Real Beauty

When a friend of mine sent me this ad, my respect for Dove products increased immensely !! I still don't like that line of products as I don't think they work for my skin, but this ad had so much of Krishna Consciousness in it that I felt it had to be posted here.

From a broader perspective, the term "beauty" is often misunderstood. This point has been stressed since time and millennium and by various sources, by quotes that say "Beauty isn't skin deep", by TV shows like Ugly Betty, where the main protagonist is an unattractive yet brilliant young girl who gets a job with a fashion house where she proves her worth with her brain power.


Still, STILL, billions of dollars is spent every year in cosmetic industry, thousands of women go for botox and other surgeries and toxic methods to enhance their looks, teenage girls all around the world idolize Jessica Alba, Jennifer Lopez for their perfect 10 figures and not for the struggle they underwent to become successful. Looks, in particular, Good Looks still play a great role in peoples life.

Saying this, I will not deny the importance of looking good. But I do object to the hours and money spent on "looks" when it can be used for so many other purposes.

But what I object to the most is the fakeness in the obtainment of these good looks. As shown in the Dove ad, what is real beauty? Who are we to define real beauty? And what we see in todays "most beautiful women", is that real beauty?

On a more deeper level, this advertisement tells a lot about our "real" identity and gives a better perspective to answering the often questioned "Who am I". The girl stayed the same. Her real identity (soul) stayed the same through out the makeover (transition from childhood to youth to adult to old age) and though it was the same person, she looked so different. Can any one say that she is different from what she was before the makeover? No, because "she" is the same.

People are running all over to try to find the "real beauty" or the "real knowledge" in this case, but no one wants to stop and really look around. Just as the way people after seeing the ad would be searching all over for the "beautiful" girl but that girl was always there!

Besides, what beauty are people running behind? What is "Real Beauty" ?

In the Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupad describes that All beauty is one the opulences of Lord Krishna. Seeing Lord Krishna in such a ultimately beautiful form, makes me wonder, why are people running around for true beauty, when the real beauty is found in abundance?


The name Krishna means All Attractive. If we need to be searching for anything, it should be searching to acquire the taste of the Holy Name that will inturn help us to increase our attraction for the all attractive.