There is a saying that the face is the mirror of the mind, and the Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay (also known as the Maharshi University of Spirituality or MAV) has observed this in practice. In a previous blog, MAV wrote about the remarkable changes on the faces of attendees after attending a 5-Day spiritual workshop. The faces of these attendees noticeably brightened over the course of the workshop. When a seeker does spiritual practice on a regular basis, the changes in his or her face are even more notable. With spiritual practice, their faces emit a Divine radiance that no amount of makeup or beauty treatment can match.

It was due to this prior experience that MAV was intrigued when we saw that there was an international conference on beauty, Saundarya 2019, which had the general theme of “Skin, Hair and Personality Enrichment with Ayurveda”. Nowadays, the focus tends to be on improving external beauty, so the theme of this conference stood out by mentioning personality enrichment. However, though a focus on internal beauty may be uncommon today, there is precedent for the idea that internal beauty results in external beauty. The ancient science of Ayurveda has long held that internal beauty is the real beauty, and that external beauty results from it. Making positive changes to one’s personality is understood to translate into positive changes in terms of external beauty as well. Following this precedent, MAV submitted a paper on how to improve one’s personality through the personality defect removal process and chanting the Name of God and got the opportunity to present it at the conference.

Saundarya 2019 was attended by doctors, academics and Ayurvedic practitioners. Guests of honour from the United Kingdom and Dubai were present. 370 papers were presented during the conference. Dr Swati Modi, a seeker doing spiritual practice for 18 years who is a homeopathic doctor by profession, presented MAV’s paper.

Dr Modi at the conference

Attendees were inspired by the presentation, understood the concept that internal beauty leads to external beauty and were interested in learning more.

During the awards ceremony, the director of the All India Institute of Ayurveda, Dr Tanuja Nesari, called Dr Modi to the stage and announced that MAV had received the best paper award for the conference. Saundarya 2019 was a supposed to be a conference on beauty. By giving the Best Paper award to a paper on inner beauty, the organisers showed their maturity and sent a strong message out to their faculty, students and attendees that inner beauty supersedes outer beauty in importance.

The award presented to MAV

The source of the Knowledge that MAV presents is based on Divine Knowledge and as a result has Divine consciousness which attracts people. This is the reason for the overwhelmingly positive reception that MAV is receiving when presenting at different conferences. We are grateful for the opportunity to spread God’s Divine Knowledge and pray for continued opportunities to do so.

Comments from attendees :

Dr Tanuja Manoj Nesari – Director of the All India Institute of Ayurveda

I was very happy to hear about the topic of Dr Modi’s presentation, as I have long felt that inner beauty is more important than external beauty. I have delivered a lecture on glowing skin due to Ayurvedic treatment, which is related.

Dr Ankita Mishra – Postgraduate Student in Paediatrics from the National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur

I appreciated the presentation and I have started chanting thereafter, due to which I am experiencing a peaceful state of mind.

Other attendees

Most everyone liked the presentation and gave positive feedback about the 5-Day workshops that MAV holds every month when Dr Modi distributed pamphlets about it.