Beautiful Body, Lovely Soul

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Death of Adonis by Luca Giordano

On a walk back from the corner store yesterday, I noticed a man walking towards the market. He was in his early fifties and the unfortunate thing was that his legs, hands, back etc. were bent and crooked. The poor man was an ugly sight indeed as he made his way towards the market.

At other times, one notices someone beautiful and is wonder struck at their beauty. A Human can change clothing easily but making changes to the body, at least in any major way, is not possible. A body forms at birth automatically based on genes its inherits and then changes with age according to a gene map and external influences, much as a tree may develop from  seed. One can not help but reflect on these differences between humans, some are ugly or insipid looking and others full of charm and charisma. One famous personality I noticed in media has a nose that goes in one direction while his lips go in another. However as explained next, how poor or awful a person looks is not of much importance to mystics, perhaps not much more than a dress gone dirty or a wardrobe malfunction.

Mystics regard the soul within as the template on which the body develops. The body is regarded merely as temporary clothing for the soul. It changes with age and circumstance during a life time and in far more significant ways after death. External influences on it during its growth during a lifetime are not regarded as random but as something within the control of Universal intelligence. However, individual souls have the freedom as to how they may change and evolve and sooner or later the body changes to conform to the nature of the soul within. Some age gracefully and grow more beautiful with time while others become uglier. A soul rooted in love, truth and beauty gravitates towards beauty and so does the body that houses that soul.

Perhaps the crooked man I chanced upon yesterday distorted his soul in some major way in the past for his body to have become like that. Yet, that is not bad enough because it is possible for a soul to be born as a lizard or worse in a new life if that is what is suitable for the condition of a soul. Conversely, a man or woman may make the soul so beautiful that they are born as an Adonis or a Venus in their next life. The point to note here is that we have far more control on how our soul develops rather than our bodies that then develops automatically to conform to the quality of the soul. While we can dress our bodies with nice clothing, the Lord dresses our souls.

However, we may encounter extremely beautiful in life who are evil or conversely fierce looking persons who are gentle and kind at heart. How does that happen? The answer to that is not difficult. The evolutionary journey of a soul is rarely unidirectional. Often beautiful souls after success become corrupt and evil so that what arrived at birth no longer remains so as they age. Nothing corrupts humans like success and it can do so in very intimate ways when the success is as fundamental as their looks.

There is a lag between how one looks and the condition of the soul within because major changes can only take place in new lives. Every individual life is a child of the Universe and the Universe in its compassion for all life gives a long rope in the hope that one would rectify before pronouncing judgment.

Some mystics also believe that success of mankind in developed parts has peaked in the late seventies of the previous century and a decline has set in since then. Selfishness, greed, lies etc and the stress born out of it have been increasing. Does that reflect in the way humans now and before look? Certainly it does, more and more humans are becoming lumps of fat and many have ruined beauty with obesity. Some of the most beautiful of individuals are picked up by the modern film industry and one can easily compare the beauty of film stars of recent and earlier decades to realize all is not well.

A mystic is never in doubt that a beautiful man or lady gone evil and not rectifying that behavior would emerge as a gargoyle or an ugly repulsive thing in the next life, whereas the ugly man or woman who develops a kind and compassionate heart would be given a beautiful body, sooner or later with a kiss of love from the Almighty.

"True beauty lies in the soul, the body being merely a garment that shall be changed in due course. " author

Comments

Vinod Khurana said…
Work on the soul
build it with care
and chisel it well
to make it special
but never exhibit
its beauty and charm
self evident it is
and uncontaminated
by the the world

Raise it further
bridge the gap
till it merges
with its source
and rests there
before it proceeds
on its journey
in a new apron
once again!

with regards
Vinod
May 17, 2015 at 5:13 AM
ProfAshok said…
Hi, Vinod, very spiritual words indeed. While you have written beautiful poetry for long, it has become more spiritual with time. Thanks for contributing these valuable words to the post.
May 17, 2015 at 11:49 AM
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