Interspirituality
The Mar Thoma Liberal Catholic Church being firmly Universalist is happy for members to practise more than one religion if they wish. We have members who are both Christian and Hindu, others who are Christian and Pagan and still others who prefer Orthodoxy. We are bound together as a church by the Love of God and Man; our common liturgical life and spiritual experience; and our firm belief that personal mysticism is the essence of all true religion.
Sanatana Dharma - the Eternal Religion
"Mysticism exists in all ages and cultures; it is essential to life. It is the main reason why we are here; that is, to live the mystical life, the progressive experience of the Ultimate Reality in a committed process of spiritual pursuits. When this commitment is present and deeply informed by one’s intention, spirituality is born in one’s life. Not only is mystical spirituality found everywhere and in all times, though often confined to a few; it is the origin of all the world’s great religions. It is the source of the Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Religion, as Hinduism is called. The rishis or forest sages of ancient India are the founders of the Sanatana Dharma, giving birth to it through their transcendent experiences of the Absolute, the Brahman, or Godhead, and of the Atman, or Eternal Self. ........ The Christian faith likewise owes its birth and sustenance to the inner consciousness of Jesus as the Only Begotten Son of God. His continual experience of intimacy with God, whom he called his Father and our Father, is the substance of the Christian tradition and of the faith of the Church. His relationship with God is totally mystical."
(Bro Wayne Teasdale)
(Bro Wayne Teasdale)
"It is not our intention to state that Jesus Christ never lived, but we are forced in the cause of honesty to affirm that there is no adequate contemporaneous evidence to support the Gospel stories. We feel, therefore, that the true significance of the Gospels lies, not in their historical parts, but, in their "MYSTICAL" parts. The Jesus of Galilee may or may not have lived, but we agree entirely with St. Paul that this is not of first importance, rather it is the "CHRIST IN YOU" that is the hope of glory."
(Manly P. Hall, The Students Monthly Letter. 4th year #7)
(Manly P. Hall, The Students Monthly Letter. 4th year #7)
The Presiding Bishop celebrating the Liberal Catholic Liturgy
at St Gall's Retreat, Switzerland, 2020
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Kirtan with Bishop Melkior and Deaconess Valentina in Serbia, 2020
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Swami Kanjalochana (Bhakti Marga) visiting Bishop Melkior and Deaconess Valentina, 2022
