As the sun is the joy to them that seek its daybreak, so is my joy the Lord.
Because he is my Sun, and his rays have lifted me up, and his light hath dispelled all darkness from my face.
In him I have acquired eyes, and have seen his holy day.
Ears I have acquired, and I have heard his Truth.
The thought of knowledge I have acquired, and I have been delighted by him.
The way of error I have left, and I went towards him and have received Salvation from him abundantly.
And according to his bounty he hath given to me, and according to his excellent beauty he hath made me.
I have put on incorruption by means of his Name, and I have put off corruption by his grace.
Death hath been destroyed before my face, and Sheol hath been abolished by my word.
And there hath gone up deathless life in the Lord’s land, and it hath become known to his faithful ones, and hath been given without stint to all those that trust in him. Alleluia.
As the sun is the joy to them that seek its daybreak, so is my joy the Lord.
To how many people is God really a joy, though he is said to be bliss (ananda) itself? He may be awesome and inspiring reverence and gratitude, but do people really rejoice in the Lord as their rising sun? Certainly many people rejoice in what God gives them and even in the exalted feeling occurring in worship or the “high” produced by certain “yogic” techniques, but who rejoices in God and not just in what he gives?
As Yogananda said: “God is just as much a beggar as we are. He is begging for our attention. The Master of the Universe, who has everything–suns, moons, stars, worlds–quivering at the glance of His being, is begging for our love. He is running after the devotee and He is begging for the devotee’s love. He is saying, ‘Won’t you give Me your love? Will you seek Me? Do you like Me better than all the things I have made for you?’ But the devotee says, ‘I am too busy now. I have work to do. I can’t look after You.’ And the Lord says, ‘I will wait.’”
But this ode shows us that when for us God is the joy above all others, his advent in our consciousness is like the dawning of the sun beside which all else is darkness and emptiness. Then we have some relation with God and are on the path to liberation.
Because he is my Sun, and his rays have lifted me up, and his light hath dispelled all darkness from my face.
Water comes down to the earth in rain and then the sun draws them back upward into the heavens. In the same way we have come forth from God into this earthly life, and God is drawing us back to him, to our source. God alone has this power, and the more we align ourselves with God, especially through meditation, the more quickly will we return. Once we break through the clouds of material existence and experience, the divine light will dispel all darkness from our consciousness, our true face.
In him I have acquired eyes, and have seen his holy day.
Since “God is light and in him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5), in him alone do we acquire eyes with which to see truly. In this world all we see are dreams, for God alone is Real. The holy day of God is the advent of God in our consciousness, just as the rising of the sun brings the day. How utterly different, even contradictory, is this view of spiritual life from that dispensed by the churches! Where is Christianity to be found at this point in time? Only where the message of Light and the means to rise into It are proclaimed. Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist teachers are far more of Christ than most Christian preachers and teachers. Only those who see the Day of God in their inmost depths are true believers, true theists.
Ears I have acquired, and I have heard his Truth. The thought of knowledge I have acquired, and I have been delighted by him.
In God alone is there true knowledge, and only through the ears of spiritual knowing, spiritual intuition, is he known. For truth is not just “of” God, God himself is Truth. And he is met face-to-face in meditation. Only when God is known can God be delighted in. So here we are given the how-to of the first verse.
The way of error I have left, and I went towards him and have received Salvation from him abundantly.
There are two “ways” in this world: the way that leads away from God consciousness and the way that leads toward God consciousness. Many who are walking away from God try to substitute religion, philosophy, philanthropy and the like, but only those who go toward him can ever reach him. John Oxenham wrote:
To every man there openeth
A Way, and Ways, and a Way,
And the High Soul climbs the High Way,
And the Low Soul gropes the Low,
And in between, on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth
A High Way, and a Low.
And every man decideth
The way his soul shall go.
We must see through the clouds of delusion and turn out of the way that led us into those clouds, into “the misty flats” where “the rest drift to and fro.” Then we must “run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1) and break out into Light that is God; for that alone is salvation which is infinite in its glory.
And according to his bounty he hath given to me, and according to his excellent beauty he hath made me.
Infinity is ours in God, and total transformation into the divine likeness.
I have put on incorruption by means of his Name, and I have put off corruption by his grace.
By continually uniting ourselves in ascending degrees with God through meditation and yogic disciplines, we can become as immortal as he, leaving change, decay, and death behind by his grace: the call upward to the divine revelation of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Death hath been destroyed before my face, and Sheol hath been abolished by my word.
“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (I Corinthians 15:53-54). “The sleep of death” (Psalms 13:3), the state of being unconscious of God in this world, the world of the dead, the grave of the spiritually unconscious, is to be awakened from in a moment like the temporary dream it really is.
And there hath gone up deathless life in the Lord’s land, and it hath become known to his faithful ones, and hath been given without stint to all those that trust in him.
Immortality does not come from outside, but arises from within those whose enlightenment has made them “the Lord’s land,” the place of his abode. In this Light no shadows remain and nothing remains to be known or attained, for Infinity is from thenceforth their only dwelling for eternity.
Read the next article in The Odes of Solomon for Awakening: The Odes of Solomon: 16