Perfect Form
By Karmayogi
Beauty in one generates love in another, as beauty expresses the form of perfection. Those
who have described creation as lila saw it as an expression of ananda. Sri
Aurobindo explains that God seeks to create the perfect FORM in the world so
that the objectless ananda will express in objects. He further explains that
when ananda descends into our mortal human world, it does so as a flash. It
is fleeting. It has no permanence. It is Matter that gives that flash of ananda
permanence. When Matter acquires perfection in FORM, it is capable of
retaining the descending Ananda forever. In our language, heaven comes down
on earth abolishing suffering, rather transforming suffering into Joy. Hence
the importance of FORM.
In our religious traditions the founders of temples were realised Souls. The
statues were carved by visionary rishis in the guise of craftsmen. God would
not come into the statue if it had a flaw, however small it was. There are a
good many stories of metal statues not acquiring a perfect shape and how God
came to their rescue.
Pictures of Gods, if they are not perfect will give rise to difficulties at
home is our tradition. People used to bring pictures of Sri Aurobindo or
busts to Mother. Mother used to disapprove of most of them. Mother did not
readily approve of one such bust brought to her, but the importunities of the
sculptor made Her accept it. In one case where She reluctantly accepted such
a bust, she ordered it to be put in His Room, but She ordered a light put at
a certain place so that light would fall on the bust and cast a shadow on the
wall. The imperfect looking bust cast a PERFECT shadow on the wall.
Even though for our untrained eyes the bust does not look perfect, Mother was
able to see the hidden subtle perfection of FORM the sculptor had seen. She
brought it out by fixing a light. It is a common experience of devotees that
the same picture of the Mother in one house looks bright and in another house
looks dull or even dark. That is a reflection of the intensity of devotion of
the devotee.