As some of us know, the best of sessions by Acharya Ji are the unplanned ones. Free Hearts Camp, December, has a two-year-old participant. She is just too ‘cute’ to be ignored. Acharya Ji glanced over this little girl, observed her style of walking, and blessed us with a spontaneous and raw discourse: Listener: Acharya Ji, the way this girl is walking is so tempting and cute. Acharya Prashant: Of course, there is something genuinely lovable and valuable about kids. But, is that which is valuable about a child? To me, a child is beautiful because she is not yet socially conditioned. It is not her cuteness that makes her beautiful.
It is just the weakness of her (referring to the girl) lower body muscles that are making the walk appear cute. Because of that weakness, she cannot walk properly. She is stumbling and bumbling. That is appearing ‘cute’ to the biologically conditioned eye.
Maya, Avidya, and Prakriti are one! Prakriti ensures that a lot that is weak appears cute to the human eye. This way, weakness remains protected.
Okay, think of a strong, tall, unshakable tree. What would be the weakest part of this solid tree?
L: (Thinks for a second and replies) ‘Flower!’
AP: And what would be the most attractive part? L: (Stunned) Flower! AP: So, the weakest and the most attractive, the cutest, are one. If the flower were not cute, it would face a problem surviving. If the flower doesn’t survive, reproduction doesn’t happen. Prakriti is greatly insistent on reproduction. L: Ji. AP: What to you is the most attractive and sensitive part of a woman’s body? L: (Blushes and denies to answer) AP: (Forcefully) Bolo! (Speak!) L: Breasts! AP: And the breasts do not provide any strength to the woman. In many ways, they are a weakness. But Prakriti ensures these same bundles of flesh appear very cute to us. In fact, the general fleshiness of woman, which is nothing but the appearance of fat tissue, appears sensuous to the male eye.Muscles give strength, fat doesn’t!I have, in fact, come to see that big breasts are an impediment to a woman’s spiritual growth. Except for lust, why are they needed? Whenever a so-called ‘beautiful’ girl is born, she is a danger both to herself and to others around her. Her attractive features are a trap. She keeps paying the price all her life. In her case, chances of body-identification are far greater. That does not mean I support ugliness. But,
Beauty is not the same as attractiveness, sensuousness, or cuteness. It had become clear to me at a young age that cuteness is a myth. Either there is Truth, or there is falseness. There is no third thing called cuteness. Truth and strength are one, but Prakriti needs to protect weakness for her own ends. Whenever Prakriti wants to protect something that is weak, it conditions us to find that weak thing cute. Ego is often cute; ignorance is often cute. That is often how ego survives. Cuteness kills us by making us fond of itself.
L: What then is the difference between beauty and cuteness? AP: When you can see the Truth, it is called beauty. When that which is not true appears beautiful, it is cuteness. Cuteness is false.