Commentary on the Odes of Solomon – by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
The Meeting of the Two
The cosmos and the Cosmic
The purpose of creation is the perfect union in consciousness of the individual spirit and the Cosmic Spirit. The entire field of relative existence is a divine ladder which the spirit ascends in order to perfectly perceive and manifest its eternal nature as part of Divinity. The important thing to remember in considering this is that the cosmos is the Cosmic Itself.
In the seventh Ode of Solomon we find: “He became like me in order that I might receive Him; in form he was considered like me so that I might put Him on. And I trembled not when I saw Him, because He was gracious to me. Like my nature He became that I might learn Him, and like my form that I might not turn back from Him.”
The vision continues
This is remarkable. But the vision of the author of this ode did not end with him, for it was an eternal vision. Nearly two thousand years later, Bishop James Ingall Wedgwood wrote this prayer for the Mass of the Liberal Catholic Church:
“Uniting in this joyful Sacrifice with Thy holy Church throughout all the ages, we lift our hearts in adoration to Thee, O God the Son, consubstantial, co-eternal with the Father Who, abiding unchangeable within Thyself, didst nevertheless in the mystery of Thy boundless love and Thine eternal Sacrifice breathe forth Thine own divine life into Thy universe, and thus didst offer Thyself as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, dying in very truth that we might live.
“Omnipotent, all-pervading, by that self-same Sacrifice Thou dost continually uphold all creation, resting not by night or day, working evermore through that most august Hierarchy of Thy glorious Saints, who live but to do Thy will as perfect channels of Thy wondrous power, to whom we ever offer heartfelt love and reverence.”
Not long before the bishop wrote these profound words, Sri Ma Sarada Devi, the consort of Sri Ramakrishna, said the identical things to her attendant Ashutosh Mitra about God having manifested as the universe and dwelt within it, experiencing all that sentient beings experience so they might in time experience Him. For truth is eternal, ever there for the perceiving.
The vision analyzed
“He became like me in order that I might receive Him; in form he was considered like me so that I might put Him on.” It is a mistake to confine this to a supposed “incarnation of God,” though such do occur. This is a much bigger picture. The idea here is that God has transmuted Himself into the cosmos so it can become the means of our ascent to His perfect Consciousness and our assimilation of that Divinity. That is why Saint Paul speaks in the book of Hebrews of our being partakers of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, of the very holiness of God. Saint Peter not only tells us that it is possible to be a partaker of the glory of divinity, we can also “be partakers of the divine nature” Itself.
This is real Christianity–the making of “men” into Christs. We think we are encased in matter, but it is only a dream of matter. In reality we live at every moment in Spirit. Yet at the moment, it is matter we need to lead us upward to recognition of the real nature–both of “things” and of our selves. For the intention of all of this is that eventually we all “might put Him on” and dwell in that consciousness forever. “Like my nature He became that I might learn Him, and like my form that I might not turn back from Him.”
“And I trembled not when I saw Him, because He was gracious to me.” In that awareness, fear is banished forever.
More on the Odes of Solomon:
Odes of Solomon – text
Commentary on the Odes of Solomon:
1. The Crown of Life
2. Clothed in Love
3. The Changeless God and Ever-changing Man
4. Love, Hope, and Joy
5. Avoiding Evil
6. The Song of the Holy Spirit
7. Rejoice in the Lord!
8. The Meeting of the Two
1) Odes of Solomon 7:4-6
[Go back]
2) Hebrews 3:14 [Go back]
3) Hebrews 6:4 [Go back]
4) Hebrews 12:10 [Go back]
5) I Peter 5:1 [Go back]
6) II Peter 1:4 [Go back]
7) “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) [Go back]
