Sacredness transcends time and space
Throughout the ages, in all cultures, time, places, persons and symbols were all considered sacred. Whenever you consider a symbol, place, time, person or act as sacred, your attention is undivided and whole. When things are ordinary and same, you tend to slip into unawareness and inertia. The moment you consider something sacred, your inertia disappears and you become more alive. There is nothing as fulfilling as a sacred act. You put your heart and soul in a sacred act. When every action of yours becomes sacred, you have become one with the Divine. Then every minute of your life is sacred, every place you go to becomes sacred, every person you meet is only your reflection and every act of yours is sacred.
Today the younger generation is fast losing the sense of sacredness. We need to reinstall that feeling. This generation has less reverence for sacred sites.
Governments are doing very little to maintain such places and in some parts of the world, the sacred sites which are supposed to emanate peace and harmony, have been the cause of bloodshed. In some places sacred sites are desecrated and not honored. Though one must honor the sacred sites of one’s own tradition, one must eventually regard all sacred sites as one’s own. Eventually the whole globe needs to be considered a sacred place and all of humanity considered holy, as the Rishi of the ancient days did. They regarded the whole earth as the Divine consort of the Lord― calling her Bhoo Devi. They treated the whole world as one family― Vasudaiva Kutumbakam.
In different parts of the world, certain symbols, certain places and different times of the year are considered sacred. Various cultures honor certain people and symbols and consider them as sacred. For example, Christians consider the ‘Cross’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Christmas’ and the ‘Pope’ as sacred. For Muslims, the ‘Crescent Moon’, ‘Mecca’ and the month of ‘Ramadan’ are sacred. The Hindus consider the river ‘Ganges’, the ‘Himalayas’ and the ‘Swami’ as sacred.
It is good to begin feeling that some symbols, places, time and people are sacred so that you can be awake and alive. But eventually you need to transcend and feel that the entire creation and your whole life are sacred. For the man of God, the whole world, with all its symbols, places and people are sacred at all times.
(Writer is a is a globally renowned spiritual leader, humanitarian, and peacebuilder. He is also the founder of The Art of Living foundation, according to the Art of Living)
