The Divine Nature of Beauty: an Expression of Ananda in Manifestation

We are predisposed, through cultural habit, to see beauty in an outward form. Those who look a bit deeper warn us that ‘beauty is only skin-deep’, and that outward forms of beauty may hide inward blemishes. The essence of deception is to create the appearance of outward beauty while hiding inward ulterior motivations or even malice. Beauty therefore is more than just the interaction of our response to a perception of the senses, but goes deeper to the radiance of the Spirit that communicates through beauty in the physical world.

We may experience the inner radiance, power or truth, and perceive beauty in anything we experience in the world, even in the destructive power of massive storms. Sometimes the beauty we see in a work of art is the ability of that art to reach deeply into the being and evoke the truth of the Spirit. This can include works of art that depict outer suffering or deprivation.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Beauty is as much an expression of the Divine as Knowledge, Power or Ananda.”

“Beauty is the special divine Manifestation in the physical as Truth is in the mind, Love in the heart, Power in the vital. Supramental beauty is the highest divine beauty manifesting in Matter.”

“Beauty is the way in which the physical expresses the Divine — but the principle and law of Beauty is something inward and spiritual and expresses itself through the form.”

“Beauty is Ananda taking form — but the form need not be a physical shape. One speaks of a beautiful thought, a beautiful act, a beautiful soul. What we speak of as beauty is Ananda in manifestation; beyond manifestation beauty loses itself in Ananda or, you may say, beauty and Ananda become indistinguishably one.”

Sri Aurobindo, Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, Chapter 12, Other Aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, Religion, pp. 352-355