The Heart’s Graffiti

On our way to Lowe’s to pick up gardening supplies, my wife and I spotted this incredible stretch of graffiti on the Salvation Army center in Brooklyn.

Graffiti is often found in rough or neglected places. Yet with creativity, talent, and imagination, an otherwise forgotten wall can become something beautiful.

In his magnum opus, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja1 describes the beauty of Rādhā, the ultimate lover of God, as being decorated with the beauty of sublime qualities. Her compassion, her deep attachment, and other various qualities of spiritual depth are the substance of her personal beauty and decor. Materially, this concept may be hard to understand, but I find it similar to the fact that our eternal spiritual bodies are literally made of eternality, knowledge, & bliss, sat-cit-ānanda, rather than blood and bones.

This theme often repeats itself in many ways in the ancient Vedic culture. Here in this nīti, the word ābharaṇam means an ornament

narasyābharaṇaṁ rūpaṁ

rūpasyābharaṇaṁ guṇaḥ

guṇasyābharaṇaṁ jñānaṁ

jñānasyābharaṇaṁ kṣamā

“Beauty is the ornament of a person.

Virtue is the ornament of beauty.

Knowledge is the ornament of virtue.

Forgiveness is the ornament of knowledge.”

Each line elevates the previous one.

Physical beauty is attractive. Beautiful character is even more attractive. Wisdom elevates character further. And when wisdom matures into a soft-forgiving heart, then what a charming person would that be?

Act humble VS ‘Acting’ humble

The power of the paint of personal transformation is that it works to change the bricks underneath. It does not just work on the surface level; it begins to change the heart. Thus, we practice doing humble things, we act humbly, rather than just acting humble.

When our wonderful teacher, Śrīla Prabhupāda, was asked by a student the question of whether a monk should bow in the temple if he doesn’t feel like it.

He responded,

Bow down, and then you will feel like it.

This is the beauty of bhakti: it works from the outside in and the inside out.

May we all become gorgeous!