I try to be beautiful outside, I work hard on my looks, my attitude, my style. How do I make myself beautiful inside?” — Aarti, 23 years.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa once said, “Be as deep as the ocean, as wide as the sky.” Beautiful words, among the best I have ever read, and beautiful is who you will become if you ever strive to put them into practice.
“Wide as the sky.” Why? Because as we are now, our minds are confined, locked inside prison cells of self-imposed belief systems we have never dared to question. Belief systems which limit us, make us small and petty.
In our hurry to grow up, we forgot that we were children of the Universe, born free and serene, forgot that our minds can expand infinitely if we so choose. So first develop the art of tolerance, acceptance of attitudes that you haven’t yet defined as your own.
Start with the hardest, most bigoted parts of your mind. If you are born a Hindu, reach out and learn at least a few verses from the Holy Quran and the Bible. You will then understand how beautiful those religions are, how lofty their thoughts, how gracefully they complement your own beliefs and this knowledge will round you off into a true individual, a world citizen, with the entire planet as your home, and every human as your friend and family.
Keep working at this, identify every hard and brittle part of your being and dissolve that hardness with a graceful expansion of being.
You are now embarking on an adventure to freedom and new frontiers, breaking into every dead or dying zone inside, breathing new life into it, freeing your mind from its shackles until it truly becomes wide as the skies. Believe me, you will become truly beautiful inside — an openhearted, trusting and loving person.
Wherever you go, people around you will immediately sense this quality in you, and admire you for both who you are and who they are not. This is the quality of a hero. Without effort, you will reach out and touch people’s hearts. Without effort, you will be loved and respected wherever you go.
“Deep as the Ocean.” In all this expansion, never forget who you are and where you came from. Never forget your nation, your legacy and heritage, and beyond all that, never forget the silent wisdom of ages that is embedded into the very depths of your being. Become one with who you are. When you look at something truly beautiful, some mesmeric art form, you can gaze and gaze into its depths, and howsoever deep you look, you will never touch rock bottom.
That’s the final measure of beauty — that it is immeasurable. So too about your personality. The one inside must become so lucid, she becomes unfathomable, your heart must become capable of such intense feeling that it should move everyone beyond expression. Whenever anyone gets an opportunity to really know you they must be in awe of the simplicity and indefinite depth of your being. To do this, you must eternally surprise yourself with your own intensity and passion. You must dive into your own heart and pull out feelings you never felt, expressions you never expressed.
Always remember you are Living Art, forged by a creator who loves infinity expressed in finite creation. Remaining lucid, clear and refreshingly deep is the way you retain that expression of beauty and be a joy to behold forever.