Passage 8

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In plain words

One day He came to St Pal in a dream: "My good man, do you hate Me? Do you hate God? Who am I, who is God? Every human being is a spark of fire that has come forth from one flame. So I, you and everything are the very form of God. You are reviling yourself, not Me," He said. Because of this great change that came over him in the dream, from the next day on he went on deepening his faith in Jesus. From that day he held fast to the resolve, "I must dedicate this remaining life of mine to spreading the word of God alone." The first to enter Rome and spread the word about Jesus was this Pal.

What was Rome like in the conditions of those days? All lived holding to the culture of Bhārata. To honour father and mother, to speak Satya, to respect elders, to trust the guru. To love God. God is not just one. Their rule was that each may pray to God in the way that belongs to his own feeling. Many people of Bhārata today keep criticising. "What, in Bhārata so many gods, so many forms, so many worships, so many paths?" they criticise. God is one alone, but they came to believe in many forms and names so that each might follow the path dear to him, in keeping with his own views and with his own aims. It went on giving each his freedom. No one binds another. Bhārata gave a fine answer to why this is so. A small example.

They have given you a bush coat made to one size. But if everyone has to wear this bush coat, is that possible? For one it may be tight. For another it may be loose. How much justice there is in thinking that each may have a bush coat stitched to fit his own size! To say that all must make use of one thing alone is merely compulsion. Many inconveniences arise. The cloth is one, but the sizes may differ. In the same way, the Ātma is one; the forms of worship may differ. Tastes may differ. Such a doctrine was there in Rome. Little by little, experiencing this doctrine of oneness and rejoicing in it, they went on sharing it out. In the beginning this Pal suffered much violence. It should not be told, but they put a lion in a cage and gave him to the lion. To that extent they went on tormenting him. But at the very last they recognised Satya. Having recognised that Satya, from that day on they went on fostering this religion of Christ in Rome.

It was there that they recognised that this portion of God is in every human being, and they went on calling it Persona.