Sacrifice, a thing of the past? Its significance in the life of contemporary spirituality

“You might know that, in order to receive, one has to first give.  If you do not give, you will not receive: this is a law of nature. No matter what, people must first give and only then they can receive: this is how the world is constructed”

Sri Sotidanandanan Guru Pfaski Ali Natva

Sacrifice is a word which takes different meanings according to the époque in which it is used. The Oxford dictionary suggests that it indicates:

v      the slaughtering of a human or animals

v      the offering of food

v      the giving up of something personal and valuable

v      the offering of prayers

v      the surrendering of something valued

as an ‘indication of humans’ surrender to God or a deity for the purpose of propitiation, homage’ or worship for the attainment of some higher advantage or  greater scope. It can also be used metaphorically to describe the good deeds done selflessly for the welfare of others or the temporary loss of something for a later greater gain.

Sacrifice in antiquity

In Judaism the word ‘Kobran’ means sacrifice and derives from the word ‘karov’, that is ‘to get closer to God’. The Bible, especially in the Leviticus, provides a greatly detailed explanation on how to bring sacrifices and, besides many suggestions, throughout the whole bible the prophets suggest that a sacrifice, in order to be meaningful and express the true human’s desire to serve God, should be accompanied by a deep sense of morality and goodness as well as by inner transformation.

In Christianity, Jesus Christ, comes on Earth as incarnation of God in order to deliver salvation to all beings as well as reunite them with God, the Father. As a human far superior to all others Christ, the son of God, has the power to sacrifice Himself in order to save all people from the death of their soul (original sin).  In Christian theology Jesus’ sacrifice is celebrated in the Christian Mass with the eating of bread and drinking of wine. This is not taught as symbolic, but as a real witnessing and participation in Jesus’ death:  “Come and eat, this is my body, which is given up for you for the redemption of sins. Come and drink, this is my blood, which is shed for the forgiveness of sins”. In this way Christ, the Lamb of God, replaces the sacrificial lamb of the ancient Korban Todah and with this, blood sacrifice.

“Indeed you give all donations to yourself, not to the Teacher. As a matter of fact, the Teacher is the one who donates His suffering for your education….” 

Sri Sotidanandana  Guru Pfaski Ali Natva

Another meaning of the word ‘sacrifice’ is that it represents either the act of renouncing to oneself for a greater goodness or of submitting one’s personal will to that of the Omniscient God.   It suffices to remember Abraham who, in obedience to God’s order, proves his faith by being prepared to offer in sacrifice his own dearest son, Isaac.  This act of pure trust in the will of the Divine and the ability to let go of a great attachment for a higher scope is, in this case, rewarded by God himself who, in the very moment Abraham lifts his weapon to kill his own son, sends an angel to stop his action.

The New Testament provides yet again another meaning of sacrifice. St. Paul says: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for Your sake…. " (Col 1:24), to indicate that even one’s own pain can be offered to God to be transformed into a condition of blissful dedication and acceptance of the Divine plan and of personal growth in a spiritual sense.

Classically, sacrifice is tightly classified in to two main categories:  bloody (animals) and un-bloody (grain and wine) and, despite the fact that bloody sacrifice is no longer in use in the western world, there are nonetheless quite a few residuals of it even in modern and contemporary times. For instance, the main Christian holidays are marked by meals in which, depending on geographical location, either a goat or a lamb or a pig are offered on the table to make the festivity ‘sacred’ and for  the renewal of  one’s vows of dedication to God.

 “In the Bible it is says: “Everything you give away is yours, everything you hide away is lost”. The person who hides things under the pillow looses everything. From this it follows that the more one gives the more one receives” 

Sri Sotidanandana Guru Pfaski Ali Natva

One of the possible etymological explanations of the word ‘sacrifice’ is that it derives from the Latin ‘sacrum’ and ‘facere’, literally ‘to render something sacred’. The act of sacrifice, thus, has the power of transforming something from profane to sacred, to elevate a human being to the level of God, to make him or her holy.

Contrary to what said in the Oxford dictionary, sacrifice is not always about giving up something valuable, but often also about surrendering something damaging to the person. The New Testament offers many example of sacrificial payment made both for the absolution of sins or for healing: to the woman doomed to be stoned to death by an angry crowd Jesus says: “Get up, and do not sin any more!” In this way, Jesus demands that the woman offers (gives up) her sins in order to gain her life. This, in the jargon of contemporary spirituality, could be thought of as a necessary step for the cleaning up one’s karma, for actively choosing to stop sinning, gaining thus for oneself freedom from the chains inherited from past lives, as well as from the danger of creating new negative karma. .

When the contextual aspects of ‘sacrifice’ are analysed in details, and modes of sacrifices are viewed from within different levels of existence, it becomes obvious that this is much more part of contemporary life than it would appear at first glance.  At a close analysis, and in a broad sense, the whole of the human world could be observed from three different angles: natural, social and spiritual. It can be also observed that at each level both that which is scarified and the motivations for it vary.

By and large, the natural level - that is the level of the physicality, of biological families, of reproduction and continuation of the species - involves a bodily sacrifice for the reward of multiplication of the species, stability and continuity whereas the social level -  that is the level of social success linked with production, career and financial gains, in which large corporative families having as epicentre common economic interest emerge - involves the sacrifice of time, energy and money  as well as of individuality for the sake of more and more gain.  Next to them exists also the spiritual level involving different types of sacrifices depending on the degree of commitment and aspirations of each individual. Sacrifice here can be divided into two sub parts: the lowest and easiest involving the sacrifice of money and the highest and more difficult, involving the sacrifice of habits, negative emotions and thoughts, for the reward of attaining individuality, originality, freedom from internal chains and, ultimately, happiness. 

“As far as you are concerned, this is more than a simple request as, in essence, you must give something good as you take something good too, something spiritually good as well as healing”  Sri Sotidanandana  Guru Pfaski Ali Natva

A popular meaning of sacrifice - when this word is used outside the religious or spiritual context – and it is applied to the level of mere physical survival, can be reduced to mean simply ‘victim’. Think of parents blackmailing their children by reminding them of ‘all the sacrifices they did for them’ and you have the perfect scenery. In this sense sacrifice, rather than being a libratory act that renders a human being more worthy of being elevated to the realm of the Divine, becomes a tool that enslaves those for whom it has been done in the first place. Children are, thus, accused of committing a ‘sin of ingratitude’ when they contrast the will of such parents and, are often forced into accepting to lead their life in the fashion the parents want, rather than according to their own inner call. Possibly because of this and the loss of the true and deepest meaning of sacrifice, these days, even spiritually minded people have much resistance in giving up both money and habits for the sake of propitiating God and making a serious commitment to personal transformation.  In this way, without a clear desire to exchange and give in order to receive, even so called spiritual people fall into the category of ‘grabbers’, that is, end up wanting much, without being prepared, on the other hand, to give anything in exchange.

With Easter approaching and lent already on its way, what are we going to sacrifice of ourselves to be ready to participate in Christ’s death and resurrection, in the mystery of the death of our personality and our resurrection as souls?

There is a beautiful Raja Yoga ritual called in Sanskit ‘Darme Lakshana’, translated in English as ‘From birth to death’. This, besides making our body more elastic and pliable, and strengthening all our internal organs, also takes us through the various stages of our evolution of consciousness as humans living on this Earth. By taking us through successive stages of awareness, as they develop from birth to death, it makes us reflect on who we are, why we live and what the meaning of our life on this planet is.

As we gradually go through earthy stages of consciousness like, for instance, with the poses ‘the embryo’, ‘the lover’ and ‘the master of the household’, all roles very well known to all of us, we are taken a step further to contemplate higher stages of consciousness as the renunciation of worldly values, obedience to the Higher guide (the spiritual Teacher), dedication to the diffusion of knowledge to others, dissolution of the ‘ego’ as well the overcoming of the illusion of identification with our physical existence.

The last asana of this Yoga ritual, in facts, marks the passage from an Earthly being endowed with limited consciousness to a highly and evolved spiritual being able to attain enlightenment.

Could the preparation for the coming Easter be the time when we make a firm decision to give up a life of ignorance and make a decisive shift towards enlightenment?

If you are amongst those who enthusiastically decide to follow this path, we strongly recommend that during this period you perform this ritual sincerely and with great respect for your spiritual individuality on a daily bases.

The time has come for you to rediscover the beauty of living every act of your life for God, of being willing to offer everything you own to Him - as Abraham did by being ready to giving his own son Him - knowing and trusting that every time you are able to renounce earthly goods and habits in order to refine your essence, you are one step closer to becoming the person you were meant to be, to fulfil your mission on Earth and to rediscover your true Divine essence.