\na power of expression of Ananda in manifestation. These are of course
\nphilosophical distinctions necessary for the mind to think about the world and the
\nDivine. <\/p>\n

4.11.1935<\/p>\n

4<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    That [the connection between Beauty, Rasa and Ananda] can hardly be
\nrealised except by experience of Ananda. Ananda is not ordinary mental or vital
\ndelight in things. Rasa is the mind’s understanding of beauty and pleasure in
\nit accompanied usually by the vital’s enjoyment of it (Bhoga). Mental pleasure
\nor vital enjoyment are not Ananda, but only derivations from the concealed
\nuniversal Ananda of the Spirit in things.<\/p>\n

7.11.1935<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nRIGHT CONSCIOUSNESS
\nFOR ENJOYMENT OF BEAUTY<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/b><\/p>\n

    That
\nis the right consciousness, not to desire or to be attached to the possession
\nof anything for oneself, but to take the univer\u00adsal beauty etc. for a spiritual
\nselfless Ananda.<\/p>\n

6.11.1933<\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    There is nothing harmful in the thing [aspiration for beauty] itself. On
\nthe contrary to awake to the universal beauty and re\u00adfinement of the
\nMahalakshmi force is good. It is not an expression of greed or lust \u2014 only into
\nthese things a perversion can always come if one allows it, as into the
\nMahakali experience there may come rajasic anger and violence, so here there
\nmay come vital passion for possession and enjoyment. One must look at the
\nbeauty as the artist does without desire of possession or vital enjoyment of
\nthe lower kind.<\/p>\n

8.10.1933<\/p>\n

Page
\n– 493<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

    The enjoyment you speak of is
\nvital-physical, while beauty has to be enjoyed with the aesthetic sense \u2014
\neither human or divinised.<\/p>\n

6.4.1933<\/p>\n

EXPERIENCE OF BEAUTY<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    All things are creations of the Universal Consciousness, Beauty also. The
\n"experience" of the individual is his response or his awakening to
\nthe beauty which the Universal Consciousness has placed in things; that beauty
\nis not created by the individual consciousness. The philosophy of these lines1<\/sup>
\nis not at all clear. It says that the experience of beauty is a living truth
\nadded to beauty, a truth of which beauty is unaware. But if beauty is only the
\nexperience itself, then the experience constitutes beauty, it does not add
\nanything to beauty; for such addition would only be possible if beauty already
\nexisted in itself apart from the expe\u00adrience. What is meant by saying that
\nbeauty is unaware of the experience which creates it? The passage makes sense
\nonly if we suppose it to mean that beauty is a reality already existing apart
\nfrom the experience but unconscious of itself, and the con\u00adsciousness of
\nexperience is therefore a living truth added to the unconscious reality,
\nsomething which brings into it conscious\u00adness and life.<\/p>\n

6.1.1937<\/p>\n


\nTWO KINDS OF BEAUTY<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    There are two kinds of beauty. There is that universal beauty<\/p>\n


\n
\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup> Beauty
\nis not an attitude of sense <\/span><\/font> <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>Nor an inherent something everywhere,<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>But keen reality of experience
\n<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>Of which even beauty is all unaware,
\n<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>Adding to it a living truth; intense
\n<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span>And ever
\nliving, that were else, not there.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 494<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

which
\nis seen by the inner eye, heard by the inner ear, etc. \u2014 but the individual
\nconsciousness responds to some forms, not to others, according to its own
\nmental, vital and physical reactions. There is also the aesthetic beauty which
\ndepends on a particular standard of harmony, but different race or individual
\nconscious\u00adnesses form different standards of aesthetic harmony.<\/p>\n

18.10.1935<\/p>\n

UNIVERSAL BEAUTY AND<\/font><\/span>
\nANANDA<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 1 <\/b><\/p>\n

    There
\nis a certain consciousness in which all things become full of beauty and
\nAnanda, \u2014 even what is painful and ugly becomes an outward play, and becomes
\nsuffused with the beauty and Ananda behind. It is specially the Overmind
\nconsciousness of things \u2014 although it can be felt from time to time on the
\nother planes also. A great equality and the view of the Divine every\u00adwhere is
\nnecessary for this to come fully.<\/p>\n

10.3.1934<\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    As you say, there is a truth behind Tagore’s statement. There is such a
\nthing as a universal Ananda and a universal beauty and the vision of it comes
\nfrom an intensity of sight which sees what is hidden and more than the form \u2014
\nit is a sort of viśvarasa<\/i> such as the Universal Spirit may have had
\nin creating things. To this intensity of sight a thing that is ugly becomes
\nbeautiful by its fitness for expressing the significance, the Guna, the Rasa
\nwhich it was meant to embody. But I doubt how far one can make an aesthetic
\ncanon upon this foundation. It is so far true that an artist can out of a thing
\nthat is ugly, repellent, dis\u00adtorted create a form of aesthetic power,
\nintensity, revelatory force. The murder of Duncan
\nis certainly not an act of beauty, but Shakespeare can use it to make a great
\nartistic masterpiece. But we cannot go so far as to say that the intensity of
\nan ugly <\/p>\n

Page
\n– 495<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

thing makes it beautiful. It is
\nthe principle of a certain kind of modern caricature to make a face intensely
\nugly so as to bring out some side of the character more intensely by a hideous
\nexag\u00adgeration of lines. In doing that it may be successful, but the in\u00adtensity
\nof the ugliness it creates does not make the caricature a thing of beauty; it
\nserves its purpose, that is all. So too ugliness in painting must remain ugly,
\neven if it gets out of itself a sense of vital force or expressiveness which
\nmakes it preferable in the eyes of some to real beauty. All that hits you in
\nthe midriff vio\u00adlently and gives you a sense of intense living is not
\nnecessarily a work of art or a thing of beauty. I am answering of course on the
\nlines of your letter. I do not know what Tagore had precisely in view in thus
\ndefining beauty.<\/p>\n

3.11.1936<\/p>\n

SOURCES OF BEAUTY IN THE BODY<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

1<\/b><\/p>\n

    It is something vital in some cases, something psychic in others that
\ngives a beauty which appears in the body that is not beauty of shape, colour or
\ntexture.<\/p>\n

18.10.1935<\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    If it is vital in its origin, it need not come from beauty of mind or
\ncharacter; it is something in the life-force which may go with a good
\ncharacter, but also with a bad one.<\/p>\n

18.10.1935<\/p>\n

MODESTY AND PHYSICAL BEAUTY<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Modesty is not
\npart of physical beauty, that is a mental-vital element. As for physical beauty
\ndifferent races have different conceptions. Indians and Europeans like
\ncurves, Chinese detest them in a woman.<\/p>\n

18.10.1935<\/p>\n

\nPage – 496<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nPORTRAIT PAINTING<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

1<\/b><\/p>\n

    The failure to bring out the
\npersonality is not at all due to any defect in the technique. With any
\ntechnique the personality can be brought out. But to get it one must come out
\nfrom one’s own personality, one’s ego with its characteristic and limited look
\non things, and identify oneself with the person of the sitter, \u2014 that is how one
\nseizes it and can naturally bring it out in the painting.<\/p>\n

14.12.1936<\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    For that [bringing out the personality of the sitter] each one must find
\nhis own technique. Only for you what you must find is a way to express the
\npsychic instead of the vital. At present it is the vital you bring out. The
\npsychic is the eternal character, the vital brings out only transient
\nmovements.<\/p>\n

15.7.1935<\/p>\n

ART<\/font><\/span> AND NATURE<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

1<\/b><\/p>\n

    Art
\ncannot give what Nature gives; it gives something more.<\/p>\n

20.6.1934<\/p>\n

2 <\/b><\/p>\n

    A
\npainter can certainly bring home the aspects of the sea and the beauty of
\nNature, but he does it as an artist, in the way of Art. He does it by
\nrepresentation and suggestion, not by mere reproduction of the subject. The
\nquestion of Art or Nature being more beautiful therefore does not arise.<\/p>\n

16.3.1936<\/p>\n

Page
\n– 497<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

    There is no incompatibility between the inspiration from within and the
\ndependence on Nature. The essence of the inspi\u00adration always comes from within
\nbut the forms of expression are based on Nature though developed and modified
\nby the selective or interpretative sight of the artist.<\/p>\n

6.9.1933<\/p>\n

\nA GOOD RULE FOR APPRECIATION<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    It<\/span> is usually a good rule
\nfor other inward things beside the appreciation of the beauty of Nature \u2014 to
\nkeep it for oneself or else to share it only with those who have the same sense
\nor the same experience.<\/p>\n

15.3.1934<\/p>\n


\nTO A YOUNG ARTIST<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    That is a great error of the human vital \u2014 to want compliments for their
\nown sake and to be depressed by their absence and ima\u00adgine that it means there
\nis no capacity. In this world one starts with ignorance and imperfection in
\nwhatever one does \u2014 one has to find out one’s mistakes and to learn, one has to
\ncommit errors and find out by correcting them the right way to do things. No\u00adbody
\nin the world has ever escaped from this law. So what one has to expect from
\nothers is not compliments all the time, but praise of what is right or well
\ndone and criticism of errors and mistakes. The more one can bear criticism and
\nsee one’s mistakes, the more likely one is to arrive at the fullness of one’s
\ncapacity. Especially when one is very young \u2014 before the age of maturity \u2014 one
\ncannot easily do perfect work. What is called the juvenile work of poets and
\npainters \u2014 work done in their early years \u2014 is always imperfect, it is a
\npromise and has quali\u00adties but the real perfection and full use of their powers
\ncomes afterwards. They themselves know that very well, but they go<\/p>\n

Page
\n– 498<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

on writing or painting because
\nthey know also that by doing so they will develop their powers.<\/p>\n

    As for comparison with others, one ought not to do that. Each one has his
\nown lesson to learn, his own work to do and he must concern himself with that,
\nnot with the superior or inferior progress of others in comparison with
\nhimself. If he is behind today, he can be in full capacity hereafter and it is
\nfor that future perfection of his powers that he must labour. You are young and
\nhave everything yet to learn \u2014 your capacities are yet only in bud, you must
\nwait and work for them to be in full bloom \u2014 and you must not mind if it takes
\nmonths and years even to arrive at something satisfying and perfect. It will
\ncome in its proper time, and the work you do now is always a step towards it.<\/p>\n

    But learn to welcome criticism and the pointing out of imperfections \u2014
\nthe more you do so, the more rapidly you will advance.<\/p>\n

1933<\/p>\n

Page – 499<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECTION EIGHT   Beauty and Art   BEAUTY   1             Beauty is the special divine Manifestation in the physical as Truth is in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-09-the-future-poetry-volume-09","wpcat-29-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}