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Philosophical Writings
The Vedant as well as the Indian aesthetics and Philosophy made a unique contribution to the world in the form of the Trinity: Satyam (Truth), Shivam (Goodness) and Sundaram (Beauty). "The absolute idea as conceived by the intellect is the highest truth, as realised in practice is the greatest good, and as manifested in man and nature is the supreme beauty."!9 All truth is all good and is also all beautiful. The fundamental oneness of truth and beauty is the final message of Indian Aesthetics. Beauty is no beauty, according to Vedant, if it fails to bear within in it truth. We remember here Whitehead, in Western Philosophy, who remarked that in the absence of truth beauty is on a lower level in the absence of beauty, truth sinks to triviality. Truth matters in our life due to beauty."20
The approach of a true Vedantine towards Beauty and his striving after beauty would only be with one purpose alone, and that will be "to establish emotional unity with God. Beauty removes all barriers and differences. At this state, one finds god nothing but only joy. Thus we find beauty not as a means but as an end in itself. One can take note of what the Bhagvadgita says that whatever beauty we find in the universe, it is ultimately an aspect of godhead (X-41). Bhagvadgita ends with beauty of God. According to Vedanta perfect Beauty is God himself.21
At the end, to note a very important and striking difference between Indian and Western thought regarding the approach towards Beauty and Art, let us see what Anand Coomarswami rightly observes, “In India the concern of art was not the pursuit of beauty as an aesthetic observation but the revelation of beauty as a divine condition not as a personal sentiment, but a religious adherence, a traditional hieratic canon."22 Conclusion :
The concept of Beauty in Vedanta Philosophy, as we have seen, leads to its role in everyday life. Beauty according to Indians, is value to be lived. It has a power to harmonies life, to balance it and making it attractive and joyful. To strive for Beauty is to strive for Truth and Goodness also. Beauty which is lost in the cheap,
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