In Sāma-veda, Sāma-veda.
Sister Mary: Well, if you're relaxing, if you need to relax, and you sit and listen to some music, it doesn't say praise God all the time, but in fact is, because it's beautiful.
Prabhupāda: No, we don't accept anything beautiful without God. Without God, everything is ugly to us. Everything ugly.
Sister Mary: So you have to bless it by offering it to God first.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is another thing.
Revatīnandana: Just like we have so many beautiful songs and melodies and everything. They're very nice. And we sing these songs. They are glorifying the Lord. And we enjoy like that. Music is there, everything is there, but because it is directly in the devotional service of God, therefore there is this bhakti, there is this devotion there. Devotion to God. Without that, everything becomes void. Tasteless.
Guest (2): Can I get one point straight? Is the Beethoven symphony all right provided it is blessed as an object and a work of art. Is it then all right? Or is it not all right because it doesn't use religious themes?
Haṁsadūta: Originally, music and art were employed only to glorify the Lord in the scripture and...
Prabhupāda: In Sāma-veda, Sāma-veda.
Haṁsadūta: Gradually, if you study our history, music history, God was left out. Just like you will see landscapes, and there's nothing in there about God. It was left out. But originally the landscape, there was some depiction of the activities of God or His representative.
Guest (2): So a Beethoven symphony is not all right.
Haṁsadūta: It's not a matter of Beethoven symphony. Art means to glorify God. If God is in the... Just like this picture. There is a mountain, there is sky, but what is the point there? The point is Kṛṣṇa. There's a book, but the point is the spiritual master. Here's a landscape, but the point is Kṛṣṇa.
Guest (2): The original point I'm trying to get at...
Haṁsadūta: If there is some music, you must hear something about God's activity.
Guest (2): But suppose that was a beautiful landscape on its own, just the landscape, then it's worthless?
Revatīnandana: Limited and temporary enjoyment only. Limited and temporary enjoyment.
Guest (2): But you accept that the temporary enjoyment is there, would you?
Revatīnandana: Yes. And limited and temporary. It's called capala sukha, flickering.
Prabhupāda: Now, even there was no God's picture, one who is God conscious, he can see in the natural scenery presentation, he can see, "Oh, how God is artistic. How he has manufactured this flower, how he has painted, how He has made this tree." So that is higher intelligence. That is higher intelligence. Because without God, there can be nothing existing. So one has to learn how to see God in everything. That is another thing. That is higher status. Yes. But in the lower status of God consciousness one is advised that you should not see anything without God. But in the higher status, there is nothing in the world which is without God. But we should not imitate the higher status of life in the lower status of our position. Otherwise, one who has learned about God, he can see God in this flower.