Great interview with a Christian priest

[Guest guest]

A great interview with a Christian priest:

 

 

General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India

Speaker at “Religions Embracing for Peace & Harmony”

 

I had been really impressed with the frankness and honesty of Rev. Dr.Ipe’s

speech during the Interfaith Summit. I had never heard anyone say that the

Church had not lived up to its ideals before. I asked him how to reconcile the

church’s doctrine that Jesus Christ was the only son of God in the face of

someone like Amma, and he smiled gently and said, “Doctrine must take a back

seat.”

 

“But isn’t that difficult for the church?”

 

“It is very difficult, but doctrine must take a back seat. God chooses many ways

to manifest his grace in the world.”

 

I asked whether he had been born a Christian and he said he had been born into a

Christian household. “The doors of our house were always open to everyone, and I

mean that literally; the doors were never closed. Everyone was welcomed. On

either side of us were Hindu houses and we all grew up together. Our neighbors

were a couple who had no children, and every month, they would ask my mother to

send me over to say the prayers with them and my mother would say: “Just go, and

say the prayers with them. They have no children, so go.” And I would go and

they would light the lamp and the lady said, “You say your prayers” and she

chanted the Hindu prayer. Then she gave me banana chips, perhaps I just did it

because I liked the banana chips, I don’t know. But we grew up without the

distinction of “I am a Christian,” “he is a Hindu.” This is how we should be.”

 

“Have you known about Amma long?”

 

“I have known about her for six years, but I have never met her. I am waiting

for her darshan now. Actually I met her through Bawa Jain. He said I should come

to meet Amma, and then the very next day Swami Amritaswarupananda phoned me and

said we would like to send a swami to come and invite you personally to

Amritavarsham. I said no, that’s not necessary it would be a waste of money, a

phone invitation is sufficient. But I have been impressed by the humility of the

devotees. When I arrived, I was assigned someone to help me and he himself is a

bank manager, but he is so humble. He sat and waited for me in the hotel foyer,

and I said it’s not necessary, but he said “No, that is my duty. I will not

leave you, and you must call me whenever you need something.”

 

He said he wanted to ask Amma certain things: “I want to ask her how we can work

together with the Math. This is the real interfaith, to do service together,

especially in the field of HIV infection. This is very important. And also I

would like Amma to write a forward to a set of 38 poems I wrote about the

Mother. They are quite short; they won’t take her long to read. Infact, they

were inspired by my own mother. She died when she was 87, but they are

universal. Even God needed a mother to be born. I wrote them six years ago but

the project has been delayed and delayed. The Archbishop was going to write a

forward, but I said it should be a woman, and it should be a real mother also. I

think I have found my mother now.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Bala,

 

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. It really touched my heart! I am

going to send it to my Christian mother.

 

I guess there are no "Hindu", "Christian", "man", or "woman" labels

in Amma's family! We are all Her children.

 

With love,

At Amma's Lotus Feet,

Erica

 

Ammachi, balakrishnan Shankar

<balakrishnan_sh> wrote:

> A great interview with a Christian priest:

>

>

> General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India

> Speaker at "Religions Embracing for Peace & Harmony"