217. If a person has been forced into wedlock with a girl not at all beautiful, but abounding in qualities of head and heart, what should characterize the attitude of that man towards his wife, constantly worried as he is on the count that his wife is not beautiful? How can he manage to conceal his pent-up feelings of frustration caused by the lack of beauty in his wife—aesthetically speaking¾ and yet manage to lead a healthy, happy, harmonious married life?

It is not in the power of man to choose this beautiful girl or that, nor in the power of a girl to select this handsome or rich man or that. Everything is predestined. Man forgets this glaring fact, ignores this essential truth and thinks and feels that he is the real doer or the enjoyer. Say and console yourself: "Daivadheen, Daivadheen. Lord's Will, Lord's Will". Think and feel that everything that befalls your lot at any moment of your life is for the best. Be convinced of this grand truth and rejoice in philosophic indifference and stoic unconcernedness. Physical beauty is no beauty at all. It is skin deep. That woman who has the beauty of the virtue of chastity is the really beautiful woman on earth. This is in consonance with the proclamation of the great law-giver Manu. Study Manu Smriti, the Neeti Sastra of Manu. Hammer the mind again and again with the saying of Manu, "Chastity is the beauty of an ugly woman".

Beauty and ugliness are mental Kalpanas, illusory creations of the mind only, just as sweetness or bitterness lies in the mind and mind alone. Such are the Dharmas of the mind. Rise above the mind. Then you will be able to find beauty in ugliness, sweetness in bitterness and good in bad. Even the ideas of goodness, sweetness and beauty disappear when the proper grade of evolution is achieved.

The hand stands for Seva, the heart for Bhakti or Prem and the head for the intellect. This is a very rare combination which can be found in very few people. Beauty is the inner spirit of purity in a woman, at the very sight of which man is thrilled to horripilation and raised to heights of elysian bliss. That is to be treated as "true beauty".

Always try to see the good, the beautiful, the auspicious, the pleasant, however condemnable the worthy object of adoration be, on account of negative qualities. Then and then alone will you be able to evolve into the Infinite in greater and more abundant measure. As long as man limits himself with constricted notions and cherishes debasing, negative and dualistic thoughts, he is not to be considered as an expanded soul. Mentally prostrate before the woman who has the virtues of an Adarsha Pativrata as embodied in the epics of Bharata Varsha. Mend yourself. Feel that your position, your status, your earning capacity and your personality are but trash and a trifle when compared to the abundant wealth of beauty of solidified virtue of your wife. Give up egoistic assessment of values in life.

218. Is the cinema an evil? Does it corrupt public morals? Please explain.

Cinema, as such, is not an evil, though it generally wrecks the health of people and spoils their eyesight, when indulged in inordinately. And it leads to several evil contacts. Its great condemnation is when it consists of sensational pictures, rousing the passions, exciting the senses and causing a revolt of the immoral and non-ethical worldly propensities like lust, hatred, vanity, agitation or any form of sensuality or egoism. Of course, there is no harm in educational, religious and spiritual pictures, though there is always a tendency in men to go beyond the limits prescribed by the moral law and cultured habits.