Hinduism Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for followers of the Hindu religion and those interested in learning more about Hinduism. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Why are according to Hinduism, God made few humans beautiful and few other people look ugly?
I feel it is not correct to say. everybody are beautiful in their own way.
Some people on earth are definitely more beautiful than other. What is the major reason for this?
Well as they say "beauty lies in the eyes of beholder", how you look at a particular human being is how you generally feel about living beings. There maybe certain factors that make your appearance the way it is and one of them certainly would be your past karmas, but there is another aspect of the same thing, it is said that a soul itself selects a body, circumstances/living conditions it wants to enter in order to experience something specific, gain from it and move ahead to the next level.
Some of the factors that certainly define your appearance are:
Genes: Genes you inherit from your parents.
Geographical locations: Plains, mountains, desserts or extreme cold regions.
Climatic conditions: Hot, humid, cold or moderate.
Food you consume: Balanced or un-balanced diet.
The Indian poet Kalidas states that, that which appears fresher, newer and more lustrous each moment is beautiful.
क्षणे क्षणे यन्नवतां उपैति तदेव रूपं रमणीयताया: । नव नवोन्मेषशालिनी रमणीयता । – कालीदास
The Upanishads state,
‘That which is pure and eternally Blissful is beautiful (सत्यं शिवं सुंदरम्)’. True beauty never withers away. The soul principle which is the same as Brahma, God (Îshvar) or the individual soul is the only principle which has eternal existence, bliss and beauty.
To appreciate the beauty of God, a seeker must raise himself to the highest level of consciousness.
It is said, ‘One can truly worship Lord Shiva only when one becomes Lord Shiva Himself (शिवो भूत्वा शिवं यज्ञेत् ।)’. One has to tune oneself to the frequency of one’s deity before one can love and appreciate its beauty. For most people, the idol of Lord Viòhòhal is merely an idol. But Saint Tukaram considered the same idol as the most beautiful, manifest God Himself.
Every object or an individual has an aura i.e. it radiates energy of a particular frequency. When the frequency of the observer matches that of the object or the individual, that particular object or individual appears beautiful to the observer.
As God is beautiful, an individual with divine qualities such as serenity, compassion, kindness, goodwill, contentment appears beautiful. On the other hand, an individual with bad qualities such as anger, vengeance, hostility, violent nature, etc. appears ugly and ferocious. Refer
That's because of their own Karmas only.
See the verses given below from Gautama Smriti 11.31:
People belonging to the different classes and orders of life who are steadfastly devoted to the Laws proper to them enjoy the fruits of their deeds after death; and then, with the residue of those fruits, take birth again in a prosperous region, a high caste, and a distinguished family, with a handsome body, long life, deep vedic learning, and virtuous conduct, and with great wealth, happiness, and intelligence. 30Those who act to the contrary disperse in every direction and perish. 31
Also, as shown in this answer the Vidhata crafts the bodies as per the Karmas of the Jivas.
Dehah karmAtmakah proktastattad dehe pratishtitham ||
KarmayogAnurupena nirmAnam vidhirAdishet |
CharAcharamidam devi sarvvam karmAtmakam priye ||
MAtA karma pitA karma karmaiva paramo guruh |
Swargam vA narakam vApi karmanaiva labhennarah ||Meaning
O Goddess, O Beloved, the body is known to be the manifestation of Karma and all such Karmas are established in the body itself. The Almighty gives orders to craft bodies as per the Karmas. And this whole movable-immovable world is nothing but a manifestation of Karma. The mother is [an outcome of] Karma, the father is Karma, the supreme Guru is also Karma. One obtains heaven and hell by Karma only.
So, even if we assume that some God is crafting our bodies, it's not as per his own whims but as per our own Karmas only.
So, in short, good deeds done in past lives, can result in long life, birth with a "handsome" body, birth in a good family etc in the present life. And, just the opposite holds for bad deeds.
As long as we identify with the material conditions of the moment including the characteristics of our body we will periodically perceive some type of injustice and have reason to complain about something (like why good people can be ugly or like why bad things happen to good people). Only when we directly perceive the truth of our Eternal Unchanging Infinitely Beautiful Self will the true Fairness and Justice of all things become clear. Before that realization it is as if smoke distorts our own reflection in the mirror making ourselves and our lives seem instable and unfair at times.
In the BHAGAVAD-GITA Krishna teaches us to disregard perceptions of ugliness or beauty that are grounded in personal desires or hate: "The dualistic viewpoint, arising out of desire and hate, bewilders all beings born into this world, O scorcher of enemies!" Krishna says to Arjuna in sloka 7:21.
"Just as fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is obscured by dust, as an embryo is hidden by the womb, so is the truth blocked by desire." (sloka 3:38) So Krishna teaches us the Eternal Divine Beauty within everything is hidden from normal perception.
In order to develop the special capacity to perceive that Divine Beauty we must resist ascribing any significance to the normal perception that labels certain qualities ugly and others beautiful, Krishna teaches in sloka 3:28: "The wise know that the forces of nature create all objects and their actions, O mighty one, and so they refuse to identify them."
The phenomenal world seems filled with objects of different qualities. To judge our bodies or other objects using these perceptions leads to delusion about our true identity. The resulting identification with our body causes pain and rebirth. Krishna urges us to develop the correct perception of ourselves and our material lives in order to get free of this painful predicament: "The mahatmas who have reached Me are not subject to rebirth in this house of revolving pain because they have gone to the highest perfection." (8:15) [Quotations from THE BHAGAVAD-GITA IN FOCUS:A COMPILATION WITH COMMENTARY]
