At Skanda Vale we ever seek to bring life into those traditions of worship which have been misinterpreted or incorrectly practised over the years. We are always trying to go back to how those traditions were followed when they were originally instituted and set into motion by the saints and avatars who were inspired by the Divine.
In this way, we are re-establishing dharma through the timeless worship of God. This is seen in all the pujas and festivals at Skanda Vale and as a result, the Temples have become reservoirs of the grace and power of God.
The Christian Services in particular have undergone substantial development in this respect. Over time we have gradually built up a Christian Service which truly extols the virtue of Christ in the consecration of the Wine and Host.
Mindfulness & Christ Consciousness
Through my own experience, I have come to realise that it is your daily living and the way in which you strive to identify with God in all your activities that brings the power into the Services and Pujas. If you go through your day in a muddled, confused and unfocused way, you cannot expect the power of God to come to you during the Service.
The Service that you, as the priest, will perform will reflect the way in which your daily life has been conducted. If you have tried your best to identify with God during the day then when you come to lift the Sacred Host in the service you will be able to focus so much that you will become Christ at that moment of consecration.
To do the consecration properly means you have to completely identify yourself with Christ. You have to take yourself back to that moment when Christ was at the last supper with his closest disciples all gathered around.
You have to feel that tremendous and overwhelming love that prompted Jesus to lay down his own life for the sake of his best friends and all who came to Him. You have to feel that as you break the bread you are breaking your own life for the love of everyone who has come to the Service to receive Holy Communion.
Grace & the Holy Spirit
In this way the Blessed Host changes, through the act of transubstantiation into Christ’s body which is broken to take away some of the karma and negativity of those who sincerely offer themselves to Christ in the Sacrament.
The priest’s act of consecration draws the energy of Christ into a point of focus in the Host and the Wine. The change which occurs is not purely symbolic, but it is actual, occurring at a molecular level. This tremendous vibration of Divine energy is then transferred, physically and spiritually, to anyone who receives Communion.
It is an amazing experience to receive communion if you are in a focused state of mind. Even before, as you approach the priest giving communion you can feel within yourself the subtle but tangible vibration of the presence of Christ. Then when you have had communion, if you sit quietly you can feel this vibration which is like a warm and resonant hum.
The omnipresence of Christ
It is through experiences like these that you realize Christ is truly omnipresent. He is not just somewhere on a cloud in a place called Heaven, or in a Church or Temple. He is present everywhere – in all of creation. He is in the air that you breathe, in the ground beneath your feet. He is in the trees and plants, in the animals, the birds and the sky above. He is in the oceans and the mountains, in the sun, the moon and the stars.
Christ is alive in the essence of all religious faiths. He is there in the universality of all aspects of God, and He can be experienced directly within your heart if you earnestly seek Him there.
