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| Speech by Rev. Thomas B. Singh |
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The Trinity according to Sant Kirpal Singh and Saint Paul(Man Know Thyself) Transcription of the recorded speech of Rev. Thomas B. Singh, UK World Conference on Unity of Man, 10 Dec. 2007 Good evening and welcome to tonight's programme. Thank you for that wonderful introduction, I am from Luton, UK, and I think it would be a great pity if we did not stand at least for a minute in homage to Sant Kirpal Singh and Dr. Harbhajan Singh, so I would ask all of you to first stand on your feet just for one minute in silence. Living in Luton for 33 years – it is said that every culture has something good about it; all we need to do is to find that something good and adopt it into our lives. This is something that I have learnt over the years as a mark of respect from those who have gone on before us. Many great philosophers, anthropologists, theologians, politicians and artists of a great caliber have come and gone on before us. It is they who have carved a path for us through their wisdom and understanding which of course comes from God alone. The Psalmist writes, O Lord how glorious are thy works, Thy thoughts are very deep. An unwise man doth not well consider this and a fool doth not understand it. The greatest thing that we have is the gift of life and all the faculties that go with it - Man, know thyself. While some philosophers have laid emphasis on psychological facts, others have given more importance to values. Whenever philosophy has been taken seriously, it has always been assumed that it signified achieving a wisdom that would influence the conduct of life. And I as a theologian totally agree with this concept for the simple reason that after studying the works of different philosophers and theologians, if I may add their works, have always left me with a notion of something other than, of something higher, of something not being part of this creation as we know it. And it is that 'something' that influences our conduct of life. One great philosopher, Swami Vivekananda, whose mission in the last decade of the nineteenth century had been a national and an international one was a lover of mankind, he strove to promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation of the vedanic oneness of existence and the Fatherhood of God. A mystic of the highest order, Vivekananda had a direct and intuitive experience of reality. He derived his ideas from that unfailing source of wisdom. You know he even had the tendency to become, like his master, to soar above the world and forget itself in contemplation of the Absolute. But fortunately, for us another part of his personality bled at the sight of human suffering both in the East and West alike. It even appears as if his mind seldom found a point of rest in its oscillation between contemplation of God and service to man. Be that as it may, he chose in obedience to a higher call, service to man as his mission on earth: and it was this choice that endeared him not only to people nationally but the world over. A fine example to humanity: Man, know thyself: Non-violence isn't a campaign, it's a way of life. These are the words of the 20th century philosopher, the father of India, Mahatma Gandhi. For Gandhi, as some of you may know, even haste was a form of violence. An action of violence he said stems from the thought of violence, which arises from dissatisfaction with the present. And that present moment is every moment. You know, Sant Kirpal Singh's wisdom and understanding, somehow I feel compelled him to choose a very rigid formula in the form of a triangle, that three sided shape, He said, be good, do good, be one. As a Christian representative then, the concept of the three in one is of the ultimate importance as it is the doctrinal formula of the Christian faith. The three in one is very much interlinked with God the Father, God the Son and God Holy Spirit, the three states of God, existing together as one. And if we were to remove one of them, we would no longer have the Godhead. Be good, Do good, Be One: The three are intricately interlinked together. One of my favorite theologians by the name of John has captured the whole notion of this Be One in the opening lines of his gospel. He writes, 'In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God; and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that enlightens every man was in the world. He came to his own people and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.' 'I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.' Indeed, how much truth there is to be found in these poignant words of a Saintly figure writing in his letter to the Romans all those 2000 years ago. How much of a challenge is placed before each and everyone of us, as we likewise experience to a greater or lesser degree this same personal agony of man and self as expressed so aptly by Saint Paul in this quotation. In one sentence it spells out the 'guts', so to speak of man's personal struggle with his own self, his inability to communicate with his own being and his agony in trying to relate to himself. We hear mentioned oftentimes these days the so-called generation-gap, which supposedly exists between today's youth and those of us who are over 30 years of age, as an expression of the inability of one generation to communicate with the other. As real as this generation gap may be, the intensity of the struggle of man and self far outweighs this social gap and is indeed of greater dimension and of greater consequences. Here, too, there is a gap between man and his inner being, man and his ground of being. For man's struggle to communicate with his own self seems almost endless, and yet at the same time it is of the utmost importance. It is this agony of man and self which is expressed in these words, 'I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.' It can be said that this struggle of man in search of the self can be appeased initially by applying that veteran of veterans' philosopher, Socrates' basic maxim, 'Know thyself.' We need to engage in a dialogue with our inner being. We need to come to know ourselves as we really are by engaging in such a dialogue, whereby we will discover our weak points as well as our strong ones. Dialogue is the answer. Christ showed us time and time again that truth and understanding could only be attained by dialogue, be it with the self, with our fellow man or with God. The necessity of man to become conscious of who and what he is is most fundamental. Otherwise, man is bent, destined to self-destruction. For have you ever stopped to consider who is man's worst enemy? It is neither communism, nor materialism, nor any other hedonistic philosophy, but rather it is man himself. Each and every one of us is his or her own worst enemy. And how is that? Well did you ever stop to consider that the most sinful act committed, the most impure thought entertained and the most cruel word uttered do not originate outside of man, but proceed from man himself? We can do more harm to ourselves than any one person or group of persons could ever conceive in doing. Man is his own worst enemy!Behold the words of Saint. Paul, 'I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.' By the same token, Plato, the father of all philosophers expressed this concept of two forces in man in his PHAEDRUS, wherein he depicts the soul of his charioteer desperately seeking to control two horses' intent on going in the opposite directions. Behold the dichotomy of man – for the one force seeks to take the soul upward, whereas, the other force tries to drag it downward. 'I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.' The first 'I' accepts the responsibility for what the second 'I' does. Once having succeeded to some degree in this act of introspection and catharsis, whereby man has come to recognize who and what he is, it follows by necessity that he realizes that he must change his ways. To accomplish this, man must experience the sincere and genuine desire to change, to be spiritually reborn, transformed, renewed, reconciled and reunited with God so that a new creature will come into being. Once man has encountered himself and has been spiritually reborn, he can fully and completely commit himself to God. By committing ourselves to God, in the fullest sense of the word, we discover that the 'I' will decrease, and God will increase in us. As God begins to become the rudder of our lives and permeates our being in depth, the ground of our being, we will discover for ourselves what St. Paul meant when he said, 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' This is what the Christ-centered life is all about. I would like to take this opportunity just to set the records straight on behalf of all those Indian Christian residing in the East. You know, living in the West as an Indian Christian, I am immensely saddened, in fact heartbroken, when I note how Christianity or the Christian is portrayed here in the East. Michael is usually seen as a drunkard, Mary and Joseph poor and penny less, and, yes, Peter and John as the goons of the territorial space. I am certain that this is not the case and very much hope that this will soon be brought into its respective perspective. What the world needs now are individuals, regardless of their caste, colour, creed or even national background. Young and old alike, clergy and laity, committed fully and completely to exhibit in action a vital, dynamic and living faith and action, not a wishy-washy kind of faith - here today, gone tomorrow - but a real commitment, iron-clad faith, a faith that will move mountains. And I see that here, here at Kirpal Sagar, that's exactly what has happened: Sant Kirpal Singh's vision along with Dr. Harbhajan Singh's mind and his physical ability to bring this Kirpal Sagar into one and into that action where we are today sitting from all nations, races and all faiths – coming together as the unity of man. Such a faith will lessen the reality of man's struggle – as it has been done here. Sant Kirpal Singh summed up in his own words: Be good- Do good- Be one. And Saint Paul said, 'I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.' It is these ideas, these concepts that need to be replaced with another expression of St. Paul, 'I live, yet not I, but God liveth in me.' And until we have that, until we can fight against that inner struggle within ourself, God cannot reside in us, in our body, which is the temple of God. Ultimately, as the inside cover page of the unity of man magazine states, 'A change can only come about if man is ready to change his own self.' And as a community here at Kirpal Sagar and all those delegates from abroad: Are we ready for that Change as one and all? As we say,'one for all and all for one'. Thank you for granting me this opportunity to speak here tonight. Reverend Thomas B. Singh |
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