Why gods look good?

[Avinash]

I am wondering over one question.

Consider Lord Siva. In a picture of Lord Siva, He is shown to have huge locks, three eyes (sometimes five heads with three eyes in each), wearing skin of an animal. If we find some person with such looks, we will immediately say that the person looks horrible. But when Lord Siva is shown like that, He looks very beautiful.

 

Or, consider Lord Hanuman. His face is that of a monkey. I do not know about others. But I never find monkeys good looking. They look ugly to me. But, when I look at a picture or a statue of Lord Hanuman, I never think even once that he looks ugly. Rather, he looks very good.

 

Or, Lord Ganesh who looks good in spite of his face being that of an elephant.

 

We can give many such examples.

Why is it that gods look good to us even though some other being with the same looks won't be considered good looking by us? Is it because we have kept in our mind that gods must be good-looking?

 

[vanamali]

first of all through the devotion of the painter- he/she makes the eyes lotus-petal shaped, fine dress, brilliant colors.

 

secondly- the god emanates bliss through the eyes. The expression of peace/bliss looks very beautiful

 

third- Mother Teresa may not be a beauty queen, but still she looks very beautiful. Kindness, gentle mannerisms, and the knowledge of her goodness make her very attractive.

Same with Hanumanji or other animal-looking god or Maa Kali who is fearsome or Lord Shiva with matted locks. Their goodness shines through. Any way you look at it- let's say the man makes the suit, not the other way round.

[gHari]

Bhagavad-gita 10.41:<BLOCKQUOTE><CENTER><FONT COLOR=RED>yad yad vibhUtimat sattvaM

zrImad Urjitam eva vA

tat tad evAvagaccha tvaM

mama tejo-'Mza-sambhavam

</CENTER>

yat yat--whatever; vibhUti--opulences; mat--having; sattvam--existence; zrI-mat--beautiful; Urjitam--glorious; eva--certainly; vA--or; tat tat--all those; eva--certainly; avagaccha--must know; tvam--you; mama--My; tejaH--of the splendor; aMza--a part; sambhavam--born of.

</font>

Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.

 

PURPORT

Any glorious or beautiful existence should be understood to be but a fragmental manifestation of KRSNa's opulence, whether it be in the spiritual or material world. Anything extraordinarily opulent should be considered to represent KRSNa's opulence.</blockquote>

[gHari]

God is the definition of beauty. He points this out in Bhagavad-gita 10.34:<blockquote><center>mRtyuH sarva-haraz cAham

udbhavaz ca bhaviSyatAm

kIrtiH zrIr vAk ca nArINAM

smRtir medhA dhRtiH kSamA

</center>

mRtyuH--death; sarva-haraH--all-devouring; ca--also; aham--I am; udbhavaH--generation; ca--also; bhaviSyatAm--of future manifestations; kIrtiH--fame; <font color="blue">zrIH--opulence or beauty;</font> vAk--fine speech; ca--also; nArINAm--of women; smRtiH--memory; medhA--intelligence; dhRtiH--firmness; kSamA--patience.

I am all-devouring death, and I am the generating principle of all that is yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience.

 

PURPORT

As soon as a man is born, he dies at every moment. Thus death is devouring every living entity at every moment, but the last stroke is called death itself. That death is KRSNa. As for future development, all living entities undergo six basic changes. They are born, they grow, they remain for some time, they reproduce, they dwindle, and finally they vanish. Of these changes, the first is deliverance from the womb, and that is KRSNa. The first generation is the beginning of all future activities.

 

The seven opulences listed--fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience--are considered feminine. If a person possesses all of them or some of them he becomes glorious. If a man is famous as a righteous man, that makes him glorious. Sanskrit is a perfect language and is therefore very glorious. If after studying one can remember a subject matter, he is gifted with a good memory, or smRti. And the ability not only to read many books on different subject matters but to understand them and apply them when necessary is intelligence (medhA), another opulence. The ability to overcome unsteadiness is called firmness or steadfastness (dhRti). And when one is fully qualified yet is humble and gentle, and when one is able to keep his balance both in sorrow and in the ecstasy of joy, he has the opulence called patience (kSamA).</blockquote>

[Guest guest]

Actually there is a grammatical procedure for picturising the gods.

And for making the idols, there is Shilpa Shastra.

 

These are well laid out procedures.

And in addition to that, its the sense of devotion and the energy emanted from the god, that we feel attracted.

[Guest guest]

how do people know what Shiva, Vishnu, or Krishna looked like? None of us have seen them, physically. We can only imagine what they looked like.

[Guest guest]

scriptures are written by people who has seen them, in scriptures there's descriptions

[Guest guest]

Its something like, My father has seen gandhi, and can identify him from a photo or a picture.

 

I have not seen gandhi personally. But I know gandhi looked like this, when my father who has seen him verifies that.

 

From now on I can pass it on to my son, who can pass on to his son and after 1000s of years, people can still identify gandhi.