  In this note, we revisit a variational principle introduced by Padmanabhan
for describing gravitation using a field action composed of a boundary term. We
demonstrate that this procedure can also be applied to derive Maxwell's and
Yang-Mills equations. Additionally, we find that in this boundary approach,
\(\mathcal{CP}\)-violating dual couplings and spontaneous symmetry breaking
through gauge boson masses emerge in a manner analogous to the appearance of
the cosmological constant in the original gravitational context.
