Aesthetic

Expressions researched:
"aesthetic" |"aesthetically" |"aestheticism" |"aesthetics"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.16.11, Translation and Purport:

Mahārāja Parīkṣit sat on a chariot drawn by black horses. His flag was marked with the sign of a lion. Being so decorated and surrounded by charioteers, cavalry, elephants and infantry soldiers, he left the capital to conquer in all directions.

Mahārāja Parīkṣit is distinguished from his grandfather Arjuna, for black horses pulled his chariot instead of white horses. He marked his flag with the mark of a lion, and his grandfather marked his with the mark of Hanumānjī. A royal procession like that of Mahārāja Parīkṣit surrounded by well-decorated chariots, cavalry, elephants, infantry and band not only is pleasing to the eyes, but also is a sign of a civilization that is aesthetic even on the fighting front.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.36, Purport:

The aesthetic sense of the Lord is manifested in the artistic, colorful creation of varieties of birds like the peacock, parrot and cuckoo. The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas and Vidyādharas, can sing wonderfully and can entice even the minds of the heavenly demigods. Their musical rhythm represents the musical sense of the Lord. How then can He be impersonal? His musical taste, artistic sense and standard intelligence, which is never fallible, are different signs of His supreme personality. The Manu-saṁhitā is the standard lawbook for humanity, and every human being is advised to follow this great book of social knowledge. Human society is the residential quarters for the Lord.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

You are a scientist, all right, it doesn't matter. By your scientific research work you find out the Supreme. Then it is your perfection. You are businessman? Oh. With your money just find out the Supreme. You are a lover? Just find out the supreme lover. You are after taste, aesthetic, or... Atheistic not; aesthetic sense, taste, beauty, if you find out the Supreme, your searching after beauty will be satisfied. Everything. Kṛṣṇa, that is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. You are searching after something. If you find Kṛṣṇa then you'll see yes, your goal is attained. Therefore His name is Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: A posteriori means after; sense impressions. So he developed this process for attaining knowledge in three steps. The first step he calls he transcendental aesthetic, and this is the basic stage which synthesizes sense experience through concepts of time and space. In other words, the mind acts upon sensory perceptions and applies time and space relations to them. So he says that this knowing of time and space is a priori; it's an internal creation of the mind. Before we sense anything, we have an idea of time and space. So as soon as we sense something, we can apply time and space ideas.

Prabhupāda: He said something transcendental?

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: He calls it the transcendental aesthetic.

Prabhupāda: Transcendental means it is not in my experience, but I get the experience from higher authority, paramparā.

Śyāmasundara: I think his definition of transcendental is slightly different.

Prabhupāda: Transcendental means beyond your sense experience. That is the real meaning. You can see the dictionary. Transcendental is that which transcends.

Śyāmasundara: "Transcendental: of an a priori character, not based on experience; intuitively accepted; innate in the mind; superrational; supernatural; consisting of or dealing in or inspired by abstractions.' The way he is using "transcendental" is simply he is trying to understand knowledge through abstraction, by abstracting.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: No, we don't want that. Go, spread, preach, and make your nation glorified.

Śyāmasundara: He discusses one more topic, aesthetics, or what is the idea of beauty. He says that beauty is the absolute idea shining through to the sense world, or the spirit shining through to the sense forms.

Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore our Kṛṣṇa is the most beautiful. That beauty. Because Kṛṣṇa is most beautiful. Just like I said the other day that the nice bird was chirping, I say Kṛṣṇa is speaking. So reservoir of all pleasure, all beauty. So beauty is appreciable because it is one of the qualifications of Kṛṣṇa.

Śyāmasundara: So beauty in the material world is Kṛṣṇa's, Kṛṣṇa...

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: ...philosopher is called Kierkegaard. He was a Danish philosopher, last century. He is the father of what is called existentialism, which is a very prominent modern philosophy, probably the most prominent modern philosophy. Last time we were discussing the phenomenologists, who are interested in getting at the "whatness," or the essence of a thing. These existentialists, they are more interested in the "thatness," or the existence of a thing. So this Kierkegaard describes three steps of the life experience. The first step he calls the aesthetic step or stage of life. This aesthetic stage of life is characterized by two types of persons: that one engaged in sense gratification completely, unrestricted sense pleasure; and the mental speculator or philosopher. He said that in both cases that both persons are uncommitted to any specific goals and that they become bored with their activities, unrestricted sense gratification and philosophical speculation; that they are devoid of commitment—they are not committing themselves to anything, simply enjoying and speculating—and that this type of life, this aesthetic type of life, is...

Prabhupāda: So how they can be philosopher if they have no ultimate goal?

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: So he proposes these three stages of existence. The first one we talked about is the aesthetic stage of noncommitment—simply sense gratification and speculation. The second stage he says that a man makes a leap in commitment and begins to concern himself or involve himself with the world on an ethical level. And the third stage is the religious stage, or self-realization. But in the second stage he says that "The despair of life has lead one to the commitment to make choices, to commit himself to action and to enter into life's involvement and become ethically concerned; that suddenly he's turned within himself and in his passion and freedom and decision or subjectivity, then he begins to find himself."

Prabhupāda: What does he find?

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Prabhupāda: And he accepts that self is eternal, integrating past, present and future.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. Well, this is the next level. This is the third and highest level. He said that first of all there's the aesthetic level of unrestricted sense gratification, but this ends in despair. Then comes the ethical level, when one decides, "Well, I will take a cause, good cause, and I will commit myself to it and act upon that." Then he comes to the development of the religious stage, or the highest stage. When he, his decision-making power is so advanced that...

Prabhupāda: In other words, he's supporting our movement.

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Because we are in the topmost stage.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: Yesterday we were discussing that Schopenhauer's idea that the world is basically an evil place. So he says that there are three means of salvation from this basically evil world. The first means he calls aesthetic salvation, or contemplation of higher ideas which transport us above passion, just like poetry, music, art. By contemplating these higher ideas, you become absent of desire. Desire drops away, and you become transported to a higher plane of not willing, above our will.

Prabhupāda: That is mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā. It is not a new thing. It is called paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59), and actually it is happening. Just like my students, so their former life and this life. They have given up their former abominable life because they have got better life, better thoughts, better philosophy, better eating, everything better. So mind can accommodate something. If you always fill up the mind with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so there is no chance of the mind being filled up with any other nonsense. That is our philosophy.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: This means of salvation called aesthetic...

Prabhupāda: This is salvation, because they are saved from the four kinds of sinful life: illicit sex, meat eating, intoxication and gambling. Because they have got better engagement, they don't like to do this.

Śyāmasundara: He is referring here to art, poetry.

Prabhupāda: Yes, everything is there. Here is art—we are painting. Our students are painting nice pictures. Art. And poetry, all our Bhagavad-gītā and Bhāgavatam are full of poetries.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that we admit. We agree also. So we do not want to keep them for a few moments, but we want to keep them continually in that consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Śyāmasundara: This aesthetic salvation...

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Where is Rūpānuga? Inform them that we will come.

Śyāmasundara: This aesthetic salvation is only possible momentarily. Contemplation of poetry and art and music, these are...

Prabhupāda: No, that is possible. Just like practice. A child is practiced to play, but if he is constantly practiced to read and write, he becomes educated. So not momentary. It is a practice. If you practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then other consciousness will automatically vanish.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: No, that is possible. Just like practice. A child is practiced to play, but if he is constantly practiced to read and write, he becomes educated. So not momentary. It is a practice. If you practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then other consciousness will automatically vanish.

Śyāmasundara: But he is describing only one type of salvation, called aesthetic salvation, where one transcends the normal state of desire by seeing art or hearing music or poetry. Only this momentary transcendence.

Prabhupāda: So why momentary? It can continue perpetually.

Śyāmasundara: By seeing pictures and art...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. You see Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa picture, you see the Deity, well-dressed Deity, artistically, flowers. So always see. Why momentary?

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: So even aesthetically, one can have permanent salvation.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Aesthetic with a—I mean to say—solid program. Because Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is all goodness. You find whatever the so-called philosophers will describe, we have got already there. Already there. If you say aesthetic salvation, this is aesthetic salvation. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau **. To worship the Deity. And you cannot derive benefit unless the aesthetic sense is applied to the higher authority, with reverence and respect. That is wanted.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: He says it's only momentary.

Prabhupāda: Momentary. So no, we want to give actual salvation, perpetually aesthetic ideas about Kṛṣṇa.

Śyāmasundara: He is describing three types of salvation. That was the first type, momentary. The second type he calls ethical salvation. He says that because the aim of our life is the final satisfaction of the will, after which no more desires will arise, this being our aim of life...

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner and Henry David Thoreau:

Hayagrīva: Well, his conception of religion is that of the..., having, playing some music, and uh, daliance with the supernatural, intellectual aesthetic enjoyment. He says, "What else does organized religion provide?" Religion is a form of, sort of enjoying art.

Prabhupāda: No. Art is there, and singing is there, dancing is there, but that is based on spiritual conception. That is the difficulty in the Western countries, that they are not fully aware of the conception of religion. Therefore Bhāgavata says that cheating religion, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ. There is no purpose, simply a recreation of different nature in material life. That is, means, they do not know, except sense gratification, any other engagement. They think religion is also another kind of, type of sense gratification, "So we can perform it." And actually that is going on.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: It is all in Sanskrit. What difficulty you are feeling?

Allen Ginsberg: I don't feel too much difficulty, except aesthetically I do feel a difficulty. Yes, there is. The difficulty I feel is that there should be some flower of the American language to communicate in rather than...

Prabhupāda: Therefore we are seeking your help.

Allen Ginsberg: Yeah. Well I haven't found a way, I still just stay chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Therefore why I have come to you? That is also my view. I have come to America with this view, that America is on the summit of material civilization. They are not poverty-stricken. You see? And they are seeking after something. Therefore I have come, that "You take this, you'll be happy." That is my mission. And if the Americans take, then all other countries will take because America is leading at the present moment. So persons, exalted persons like you, you try to understand. What is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, anyone can chant. Even the child is trying. There is no difficulty. And so far what is our modes of living?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: I think it is stopped. Just see how beautifully it is colored. This sense, aesthetic sense. Kṛṣṇa knows how it will become beautiful. Svā-bhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Construction—eh?—of the flower. And there is no intelligence.

Hari-śauri: Chance.

Prabhupāda: So beat them with shoes and when they protest, "Oh, it is chance, don't mind. It is by chance I am beating." (laughter)

Bhagavān: It seems they are struggling so hard for existence they do not have time to contemplate these simple things, working so hard.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Gargamuni -- London 22 September, 1969:

That means they publish with our money, our literature, and sometimes, if somebody goes to sell to some bookseller, they take strong objection. At the same time, they want to publish from the business point of view, without taking into consideration the aesthetic and philosophical side of the literature. I am enclosing herewith one copy of the letter of the MacMillan Company sent by Brahmananda to me, and you seriously consider the whole situation along with Tamala and let me know your definite opinion what to do.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Bali-mardana -- Los Angeles March 26, 1970:

Just try to convince the younger section about the importance of this movement and how this one single venture can solve all the problems of the world. Krsna Consciousness is not dry. It includes all the varieties of human cultivation of knowledge. We can give direction in politics, in sociology, in religion, in philosophy, in arts, in music, in aesthetics, and in what not? It is complete. Simply we have to administer this novel idea to the people in general very magnificently. The program is already there, and it is very simple. I wish that you establish at least ten centers in Australia or in the adjoining islands. That is my desire.

I shall always pray, as I am duty bound, for your long life and prosperity in Krsna Consciousness.