Chaitanya Jyothi Museum Opening, 2000

RAMANAM
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.  Amen.

Countrymen,

ORBIS NON SUFFICIT
SOLUS DEUS SUFFICIT

A Homily for Versifer

The purpose of life is to laugh, to dance, and to sing.  Any activity not of that nature wastes time or subverts life.  You hold God’s Song Book so that creation may laugh, dance, and sing from It.

We call It the Bible and sometimes The Word of God.  Really, it is a collection of songs best sung and even sung when said.  As you carry the Bible up and down the aisle of the Church, stones, trees, animals, humans, angels, and even demonic personalities are reading and singing from It as you walk.

What is this Word of God you carry?  In the Greek language there is a word, Theotokos , which means bearer of God in the sense of bringing the Divine Reality into effect within this sacred world.  Have you ever thought of yourself as carrying God into life?

The words Word of God in the Christian orbit refer always to Jesus as the Christ, the New Being who focalizes a deluge of the universal purifying energy that is Grace.  The Bible which you carry is not the The Word of God.  It contains The Word of God in the same way that a glass contains water.

The New Being, Jesus as the Christ, is not dependent on the special symbols in which it is expressed.  It has the power to be free of every form in which it appears.  Ruminate on these words of the preeminent Church Theologian of this century, The Rev. Dr. Paulus Johannes Tillich.

How do we benefit from The Word of God Who is contained in — but not dependent on — the Bible you carry?  To get the benefit from water we must put some water in a cup and drink the water from that cup.  To get the benefit from The Word of God we must put His words in a book and then hear those words sung, revolve them over and over in our minds, and finally put those words into practice throughout our day-to-day world.

What benefit can we expect from sincerely and exhaustively putting The Word of God into practice?  Safety.  Equanimity.  Calm.  In other words: laughter, dancing, and singing.  Carry the Bible forward accordingly aware of its purpose and potence.

August 1997

Βασιλεία του Θεού
Kingdom of God

AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA