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Elements of Christian Theology
A Realization from David R. Graham
Semantics Postulates are axioms (assumptions) specific to a particular Science. Common Notions are axioms general to all Sciences. Propositions are statements demanding proof. Positions are statements available to exposition. A Lemma is a Position necessary to the exposition of a Position. A Porism is a Position which emerges from the exposition of a Position.
Postulates 1- Human Birth is the instrument for visualizing the Divine Base.
2- The unique and potent capacities of this instrument are ratiocination and intuition.
3-- Human Birth is the Duty to cognize the Truth.
4- Truth has no second.
5- Anything can be defined, but nothing can be proven. The indefinable is the Seed, the Germinant, of all definitions.
Common Notions 1- Western Civilization is a species of Vedic Culture, of Indian Spirituality.
2- India is the spiritual heart of this planet.
3- Vedic Culture created and sustains Semitic Religion, however denominated -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam.
4- Semitic Religion has always been centered in the deserts, either actual or virtual, and constituted as a phenomenon we may call Semitic Monasticism. Semitic Religion, in common with every religion, is founded on strict renunciation of worldly attachments.
5- Semitic Monasticism parallels Veda-inspired Greek Monasticism, which produced Greek Religion. Pythagoreans were a late flowering of Greek Monasticism who illustrate, to some extent, the qualities of Semitic Monasticism, also.
6- Abraham was a Persian, meaning, he was a representative of Vedic Culture and specifically of Zoroastrian Religion. Persian Language and Religion are species of Sanskrit and Vedas, respectively.
7- Semitic Religion has always been monotheistic because Vedic Religion, in which it arose, is monotheistic.
8- Judaism is based on the Sages of Zoroastrianism. Christianity is based on the Seers of Buddhism. Islam is based on the Prophets of Christianity.
9- Jesus -- His original name was Isa -- spent His Career more in India than in Palestine.
10- All time-fields are concurrent.
Lemma 1 for Position 1Truth is Supreme Reality.
Lemma 2 for Position 1Truth is not asymptotic: It is not measured by a standard external to Itself.
Lemma 3 for Position 1For the protection of the righteous, for the punishment of evil doers and for reestablishing Truth, Righteousness, Peace and Love, Supreme Reality wraps (envelopes) Itself in qualities, incarnating from age to age.
Lemma 4 for Position 1So wrapped in qualities, Supreme Reality becomes God. The wrapped is He: God, Cosmos, Structure, the Base, Positive. The wrapping is She: Universe, Effort, Power, the Based, Negative. He superimposes She on Himself in order to enact the Eternal Duet.
Lemma 5 for Position 1Supreme Reality wraps (conceals) Itself in mixtures of three qualities (gunas):
| Thamas | Rajas | Sathwa |
| Torpor | Excitement | Equanimity |
| Inertia | Activity | Calm |
Lemma 6 for Position 1The Form, the Mixture of Qualities, as which Supreme Reality concretizes Itself for the benefit of the world is the Avatar, the Lord: He Who descends. The Transcendent God in Habiliments come to accept the devotion of and to confer Grace upon all beings.
Lemma 7 for Position 1The Avathar is ever-present in India: The Lord is always residing in Bharat ("The Land with Attachment to God").
Lemma 8 for Position 1The great deeds and ideas we admire are inseparable from those who put them into practice.
Lemma 9 for Position 1The idea of an Avathar is a glorious deception.
Lemma 10 for Position 1Supreme Reality is without qualities, without nature.
P O S I T I O N - 0 1 Revelation is Truth presented in and for itself by the penetrating purity of Sages.
Porism 1 for Position 1The following are correlates of the three qualities (gunas) in which Supreme Reality wraps Itself in order to become God:
I am in the Light. The Light is in me. I am the Light. Brahma Siva Vishnu Dualism Qualified Non-Dualism Non-Dualism Destruction Creation Preservation I am the Messenger of God. I am the Son of God. I and my Father are One. Christ Father Holy Spirit Waking State Dream State Deep Sleep State Elemental Principles Inner Principle of Duality Point Limit Self-Confidence Self-Satisfaction Self-Sacrifice No know. Know no. No no. Body Mind Spirit Unconscious Conscious Conscience Homoiousias Homoousias Ousias I am a person. I am an extension of Divinity. I am Brahman. Karma Yoga Bhakthi Yoga Jnana Yoga Works Devotion Wisdom Christ Father Holy Spirit Laity Clergy Religious Worship Education Service Consummation Creation Preservation Parvathi Saraswathi Lakshmi Shristi Sthithi Laya Emergence Sustenance Mergence DaSoHam SoHam (A)Ham Source Stream Ocean Gross Subtle Causal Husk Shell Kernel Thought Word Deed Earth Sky Ego
(with respect to Vamana Avathar)Take one step toward Swami. Swami takes ten steps toward you. No need for any more steps.
Porism 2 for Position 1Supreme Reality is stateless, quality-less, category-less, nameless, formless and not able to be described or understood.
P O S I T I O N - 0 2 A thing and its nature is one and the same.
Lemma 1 for POSITION 3Strength is calmness of mind.
Lemma 2 for POSITION 3Consciousness is Truth. Truth is Bliss. Supreme Reality is Truth-Consciousness-Bliss: Sath-Chith-Ananda.
P O S I T I O N - 0 3 Faith is the strength which binds the consciousness to the Guru, to the Teacher.
P O S I T I O N - 0 4 Each individual has direct experience of the Avathar as one or more of four personalities: Mother, Father, Visitor, Guru.
P O S I T I O N - 0 5 Everything, latent and patent, is a decision of the Avathar.
P O S I T I O N - 0 6 Ego is the Divine Consort, the Inseparable Other, the Universe, mistaken for independent by the intellect, which asserts, I am this body.
P O S I T I O N - 0 7 Evil is an absence of Good. Good is an absence of Wisdom. Wisdom is an absence of God.
P O S I T I O N - 0 8 There are two types of knowledge, both illusion. One, called vidyamaya, clarifies the intellect, thereby contributing to the revelation of Truth. The other, called avidyamaya, tarnishes the intellect, thereby preventing the revelation of Truth.
P O S I T I O N - 0 9 The faculties and circumstances of this birth are impressions collected from deeds deliberately done in the previous birth.
P O S I T I O N - 1 0 Grace is a decision of the Avathar to remove one or more obstacles in the path of one or more aspirants.
Porism 1 for Position 10When an obstacle is removed from the path of one aspirant, all beings benefit.
P O S I T I O N - 1 1 Salvation is Grace, earned and showered.
P O S I T I O N - 1 2 Unity, in the nature of things, has to be indicated by means of diversity. Unity cannot be gainsaid and diversity cannot be unified, on the one hand, or ignored, on the other. Diversity has to be harmonized by the practice of forbearance. This makes Unity appear, quite automatically.
P O S I T I O N - 1 3 There is no salvation outside the orthodox tradition.
P O S I T I O N - 1 4 The world is the realm of flux, the domain of the ever-changing, the ever-relative.
Lemma 1 for Position 15Truth is the coincidence of thought, word and deed -- mind, tongue and hand.
Lemma 2 for Position 15Righteousness is the strength which keeps the consciousness bound to Truth, which integrates thought, word and deed.
Lemma 3 for Position 15Peace is cessation of the mind's raving, its leaping about as a mad monkey, its agitations.
Lemma 4 for Position 15Love is concentration on correcting our own faults and blindness to whether others have faults or not.
P O S I T I O N - 1 5 The world is carried upon four Pillars: Truth, Righteousness, Peace and Love.
Lemma 1 for Position 16Discrimination is imbibing the permanent while leaving the transitory, relishing the eternal while shunning the ephemeral.
Lemma 2 for Position 16Detachment is the mind immersed in the thought of God.
P O S I T I O N - 1 6 The Christian religion flourishes where its representatives are models of discrimination and detachment.
P O S I T I O N - 1 7 1 1 2 4 1 2 4 6 1 2 3 6 9 0 7 8 6 1 2 3 5 8 5 5 1 7 1 1 2 3 5 8 4 3 7 1 8 9 7 6 3 3 1 4 5 9 9 8 8 6 4 3 7 0 7 4 1 5 6 7 4 1 5 6 1 7 8 1 1 2 3 5 8 4 3 7 1 8 9 8 8 7 6 4 1 5 6 2 8 1 91 1 2 3 5 8 4 3 7 1 8 9 8 8 7 6 4 1 5 6 2 8 1 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 144 89 55 34 21 13 8 5 3 2 1 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144
P O S I T I O N - 1 8 Mathematics is the semantics, not the syntax, of phenomena.
P O S I T I O N - 1 9 The Lord does not order and does not approve that the body, mind or spirit of any being be injured for the worship of Him.
P O S I T I O N - 2 0 Spiritual Practice (Piety, sadhana) is the discipline of limiting desire and cultivating resignation.
Porism 1 for Position 20The end of Spiritual Practice is a clarified intellect, subtle and straight.
Porism 2 for Position 20The success of a life of Piety is measured by the depth of penance at the moment of death.
P O S I T I O N - 2 1 Christian Religion is the Piety, crucifixion of the ego.
Porism 1 for Position 21All Teachers, teachings, symbols, rituals and customs associated with Christian Religion subserve this activity.
P O S I T I O N - 2 2 The power-charge, the live battery of culture is the hermitage, the monastery.
P O S I T I O N - 2 3 Sages reside in hermitages and found religions.
P O S I T I O N - 2 4 Sages have, to varying degrees, the qualities of foreknowledge, self-knowledge and potency of will.
P O S I T I O N - 2 5 If at all, Sages reveal their plans and knowledge after events they intend to develop occur. Often, Sages leave the stage without revealing their activities or the meaning of them -- or even their presence.
Porism 1 for Position 25Sages communicate in deeds, and these are apparent to few.
Porism 2 for Position 25Sages do not preach. Their life is their message.
Lemma 1 for Position 26A Family Preceptor (Guru) is God for the family.
P O S I T I O N - 2 6 Sages founded Semitic Religion from their hermitages, using heads of families (Patriarchs) to propagate it.
Porism 1 for Position 26The Patriarchs were tribal chiefs. The Sages were Family Preceptors.
Porism 2 for Position 26The names of some gurus are in the text as Names of God: Elohim, El Elyon, El Shaddai, Yahweh, Fear of Isaac, etc.
P O S I T I O N - 2 7 Sages of the Patriarchal and later periods had awareness of an incarnation of a Great One preparing among the families they were fostering.
P O S I T I O N - 2 8 The incarnation of a Great One (Messiah) foreseen by Sages was Isa, later called Jesus and Christ.
P O S I T I O N - 2 9 Isa became aware that He was the Messiah during His 25th year, while He was in Tibet.
P O S I T I O N - 3 0 At first Isa declared, 'I am the Messenger of God.' Later, He declared, 'I am the Son of God.' Finally, He declared, 'I and My Father are One.'
Porism 1 for Position 30These declarations illustrate the dualistic (thamasic), the qualified non-dualistic (rajasic) and the non-dualistic (sathwic) experiences, respectively.
P O S I T I O N - 3 1 Isa had powers associated with Divinity.
P O S I T I O N - 3 2 When He declared that wine in a certain cup is His Blood, He means that everything having blood is He.
P O S I T I O N - 3 3 The jealousy of religious and monastic officials produced the death of Isa by crucifixion.
P O S I T I O N - 3 4 After His resurrection from death, Isa returned to India and traveled as far as Malaysia.
Porism 1 for Position 34He threw off the mortal frame at Srinagar, Kashmir.
P O S I T I O N - 3 5 When He was emerging in Supreme Reality, Isa said to St. John and other followers, 'He Who sent Me will come again,' and He pointed to a lamb. A lamb says, 'Ba-Ba.' Isa continued, 'He will have a crown of hair and wear a blood-red robe.'
P O S I T I O N - 3 6 The Parousia is of the Pleroma, the Avathar, Who has taken Human Birth with the Name and Form of Swami Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
Porism 1 for Position 36Isa repeated is Sai.
Adwaitha Hermitage
June 9, 1988
Revised, March 16, 1992
P E R F E R V I D U M I N G E N I U M S C O T O R U M
The picture at the top of this page was drawn by Mary Graham and colored by her, also. Its title is Thandava and it is part of Faces of the Incarnation, a coloring book from Adwaitha Hermitage.
Phenomena to Study (U.S.A.)
Phenomena to Study (Poland)
Catechesis For The Sai Era
Reminiscences from the North Sea