Wedding Ceremony—What We Have in Common

Giriraj Swami: We have gathered on this most auspicious, sacred, and joyous occasion to witness and support this beautiful young couple, who are coming together in love for each other, in the mood of service to each other and love for God and in the mood of service to God.

Over the centuries different traditions have emerged; and there are superficial differences between them, but the basic principles are the same—to love God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy might. And to love thy neighbor as thyself. And the same principles are fundamental to Krishna consciousness. The specific feature of Krishna consciousness and in all the great traditions, is to encourage people to enter a personal relationship with God. Although God has His impersonal feature, impersonal light, some followers in different traditions want to merge and become one with that impersonal light. But beyond the impersonal light is the supreme form of God and we can enter a very personal loving intimate relationship with Him.

I have had the opportunity to spend many years in India, but not only in India, also in Sri Lanka, which is primarily a Buddhist country and in Pakistan which is predominantly a Muslim country, as well as in the United States—the same principles prevailed especially in the esoteric traditions. And when one is serious about developing one’s relationship with God, one does go further. Whatever the tradition is, when you come to that level of seriousness and commitment and eagerness, there is a tremendous similarity. I have attended a course, a sort of informal course on Jewish mysticism and I was astonished by how similar the principles of Judaism and the mystic tradition are to the principles of Krishna consciousness, or bhakti-yoga. Historically there have been Jewish sects, one prominent one in Zsfat, and we read their codes of conduct and practice and they were so similar. The practitioners would rise an hour or two before sunrise, they were completely vegetarian. They absorbed themselves in prayer, especially in the early hours. But every act was dedicated to serving God, and realizing God.

Of course, I was asked specifically to speak about the forms that are worshiped in the temple – arcā-vigraha, but there is an underlying principle there, which is that God is absolute. Which means that there is no difference between God and His Name, His form, His qualities, His activities, and His words. So here we are seeing the form of the Lord. Of course, the Lord’s form is completely spiritual. We do not have the eyes to see the Lord in His original spiritual form right now. But when we become mature in our spiritual practice, we can see Him face to face. And until then, out of His kindness, out of His mercy, He appears to us in a form that we can see with these materially covered eyes.

I am recalling in the Jewish tradition, the worship of the word of God, the Torah. The Torah is kept in an ark; it is the most sacred place in the Jewish temple, in the Jewish tradition. And the same principle applies, that because God is absolute, the word of God is the same as God. It is not like in the relative world where a person and his picture are different, or a person and his words are different. And in the Jewish tradition, all the respect that one would accord to God is accorded to the Torah, which is the word of God. And I was happy to see in some joyous ceremonies that the Torah is taken out of the ark and carried in a joyful procession around the temple. It reminded me of a festival we have—the festival of the chariots, in which the Lord is taken out of the temple and placed on a palanquin or chariot and taken in a joyous procession. And not only that, after the Torah is taken out of the ark, when it is time to be read, the Torah is undressed. The Torah is dressed in very beautiful embroidered cloth, often velvet. And then on top of the cloth, beautiful ornaments are placed, often made of silver on the two ends of the scroll and hanging over the cloth. And it is a great honor to take part in that ceremony of undressing the Torah before it is read. And then after it is read, someone has the honor of dressing the Torah and putting the silver ornaments on it.

So, the basic principles are the same. The symbols may be different, the application may be different, but the basic principles are the same. And that is what unites us all today—that is the theme of today’s marriage and today’s assembly—that we want to focus on the common principles. Between traditions there are common principles; there may be differences of detail, but we want to focus on the common principles. And in the lives of two people, even a husband and wife, they share certain principles which bind them together. There might be differences in details. He might squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom, and she might squeeze it from the middle. But we are not so concerned about the details. We want to see the common principles, the fundamental principles that unite us.

So I am very pleased, honored, and delighted to be here. There are many details—we recite mantras here that include the names of God and it is the same principle. It is a general conception that in the Jewish tradition that one should not pronounce the name of God. And the reason is that the name of God is so powerful—they have the exact same idea. That the name of God is so powerful, that if anyone were to dare to pronounce it, he would become mad, or he would die because he would be directly with God. And when I heard this explanation, I thought of a holy place in India called Vrindavan, which is very dear to all devotees of Krishna and where Dauji spent most of her life with her respected mother Daivi Sakti. And there is a sacred place in Vrindavan, called Seva Kunj, and it is said that at night the Lord comes out and enjoys various confidential pastimes with His intimate devotees who are all pure souls. It is forbidden to enter that garden, it is a large garden. It is forbidden to enter that garden at night when the Lord is engaged in His spectacular pastimes. And it is said, and there are recorded incidents, that if someone dares to enter that area at night, he will either die, or go crazy. He will become mad because the spiritual presence is too powerful for an ordinary person to bear.

So, when I heard the explanation of why the sacred name of God should not be pronounced or articulated in the Jewish tradition, I saw it is the same idea. But even then, it is something we do. We do chant the name of God with the idea that by associating with God, even though we are not really qualified to be fully in His presence, but by associating with Him by chanting His holy name we will become purified, and we will become qualified to one day perceive Him in His original spiritual form.

So, it is a vast topic, we could spend hours, days, months, years discussing it. And actually, that is how we do spend our time. In the ideal, except when there are practical matters to attend to, such as today’s wedding ceremony, which is also in the same line of service to God, and worship to God, and love for His children, and creation. And so, we will proceed with that part of the ceremony.