Jnana Yoga and the Christian Spiritual Path – Br. Shankara

Sunday, December 30, 2012

[jbox color=”white”][mp3t track=”2012-12-30-Shankara-JnanaYogaAndTheChristianSpiritualPath.mp3″ play=”Listen Now -” stop=”Pause -” title=”"Jnana Yoga and the Christian Spiritual Path" – Br. Shankara”]

Or download the MP3 to your computer, and listen offline.

[/jbox]

Saint Wenceslas Every culture uses storytelling and parable to share spiritual truths. As a society develops written language, these songs, poems, and tales are collected and transcribed. The Mahabharata, the Torah, and the Eddas are familiar examples (see definitions below).

Christianity also has developed a huge number of stories and songs about Jesus and His teachings, many of which are sung as Christmas carols.

Br. Shankara discusses the parable of Saint Wenceslas (Good King Wenceslas), which is sung as a beautiful and moving Christmas song. Shankara identifies the “characters” of the Wenceslas story as aspects of your mind, and relates these to how you can train yourself to be ready for the highest spiritual realization.

Definitions:

  • The Mahabharata is one of two major Sanskrit spiritual epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.
  • The Torah is Judaism’s most important text. It contains the Five Books of Moses and is the source of the Ten Commandments and the 613 precepts of Jewish Law.
  • The Eddas are the main sources of medieval skaldic (Scandinavian poetic) spiritual tradition, embodied as Icelandic and Norse mythology.