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Vol. 107 JANUARY 2002 No. 1

VEDIC PRAYERS

ahKk vrJtk rJ;;k vwhtKkgul vq;;hr; =wf]U;trl >;ul vrJtuK Nwul vq;tyr;vtbtlbhtr;k ;hub >>

Taittirya rayaka, 10.11

Being purified by the holy, all-pervading, eternal presence of the effulgent Being,the human being gets rid of evil. May we too go beyond the touch of sin,

our great enemy, being freed from impurity by that ever-holy Presence that purifies all.

gtu =uJtu~lti gtu~mwgtu rJJk CwJlbtrJJuN >

g ytuMteMw Jlvr;Mw;bi =uJtg lbtu lb& >>

vetvatara Upaniad, 2.17

Repeated salutations to God who is in the fire, who is in the water,who has pervaded the whole universe,

who is in the plants, and who is in the trees.


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Adoration

EDITORIAL

Dakshineswar temple garden, the placehallowed by the spiritual practices and pres-ence of Sri Ramakrishna; the Bhavatarini Kalitemple, where he worshipped and had the vi-sion of the Divine Mother; the Radhakantatemple and the twelve Siva temples; the roomwherehelivedinGod-absorptionandenactedthe divine dramaall these sacred spots areobjects of adoration to countless devotees.

Those who have studied Sri Ramakrishnaslife know that he was a worshipper in the Kalitemple there. But what a worship it was! Aworship with a difference: he cried and weptforGod,thedivinefireraginginhisheartcon-suming his very being, till the stone image re-vealed to him the Consciousness pervading it.He started communicating with his DivineMother, and She with him. That marked thebeginningofSriRamakrishnasdivineplayon

earthunceasingadorationandrealizationofGod in one aspect or another, including thoseprescribed by non-Hindu faiths.

Then, it was adoration of God every-where. Says Sri Ramakrishna: One day I wasabout to gather some flowers. They were ev-erywhereonthetrees.AtonceIhadthevisionofVir; it appeared that His worship was justover. The flowers looked like a bouquetplaced on the head of the Deity. I could notpluckthem.1 Tohim,allexistenceincludingthe manifest worldnow stood permeatedwith Consciousness. In his own words, Theuniverse is conscious on account of the Con-sciousness of God. Sometimes I find that Con-sciousness wriggles about, as it were, even insmall fish. Sometimes I find that the uni-verse is saturated with the Consciousness of

God, as the earth is soaked with water in therainy season.2 Sri Ramakrishnas adorationwas that of a knower of God, and may be con-sidered the ideal. A spiritual aspirant, how-ever, passes through different levels of adora-tion.

Adoration at different levelsThe way a spiritual aspirant adores God

depends upon his attitude towards himself. In

other words, his level of consciousness deter-mineshisconceptionandadorationofGod.Inhis spiritual journey a spiritual aspirant un-dergoes changes in his attitude to God corre-sponding to the different degrees of purity ofhis mind, and finally reaches the culminationof spiritual life: oneness with God. A verse at-tributed to Hanuman brilliantly describes thisimportantspiritual principle: When I think ofmyselfasabody,IamtheservantandYouare

my Master; when I think of myself as ajvtman, I am a part and You are the Whole.When I know I am the Spirit, I am Thouthisis my firm conviction!3

Adoration at the physical levelAdoration means to love something

deeply and with respect. Everyone in thisworld has something to adore. While mostpeople adore the world and its enjoyments,there are a few who adore something differ-ent, something higher. As long as we feel thatour body-mind complexthe empirical per-sonalityis real, we see the external world asreal and it occupies our whole being. Whensuch a person prays to God, he does it mostlyto be freed from some physical or mental af-

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1. M., TheGospelofSriRamakrishna ,trans.SwamiNikhilananda (Madras: Ramakrishna Math,1996), pp 687-8. [Hereafter,Gospel.]

2.Gospel, p. 260.3.Dehabuddhy tu dasosmi

jvabuddhy tvadaaka;tmabuddhy tvamevahamiti me nicit mati.


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fliction,orforworldlyprosperity:name,fame,power, and position. These, according to theGt, are two (rtaandarthrth) of the fourtypes of people who worship God.4 Such peo-pleadoreGodasahumanbeingandevencon-

ceive of Him as married and having children,if that suits them!Swami Vivekananda throws light on an

important truth: the constitutional necessityforsuchpeopletoworshipGodwithahumanform. He says, Suppose a cow were philo-sophicalandhadreligion,itwouldhaveacowuniverse, and a cow solution of the problem,and it would not be possible that it should seeour God. Suppose cats became philosophers,

they would see a cat universe and have a catsolution of the problem of the universe, and acatrulingit.5 Thepointtobenotedis:Aslongas cats and cows are conscious of their cat orcow form, they are constitutionally obliged tothink of a God with their respective forms.Even so with a human being. As long as onesidentity with the body and the mind is strong,adoration of a human God alone is possibleand just. For those who feel attracted to the

world and its objects, religion can be only aform of sanctified shopkeeping.6 But SriKrishna considers even such worshippers asnoble-hearted.7 For, after all, it isGodwhomthey approach for their worldly wants insteadof manipulating men and matter, dependingon their puny ego.

Itwillbepertinenttoexaminetheviewofpeople who do not believe in worshippingGod with a human form. Such people may bestrongly attached to the world and to theirown limited personality. Only adoration of aGod with a human form is taboo for them! Aslongastheycontinuetoadoretheirownbody,

this attitude cannot hold water. They need topurify their mind and be free from their ownbody consciousness before trying to negateGod with a human form. Says SwamiYatiswarananda, Before you apply the con-

cept of formlessness and impersonality toGod, apply it first to yourself. It is an impor-tant law that our concept of Reality dependsupon our concept of ourselves. So in order tomeditate on the formless God, we must con-sider ourselves to be formless. We must de-personalize ourselves before we try to deper-sonalize God.8

Adoration at the mental levelThe third type of people who adore God,

accordingtoSriKrishna,iscalledjijsuonewho seeks to know. Know what? Answers tocertain fundamental questions of life: What isthe meaning of human existence? What is thenatureofGod?Isahumanbeingonlywhatheor she appears from outside or is there ahigher dimension to his or her personality? Aseeker is not satisfied with the world and thesenseenjoymentsithastooffer.Heknowsthatsuch enjoyments only sap the vigour of the

senses.9 Such a person turns to God, adoresHim, and prays to Him seeking to know thesecret and purpose of human existence.

Spiritual life may be said to begin at thisstage. Such a seeker practises spiritual disci-plines, studies the scriptures, cultivates holycompany and struggles for the purification ofthe mind. Since worldly things do not charmhim anymore, he does not adore them now ashe used to in his unawakened state. He livesmostly in the mental and intellectual planes,andderivesjoyfromahigherdimensionofhispersonality. This joy arises from a level tran-scending his sensory system, and is born ofself-control and devotion to his Ideal. Whenhe adores God in an image, it is not the exter-

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4.rmad Bhagavadgt, 7.16.5. Swami Vivekananda, The Complete Works of

Swami Vivekananda (Mayavati: AdvaitaAshrama, 1992), Vol. 2, p. 155. [Hereafter,

Complete Works.]6.Complete Works, Vol. 5, p. 92.7.rmad Bhagavadgt, 7.18.

8. Swami Yatiswarananda,Meditation and Spiri-tual Life (Bangalore: Ramakrishna Math,

1989), p. 422.9. sarvendriy jarayanti teja KahaUpaniad, 1.1.26.


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nalsplendourthatdrawshisattention,buttheinfinite purity, knowledge, bliss and strengthoftheDivinepermeatingtheimage.Hewagesa relentless war with his own mind, which islike controlling the wind10 or reversing the

current of a river.11

This marks the beginningof his adoration at the mental level. The morehisownmindbecomespure,themorehereal-izes the infinite purity, holiness, knowledge,freedom and strength of the object of his ado-ration, which could be any holy form includ-ing an incarnation of God. His adoration nowtakes the form of a deep longing to be filledwith these qualities.

Patanjali advocates meditation on the

heartthathasgivenupallattachmenttosenseobjects.12 Commenting on this sutra, SwamiVivekananda says: Take some holy person,some great person whom you revere, somesaint whom you know to be perfectly non-at-tached, and think of his heart. That heart hasbecome non-attached, and meditate on thatheart; it will calm the mind.13

Students of Sri Ramakrishnas life cannotbut be astounded at his blazing superhuman

renunciation and purity. Such a one-pointedand tenacious mind, which didnt stop till itaccomplished what it believed to be true, can-not but be an object of adoration by a seeker.Every other page in the Gospel of SriRamakrishna records his losing external con-sciousness and passing into samadhi, thehighest superconscious experience. He had tostruggle hard to bring his mind down to theempirical level so that he could talk to suffer-ing humanity on spiritual life! Such was hisgreatconcernforthespirituallyimpoverishedhumanitythatheprayedtotheDivineMothertobringhisminddownalittlefromtheexperi-ence of oneness with God, and not to makehim a dry sadhu!14

A spiritual aspirant cannot but contrast

such an exalted mind of a Ramakrishna withhis own fickle mind. The aspirants restlessmindisabletothinkofadivineideamaybeforjust a few minutes during his attempts at med-itationthat too with great struggle! What a

contrast with the mind of a Ramakrishna thatis steeped in God consciousness for all 24hours even in the midst of an excruciatingthroat pain due to cancer!

The struggling aspirantadores such a su-perhuman mind and inherits its traits by andby. By opening himself to its purifying influ-ence more and more, his mind gets cast in themouldofhischosenIdeal.HepraystoHimtobe endowed with humility, control of mind,

freedom from thirst for sense objects, compas-sion for all beings, and to ferry him across theocean of transmigratory existence.15

Adoration of God through workA proper attitude to work and to ones

profession can convert work into a potent toolfor effecting the purification of the mind. SriKrishna emphasizes this in a series of gradeddisciplines for spiritual life: Fix your mind onMe,mayyourintellectdwellonMe.Undoubt-

edly, you will live in Me on giving up thebody.Incaseyouarenotabletofixyourmindon Me, desire to attain Me through abhysa

yoga (the yoga of steadfast practice). If you areunable to do this either, be intent on workingfor My sake. Working for Me, you will attainperfection. If you cannot thus work for Mysake resorting to yoga, renounce the fruits ofall your actions, being self-controlled.16

So, performing ones action with a viewto pleasing God is a basic discipline everyseeker is taught to practise. How is one to sur-render the fruits of ones actions to God? Bytaking refuge in the primeval Purua (God)from whom have originated activities fromtime immemorial!17

Sri Krishna emphasizes the efficacy ofadoration of God through ones work in the18th chapter of theGt: From whom is the

evolutionofallbeings,bywhomiseverything

4 Prabuddha Bharata January

10.rmad Bhagavadgt,6.34.11. pratisrota pravartanamiva, Sankaras com-

mentary on theKaha Upaniad, 2.1.1.12.Vtargaviaya v cittam Yoga Sutras, 1.37.13.Complete Works, Vol. 1, p. 227.14.Gospel, p. 388.

15. Sankaracharya,Viuapad, 1.16. rmad Bhagavadgt, 12.8-11.17. rmad Bhagavadgt, 15.4.


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pervadedby adoring Him through oneswork, a human being achieves perfection.18

Service to fellow beings is another effec-tive way of adoring Godservice as the wor-ship of the indwelling Spirit. This incidentally

is the basic work philosophy of theRamakrishna Order. Swami Vivekanandastresses its importance in his celebrated lec-ture on True Worship delivered inRameswaram:

A rich man had a garden and two gardeners.One of these gardeners was very lazy and didnot work; but when the owner came to the gar-den, the lazy man would get up and fold hisarms and say, How beautiful is the face of my

master, and dance before him. The other gar-dener would not talk much, but would workhard, and produce all sorts of fruits and vegeta-bles which he would carry on his head to hismaster who lived a long way off. Of these twogardeners,whichwouldbethemorebelovedofhis master? Shiva is that master, and this worldisHisgarden,andtherearetwosortsofgarden-ers here; the one who is lazy, hypocritical, anddoesnothing,onlytalkingaboutShivasbeauti-

ful eyes and nose and other features; and theother, who is taking care of Shivas children, allthose that are poor and weak, all animals, andall His creation. Which of these would be themore beloved of Shiva? Certainlyhe that servesHis children.

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Adoration at the spiritual levelWhen the spiritual aspirant is blessed

with the knowledge of the Spirit, his life be-comes an act of continuous worship. He nowbelongs to the fourth class of worshippers ofGod, the jn. As mentioned already, SriKrishna calls all the four types of devotees no-ble-hearted. But, he considers ajn(man ofknowledge) to be specialamong them becauseof his one-pointed devotion to Him. Such adevotee is dear to God and so is God to such adevotee.20 Commenting on this verse, SriSankarasaysthatajnadoresGodalonebe-

cause he fails to see anything else adorable!21

The adoration of the jn can therefore becalledtheadorationoftheSpiritbytheSpirit.

Livesofsaintsandsagesillustratethissu-preme adoration of the Spirit by the Spirit,

which Swami Vivekananda considered truereligion.22 Says he: Throw away all matter!The conception of God must be truly spiritual.All the different ideas of God, which are moreorlessmaterialistic,mustgo.Asmanbecomesmore and more spiritual, he has to throw offall these ideas and leave them behind. As amatter of fact, in every country there have al-ways been a few who have been strongenough to throw away all matter and stand

out in the shining light, worshipping the spiritby the spirit.23

Sri Ramana Maharshi was a great saintwho lived in the last century and propagatedthevicra mrga(the path of knowledge anddiscrimination). An incident happened whenhe was 12 and living with his uncle inMadurai. One day, as he lay on the floor, hebegan to think he was dead. He imagined thathis body was carried to the cremation ground,

keptonthefuneralpyreandsetonfire.Heex-perienced that stillhedid not die, that the At-man in him continued to exist even after thebody was consigned to flames. This was not amere thought but a tangible spiritual experi-ence. For, when he went to TiruvannamalaiwhereheremainedfortherestofhismortallifehewasknowntobeabsorbedinhisinnerSelf in a cave where even the suns rays couldnotpenetrate.Wormsandverminusedtofeedonhislimbs,aboutwhichhewasnotatallcon-scious.AbidanceintheSelfbecamehisnaturalstatesahaja samadhi.

After this abiding spiritual experience,Sri Ramana Maharshis visits to the Siva tem-ple in Madurai acquired a new meaning. He

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18.rmad Bhagavadgt, 18.46.19.Complete Works, Vol. 3, p. 142.

20. rmad Bhagavadgt, 7.17.21. anyasya bhajanyasya adarant, Sankaras

commentary on theBhagavadgt, 7.17.22. Complete Works, Vol. 8, p. 141.23. Complete Works, Vol. 8, p. 139.


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would stand in silent adoration before thestone images of the 63 NayanmarsSaivasaints of Tamil Nadu. Tears ofbhaktiwouldstream down his cheeks as thisjnstood inamazement at their devotion!

One day at Dakshineswar, SriRamakrishna entered one of the Siva temples,and started reciting the famous hymnivamahimna Stotram describing the glory ofSiva. When he came to the following verse, hewas overwhelmed with emotion: If the blackmountain were to be the ink, the ocean theinkpot, the best branch of the celestial tree thepen, and the earth the paperwith all theseinstrumentsiftheGoddessofWisdomHerself

were to write for eternity, even then, O Lord,She cannot exhaust Your glories! He then ex-claimed aloud again and again: O Great God,how can I express Your glory? Tears startedflowing profusely from his eyes. He lost him-self in the infinite Consciousness of Siva.24

Immersed in God consciousness, such aman of supreme Knowledge lives oblivious of

his body, mind and ego. This state marks theacme of all adorationthe Spirit of the devo-tee finds its oneness with the supreme Spirit.The river merges into the sea.25

This Special Number

This special number ofPrabuddha Bharatafocusses on adoration. It comprises articlesfrom many scholars on Adoration in Hindu-ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism,Jainism, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Thereare also articles on the following themes: ado-ration through inter-religious understanding,song, hymns, work, music, art, managementetc. We thank our contributors for their excel-lent articles, a result of years of study, medita-

tion, and experience.

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24. SwamiSaradananda,SriRamakrishnatheGreatMaster (Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1970),p. 431.

25. The river of individual consciousness withnameand form merging intothe sea ofuniver-sal Consciousness losing its individual iden-tity. Muaka Upaniad,3.2.8.

The Ideal of AdorationInworshipofthegods,youmustofcourseuseimages.Butyoucanchangethese.Kali

need not always be in one position. Encourage your girls to think of new ways of pictur-ingHer.HaveahundreddifferentconceptionsofSaraswati. Inthechapelifthemain-

tenance of perpetual adoration could be organised, nothing could be more in accord withHindu feeling. But the ceremonies employed must themselves be Vedic. Then there isthe sacrifice of learning. That is the most beautiful of all. Do you know that every book isholy in India, not the Vedas alone, but the English and Mohammedan also? All are sa-cred. And never forget humanity! The idea of a humanitarian man-worship exists in nu-cleusinIndia, but ithas never beensufficiently specialised.Let yourstudents develop it.

Swami Vivekananda


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Adoration of the Universal Man in theUpanishads

SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA

Srimat Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj is the president of the Ramakrishna Order.He is well known internationally as an ambassador of Vedanta. He has been tirelesslyspreading the universal message of oneness and spirituality everywhere since over sevendecades. He has also written many important books, of which The Message of theUpanishads and TheBhagavadGt (inthreevolumes)areverywellknown.Thefollowingarticle has been culled fromThe Message of the Upanishads(Mumbai: Bharatiya VidyaBhavan).WethankSwamiSatyamayanandaji,AdvaitaAshrama,Kolkata,forarrangingthis

article.

The Theme of the UpanishadsWithout understanding the Upanishads,

it is impossible to get an insight into Indianhistory and culture. Every subsequent devel-opment of philosophy and religion in Indiahasdrawnheavilyonthem.Thepathofbhaktior devotion to a personal God, the path ofkarmaordetachedaction,andthesynthesisof

all spiritual paths in a comprehensive spiritu-ality, expounded in theGt, are all derivedfrom the Upanishads. The Upanishads arethus the perennial springs of strength and cre-ativity. Their theme is freedom of the humanspirit and their message is of fearlessness andlove and service. They summon men andwomen everywhere to this mighty adventureof freedom and fearlessness, love and service,and to the realization, by each man andwoman,ofhisorheressentialspiritualnature,and the transcendence of the limitations offinitude. They explain every great move-mentsocial, political, or religiousnay thephenomena of life itself, as an expression ofthe urge to freedom inherent in every organ-ismthe struggle of the Infinite caught up inthe cell or in a body.

Human Excellence

India asked, ages ago, What is the high-estexcellenceofman?Thisquestionwastack-led with a thoroughness that is very impres-

sive. Man, endowed with a body, with thesenses, with various capacities, has yet to riseto the point of his highest excellence, which hehas in a small measure even in his very child-hood. The achievement of this highest excel-lence is the product of a converging lifeendeavour; it is education and religion in one.Mans supreme excellence, says the

Upanishads, consists in transcending the limi-tations of his senses. We have transcendedmany things. We have transcended our ani-mal ancestry to some extent in this humanpsycho-physical organism, but this is not thelast nor the highest achievement. Even manstechnical achievements up to date do nottouch a fringe of his total possibilities; in spiteof these intellectual developments, he has stillabout him and in him much of the primevalevolutionary slime; he has to shed much of hisanimal ancestry. He represents a great ad-vance in evolution, but evolution has stillgreater heights to scale in him and throughhim. The Upanishads took up this challenge,the challenge of deeper levels of human expe-rience. This is the theme of the Upanishads.

The True Nature of ManWhat then is this eternal glory of man? It

is the inborn divine nature, birthless, death-less, pure and holy. Man is not the body, northe senses; these are but the instruments of

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manifestation and action in the spatio-tempo-ral world of the Atman. It is limitless and one,yet expressing itself through the little finiteforms of body and mind. This is the true na-ture of man. This is not a mere philosophical

conceptbutarealizedfact.Allsensitivemindsareinspiredbytheseideas.Theyinspiredpeo-ple when the Upanishads were composed;they inspired people a thousand years later;and today, after 3000 to 4000 years, they stillinspire us. Neither the phenomenal progressof science and technology, nor the wealth andpower of modern world has been able to re-duce their relevance of these ideas. They haveonly increased it. The world today is seeking

forpreciselythisspiritualgrowthforman;itisthe only means of breaking through the stag-nation that has come upon the human mind.The human mind has lost its bearings in thedelusion of wealth and power,pramdyantamvittamohena mdham(Katha Upanishad). Con-tinued stagnation means death. So theUpanishads give us their gospel of hope forman through their grand theme: Man shallhave wealth; man shall have power; man shall

haveallthis;butheshallnotgetlostinanyoneof these. These are the means, not the end; heshall break through the crust of experienceand realize the Atman, his divine Self which isSat - Chit - nanda, Existence - Knowledge-Bliss. Thus do the Upanishads show us theway to creative living and fulfilment.

Dynamic CreativityCreative living is a beautiful term. What

is creativity? Merely doing the same thingsover and over again does not indicate creativ-ity. The body, the senses, the nervous system,their recurring excitements and titillations donot make for creative living. Some time or an-other we have to break through the prisonwall of body and mind. We have to reach truecreativity, and it is this type of creativity thatthe Upanishads represent. Those who aremodernfallintotwocategories.First,thereare

those who are modern simply because theyuse modern amenities. That is the ordinarymeaning of the word modern. But there is an-

other meaning, a more profound meaning. Inthe second meaning the modern man is hewho is nourished on the spirit of science, whois alert of mind, and on the tract of truth, whohasthecapacitytoquestion.Thatmanismod-

ern who is inquisitive, who has the passion fortruth, who never takes things for granted, butalways strives to get into the heart of things.Such a modern mind is the mind closest to thespirit of the Upanishads. For in theUpanishads too there is this atmosphere ofalertness, this mood of constant seeking, adeep passion for truth, a constant desire toforge ahead and not take things for granted ina complacent spirit. It is here that you find the

close kinship betweenthe Upanishadsand themodernspirit.Thespiritofinquirywhichpos-sessedthesagesoftheUpanishadsledthemtoquestion experience, to question theenvironingworld;italsoledthemtofearlesslyquestion their gods and the tenets of their tra-ditional faiths. They showed their uniquenessincontrasttoothergiftedpeopleoftheancientworld, namely, the Greeks, who did not expe-riencethesameurgetosubjecttheirreligionto

that rational investigation which they so dili-gently and passionately applied to social andpolitical phenomena. The Upanishadic andearliereven the Vedicsages did not alsofear to doubt when rational, certain knowl-edge was difficult to come by. They illustratethecreativeroleofskepticism;inthepursuitoftruth,suchskepticismisbutapreludetoratio-nalfaith.Whentheysoughtforthetruthoftheexternal world, they found it difficult and baf-fling; inquiry only deepened the mystery. TheNsadiya-Sktaof theRig Vedarecords the im-pact of this mystery on the ancient Indianmind. The mind discovered early, as modernthinkersareslowlydiscoveringtoday,thatthemystery of the external world will onlydeepen and not diminish, in spite of advanc-ing knowledge, if the mystery of the innerworld is not tackled.

The Knower and the KnownFor a complete philosophy of Reality,there is need to have data from both the fields

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ofexperience,theouterandtheinner.Modernscience has become aware of the influence ofthedatumoftheobserverontheknowledgeofthe observed data. If the Selfas knower is inex-tricably involved in the knowledge of the

not-Self, of the known, an inquiry into the na-ture of the Self and the nature of knowledgebecomesnotonlyavalid,butanindispensableand integral part of scientific investigationinto the nature of Reality. The Upanishads,therefore, were far in advance of humanthought when they decided to dedicate them-selves to the tackling of the inner world. Theynot only gave a permanent orientation to In-dian culture and thought, but also blazed a

trail for all subsequent philosophy in the Eastand the West. They reveal an age character-ized by a remarkable ferment, intellectual andspiritual. It was one those rare ages in humanhistorywhichhaveregisteredadistinctbreak-throughinmansquestfortruthandmeaning,and which have held far-reaching conse-quences for all subsequent ages.

Spirituality is Mans Greatest AdventureThe Upanishads boldly proclaim that

spiritualityistheprerogativeofeveryindivid-ual. This Atman, the divine, the immortal, istheSelfofeverymanandwomanandchild.Itis the true nature of man. It is also the true na-ture of all animals, but animals cannot realizeit. The Upanishads tell us that wealth andpower are not the highest glory of man. Theydo not condemn mans pursuit of worldlywealth and power; they never condemn anyvalues pursued by man. They only say, thereis something better and higher than these.The Upanishads ever urge us to go on to therealization of this something better within us.Sri Ramakrishna, in one of his parables, tellsthe story of a woodcutter who, going into theforest to cut wood, was told by a holy man togo forward. Following this advice, in duecourse the woodcutter came across, first, a

sandalwood forest, then, a silver mine, then, agold mine, and, going deeper still into the for-est, he found at last a diamond mine, and be-came exceedingly rich.

Transcending the Ego

The Upanishads summon man to a con-stant struggle to gain the highest, the struggleto achieve the eternal, the permanent, the im-mortalimbeddedinlifeandexperience.Otherraces and cultures have spoken of man as adominator of external nature, as a creator ofvaluesinthecontextofmanscollectivelife.InGreek thought, for example, we have the con-ceptofthePrometheanspirit,thepowerofthehuman spirit to overcome external obstacles

and establish mans supremacy over theforces of nature and, if necessary, over theforces of other human beings as well. Thegreat defect in this line of thought, when pur-sued by itself, is that it does not carry all hu-manity together. It is based on the concept ofmansdominatingeverythingexternaltohim-self; it does not stress the need to chasten andovercome the ego, which results from suchdomination of his external environment. Man

dominating his external environment is avalidconcept;itisaformofhumanexcellence.The West has carried it to the highest level ofexpression.Butthisisnotthehighestthatmanis capable of. Indian thought will not accord itthe highest point in the scale of human excel-lence. That point involves the transcendenceof the ego and the emergence of the universalwithin man. When man achieves the supremeself-transcendence he finds that there is no-bodytodominate.Hefindsthatheisonewithall, for he has realized the Self in all. In otherwords, he discovers himself as the UniversalMan,integratedwithinandwithout,andhim-self pulsating in the heart of man and nature.This liberation of the Universal Man out of thecommon men and women that we are is thetheme of the Upanishads.

2002 Adoration of the Universal Man in the Upanishads 9

The Upanishads point out that the goal of man is neither misery nor happiness, butwe have to be masters of that out of which these are manufactured, says SwamiVivekananda.


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Vedic Adoration

Swami Vivekananda says that there are scholars who from the ancient Aryan literature

show that religion originated in nature worship. But he rejects this idea and says that in theoldest records there is no trace of it whatsoever. He adds that there was a difference betweenthe nature worship of other races and that of the Indian Aryans. What was the Vedic Aryannature worship like? I propose to call it the struggle to transcend the limitations of thesenses, says Swamiji (The Complete Works, Vol. 2, pp. 58-9). A former editor ofPrabuddha Bharata hasattemptedacursoryintroductiontothestudyofVedicadorationinthis article.

Vedic adoration is an absorbing topic forstudy and emulation. Centuries before the

Puranic ideal of image worship became wide-spread (though elements of image worshipwere always there since the very beginning ofVedic civilization), the Vedic sages adored theSupreme in several nonpareil ways. A smallintroduction to the most ancient systems ofVedic adoration has been attempted here.

How old are the Vedas? In his two-vol-ume work, Indian Philosophy, Dr S. Radha-krishnan makes a beautiful remark:

SomeIndianscholarsassigntheVedichymnsto3000 BC, others to 6000 BC. Jacobi puts thehymns at 4500 BC. We assign them to the fif-teenth century BCand trust that our date willnot be challenged as being too early.

1

The adoration of the Vedic Aryans maybedividedintofivebroaddivisions:(a)natureworship; (b) worship through fire sacrifices,(c) worship of the Self, (d) worship of elders,and (e) worship of the Vedas themselves.

Nature WorshipThe aborigine nature worship was with

the idea thatthere isa highgodas the lordin heavenwho haswithdrawn from the immediate details of thegoverning of the world. This kind of highgodtheDeus otiosus, hidden, or idle, godisone who has delegated all work on earth to

what are called nature spirits, which are theforcesorpersonificationsoftheforcesofnature.

High gods exist, for example, in such indige-nous religions on Africas west coast as that ofthe Dyola of Guinea. In such religions the spiri-tual environment of man is functionally struc-tured by means of personified natural powers,or nature spirits.

2

NatureworshipoftheVedicAryanswas,unlike that of such other civilizations, the ven-eration of the Divine through some naturalmanifestations. Indian Aryans were a veryhighly civilized race. Their worship origi-nated in the knowledge that God is immanentin nature,isnature, and also transcends it. Itwasnottheideathatnatureisanindependententity like God and the world that promptedVedic sages to adore it. Neither was it theSkhyan idea of nature being an independ-ent entity, responsible for creation. It was notpantheism either. Pantheism is just the re-verseitsequatingGodwiththeforcesofna-ture.Vedicnatureworship,ontheotherhand,was the seeing of God Himself in nature.While in the former the forces of nature weremore important, in the latter it was God whowas most important.

How did the Vedic sages view nature?ThevisionoftheVedicseerswasarrestingandbeautiful. In a glorious mantra, the Vedicsages sing:

Madhu vt tyate

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1. Dr S. Radhakrishnan,Indian Philosophy (Delhi:Oxford University Press, 1998), Vol. 1, p. 67.[Hereafter,Indian Philosophy.] 2. Britannica 2001 Deluxe CD-ROMedition.


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2002 Vedic Adoration 11

madhu-karanti sindhava.Mdhvrna santvoadh.Madhu naktam-utoasi

madhumat prthiva raja.Madhu-dyaurastu na pit.Madhumn-no vanaspatir-

madhumm-astu srya.Mdhvr-gvo bhavantu na.The air, the waters, the plants and herbs, thenight and day, the very dust of the earth, theheavens, the trees, the sun, the cows, in fact, ev-erything exudes nectar; may everything bringeverlasting bliss to us.

In thisTaittirya rayaka(10.39) mantra,madhustands for immortality. Whatever thesages saw, that they conceived as bringing thesweetness of immortality. Therefore Indianadoration of nature has been consistentlymystical, and is based on the concept of theoneness of Reality behind the multifariousmanifestations. Eka sat,the One is real.

That the Vedic vision of the universe isspiritual is evident from the first section of theTaittirya Upaniad,which speaks of the threevyhtis (bh, bhuva, and suva), and saysthat there is a fourth, which is Brahman (Real-ity). Brahman is behind everything, ie,is ev-

erything. Again, what is in the external natureis also present within us, says this Upaniad,and compares thevyhtisof the macrocosm

withthoseofthemi-crocosm. This is thegrand Vedic way oflooking at things.

From the very

beginning, the Ve-dic Aryans askedquestions in a com-pelling manner, likea scientist does.They asked, for in-stance: Why doesthe wind blow?Why does the sunglow? Why do

riversflow?Thoughthey might have ini-tially thought that

these forces themselves had the power to per-form actions, they soon realized that therewere powers behind everything, which theysaw as the one supreme Truth, that made ev-erything act. This led them to adore thosepowers, which they identified as the gods. Buttheir vision was henotheistic; they knew fully

wellthatthesegodswereonlysymbolicrepre-sentations of the supreme Being. Max Muellerhas remarked that Vedic pantheism is notpantheism but henotheism, which is the ado-ration of each deity, considering it as the Su-preme.3

What was the nature of this nature wor-ship? The sages sang hymns in praise of thedeities, prayed to them, and offered oblationsto them. Initially they sought wealth, health,progeny, protection, rains, destruction of ene-mies, etc. Were they so simple to seek favoursfromnature?Notatall,asweshallseenow.

In theg Veda, about 30 sages sing 1,028hymns containing 10,552 mantras to the su-preme Being, seeing Him manifested as vari-ous deities like Agni, Vyu, Aditi,Brahmaaspati, Soma, U, Pthv, Viu, etc.They pray to Mother Earth, for instance:

Syen pthv bhar-nkar nivein; yacch na

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3.Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1, pp. 90-1.

The Vedic world, a panorama


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arma sapratha, O vast MotherEarth! May you become favour-able and free from obstacles; mayyou bestow immense happinessonus.4 Theypraytothesun,call-

ing him Lord Savit, to bringrains: Ap naptam-avasesavitram upastuhi; tasyavratnyumasi, We adore therain-giver Savit for protection;may he make our lifes sacrificeeasy to perform.5

The sages pray to the treesand herbs, seeking protection:Uttnapare subhage devajte sahasvat..., O

Mother Tree, your leaves are facing higher re-gions, you have been created by the Supreme;your brilliance is incomparable; you becomemedicineformyhealth;pleaseprotectme(gVeda, 10.145.2). They see the mountains andextoltheirmajesty:Girayacini jihate parnsomanyamn; parvatcinni yemire, Ah! Seethose mountains! Even though they are tor-tured and troubled, they wont give up theirpositions (g Veda, 8.7.34). The sages knew

thescienceofrainfall,forexample,andsotheyprayedtothesuninsteadoftheriverstobringrains. Sage Drghatam says, for instance:

Ka niyna havaya suparpo vasn vidam-utpatanti;

Ta vavtran-tsadandta-sytidaghtena pthiv vyudyate.

The beautiful rays of the sun, for which the wa-ter vapour is food, are filling the dark-colouredclouds with more water and taking them to-wardshigherworlds.Whentheychooseaplacewhere they can pour, they come down againandfilltheearthwiththeirlife-givingwaters.

6

When the sages pray to the rivers, theyview them as standing for something else,something higher. Sage Vivmitras son,Madhucchand, prays to the River Sarasvat:Maho ara sarasvat pracetayati ketun; dhiyo

viv virjati, Sarasvat is overflowing and has

brought a lot of water; she is awakening ourintellect,andbringingustheknowledgeofev-erything.7 So water is not just water; its agreatmedicine.Asageofthe gVeda (1.23.19)says: apsvantar-amtam-apsu-bheajam, wateris nectar, water is medicine. The sages there-fore prayed to the gods to keep all the riversfull so that duhitur-vakasu rp minnoakot, the daughter of the Lord, earth, shouldremain beautiful always (g Veda,5.42.13).

This shows that the Vedic sages were sci-entists of distinction and not ignorant wor-shippers of the forces of nature. Moreover,these scientists, who viewed their inventionswithamysticaleye,werealsopoets. Afemalesage (called Aditi) is perhaps one of the great-est of such poets. She sings (g Veda, 4.18.6):

Et aranti-alal bhavanttvarriva sakroamn;

Et vi pccha kimida bhaantkampo adri paridhi rujant.

The rivers are flowing blissfully, singingala-l. O Sage! Please ask them what they in-tend to say. How at all do these sweet, soft wa-ters overcome huge obstacles like mountains!

Further, this female sage imagines thatthe rivers are perhaps reciting some mantrasin praise of her dear son, Indra! We see SageVivmitra singing in a poetic way:

Samudrea sindhavo ydamn indrya soma


20

4.g Veda, 1.22.15.5.g Veda,1.22.6.6.g Veda, 1.164.47.

Two Vedic sages churning wood to make fire

7.g Veda, 1.3.12.


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suuta bharanta,Just as the beautiful rivers,desirous of union with the ocean, go towardshim to make him full, so do the priests fill thecups meant for Indra with the soma juice.8

Sage ybva sings like the poet

Klidsa of Meghasandea fame: Eta mestomamrmye drbhyya par vaha; giro devirathriva, O Goddess of Night (rtr)! Will youplease carry my hymns addressed to the sonsof Marut over to them? O Goddess! Just as acharioteer carries so many things in his char-iot, please carry my hymns to the Maruts.9

Our Vedic poets werent just poets, theywere basically illumined souls. A kavi iskrntadar,aseer(kavikratu,thepoetseesbe-

yondg Veda, 9.9.1). To him, therefore,even insignificant things are Divine. Even thegrinding stone using which the sages crushedthe soma plant was divine! At least one hymncontaining about 18 mantras has been dedi-cated to the grinding stone. This stone ispraised insomanyways: its sound issweet, itsmovements are sweet, everything is sweet.The sages feel that the sound of the grindingstone is like the snorts of the cows and bulls

when they are extremely happy to eat new fo-liage from the trees. Listening to their noise, Ifeel as if the birds in the air are chirping, theblack-spotted deer are dancing in the forestwhile grazing.10 O grinding stones! Youyourselves dont break, but break others. Youdont have the idea of tiredness, you dontknow laxity, you dont know death, you dontknow disease or old age or thirst or anger orhatred;youarehard,butyouareexpertsinthearts of going up and coming down.11

Thehymnsthatthesagessinginpraiseoflight, dawn, etc are all thrilling. U, the god-dessofdawn,hasbeenpraisedinanumberofways by the sages because she is the first deitywho dispels darkness:

Pratyu adaryyatytacchantduhit diva;

Apo mah vute cakutamo jyotikoti snar.

The daughter of the higher worlds has arrivedand is dispelling darkness. She has shown her-self to everyone. With her light of knowledge,

Uisdispellingthedarknessofignorance,andis spreading lighteverywhere.Shewillembracethe vast expanse of water now.

12

Again,Ah! Our darkness is going to end now. U ismaking all living beings conscious. U is smil-ing at us; she is about to bring us supreme hap-piness.

13

For a race which sees everything as Di-vine itself, and as showering nectar, its a life

full of bliss and happiness only.Worship through Fire Sacrifices

ThefirstportionoftheVedasiscalledthemantraor sahitor the hymn portion. Thegreater part of the Vedas are hymns. Apartfrom singing hymns and prayers, the sagesalso offered oblations. Thus came into exis-tence the next portion of the Vedas, called thebrhmaa portion.Infact, mantra and brhmaaput together is called the Veda (man-

tra-brhmaayor veda nmadheyam). Thebrhmaas contain sacrificial details. A thirdportion(oftenincludedinthesecond)iscalledrayaka, forest treatises. Therayakasdealwith the rules of sacrifices, and give detaileddescriptions of different sacrifices. The Vedasconsider fire (Agni) as the mediator betweenthe gods and human beings. Agni was consid-ered to be the priest born of the Vedas(jtaveda), the carrier of offerings, the giver ofeverything, and the friend of all.

Agningni samidhyatekavir-ghapatir-yuv;

Havyav juhvsya.Agni becomes alive through Agni. He is bril-liant, the protector of the house, young, the car-rier of offerings to the gods, andjuhumukha, ie,he is the ghee poured from the ladle made ofjuhuwood.14


21

8.g Veda, 3.36.7.9.g Veda, 5.61.17.

10.g Veda, 10.94.5.11.g Veda, 10.94.11.

12. Sma Veda, Aindra Ka, 303.13. g Veda, 1.92.6.14. g Veda, 1.12.6.


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AgniisalsocalledthefirstoftheAgirs,thedoortoheaven,thefa-ther and mother, the stainless, themost favourable god, etc.15

The sages were aware that fire is

hidden in the waters. The sageVivmitra says: Ap naptasubhagam,O Agni! You are hidden inthewaters.Kyamnovantvam,youare a lover of the forest.Yan-mt-ajagannapa, you becomecalm when you enter the mother-likewaters. Asu siham-iva ritam, youare hidden in the waters like a lion inthe forest.16

The Vedic sages praised, prayed, andprotected Agni because he was their mediumto seek favours from the gods. They per-formed many sacrifices like agnioma,

jyotioma,etc, seeking heavenly and earthlypleasures. Moreover, they wanted liberation,as Agni destroys sins, diseases, misery, etc.Agne naya supath rye asmn,O Agni, take usalong the noblest path (g Veda,1.189.1).

There are innumerable rules and regula-

tions about how to perform sacrifices. The la-dles, the spoons, the offerings, theyaja-kuaorseatoffire,thesacrificerslikeadhvaryu,hot,brahma, etc are all perfectly defined. A sepa-rate science, a vedga,calledjyotia was intro-duced to calculate the planetary effects.

In time, the Prva Mmsakas took upthis idea of sacrifice from the Vedas, and be-gan elaborate discussions about the causesand effects of sacrifices. Svargakmo yajeta, ifyou desire heaven, perform sacrifice, wastheir fundamental dictum, and they called it ascience.TheyforgotGodbehindthesacrifices,and madeyajaa machine. If the sacrifice isdone perfectly, without errors, the sacrificer isbound to attain what he wants, they said.

Butthesageslearnedthatwhattheyweredoing was not enough: there was somethinghigher. So their way of looking at Agni

changed. They began to compare Agni withthe power of speech (vk). Going further still,

they went deep within themselves. And thisled them to the threshold of the Atman. Theyunderstood that the fire god or Agni was notoutside, but within them. Agni within thebody sought the offerings of all desires, ambi-tions, etc. By offering as oblations all their de-sires, the sages became free from attachmentsto the world and were able to see the light ofthe Self. So Agni was also a mediator betweenthe knowledge of the Atman and the seeker.

Sahyamnoamtyamatsva,Weadoreyou,OAgni, with a desire to become immortal.17

Jarama samidhyasedevebhyo havyavhana;

Tv havanta marty.Ohumanbeingswhosenatureistodieoneday!Agni is immortal. He is great and the master ofthe house. Worship him with offerings.

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What does Agni do when he is wor-shipped? He will destroy inner enemies, ie,theweaknessesinthesoul,andmakethewor-shipper ready for receiving the light of the At-man. This was how the sacrificial adorationdeveloped in India. But it did not end there.

The Adoration of the SelfDissatisfied with what all they had

achieved, the sages of the Vedas went furtherto discover the ultimate truth of the universe.They discovered that Brahman alone was real


22

15. Seeg Veda, 1.31.116.g Veda, 3.9.1-7.

17.g Veda, 10.122.5.18.g Veda, 10.118.6.

A fire sacrifice plan:agnydhna vedi


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andeverythingelsewassuperimposition.Thesages also saw that the individual Self wasnothingbutBrahmancagedinthebodyowingto ignorance and its consequent superimposi-tion. Each sage left records of his or her su-preme experiences for the benefit of posterity.This was how the fourth portion of the Vedas,called theupaniads, came into being.

Sarvs upaniadm tma-ythtmyanirpaenaiva upakayt, all the Upaniads ex-haust themselves in describing the true natureof the Atman, says akara (in his introduc-tion to thevsya Upaniad). The Upaniadsdeal with the true nature of the universe or

jagat and the Reality behind. They also de-scribewaysandmeanstoknowtheReality,byinitiatingthepathsofknowledge(jna),yogaand devotion (bhakti). Through discussion

about the Self, meditation, devotion, etc, onecan overcome bondage, they affirm; for theonlygoalistogofromtheunrealtoReal,from

darknesstoLight,andfromdeathtoIm-mortality:asatomsadgamaya,tamasom

jyotir-gamaya, mtyor-mmta gamaya(Bhadrayaka Upaniad, 1.4.1).

ThusbeginsthenextpartoftheVe-

dic adoration: the adoration of the Self.How do the sages adore their innateSelf? One method is symbolism. TheBhadrayaka Upaniad teaches us tothink of the cosmos as a sacrificial horseandtolearntosacrificeforagreatersac-rifice,bhyasya yajena bhyo yajeyeti.19

The KahaUpaniad teachesustothinkofour personality as a chariot.20 TheChndogya Upaniad teaches that we

must think of life as the fruit of anyagrodha tree21 or the salt doll,22 etc.The Chndogya Upaniad also teaches, byway of the discussion betweenSanatkumra and Nrada, how to per-form inner adoration.

Another method is the rejection ofthe unreal, for there is no path betterthan this; neti neti, na hyetad-asmt iti(Bhadrayaka Upaniad,2.3.6). Yet an-

other is the discussion about Reality.There are famous discussions: betweenYjavalkya and Maitrey, between Janakaand Yjavalkya, between Ajtaatru andDpta-blki Grgya, all in theBhadrayakaUpaniad, between Yama and Nacket in theKaha Upaniad, etc. In the BhadrayakaUpaniad discussion between Nrada andSanatkumra, Nrada brings upSanatkumras mind to the highest by askinghim to adore speech, then mind, then will,then thought, then contemplation, thenvijna.23

A fourth method of adoration that theUpaniads teach is meditation. First hearabout the Truth (ravaa), then cogitate on its


23

19.Bhadrayaka Upaniad, 1.2.6.20.Kaha Upaniad, 1.3.3.

21.Chndogya Upaniad, 6.12.1.22.Chndogya Upaniad, 6.13.1.23.Chndogya Upaniad, 7.1-7.

A sage offering oblations:Art by Swami Aptananda


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validity (manana), and then dive deep into theheart to know It (nididhysana), say theUpaniads. How should one meditate? TheKaivalya Upaniadteaches meditation step bystep. It also says (mantra 9), that the Self and

Omshouldbecometwopiecesoffiresticks,byrubbing which the fire of knowledge willawaken. There are other Upaniads also thatteach meditation. For instance,

Trirunnata sthpya sama arrahdndriyi manas sanniveya;

Brahmoupena pratareta vidvnsrotsi sarvi bhayvahni.

Keeping the body straight, with the chest, neckandheaderect,keepingthesensesandthemind

concentrated in the region of the heart, the wiseshouldcrosstheoceanoftheworldwhichcauseimmense fear by the boat of Brahman.

24

Worship of EldersA fourth method of adoration is service.

The Upaniads are never tired of glorifyingthe ideal of service. By service do all the disci-ples attain their spiritual masters grace. Byservice do wives attain illumination. By ser-vice do the kings and rulers attain illumina-

tion. This service is of course done with theidea that the one who is being served is a per-sonification of knowledge, Brahman manifestin that form, or God Himself.

To consider ones parents, teachers,guests, etc as God Himself is a primary teach-ing of the Vedas. Mt devo bhava, pit devobhava, crya devo bhava, atithi devo bhava(Taittirya Upaniad, 1.2.2), is the instructiontheteachergivestohisdisciples,thefuturecit-izens of the world.

Service of the VedasAfifthmethodofadoration,accordingto

the Vedas, is to serve the Vedas themselves.Oneofthe vedgas wascalled k, recitation.Recitation of Vedic hymns was mandatory forstudents as well as teachers.This was donemore as adoration than as duty. The teacherand the taught would both recite the mantras

so that saha nau yaa; saha naubrahma-varcasam, both will have glory, bothwill attain the splendour of Brahman(Taittirya Upaniad, 1.3.1). By repeating theVedic hymns, Indra bestows enlightened in-

tellect ormedh.The reciter will also becomeimmortal, says the Taittirya Upaniad. ThisUpaniad says that the student has the right tostudy as well as to teach. So a student is toldnever to give up svdhyya and pravacana,spreading Vedic knowledge.

In what way does one serve the Vedas?The Vedas are nothing but an encyclopaediccollection of truths and revelations. By memo-rizing them, chanting them, teaching them,

propagating them and following at least oneortwooftheirteachings,serviceisrenderedtothe truths, or Truth Itself. SwamiVivekanandasaysthatbytheVedasnobooksare meant. They mean the accumulated trea-sury of spiritual laws discovered by differentpersons in different times. If they are spirituallaws,theyarenothingbutGodHimself.Whenwe meditate and spread the ideals of theVedas, we are only adoring the Truth.

ConclusionIn the Prana Upaniad, we read about six

disciples who went to Pippalda, the knowerof Brahman, to seek Brahman knowledge. Af-ter they were satisfied with their teachers in-structions, they sang the praise of theirteacher. We may join these six disciples in of-fering our salutations to the great seers ofTruth,thesages,whodidsomuchforhuman-ity:

Tva hi na pit yosmkamavidyy para pra trayasi;

Nama parama-ibhyonama parama-ibhya.

O teacher! You are our father who takes usacrossfromthisshoreofignorancetothatothershore of knowledge. Salutations to thesupremeseers of Truth. Salutations to the supreme seersof Truth.

25

24


24.vetvatara Upaniad, 2.8. 25. Prana Upaniad, 6.8.


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Ideal Adoration

As we shall see in the following pages, different religions suggest different types of

adoration.However,istheresometypeofadorationwhichcouldbepractisedbyanyoneontheglobe? The Bhgavata mentionsthattypeofadoration,andwepublishsomeverses,basedonSwami Tapasyanandajis translation. True adoration is serving the Lord in living beings.

Cq;uMw Jeh=Tg W=wtbt gumhem]vt;uMw mctutrlt& >

;;tu blwgt& b:t;;tu~rv

dtJormt rJcwttlwdt gu >>5.5.21>>Among all objects in existence, plants aresuperior to stocks and stones. Animals withconsciousnessaresuperiortoplants.Amongstanimals, human beings are superior. Higherthan these are holy persons.

t];t ;lqhNr; bu vwhtKegulun mJk vhbk vrJtbT >

Nbtu =b& mgblwd{nt;vr;r;GtlwCJt gt >>5.5.24>>

Iloveholypersons.Inthisworld,itistheholy person who holds within himself or her-self My spirit and My Truth. I do not find anyone equal to the holy person in whom the su-premely pure qualities like sense-control, aus-terity, forbearance, truthfulness, benevolencetowards all, and spiritual realization are pres-ent.

bttu~gl;tvh;& vhbt;TJdtovJdtortUv;ulo rfUrt;T >

guMtk rfUbw gtr=;huK ;uMtkyrfUtltltk brg CrUCtstbT >>5.5.25>>

Such wonderful devotees, who havenothing to call their own, do not pray for anypersonal advantage from Me. Why will they

seek small, perishable, worldly advantages?

mJtorK brg;gt Cjr-thtrK Cq;trl mw;t twJtrK >

mCtrJ;gtrl v=u v=u JturJrJU=]rC;=wntnoKk bu >>5.5.26>>

Seeing that all things moving andunmoving are in Me alone, true devoteesserve and adore them again and again withsincere feeling. This indeed is My real wor-

ship.

tltuJatu=]UhKurn;gmtGtf]U;k bu vrhcnoKk rn >

rJlt vwbtlT gul bntrJbtunt;Tf]U;t;vtNtt rJbtuwUbeNu;T >>5.5.27>>

The true meaning of all that a persondoes by mind, speech, sight and other organs

of knowledge and action is only this: it is Myadoration alone. Without such adoration, hu-man beings will not be able to overcome thenoose of death, which consists in the infatua-tion of looking upon the body as the Spirit.

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He who wants to serve Shiva must serve His children. It is said in the Shastra that

those who serve the servants of God are His greatest servants.Swami Vivekananda


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Hindu Adoration

To compress an oceanic subject into a small article is like inserting an elephant inside the

eyeofaneedle.SoonlyapreliminaryintroductiontothemammothideasonHinduadorationis attempted here by a former editor ofPrabuddha Bharata.

Why Adoration?Adoration is life. Rather, to the Hindu,

life itself is adoration. Whatever the Hindudoes is an adoration of the Lord. For theHindu, there cant be two lives, one secularand the other spiritual. His entire life is one,and that is an elongated act of

adoration of the Supreme. rKa has declared in the Gt:Whatever you do, whateveryou eat, whatever you offer,whatever you give, and what-ever you undertake, all thatmust be My adorationan of-feringuntoMe.1 Howlifecouldbecome transformed into an ad-oration of the Divine has been

beautifully explained in manyhymns. Adoration is not merelywhen the Hindu prays, but hissitting, standing, sleeping, eat-ing, seeing, talking, every one ofhisactionscouldbeanadorationof the Lord. Life itself is an adoration.

Why adoration? Hinduism is mokshadharma, the religion of liberation. Living be-ings are trichotomous by naturethis was afundamental discovery of Hinduism. Theonly aim of Hinduism is to make the individ-ual realize the Self or Atman. This is the high-est goal, the greatest achievement of life, thetrue spirituality. Starting from the Vedichymns and sacrifices to the worship of God inevery being, there are numerous methods ofadoration.Butallreligionsandallmethodsofworkandworshipleadustooneandthesame

goal,

2

which is the attainment of freedom of

the Self. The Atman within each being is thesource of all goodness, bliss, happiness, exis-tence, and peace. Until we know the Atman,we keep failing miserably in all our attemptsto find peace or happiness in other things. Toshow us that we must go after the pearl and

nottheshell,andtoteachushow

to obtain the pearl from the oys-terbed,andoutofthemollusc,isthe goal of Hinduism. The rest issecondary. If a man has falleninto a deep well, the only con-cern will be to bring him out;why he fell, at what time he fell,howhefell,etc,areallsecondarydetails. Vivekananda says:Each soul is potentially divine. The

goal is to manifest this Divinitywithin by controlling nature, exter-nal and internal. Do this either bywork, or worship, or psychic con-trol, or philosophyby one, ormore, or all of theseand be free.

This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dog-mas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms,are but secondary details.

3

The Goal and the PathsWhatsthenatureofthisreleaseorlibera-

tion? Moksha is liberation from sufferingcaused by ignorance, which goads us to lovethe non-Self, desire the world, and performac-tions for attaining them. Our actions leave aresidue behind in the mind, called saskra,and thesesaskrasmake us desire the same

26

1.rmad Bhagavadgt, 9.27.

2. Swami Vivekananda, The Complete Works

(Mayavati: Advaita Ashrama, 1989), Vol. 1,p. 108. [Hereafter,Complete Works.]3. Complete Works, Vol. 1, p. 124.

Okra,the source of everything


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things again and again (vsan) and makes usact again and again (karmaya); therefore wetake endless births. We go on desiring, com-ing and going, and suffering. Liberation is re-lease from the hold ofsaskra,which is thecause of suffering. How are we liberated fromthis terrible saskra? When the light ofknowledge, which is within us, shines forth,the darkness of ignorance goes, taking alongwith it the products of darkness. We may at-tain knowledge by Gods or gurus grace, orby self-effort. The Kulrava Tantra (17.70)says that worship of the Lord is done in orderto destroy the effects of past actions, to be re-leased from bondage, and to attain desiredfruits:

Punarjanmnu-amantjanma-mtyu nivrat;

Sapra phaladncca

pjeti kathit priye.What happens when we become liber-ated? We dont evaporate into thin air, but de-

limit ourselves. We become universal. We re-alize our true nature, which is infinite knowl-edge, bliss, and being absolute. Scriptures (seeBhgavata,3.29.13) mention four stages of lib-eration: one, attaining the world of the Lord

(slokya), two, becoming one with Him(syujya),three,beingwithHim(smpya),andfour, attaining His nature (srpya), depend-ing upon our inclinations and choice. A truedevotee doesnt wish for any of these but de-sires only to love God. Thejnsideal, how-ever, is knowing his true nature, which isBrahman.

Hinduism endeavours at making everyindividualseekGodortheSelfwithin,andbe-

come free. However, since the world is toostrongaforceandattractsordinarymindslikeours, not many wish to lead spiritual livesfully. Only a few want release from thisworlds attractions. We shall concentrate onthe adoration of such.

Who Wants Release?The world is a combination of good and

evil. So though all are essentially divine, fromthe practical viewpoint there are both good

and bad human beings. The bad dont seekanything higher, and so a major chunk of hu-manbeingsareleftoutofanyspiritualconsid-eration. But the wicked could be religious:thereareinstanceswhereeventhievesandda-coits pray to the gods for success in their ven-tures. Of the other half which may be termedgood,notallareawarethatweareinbondage.But all are aware of the frequent blows we re-ceive from the world which we love so dearly.So, whenever we suffer, we resort to God.Such adorers are calledrta bhaktas, devoteesin distress. Again, there may be some of uswho are neither interested in bondage and lib-eration,noraresensitiveenoughtoexperiencethe blows of the world as really painful. Weare deeply involved in the world and its com-modities, and are happy if we get more andmore of them. God for us is a benevolent pro-

vider. Our relationship with God is limited totheextentthatwepraytoHimtofulfilourde-sires. This type is called arthrth bhaktas. A

2002 Hindu Adoration 19

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The performance ofratiArt by Purnachandra Chakraborty


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thirdtypeof peopleare in-quirersand want

toknowiftheres aGod re-ally, if thisworld isreal, if their ownliveshaveany

meaning,andsoon.Since theworldaroundthem

cant provide all answers to their queries, theygo to God. This type is calledjijsu bhaktas.Out of such people, a few understand bond-age, the Self, liberation, etc. This type alone

seek freedom from bondage; even amongstsuch seekers, only a few succeed. In theBhgavata (3.29),SageKapilateachesDevahtiabout the different types of devotees, and saysthat those who seek release from bondagealone are right.

Methods of ReleaseHindus no doubt believe in numerous

gods and goddesses, but they know that it istheonesupremeGodwhohasbeengivenvar-ious names and forms. That one supremeGodhead, called Brahman or Sat orTat, hasbeen given innumerable forms and names ac-cording to His will, to suit the tastes of themasses,asalsooutoflove. Moreover,Godco-mes down occasionally as avatars and sets upnewerideals and idols before humanity. FromhundredsofvillagedeitiestoKl,iva,Viu,Dev, there are countless names to that one su-

preme Truth. The worshippers of Viu andKa are called Vaiavas, the worshippersof iva are called aivas, and the worshippers

ofaktiortheDivineMotherarecalledktas.In the elementary stages, there will be somedifferences between these different groups,and Sri Ramakrishna puts this humorously:

How vain people are about their own sects!

There are weavers in the villages nearKmrpukur. Many of them are Vaishnavasand like to talk big. They say: Which Vishnudoes he worship? The Preserver? Oh, wewouldnt touch him! Or: Which Siva are youtalking about? We accept the tmrma iva.Or again, Please explain to us which Hari youworship. They spin their yarn and indulge intalk like that.

4

Just as there are gods, there are numerous

practices too. Beginning with ancestor wor-ship, through meditation in a corner, to theworship of all beings, there are so many typesof Hinduism in practice. Some worshipsnakes, some trees, some different forms ofgoddesses, and some different forms of gods;some serve their parents, some their spiritualteachers, some guests; some do good deeds,some pour oblations into fire, some feed mo-nastics, some recite hymns, some repeat

mantras. Then again there are many festivals,fastings, occasional rituals, family-related rit-uals, etc. Pilgrimages are yet another form ofadoration. In this way, Hindu life is seeped inreligiosity, and a person born Hindu canhardly escape being a religious person.

There are people who frown and belittlesuchahugenumberofgodsandgoddessesaswell as such endless practices. They dontknow.

Unity in variety is the plan of nature, and theHindu has recognised it. Every other religionlays down certain fixed dogmas, and tries toforce society to adopt them. It places before so-cietyonlyonecoatwhichmustfitJackandJohnand Henry, all alike. If it does not fit John orHenry, he must go without a coat to cover hisbody. The Hindus have discovered that the ab-


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A aivites worship of the linga

4. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans.Swami Nikhilananda (Madras: RamakrishnaMath, 1985), p. 489. [Hereafter,Gospel].


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solute can only be realised, or thought of, orstated, through the relative, and the images,crosses, and crescents are simply so many sym-bolsso many pegs to hang the spiritual ideason. It is not that this help is necessary for everyone, but those that do not need it have no rightto say that it is wrong. Nor is it compulsory inHinduism.

5

Variety is the beauty of Hinduism;theres no regimentation here at all. Thou-sands of saints have come, tens of schools ofthought have sprung up, thousands of songsand hymns have been sung, thousands ofprayers have been recited and God and Hisgrace have been experienced in countlessways. However, while allowing for variety,Hinduism never for a moment forgets the

ideal. A famous Bhgavata verse (3.29.21) says:

I am in all beings as their Self. DisregardingMy presence there, people make a show ofworshipping Me in images. But image wor-ship is also allowed for the masses: Peopleshould, however, worship Me in images along

with discharging their duties like serving fel-low beings until they realize My presence inall beings (Bhgavata, 3.29.25).

Image WorshipWorship has several synonyms: pj,

rdhan, namasy, apaciti, arcan, sapary,etc.Different schools, Vaiava, aiva, kta, etc,follow different methods of worship. Broadlydivided into Vedic and tantric, all forms ofworship have some basic similarities. That

general system of worship is broadly this:uddha-nysdi-prvga-

karma-nirvha-prvakam;Arcana tpacr

syn-mantrea-upapdanam.Becoming clean and pure oneself, and wor-shipping God with several clean articles in aclean place, after performing nysa, etc, iscalledpuja.

6Godcanbeofworshippedinany

of the following representations: a stone im-

age,apicture(paa),water(jala), lagrma il,viu cakra, bevara liga, liga, etc. The basicsystem of Hindu worship, whether tantric orVedic,hasthethefollowingrules:(a)purifica-tion of the worshipper and the area whereworship is done; (b) purification of materialsused for worship; (c) invoking the deity; (d)worshipping the five deities (paca-devats)Guru, Srya, Ganea, iva, Durg; (e) medi-tation on the deity chosen for worship; (f)mental worship; (g) worshipping the deity ofones choice with 5, 10, 16, 24, 36, or 64 items;(h) praying for the welfare of all beings; and (i)offering everything, and surrendering to thedeityusing suitable mantras. The most fun-damental point to be noted in Hindu worshipis, every priest knows that God is immanentand should be brought out from his or herheart, placed in the emblem outside, wor-

shipped, and taken back. Devo bhtv


29

Sfis andbhaktastogether:An old painting

5.Complete Works, Vol. 1, p. 13. 6. SeeBhakti-rasmta-sindhu, Prva Vibhga.


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devn yajeta, become a god yourself andworship God. Though there are so many de-tails, the four basic elements of any worshipare: snapana (bathingtheLordsimageorsym-bol; purification),pjana(adoring Him using

several items, like offering food, drink, flow-ers, clothes, etc; service),homa(fire ritual; sac-rifice), and tma-samarpaa (also calledbalidna, the offering of oneself; surrender).Again, worship could be daily (nitya), occa-sional(naimittika), or desire-born(kmya). Inadoration, there are the sttvika, rjasika, andtmasika types:SttvicbhaktiisknowntoGodalone. It makes no outward display. ... A manwith rjasic bhakti feels like making a display

of his devotion before others. A man withtmasic bhakti shows the courage and boister-ousness of a highway robber.

7

WesaidHindulifeisitselfadoration.TheHindu way of life is ruled by basic laws orcodes,andtheydividetheHindulifeintofourstages (ramas) brahmacarya, grhasthya,vnaprasthaandsannysa. Every stage has itsownsystemofadoration.ThelawsstatehowaHindu should live in each of the stages, what duties he or she has to perform, etc. Service to

family members, guests, neighbours, animals,birds, etc (paca yajas) through the body(kyika), words (vcika), and mind (mnasa) inthese ramas are adoration of the Divine.Thenagaintherewasthesystemofcaturvara.The brhmaas, katriyas, vaiyas and drasadored the Lord through the performance oftheir respective duties. The brahmins, spe-cially, had only one duty: adoring the Lordand serving divine knowledge.

On the whole, the plan of Hinduism isthat every Hindu, whatever he or she may bedoing, should be naturally religious, andshould be as selfless as possible. TheGtsaysthat everything one does could be ayaja, sac-rifice.

Some sacrifice to the gods, some to the Self,some practise self-control by controlling theirsense-organs, some practise yoga, some sacri-ficetheirwealth,somestudy,somecontroltheir


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Swami Vivekananda, the saviour of Hinduism 7. Gospel,p. 494.

Mother Durg


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breath, some eat less. All of them are indeedpractising religion.

8

Adoration through YogasApart from the general systems of wor-

ship, the Vedas and Upaniads, the sources ofHinduism,haveshownseveralwaystothere-alization of Truth, as not all human minds areof the same type. Studying all human types,Swami Vivekananda has classified spiritualaspirants into four broad groups. He says:

There are four general types of menthe ratio-nal, the emotional, the mystical, and theworker.Foreachofthesewemustprovidesuit-ableformsofworship.Therecomestherational

man, who says: I care not for this form of wor-

ship. Give me the philosophical, therationalthat I can appreciate. Sofor the rational man is the rationalphilosophic worship. There comestheworker.Hesays:Icarenotforthe

worship of the philosopher. Give meworktodoformyfellowmen.Soforhim is provided work as the path ofworship. As for the mystical and theemotional, we have their respectivemodes of devotion. All these menhave,inreligion,theelementsoftheirfaith.

9

Hinduism has shown four pathsto the four broad groups men-

tioned above.First, for the rational type,

there isjna yoga, or the path ofknowledge. This path is for ra-zor-sharp intellects, who canpierce through the veils of false-hood and ignorance and seeLight. Through enquiry, discus-sion, and rejection of the unreal,thejnrealizes his true nature

as the Atman, which is nothingbut Brahman or Absolute.Jnaalso is adoration becausejna-yajena cpyanye yajantomm-upsate, some worship Meby adoring Me through knowl-

edge,10 says Ka.Second, for the proletarian type there is

karma yoga. Karma means action, and yogameans concentration. To work with concen-tration is the secret of all true action, saysSwami Vivekananda. The Gt had pro-pounded the path of selfless action already.How to perform desireless actions? SwamiVivekananda says that concentration is the se-cret. When we perform work with concentra-tion, our lower selfthat which desires andaspirescannot raise it head. So all concen-trated work is for the good of others because


31

8.rmad Bhagavadgt, 4.24-31.

Preparations for adoration in a south Indian family:Art by Natesan

9. Complete Works, Vol. 5, p. 418.10. rmad Bhagavadgt, 9.15.


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thereisnoselfishnessthere.WorkdoneforthegoodofothersisanadorationoftheDivine,asit liberates the soul, for Ka says:Svakarma tam-abhyarcya siddhi vindatimnava,a human being succeeds in spiritual

lifebyadoringGodthroughhis naturalactivi-ties.11

Third, for the reflective type, there isrjayoga,simplycalledyoga. Yogaistheartofcon-centration, aimed at controlling the endlessmental modifications that rise and fall. Whenthey are controlled, the Truth stands revealed.Yoga too is adoration, as the Lord declares intheGt(6.47-8): A yogi is greater than per-sons of austerity or knowledge, and amongst

yogis, he or she who adores Me with a fixedmind is the best.

Fourth, the emotional type of peoplehavebhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion. Devo-tion is supreme love for the Lord. Though forthe ordinary the world and its products arelovable objects, for the one who seeks releasefrom the hold of the false world God alone isthe dearest. He or she loves God alone.

Y prtiravivekn

viayevanapyin;Tvmanusmarata s me

hdayn-mpasarpatu.That love which the worldly have towards theworld should the devotee have towards his orher dear Lord.

12

Who is God? He who creates, protectsand takes back everything is God. Since Hehas created everything, God is our creatoralso. So He is our dear father or dear mother.He is everything. The devotee can addressHim father, mother, friend, beloved, son,daughter, or whatever he or she wishes.Ramakrishna, following the bhakti scriptures,says that in order to realize God, the devoteemust assume any of the following attitudes:nta (the peaceful attitude), dsya (the servantattitude), sakhya (the friends attitude),vtsalya (the parents attitude),madhura (the

beloveds attitude) ormt bhva(the childsattitude towards its mother). To develop anyoneofsuchrelationshipswithGod,andactingaccordingly, is thehighest form of adoration.

HowdoesatruedevoteeadoreGod?Thedevotee initially hears about God from holypersons, resorts to a guru, serves him, and ac-cepts his instructions. He then follows the in-structions, and begins to worship the Lord.This stage, called thevaidh bhaktistage, is socalled because here the devotee follows scrip-tural injunctions. The devotee worships Godsrepresentations in the image in the beginning.He or she visits temples, serves devotees, lis-tens tokrtanas, sings hymns, chants mantras,and does many other favourable things toplease the Lord. He begins to imitate the com-panions of the Lord and tries to serve Him astheydid.Thisisthe rgnug stage.Gradually,his mind becomes purer, and the devotee un-derstands that God resides not only in the im-age, but within him also. He becomes moreandmoreindrawn,andbeginstocontemplate

the Lords form, name, and glories. The devo-tee begins to serve the Lord who is hisindweller with a deep bond of love (rgtmik


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Brahm, Viu and iva

11.rmad Bhagavadgt, 18.46.12.Viu Pura, 1.20.19.


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stage). As the mind attains greater and greaterpurity, the devotee reaches a stage when hesees that God Himself has become everything.

Thus he begins to see Gods play in His cre-ation and enjoys bliss (bhva bhakti stage).Finally, when the devotee understands thatGod himself is everything, he begins to lookupon everyone as God, all barriers betweenhim and God goes, and begins to serve peoplearound him. Sri Ramakrishna says thatamongstbhaktasthere are classes:

These are the pravartaka, the sdhaka, thesiddha and the siddha of the siddha. He whohas just set foot on the path may be called apravartaka. He may be called a sdhaka whohas for some time been practising spiritual dis-ciplines, such as worship, japa, meditation, andthechantingofGodsnameandglories.Hemaybe called a siddha who has known from innerexperience that God exists. There is anothertype,knownasthesiddhaofthesiddha,thesu-premely perfect. It is quite a different thingwhen one talks to the master intimately, whenone knows God very intimately through loveand devotion.

13

When once love for God awakens in theheart of the devotee, no rules and regulationsarenecessary.Theritualsthatwereperformedfollowing scriptural injunctions fall away. Intheir place, there is loving adoration of the Be-

loved. The devotee then sings, dances, prays,cries, pants, and lives in the Lords world. It isthrough such devotees that wonderfulprayers,songs,hymns,etchavecomedowntous. Says Swami Vivekananda: How to wor-ship Him? Through love. He is to be wor-shippedastheonebeloved,dearerthanevery-thing in this and the next life.14 This love isthe highest form of adoration, a love thatmakes the devotee mad.

Theres a beautiful mantra, listening towhich Sri Ramakrishna went into samadhi.This mantra gives in a nutshell the entiregamut of Hindu adoration. This mantra isfound in theUttara Gt(3.7):

Agnir-devo dvijtnamunn hdi daivatam;

Pratim svalpa-buddhnsarvatra-samadarinm.

God is in the fire for sacrificers. God is in the

hearts of themunisor sages who practise medi-tation. God is in the images for beginners. ButGod is everywhere for the seers who have at-tained the highest.

SriRamakrishnaslifeisthebestexampleofthegradationofHinduadoration.Hebeganwith the adoration of Mother Kl in her im-age. From there he was led to that thresholdfrom where everything and everyone ap-peared as God Himself. The breadth anddepth of Hindu adoration is, though the en-lightened ones know that God is not limited toHis images, they still adore God in them be-cause God being the creator of everything isalso the creator of the image. If thousands ofsaints like Mrbi, Tukrm, Jnevar,Kanakadsa, Tulsds, could attain every-thing through image worship alone, imageworship is not futile or ignorance.


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Sri Ramakrishna

13.Gospel, p. 114-5.14.Complete Works, Vol. 1, p. 11.


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God wants love. He declares that he does

not want anything from His devotee butlove15: Whoever offers Me even a leaf, aflower, a fruit, or a drop of water with love , Iaccept that gift from the pure-hearted soul.

Therearerulesofworship,systemsofad-oration, methods of service to the Lord,hymns and prayers, rules about fasting andrituals.EverythingisthereinHinduism.ButifthesoulcriestoGodwithlove,Godcannotre-main far away. If theres love, the Lord isnearer than the nearest.

The Nrada Pacartra says: Nrdhitoharir-yadi, tapas tata kim? rdhito harir-yadi,tapas tata kim? If one doesnt worship theLord, whats the use of austerity? If one wor-

ships the Lord,whats the use ofausterity? Wor-ship or adoration,done with love, is

everything, thewhole of spiritu-ality.

The one sin-gular feature ofthis ancient reli-gion is, the ques-tionsofsin,weak-ness, etc are al-ways given very

little importance. God doesnt count our sinsand mistakes, because we are his children.Children, after all, are bound to make mis-takes. This is the dear relationship betweenGod and us according to Hinduism. No one isdamnedinthisreligion.Eventhemostwickedaccording to our standards can be a devoteesoon. The Lord declares that he has no likesand dislikes; He loves all beings equally:

I am impartial towards all beings. But I love

those who worship Me. Even if a person of ex-tremely bad conduct worships Me withone-pointed devotion, he is to be consideredholy; for he has resolved rightly, and he willsoon be possessed of a virtuous mind and shallattain liberation.

16

Hindu adoration is the simplest, the easi-est and the most wonderful system. Its a sys-tem which anyone in any stage of life may fol-low and succeed. Why human beings alone,even animals have attained the Lords gracethrough such adoration. All that the Lordwantsislove.Wherethereislove,thereissuc-cess.


34

A sage sings bhajans:Art by Natesan

15.rmad Bhagavadgt, 9.26.

r Rma

16. rmad Bhagavadgt, 9.29-30.


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35

A Christian Experience of Adoration

THE REVEREND CANON CHARLES P. GIBBS

Readers ofPrabuddha Bharata hadtheopportunityofreadinganexcellentarticlebytheReverend Canon Charles P. Gibbs in our January 2001 number. Heres another inspiringarticle from him. In this brilliant article, Rev Canon Gibbs presents a beautiful picture ofChristian latria. Reverend Gibbs is Executive Director, United Religious Initiative, San

Francisco, USA.

Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen,who thy glory hidest neath these shadows mean;lo, to thee surrendered, my whole heart is bowed,

tranced as it beholds thee, shrined within the cloud.Taste and touch and vision to discern thee fail;faith, that comes by hearing, pierces through the veil.

I believe whateer the Son of God hath told;what the Truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold.O memorial wondrous of the Lords own death;living Bread that givest all thy creatures breath,

grant my spirit ever by thy life may live,to my taste thy sweetness neverfailing give.Jesus whom now hidden, I by faith behold,

what my soul doth long for, that thy word foretold:face to face thy splendour, I at last shall see,in the glorious vision, blessed Lord of thee.

attributed to Thomas AquinasJesus Christ

Christian adoration is a journey into thedepths of infinite mystery, of divine yearningand love made visible in history in humanform, and beyond. Gods yearning and loveevoke yearning and love in us. Our yearning

and love for God find expression in adorationof God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. So,for Christians, adoration is a journey to a star-lit manger in Bethlehem and beyond. It is ajourney to the foot of a cross on a hill calledGolgotha (or Calvary) just outside the citywalls of Jerusalem, and beyond. It is a journeyto an empty tomb in a garden near Golgotha,and beyond. Christian adoration is a journeyinto the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus

Christ, and beyond. It is a journey of song,story, prayer and silence that defines theChristianliturgicalyear,aChristianssleeping

and wakingevery act no matter how hum-ble or exalted, and beyond. The practices ofadoration are as varied as human history, cul-ture and place. This is one story, which, if ithad music, would be a song.

We begin with a miraculous birth, in itsmystery chronicled differently in the gospelsofMatthewandLuke.Itisthestoryofayoungwoman named Mary, and Joseph, her be-trothed. Luke tells of their journey from Gali-lee over dusty roads through Jerusalem toBethlehem.Theretheyfindnoroomattheinn,andmustsettleforlodginginastable.Ahum-blemangerwhereoxenfeedonhaybecomesacradlewhichdrawsusintothemysteryofthis

holy birth and into the depths of adoration.Ocome let us adore him.For Christians, the Christmas story is


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morethananeventinastarlitstabletwothou-sand years ago. The Christmas miracle comesnewlyaliveeachyearasChristiansallovertheworld gather to share in this holy birth thatbreathes Gods love and yearning for human-

ity.Inresponse,thisbirthcallsforeachhumanheart to open to be a home for God dwell onEarth in the form of a helpless child, born intopoverty; obscure, unnoticed by most, fearedand pursued by a few. To those blessed oneswhorespondinloveandyearningtothewordof this humbly glorious birth it is an invitation

to be transfixed and transformed in adorationbefore the Holy.

When I contemplate adoration at Christ-mas I see the image of my younger brotherEric, his face aglow with reverence, awe and

wonder processing into church at the mid-night service on Christmas Eve bearing theChrist Child on a velvet cushion toward themanger as the congregation sings, as thoughthe choirs of angels were among us. Hear themusic:

Jesus Christ

Ocome, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;

Come and behold him, born the King of angels;O come, let us adore him, O come let us adore him,O come let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.God from God, Light from Light eternal,

lo! He abhors not the Virgins womb;only begotten Son of the Father

O come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,

sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;glory to God, glory in the highest;

O come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.See how the shepherds, summoned to his cradle,

leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;we too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;O come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.

Child, for us sinners poor and in a manger,we would embrace thee with love and awe;

who would not love thee, loving us so dearly?O come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;

Jesus, to thee be all glory given;Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;

O come, let us adore him, O come let us adore him,O come let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.

John Francis Wade, trans. Frederick Oakley

So, we journey to the manger with theshepherds, with wise ones from the East andwith the angel chorus to offer our lives in ser-vice of the one who is born as God come to

Earth so that we on Earth might draw nearerto God in worship and service, might givebirth to God on Earth by more fully realizing

the image of God in ourselves. Adoration atthemangerisanopeningintoGodsoverflow-ingloveforhumanitytakinghumanform.Weadore so that we might be filled with Gods

love, transformed by Gods love; so that wemight commit ourselves to be Gods love inthe world.


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2002 A Christian Experience of Adoration 29

37

As Christians watch in wondrous adora-tion at the birth of the Christ Child, so theywatch in pained adoration at Jesus death.From Christianitys earliest days, theologianshave sought, from an intellectual perspective,

to provide theological interpretations for theredemptive power of Jesus crucifixion. Simi-larly, on an affective level, Christians at alltimes and in all places have sought to beunited with Jesus in his suffering. For mostChristians, being with Jesus in his death is anact of compassion in response to the ultimategift. As Jesus said, Greater love has no onethan this, to lay down ones life for onesfriends.AsJesuslaiddownhislife,infaithful-

ness to God, for humanity, so we seek to bewith Jesus and to offer our lives to andthrough him in his moment of death.

In the story of the last hours of Jesus life,the gospels tell of him going out of Jerusalemto the Garden of Gethsemane where he drewaside with his friends to pray. Though heasked them to watch with him, they wereweary and unable to stay awake. So Jesus was

left alone in his agonized wrestling with hisfate,withhisanticipationofhisarrestandexe-cution. When he was arrested, his followers infear deserted him. So Jesus walked alonedown a path that led through a trial and sen-

tencingbytheRomanauthoritiestodeathonacross on Calvary.The gospels tell that during Jesus final

hours on the cross a small group of faithfulwomen, including his mother (who, it shouldbe noted, has revealed the feminine face ofGod for countless Christians and so has been afocus of adoration throughout the Churchshistory), moved by a love more powerful thanfear, watched from a distance. These holy few

who had been with Jesus in his life were nearby, perhaps risking death themselves to bewith him at his death. So each year duringHolyWeek,Christiansallovertheworldjour-ney with these followers of Jesus and journeywith Jesus during the final week of his life,knowing that this journey leads into great suf-fering and death.

Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempters

power;your Redeemers conflict see, watch with him one

bitter hour;turn not from his griefs away, learn of Jesus

Christ to pray.Follow to the judgement hall; view the Lord of

life arraigned;O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs his

soul sustained!Shun not suffering, shame or loss; learn of him to

bear the cross.Calvarys mournful mountain climb; there,

adoring at his feet,Mark the miracle of time, Gods own sacrifice

complete;It is finished! hear him cry; learn of Jesus Christ

to die.by James Montgomery

Christ:by Leonardo da Vinci

Intakingthisjourney,ajourneyofadora-tion of the one who gave his life freely for all,we take a journey into our own suffering and

the suffering of all humanity. We journey intoour own faithfulness and unfaithfulness. Wejourney into those ways we have crucified Je-


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sus anew by our acts of injustice, violence andcallous indifference. We seek the death of thatwithin us which separates us from the love ofGod and from true service in Gods name. AsonesmadeinGodsimage,weseekthebi

Prabudha Bhart

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