Role of Beauty as Value in Everyday Life

Author(s): Hemant Shah
Publisher: Z_Philosophical_Writings_001802.pdf
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269069/1

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........... ........... THE ROLE OF BEAUTY AS A VALUE IN EVERYDAY LIFE 1. INTRODUCTION Beauty and quest for the source of Beauty has remained, ever since, Vedas and Ancient Greeks, a major concern for thinkers, artists and poets. Beauty, being a feeling, is exceedingly difficult to explain. Still more, it is almost impossible to discuss all the issues and views at length in a small paper of 12 to 15 pages. My efforts in this paper, like a package-tour journey, is to have a very broad survey, avoiding details in most of the cases and taking note of the significant aspects, and thus to motivate the reader (listener) towards deeper, sounder and clearer understanding about Beauty. I deal with the theory and philosophy of Beauty, as well as, the concept of Beauty in West and in India, and the Axiological conception of Beauty - Beauty as a Value. The paper towards the end is concerned with Beauty in relation to man's everyday life as he lives today. I hope it will serve the purpose. Two more clarification : (1) I have treated Beauty inclusive of the Sublime, and have avoided the long discussion and distinctions between the two. (2) Wherever it is possible, I have introduced Indian stand point based on Indian Philosophy, Vedas and Upanishads, so as to inake it more beneficial to the readers of the West. I am sure I will be excused for these modifications.

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64 Philosophical Writings 2. ON BEAUTY 2.1. Meaning and Concept : The term 'Beauty' as a quality of the 'beautiful is though familiar to everybody, its understanding has proved exceedingly difficult. It is generally agreed and accepted as a value, and its first essential quality is to please. It is our experience that whenever we contemplate any such object that is beautiful, the feeling of pleasure is stirred up in our souls. This is a very prominent subjective aspect. We should also note that "the objective aspect of beautiful objects has largely remained a puzzle or mystery. Some aestheticians are inclined to deny its very existence, while others assert that beauty is inherent in, or dependent on, the object of easthetic experience themselves; a few even maintain, following Plato, that beauty has transcendent existence in which it coincides with the True and the Good. The puzzle is so profound that Kant came to regard it as an antinomy, or a contradiction that has to be nevertheless accepted." Prof A Zee., one of the intellectual dessendents of Albert Einstein, exploring the search for Beauty in Modern Physics, says, "But, in fact, aesthetics has become a driving force in contemporary physics. Physicists have discovered something of wonder : Nature, at the fundamental level, is beautifully designed. .............. Let us worry about beauty first, and truth will take care of itself. Such is the rallying cry of fundamental physicists".? An Indian aesthetician, Rupa Goswami, compares, beauty with "the unrealised shadowy something of the pearl visible in a body. We preceive it but cannot name it". In order to understand beauty let us note how it has been described/explained by some reputed philosophers and scholars. Both, the ancient Greeks and Indian Vedas spoke of Truth, Beauty and Goodness, as also Bliss and Consciousness as the attributes of Perfect Being. According to Platonic philosophy, the soul of man, before this world, had dwelt in the the pure world of being, where there is no becoming, a world of perfect Beauty, Harmony and Light. Therefore here in this world of senses, ephemeral shadows

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The Rule of Beauty as : Value in Everyday Life and images, when the soul has an experience of being contemplated with an object of beauty, it is a reminiscence of what it has known. Beauty, like Truth and Goodness, is a divine attribute and in its absolute state it co-exists with others. As a philosopher Goethe says "The beautiful is a manifestation of the secret laws of the Nature." On the othemand, Ruskin says, "If we can perceive beauty in everything of God's doing, we may argue that we have reached the true perception of its universal laws".+ Beauty has been perceived or experienced as that which flows from the Divine. According to Plotinues, "The absolute Good is the cause and source of all beauty, just as the sun is the source of all light, and Beauty is the communication of a thought that flows from the Divine." It has been rightly said that Beauty can be perceived or experienced as a feeling. But it can only be experienced in freedom. Ruskin says, "The sensation of Beauty is not sensual on the one hand, nor is it intellectual on the other, but is dependent on a pure, right, and open state of heart."* Even the Christian scripture says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," God who is absolute Beauty. Ancient Indian books say the same thing; in the state of purity of heart one can see beauty in all things. In short, when the heart is pure and able to respond to Truth, Beauty and Goodness, in the Platonic sense comes into existence. This was also explained by Plato in his Phaedrus. "Suppose a man were to see true beauty, uncontaminate, pure, without alloy suppose he had strength to gaze not on some compost of human colours and desires and all the vain things of this life, but on the very divinity of beauty itself - would this man's life be ignoble when he has made his home with that which all should scck and has fixed his gaze upon it ? Is not your opinion rather that because he sees beauty, because it is clear to him, he alone will bring forth true goodness and not its

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66 Philosophical Writings appearance, for it is reality that he has said hold of and not dream ? And since he brings forth true goodness, and cherishes it, he shall be dear to the Gods, and even become immortal, if any man can..." In Indian Philosophy, Abhinavagupta described beauty as "the delight which is born with the cessation of thirtst."? J. Krishnamurti says "There is a beauty which offers no stimulation....... one comes upon that beauty not by desiring, wanting, longing for experience, but only when all desires for experience has come to an end."* Having seen what some thinkers have expressed about beauty and the experience of beauty, we elearly see that "most of the definitions are physical (bneauty is a unity of formal relations among our sense peresption)" But we have always observed that "man's love for Beauty is inherent in his nature and is ineradicable, like his craving for food and sex. His economic needs are primarily utilitarian, even his sexual urge is biological device for race-perpatuation." 2.2. The terms : The term Beauty "is loaded with cannotations". In everyday experience our perception of beauty leads to pleasure. Beauty means something that pleases through senses. The Beauty (Sundaram) in Indian Philosophy is Supreme Reality or Perfect Being. It is one of the three attributes, Truth and Goodness are the other two, of God. The terms beauty also means attractive, proportionate, orderly, rhythemic etc. The term beauty, in fact is highly ambiguous in its use. This is "because of three reasons: (1) Beauty is a matter of taste and openion, and men disagree on what is beautiful and what is nou ....... (2) Beauty as an experience throws little light on beauty as a concept........ and (3) Beauty applies to a vast field of aesthetic experience including the beauty of nature and the beauty of art, **** 2.3. Types of Beauty : The classical understanding regarding the types or kinds of beauty is : Beauty of Nature and Beauty of Art. Both have common

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The Role of Beauty as a value in Everyday Life 67 characteristics like (1) ascribed in both cases to external objects, (2) beauty becoming an objective quality in both, (3) the value of beauty in both cases, can be enjoyed by more than one person, and thus differs from other values. Both also have characteristics in which they differ. They are : (1) Art is man-made, product of man's creative ability. Where as Nature on the whole is not (2) Art expresses human feelings, desires and ideas to a much greater extent than Nature. (3) Beauty of Nature is necessarily pleasing, art may not be." It has been concluded that the field of Beauty of Ari, real and potential, is vaster than is usually supposed. Prof. Friendrich Kainz, distinguishes three kinds, of Beauty : "They are (1) the neutral Comprehensive' and undiffentiated beauty of everyday life, (2) the beauty which is synonymous with the aesthetically valuable; and (3) the beauty which is a subdivision of the aesthetic. All these are common in certain characteristics, all are independent, self sufficient and value based."12 In his book, quoting Latze, he says, "Requisite to a complete human beauty is not only normal and perfect formatioin of the outward, but also the visible expression of ethical ideas as they govern human beings inwardly."13 If we consider the objects to which we attribute beauty then there will be "three distinct modes of this attribute, namely, (1) sensuous beauty (2) beauty of form, and (3) beauty, of meaning or expression.")+ Let us here speak something about the approach of the Indian philosophers who, according to modern scholars, have not troubled themselves with question of beauty. The probable explanation with regards to their neglect of beauty in art" is that its pursuit cannot, according to them, directly minister to the attainment of the final goal of life. Perhaps some among them thought that its pursuit might even tend to lead man away from that goal, in which case their attitude towards art would be like that of Plato towards the same." According to Indian aestheticians the beauty can be classified only as wordly and Divine. Wordly beauty is temporary and is through objects, it is sensuous and pleasure giving but of inferior

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Philosophical Writings nature. On the otherside the Divine Beauty is of higher nature. The Indians refer these two Beauties as Inner Beauty and Outer Beauty or Physical Beauty and Divine Beauty also. Of course, in any case its main characteristics are giving pleasure and attraction. Indian aestheticians have also agreed the division of Beauty into relative and absolute. But to Indians absolute beauty is God - Perfect Being While relative beauty is wordly images or forms. 2.4. Nature of Beauty : At the outset, we have seen and supported by many, from Plato till 20th century aestheticians that Beauty is a quality in object. Its main nature is to please. Beauty provides us with pleasure and joy. Since it is a feeling it has to be felt, it has to be experienced. It cannot be described or difined. Even then we notice certain charestlstics, essential elements which exist in all that is beautiful. This leads us to know more about the nature of Beauty. The most prominent and important one is order. Order is invariably associated with beauty. This order is not mechanical, extraneous or outer arrangement but is an inherent order, inextricably related to the sense of beauty. harmony, rythem, balance, proportion, symmetry are all forms of order. Beauty has been considered, both by ancient Greeks as well as Indians, an aspect of divinity like Truth and Goodness. No one can experience Truth without being true, Goodness without being good, and similarly, no one can experience Beauty without being beautiful. This is the reason, perhaps, Indian writers insist upon the beauty of character for an artist. Moreover, seeking beauty is not enough. Plato tells us that what we see and perceive are reflections, echoes, images. Plotinus declares: "It is necessary that whoever beholds this beauty should withdraw his view from the fajrest corporeal forms and convinced that these are nothing more than images, vestiges and shadows of beauty, should eagerly soar to the fair original form from which they are derived."

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The Role of Beauty as a value in Everyday Life Beauty by nature is eternal. The forms are transitory. They can be caught in thought but Beauty iteself is unthinkable. It is to be felt and experienced. In the words of Plotinus: "In itself perfectly pure..." In the words of Upanishads, "In itself perfectly complete (Purna) which means pure. Plotinus says, "... beauties proceed from the Beautiful itself." Upanishads say that all is beautiful because all have come from the Pure and Pure is Beautiful. About the location of Beauty, it had been said that "Beauty lies in the eys of the beholders" as the same object may not be beautiful to others. What is required is to have the mind and heart clear and free, free of self involvement. Because of these conditions being not fulfilled, though there is beauty everywhere one finds it somewhere or nowhere. Beauty has a typical nature - an unique characteristic. It eludes him who seeks to hold and possess. Beauty as a true value bears no selection, no comparison. According to Indians it is an absolute value. And yet Beauty once enjoyed, once experienced, there is a strong desire to repeat the enjoyment. J. Krishnamurti says "Beauty is not in the museum, in the painting, in statues or listening to concerts, beauty is not in a poem or in the lovely sky of an evening; or in the light on the water, or in the face of a beautiful person, or in a building. There is beauty only when the mind and the heart are coinpletely in harmony and that beauty cannot be gotten by a shallow mind that is caught in the disorder of this world." Where disorder and disharmony exist Beauty does not. We conclude the Nature of Beauty by mentioning it to be a state of freedom. Ture Beauty is never dependent. Ancient Indians have considered True Beauty as "an awakening to the universal nature of things. It is the quietening of the "I" principle. It is the brightness of a consciousness which is unobserved. It is the mind which is free of transformations. Beauty is a state of freedom- freedom from the recognition, the identification of the self and the choice of

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Philosophical Writings the other". In that state, the Beauty of all objects points to the one. It is in this sense and this sense alone, to us in India, perception of Beauty is a Yoga or union of self with the Super self. 2.5. Beauty in Western Philosophy : 70 Before understanding the Indian concept of Beauty, let us have a very brief summary of the western concept of Beauty, which again I have summerised from that of the important contribution to aesthetic doctrines. 2.5.1. Ancient Greeks : The first important contribution is supplied by the ancient Greek Philosophers. Ofcourse, "of the views of Plato on the subject, it is hardly less difficult to gain a clear conception from the Dialogues, that it is in the case of ethical good-He (Plato) recognizes in places the beauty of the mind and seems to think that the highest beauty of proportion is to be found in the union of a beautiful mind with a beautiful body."16 In west, beauty has been delt by two schools: the idealist school and the materialists, differently. According to idealist school beauty pertains to man's spiritual life, rooted in depth of man's consciousness and lack objective foundation. Materialists attribute to subjective quality. Aristotle is acceptable to both these schools. He says "Beauty depends upon magnitude and order." Morever he also said that "Symmetry, order and limitations are the three conditions of beauty."18 Aristotalian approach is organic and functional and he also believes that art is to give pleasure. Of the later Greek and Roman writers, Neo Platonist Plotinus deserves to be mentioned. According to him Beauty lies in objects seen or heard as well as in Good Character also. Amongst the other Greek philosophers, Zeno the founder of Stoicism contributed mainly in the field of music. Its main principle is, "Beauty depends on the arrangement of parts." In the same way Plutarch and Longinus talked of Sublimity. The source of moral sublime, according to him, are only two (i) magnanimity of soul and heroism of extraordinary kind, and (ii) High Virtues.

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The Role of Beauty as a value in Everyday Life 71 2.5.2. In the Middle Ages : Of the most prominant writers of this age and the most significant personalities among the Christian philosophers are St. Thomas Aquinas. According to St. Augustine, "Any beautiful object, whatsoever is more worthy of praise in its totality as a whole than in any one of its parts. So great is the power of integrity and unity that what pleases as a part, pleases much more as a unified whole." The key words in St. Augustine's theory are unity, number, equality, proportion and order. St. Thomas Aquinas give slightly different meaning. According to him "beautiful things are those which are apprehended with pleasure. In his view beauty includes (i) Integrity or perfection, (ii) due proportion or harmony, and (iii) brightness, clarity or briliance,"? 2.5.3. The Renaissance Concept : In the Renaissance age the theories formulated about beauty are based on rhythem, symmetry, harmonious relations between part and part, and part and whole. Both the subjective and objective Idealist of the time, "Rejected the contention that beauty could be reduced to mathematical proportion. They thought that the essence of beauty lies in expressiveness of human face, the reflection of man's inner word in external form."21 The axiological conception - beauty as a value, and the sementic concept - beauty as a property was also presented by a number of writers. "Renaissance art was dominated by Aristotle - (art is an imitation of an action) and Horace - (art aims at delighting and instructing)."22 At this point of time Descartes appears as an important philosopher. Descarts elements of reason and the Aristotalian element of imitation paved the road for the future aesthetics. Baumgarten, a german writer, who first coined the word aesthetic, made a more systematic attempt of the mataphysics of art. The age records Bacon, Thomas Hobbs, the third Earl of Shaftsbury, Joseph Addison, Coleridge, F. Hutcheson, David Hume, Edward Burke, Ben Jonson, Dryden, Dr. Johnson were among the main front row contributors who developed aesthetics and concept

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Philosophical Writinys of Beauty. In the Roamtic age we have William Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats - all poets who offered their original contribution. Keats, amongst these, known for his famous lines, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" gave a new trinity Beauty, Truth and Power for Truth, Beauty and Goodness of Indian aesthetics. 2.5.4. Kant; German Idealist : Kant was the first modern philosopher to make his aesthetic theory an integral part of Philosophy. Kant says that in actual experience of Beauty, inner verbalization stops. There are two types of verbalization : (i) with other than myself, and (2) with myself known as thinking. Suffering is due to verbalization. When you experience Beauty you stop talking to yourself. You become silant. "Beauty creates inner silence; where there is silence of thought joy arises. Beauty creates joy by silencing thought. Sundaram (Beauty) creates Ananada (Joy). Beauty is experienced, never known. Beauty is not a matter of cognition. It is a matter of feeling (Experience). Feeling is no cognition. Beauty is an aspect of God, and so God also can not be cognised. Beauty, like God can be felt, can be experienced. According to Kant, the location of Beauty is the feelings. The location of Beauty is not in the mind but in the eyes. Kant says, beauty is the road to heaven where there is no suffering. There is no aging, age does not come in the way - in experiencing Beauty. The pleasure derived from the object of beauty is universal and is free from concept. Kant suggests two categories of beauty: free beauty and dependent beauty. The first one is free from the concept, while in case of the dependent beauty we have pre-determined concepts. Kant's free beauty is the ideal beauty. Kant says that Beauty drives to action. Beauty is the causal form of God. We can never experience absolute Beauty. We can experience Beauty in a finite object. Experience of finite is also finite. When the experience ends, desire begins - desire 10 experience again.

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The Role of Beauty as a Value in Everyday Life 73 2.5.5. Marxian concept of Art & Beauty : Though Karl Marx's main concern was human freedom - freedom from exploitation and proverty, he believe that like all the higer activities, art is determined by socio-historical conditions. According to Marx, Society is constituted not by human individuals but by human relations. Art is determind and derived from human relations. It is from this human relations that we get the concept of art and beauty. If there is attraction in human relation there is Beauty, if I go away from human relations, I go away from Beauty. Since the consciousness of artists is determined by the society, in order to understand Art we have to understand the society in which he lived, the historical background, the time, and the economic conditions. To Karl Marx beauty is an aesthetetic value. Marxist aesthetics goes against the theories of Kant and Hegel. According to Marx beautiful and useful are not incompatible. He does not belive in pure beauty. 2.6. Beauty in Indian Philosophy : It is indeed a sad story to observe that Indians have neglected pure beauty in art. There is not much variety, compared to evolution of the concept of Beauty in West, because in Indian Philosophy all went in terms of Religion and Moksha - (Liberation). The common aesthetic principle in Indian Philoshophy, amongst different branches of art, is called "Rasa" - believed to be an aesthetic beauty - an aesthetic delight. It depends upon "Bhava" or the emotional complex. The corresponding term for "Rasa" could be empathy in western aesthetics. There is a long tradition of saints, seers and scholars who contributed to Indian Aesthetics. The tradition, starts with the 'Rasa' (empathy) theory of Bharat. All later theories and system have sprung from the Rasa-Sutra of Natyasastra of Bharat. The Atharva - Veda (one of the four vedas) discusses theory of art and beauty. This was further elaborated during the Upanished period. Then comes Sanskrit Scholars who advanced the concept

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74 Philosophical Wijtings of beauty. The theory of imagination of Bhattanayak emphasised universalisation of experience. The aesthetic bliss is compared to Divine bliss. Abhinavagupta is of the openion that the aesthetic experience is an act of tasting rasa - tasting beauty. It is based on human emotions and is essentially pleasurable. It is a state of bliss. "In Indian poetics the aesthetic experience is a state of transcendental joy or a state of self fulfilment." About the Nature of aesthetic pleasure, unlike Plato, Marx and Freud who think it to be psycho-physical pleasure, Indian Scholars think like Kant and Hegel - a kind of Spiritual pleasure. "In the final analysis, aesthetic experience can be explained as a complex experience, pleasant in essence, in which the emotional and intellectual elements are blended in subtle harmony. It has a separate identity because it is more refined than the emotional pleasure and more colourful than the intellectual pleasure".23 2.6.1. in Advait Philosophy : Liberation from root ignorance, according to Advait Vedant, is the ultimate value of human life. The taste of Divine Bliss can be had when a man enters the woid of an and beauty. When he enters such a world, being free form passions and desires, he will be capable of spiritual pleasure, Aesthetic pleasure does not, thus, differ in quality from the Divine bliss. Aesthetic pleasure leads an individual to the Spiritual pleasure. 2.6.2. In Sankhya School beauty is in sharp contrast to Vedantic School. Sankhya maintains that the world is both : pleasure and pain, beauty and ugliness. This eternal dualism distrubs only wordly beings and not the liberated ones. According to Sankhya School, the aesthetic pleasure, pure bliss can dawn only when the Satva element - the good dominates over the other. 2.6.3. In Esoteric Phi. of Upanishad : The Absolute is equated with Rasa - and all delight is traced unto it. Mahatma Gandhi observes "Indian Philosophy and aesthetics not only recognise

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The Role of Beauty as a value in Everyday Life 75 Ananada (Bliss) as essence of Beauty, but enable us to differentiate between spurious and authentic beauty. "3+ According to Indian Philosophy Bliss (Ananda) could be Priya (Smiple Joy), Moda (Conscious Joy) and Pramoda (Loftiest Joy). These are the three categories. The first one Priya i.e. 'Pleasing' is the result of "an unsophisticated and simple experience of the beautiful". Here there is pleasure at the first sight. There is no conflict in the mind and a feeling of tranquilily is bestowed upon the beholder. That is Priya. The Moda is bliss attained as a result of the conscious effort. When the light and reason mingle through an experience of free imagination Moda is experienced. Pramod is the loftiest joy. "This comes to an individual through his active participation in the creative expression of beauty. "25 Bilss or Ananada is the result of experience of Beauty and it is experienced by Atman or Soul. In fact all these three catagories are the three phases of bliss, that of a simple experience, conscious experience and loftiest experience of beauty. Not Beauty by conception of Bliss or Ananada is the hallmarks of Indian Philosophy but unique contribution of the Indian thought in the form of Trinity: Satyam (Truth) Shivam (Goodness) and Sundaram (Beauty) is to the world philosophy. Mahatma Gandhi says, "The absolute idea as conceived by intellect is the highest truth, as realised in practice is the gratest good, and as manifested in man and nature is the Supreme beauty".26 In Bhagavadgita, Lord Krishna, declares that "Whatever beauty we find in the universe it is ultimately an aspect of godhead" 27 2.6.4. A lot can be said about the Indian aset hetics and thus about Beauty. But due to space constraints I mention a few ideas from Jainism and Buddhism, schools of India Philosophy. Both Jainism and Buddhism do not pay any attention to Physical or wordly beauty. They do talk about beauty as a value. Both have contributed to Indian aesthetics in general, since it is not our subject to discuss the differences and discussions amongst Jainism, Buddhism

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Philusophicad Writings and Brahamanism, I simply note that highly solemn and serene music in recitation of the hymns and prayer songs, in the beautiful statues and temple achitecture what is reflected is their quest for Beauty. Both believed the highest beauty is the Soul in state of equanimity - full of compassion for each and every living being, 2.6.5. I will conclude the Beauty in Indian thought by quoting two of Indian's great personalities of the 20th century; Sri Aurobindo: a philosopher, yogi and a poet; and Rabindranath Tagore - a noble loriate and poet of Gitanjali. Sri Aurobindo says: a "As Light and knowledge are the powers of psyche, or Chetna so are Love and Beauty the powers of Bliss or Ananda, "2? b. "The Good and the Beauty are one and the same, and that is the fundamental truth of existence."!4 "The best form of God's manifestion in the material world is through Beauty. Material world is a world of forms and to have pure form in it is to have Beauty." ** "Beauty is the Divine language of the form." Rabindranath Tagore in his lecture on what is Art? says "In art the person in us is sending its answers to the Supreme person, who reveals Himself to us in a world of endless beauty across the lightless world of facts."31 3. BEAUTY AS A VALUE 3.1 The Axiological Conception of Beauty : The Axiological conception of Beauty discusses beauty as a value. In order to understand beauty as a value trom philosophical point of view we will have to first know all about Value'- what is a value? What are the types or kinds of value? What is the Role of values in our life ? Beauty as a value and its influence, like that of other values, on our life. these are some of the questions whose answers we must attempt.

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The Role of Beauty as a Value in Everyday Life 3.2 To being with, the term value means that which is intinsically valuable in 'itself unlike things a product which gain value only through exchange. In Indian Philosophy and tradition, in Indian religion and culture the Value' is expressed in terms of Truth (Satyain), Goodness or Love (Shivam) and Beauty (Sundaram). All the value are derived from these three basic values. There is no need to talk baout the role or values in life; we are all aware of it. In fact, "they provide a framework, a guide, the rails for purposeful, quick and efficient movement through life. They give a reason to live, and if needed a reson to die."32 Moreover, values have their sources in culture and are rooted in it. Culture is a whole way of life of a people, their work, their faith, their beliefs and religion, customs and celebrations, in short values are the constituent elements of life and living, and are the basic characteristics of human society. 77 values, such as we have just talked about, could be National values. Social Values and Human Values. The Report of the (Indian) National Commission on Teachers identifies as many as eighty different values, all spring from Truth Goodness and Beauty. Philosophically we may classify values into Eternal or Permanent values and Relative or Changing Values. 3.3. Role of Values: - Values have a very significant role. They do not merely govern or guid but provide a direction to go forward, a reason to strive to, a goal and purpose to be attained and to be fulfilled. The values dterrnine the activity, which in result determine the character - of a Nation, Society or an Individual. To be very simple and strait, we can say that values influence a person or people. Yes, values do influence and so at the root of every culture or every state of life it is the value that influences. Values give meaning to life, values provide movement to life, values lead "from death to immortality" as it is said in Upanishad.

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78 Philosophical Writings Let us now come to Beauty - beauty as a intrisic value. All through the previous pages we have tried to understand the philosophy of beauty, beauty expressed in art and in Nature. We also saw how the conception of beauty since ancient period development in West and in India. Let us see beauty as a value. By value we mean that which is "adapted to the furtherance of our conjoint human existence that which satisfies our elementary wants and concerns (dispositions), that which contributes to human happiness and well-being, by which means a sense of pleasure is produced and in which a good worth-striving for is presented."}} Beauty has always remained a prominant value to man in all the sphere of his life. He does not marely insist on a beautiful wife but also wants beautiful house, beautiful dress, beautiful music, beautiful Nature. Beauty always pleases, and evsrybody seeks pleasure in life. Thus the role of beauty; the role of aesthetic pleasure is unique compared to the other two values, i.e. Truth and Goodness. As Prof. Kainz says, "While the beautiful is primarily conceptless, truth is composed entirely on concept. Maximum intellectual truth represents the exact opposite of the materially and physically agreeable. The beautiful mediates between these two poles of the naturals pattern of human nature."34 He further says "The beautiful is such an effect - relation and such a positive kind of effect as is experienced with an awareness of value. The pleasant and life enhancing accompaniment of feeling which comes with the appearance of the beautiful comprises the beautiful as a value, and indeed one of the human original or basic values parallel to the good, the true and so forth,"i5 In our final summing up of Beauty as a value we should note that "this value is not moral or practical; neither it is sensuous, however much it is based on the concrete and funded on the sensuous and on the pleasures attached to the sensuous. The pleasure is higher than that of the Sensuous agreeable of Kane's distinction; it is universal and necessary as the agrreable is private and contingent."

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The Rule of Beauty as a Value in Everyday Life 79 4. BEAUTY IN EVERYDAY LIFE : 4.1. Life to day is not simple and straitforward, it is highly complex. The age and the nations are miles away from the ideas and ideology given by their 'Father of the Nation.' Even India is not what Gandhi wanted it to be. Everwhere the current situation is most disheartening, depressing and disappointing. War, narrow materialistic attitude, and crisis of moral values have created fear and tension. There is a great deal of anxity, and moral values are disintegrating on all fronts, in public and in private life. Increase in violent and destructive activities, a lack of purpose and direction, a high degree of self centeredness - these are the characteristic of today's youth. The children as well as the old people, both suffer from a great degree of emotional and social insecurity. In short we find a total change - from the 'Holy Kingdom' or 'Ram rajya' (Kingdom of Lord Ram the hero of Ramayana) as we call in India, to the threats of nuclear age. In the absence of ethical, moral and educational support, the only ray of hope is love of beauty - eye for colours, ear for music and heart for art and literature. Inspite of a dark and disappointing picture of to-days life, we do find love and craving for beauty. The highest expectation of beauty is beauty in a person. People have made 'beautiful as a necessary criterion for everything and everybody. Even the dwelling house, the utensils, vehicles, office furniture, and dress as well as ornaments - all they want beautiful. Again we find beauty to day not restricted to beauty of nature or art or literature. It has entered into the world of commerce and business. The use of cosmatics, for glorifying a person as beautiful, there is love for form, for shape, for colour and symmetry. Beauty has been accepted as the single most phenomena that attracts. Attraction is the property of beauty. If beauty does not attract it is no beauty. The joy or Ananada is the another name of attraction. According to Indian Philosophy attraction or joy is the condition of creation, it is the root or source of creation. The love for beauty, through attraction, immersing.one into joy.

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80) l'hilosophical Writings 4.2. The role of Beauty, in all regards, becomes vitaliy important in to-days world. All the darkness can be made brightness through the experience of Beauty. In experience of Beauty we have a glimpse of the real world - the 'noumena' as Kant says. We should also note that after 18th century Beauty' has been understood in a wider sense. Beauty and the experience of Beauty is no more limited to sensuous experience of material objects or person, People talking about art of living, emphasise to bring art in life to make it Beautiful. Beauty and love for Beauty is love for one of the intrinsic values from which somany other values spring. People often complain and criticise the modern life as unorganized and chaotic. Beauty has power to harmonise life, to balance it and making it attractive and joyful. Beauty, infact, not mere confined to art, it is uncircurnscribed and universal in nature. Ruskin said, "The new virtue which constitute a thing beautiful is a certain cosmic quality, or, a power to suggest relation to the whole world, and so lift the object out of a pitiful individuality....... All beauty points at identity.".57 Indian philosophy, here becomes more meaningful in understanding the role and influence of Beauty on today's life. Beauty, according to Vedas and Upanishad, is Truth; and Beauty is Goodness. We have already touched this earlier, but here I want to say that a person or family or community or nation who strives for Beauty (Real and Pure) is in fact striving for Truth and Goodness also. Beauty which is lost in the cheap, obscene advertisement on T.V. serene, beauty which is exhibited in the market for a selfish purpose of profitmaking, beauty which is lost and transformed into whiteness or fairness is certainly inferior and low. It is not Real and pure but vulgarised and valueless. If we want the life today to be improved, if want it to be loving and peaceful, we will have to understand, accept and live with Beauty - Beauty as a value integrated in our life. That is why the famous English poet Keats sang : "Beauty Is truth, truth beauty, that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

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The Role of Beauty as a value in Everyday Life 81 In ancient India the seers of Vadas and Upanishads sang : " Loard, Lead ine from untruth to truth, from ugniness (darkness) to Beauty (light), from death of immortality." To conclude all these, it is enough to say that Right Living in todays life is only possible if Beauty, not just as a value, but as the most valuable value becomes the guiding force to man and society, both. 5. CONCLUSION : Having seen Beauty in its philosophical and axilogical aspects, we have also noted how its importance still prevails. Like every value, Beauty as a value has its ideal or eternal aspect as well as its practical or changing aspect. Apart from the details with which I presented the content, there is a serious impression we all become conscious of. The impression is of a 'worry'. Let us not neglect beauty or let us not be illusive to so-called, inferior, low or vulgarised beauty. I started with and again I repeat, 'let us worry about beauty (pure and real) first the truth will take care of ifself." By being worried, I simply mean being concerned about beauty; an effort to go from ugliness (of thought, of feelings and of action: of head, heart and soul) to beauty, from beauty to Divine-Beauty.

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Philosophical Writings References : 1. Encyclopedia of the Arts, ed. D.D. Runes and H.G.Schrickel, Philosophical Library, New York, 1946 -P 102 : Fearful Symmetry the search for Beauty in Modern Physics, Macmillan, New York 1986. P.3 2. A. Zee 3 to 8 Burnier Radha 9. Herbert Read : "Truth, Beauty and Goodness" Theosophica! Publishing House. Madras, India, 1985 P 27 to 38 "The Meaning Art". Fober and Faber, London, 1984 P 19 : 'Our Human Heritage - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, India - 1984 P 75 : Vol P 282 : Poetics VII 10. S.R. Sharma 11. Encyclopeida Britannica 17. Aristot! 18. 19. Quoted by W.K. Wimsatt, 20. B. A. Patman 21. Ibid Jr, and C. Books. Literary Criticism P. 123 : "Gandhian Concept of Beauty", Ajanta Publications, Delhi, 1989 P.36 : P. 36 : P 37 : P 15 : "Gandhi and Aesthetics" 1969 (quoted by B.A. Pathan in his book on P.22) : "Gandhian Concept of Beauty" 1989 P 22. Ihid 23. Ibid 24. Madan Gandhi 25. B. A. Pathan 17 26. Mahatma Gandhi 27. Shrimad Bhagavadgita * (Young India, July 30, 1931) X-41

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The Role of Beauty as a Value in Everyday Life 28. Sri Aurobindo 29 Sri Aurobindo 30. Sri Aurobindo 31. Rabindranath Tagore 32. Fr. T.V. Kunnunkal S.J. 33. F Kainz 34. Ibid 35. Ibid 36. Herbert H. Schveller 37. Ruskin : 'Beauty' (Saundarya) Sri Aurobindo Society P. 1 to 5 1978 : 'Beauty' (Saundarya) Sri Aurobindo Society P. 1 to 5 1978 83 : 'Beauty' (Saundarya) Sri Aurobindo Society P. 1 to 5 1978 : 'Lectures and Addresses' Macmillan Comp of India Ltd. 1979 P. 100 : Report, Value Education, central Board, New Delhi, 1995 P. 45 : 'Aesthetic, the Science', 1962 P 69 : 37 : P. 69 : F.Kain's 'Aesthetic the Science' Introduction 1962 P XX : Quoted by Radha Burnier Beauty. Goodness" 1985 P 63. - "Truth,

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84 Philosophical Writings SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: : Aesthetics - P 277 to 288 1. The Encyclopedia Britanica Vol I Cambridge Uni Press, 1910 2. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy : Aesthetics: History P 18 to 35 Voll & II Collier - Macmillan 1967: Problem of : P 35 to 55 Beauty : P 263 to P 267 3. Encyclopedia of the Arts Philosophical Library, New York, 1946 : Aesthetic P 13 to 19 Beauty P 102 - 103 Taste : P 996 - 999 Empath : P 320 - 321 4. Ghose R. K. : "Concepts and Presuppositions in Aesthatics". Ajants Pup (India) 1987 5. Ghose R. K. : "Aesthetic Theory and Art", Ajanta Pub. (India) 1979 6. Govt. of India :"Aesthaticians", Publication Division, Govt. of India, 1983 7. Herbert Read : "The Meaning of Art", Feber and Baber, London, 1984 8. Edited By: Harold Osborne : "Aesthatics", Oxford Uni Press 1979 9. Friedrich Kainz (The uni of Venna): "Aesthatics the Science", Detroit Wayne State Uni Press, 1962. 10. Edited by: Worries Philopson : "Aesthetics today", The World Publishing Co, New York, 1961

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The Role of Beauty as a Value in Everyday Life 85 11. Edited by: Narsimhaiah C.D. : "East and West: Poetics and Work", Sahitya Akadami, 1994 12. Pathan B.A. : "Gandhian Concept of Beauty", Ajanta Pub. (India) 1989 13. Translated by : Roxburgh Angus : "Marxist Leninist Aesthetics and the Arts", Progress Pub. Moscow, 1980. 14. Edited by: Seturaman V.S. : "Indian Aesthatics, An Introduction", Macmillan India Ltd. 1992 15. Selected by Anthony X'Soares Tagore R. : "Lectures and Addresses by R. Tagore", Macmillan Comp of India - 1980 16. Zee A : "Fearful Symmetry", (The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics), Macmillan Publishing Co. New York, 1986

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86 Philosophical Writings Montora -Madott "To see divine beauty in the whole world, man, life, nature, to love that which we have seen and to have pure unalloyed bliss in that love and that beauty is the appointed road by which mankind as a race must climb to God. That is the reaching to Vidya through Avidya, to the One Pure and Divine through the manifold manifestation of Him, of which the Upanishad repeatedly speaks. But the bliss must be pure and unalloyed, unalloyed by selfregarding emotions, unalloyed by pain and evil. The sense of good and bad, beautiful and unbeautiful, which afflicts our understanding and our senses, must be replaced by akhanda rasa, undifferentiated and unabridged delight in the delightfulness of things, before the highest can be reached. On the way to this goal full use must be made of the lower and abridged sense of beauty which seeks to replace the less beautiful by the more, the lower by the higher, the mean by the noble". From: "The National Value of Art' (1922) By: Sri Aurobindo -Pasar, wl