Disciples prostrate before their Gurus ....

 A LENTEN PILGRIMAGE

                                          Rev. Fr. K M George 

     The Prostration

Prostration is a common sight in India. Disciples prostrate before their Gurus. Devotees prostrate before the images of their favorite gods and goddesses. In its complete form prostration is sashtanga namaskara, veneration with eight limbs of the body touching the ground.

 The prostration or kumbidil during prayers in the Indian Orthodox tradition also makes use of the eight limbs (forehead, nose, two hands, two knees, two feet) in an act of repentance, humility and total submission to God's will and loving care.

The Orthodox worshipers are traditionally taught to bring to mind the crucified figure of Jesus as they prostrate in prayer. Though the general practice of prostration is declining, it is still strictly practised in monasteries and seminaries. 

However, during the period of Lent and the Holy Week many devout people practice prostration in prayer. The book of Revelation describes an arresting scene of prostration."The twenty-four elders fell prostrate before the One seated on the throne, worshiped the One who lives through out all the ages, cast their golden wreaths before the throne and chanted to Him:'worthy are you, O Lord, worthy are You, O God to receive glory and honour and power. You alone created all things, and through Your will and by Your design, they exist and were created." (Revelation 4:10-11)

This is probably the core of Christian practice of prostration, raising glory and honour to Almighty God and joining the hosts of angels who sing Holy, Holy, Holy to God.There are many pious interpretations which are all acceptable as far as they help build up the Church, the Body of Christ, and our personal spiritual life. There is a strong component of humility and self-abnegation in prostrating before God.

 In the spirit of worship, we prostrate only before God, the Triune mystery that is incarnate in Jesus Christ. We will not bow down before any other power and principalities of this world. In the sense of worship, we will not prostrate before any human being however exalted in power and glory, and however spiritual in appearance. God alone is worthy of our worship.

But there is also the sense of veneration and honour in prostration. We bow our heads before venerable people as a matter of courtesy; we touch the feet of our Gurus as a matter of custom and deep respect. It does not mean that we raise them to the status of God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to be humble. 

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11). St Paul follows it up and tells us:

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interest of others." (Philippians 2:3)The Lent is a time to practise humility like Jesus, the Word of God who " made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.. "

Touching the ground with the forehead and other limbs is also a reminder that 'we are dust and unto dust we shall return'. But in our Christian understanding this is not the final end. We shall rise from the dust and shall participate in the glory of the risen Christ. The Lenten pilgrimage leads us on to that glory.