23.01.2024:
Dear friends,
Our constitutionally ensured secular state is covertly
and deliberately guided to become a Ram Rajya, not the one of Gandhi’s vision,
nay Hindu rashtra by the very government, we need to be aware of our own
weaknesses in this aspect. Hence, I share with you the following:
‘The pran pratishtha, or consecration, of the idol of
Lord Ram at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya took place… Mr. Modi, one of the yajmans
(empowered to conduct the ritual) of the ceremony… broke his 11-day fast, which
was part of his spiritual preparation for the rituals.
Later addressing a gathering of around 8,000 dignitaries
and guests, the Prime Minister said “Ram Lalla (as the deity
is named) would not be in a “tent” any longer, a reference to the
makeshift arrangement that had been put in place after the destruction of the
Babri Masjid. [The Hindu today, on Ayodhya – Pran Pratishtha - 22nd Jan 2024]
The usage of “would not be in a tent any longer” reminded
me of 2 Sam 7:2 where David said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a
house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”
More or less like ‘the idol of Ram’ was ‘the
ark in the tent’. Now, let us dwell on the ark… The Lord said to Moses, “…
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst… They shall
make an ark… And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the
ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with
you… I will speak with you… (Ex 25:8, 10, 21-22).
‘Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines…
Israel was defeated by the Philistines… And when the troops came to the camp,
the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord put us to rout today before the
Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh,
that he may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies… brought …
the arc of the covenant… the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated… the
ark of God was captured… (1 Sam 4:1-4, 10-11).
And David arose and went with all the people… to bring up
from there the ark of God… And David and all the house of Israel were making
merry before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and
tambourines and castanets and cymbals… took it aside to the house of Obed-e-dom
the Gittite… David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of
Obed-e-dom to the city of David with rejoicing… David danced before the Lord
with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod… (2 Sam 6:1-5, 10,
12 &14).
Now what about contrasting this with a pertinent Isaiah
text 66:1, ‘thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my
footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the
place of my rest?”
Now, let’s go still backward to the book of Exodus to see
how things were taken to this level while acknowledging the Scriptures to be a
religious product with its own interest in its specific times, though they
claim to have been ‘inspired’. Here, I rush to add, ‘as much Bible is the word
of God that much it is the word of man also.’
So also, as resurrection is for the New Testament, exodus
is for the Old Testament paving way for a definitive, paradigm changing
experience. Thereafter everything else was seen and presented from that
perspective.
As such in the sojourn of Israelites through the desert,
they reach Sinai where God makes a covenant with them through Moses and the
tenets of the covenant are the Ten Commandments and its very first commandment
says, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of
anything… you shall not bow down to them or serve them…” (Ex 20:4). Though brief,
in the absence of Moses, the clueless people asked Aaron to make for them gods
to go before them… Aaron made a molten calf out of the gold received from the
people and presented it as their god and built an altar infuriating God to burn
with wrath as they have turned quickly out of the way which he commanded them… (Ex
32)
Thereafter things took a speedy development whereby
Passover was ritualized along with the Sabbatical year, other festivals,
covenant, ark, tabernacle, altar, priestly ordination, garments, robes and
crown etc. (Ex 23 to 31).
It is against such inhuman and meaningless ritualism
Isaiah comes out prophetically in the very first chapter, 11 and the following
verses and 61:1-2 which Jesus uses as his manifesto at the synagogue in his
native Nazareth making all to wonder at his gracious words and speak well of
him (Lk 4:16ff).
As a culmination of this prophetic spirit Jesus, in his
conversation with the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well at Sychar, consoles her,
‘…the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you
worship the Father… and when the true worshippers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth…’ (Jn 4:21-24).
This was lived by Jesus, the good shepherd, in the model
of Psalm 23. Let’s be honest and loyal to Jesus than to an establishment which
has no prick in going against his teachings to perpetuate their power and
comfortable lives.
Thank you and good night.
References:
Gen 28:18-19 Bethel…
35:1Altar…
Ex 3 The burning bush…
12 – Passover – ‘This day shall be for you a memorial
day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations
you shall observe it as an ordinance forever.’ (12:14)
20 – The Ten Commandments…
-
“You shall not make for
yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything… you shall not bow down to
them or serve them…” 20:4
32 – The golden calf…
23 - 31
Sabbatical year, festivals, covenant, ark, tabernacle, altar, garments,
robe and crown, ordination…
Is 1:11ff
Lev 25 – Jubilee year…
Ps 23 – The Lord is my shepherd…
Lk 4:16ff The Nazareth manifesto…
Jn 4:21-24 Worship in spirit and truth…
Mk 10:42ff authority and dominion…
Mt 6:24 – God and mammon
6;25ff – Providence…
No comments:
Post a Comment