I am deeply
thankful for the love from all of you.
I am writing
this manuscript on Victoria Day. This year we planned a series of six violin concerts
at the SNI Toronto Centre, two concerts this spring, two concerts in the fall
and two more concerts next year. On May 12th, the first violin
concert was held and was performed by Ms. Etsuko Kimura, violinist of the
Toronto Symphony. Also, this month, the 39th anniversary of the SNI Vancouver
Centre will be held on May 26th. On this occasion, Youth Class students will perform some
music instruments such as piano and those who have been
participating in the "Music and Prayer meeting (Ongaku to Inorinokai)"
on Wednesday will sing some songs. On June 2nd, the 2nd
Violin Concert will be held at Toronto Centre.
Through these concerts,
our members will have a chance to be enveloped in a prayerful atmosphere. This is a great opportunity for I strongly believe
that "music and prayer" have a close relation to one another.
When
the first concert was held in Toronto
Thank you very much for allowing me to perform Bach in such a wonderful
space. In Seicho-No-Ie, you might not call yourselves a “church”, however, Bach
was a composer who continuously wrote music for God. It is said that in the end
of his works, he wrote “Glory to God Alone.” Much music comes from prayer.
Before music scores were created, man used to use music for prayer.
Concerts performed in large
concert halls are wonderful, but I like to perform in small churches very much.
Just being in that space, I feel keenly grateful to be able to perform music. I
am not at all a religious teacher, but incidentally when I perform music I have
a mythical sense of being seized in different space and world. I play the music in order to share the feeling
of happiness with the listeners. I believe that music heals minds of people in
the same way as prayer heals the mind of people.
Please share the wonderful space and prayer with as many people as
possible. In addition, I hope that there is an opportunity for me to perform
music again there. Thank you for everything.
I am very
grateful for her to have played the violin with such a pure feeling. Because she performed with such an earnest
feeling, there were many of us who were naturally attracted by her atmosphere
resulting in nearly 90 participants present that day.
Rev. Masaharu
Taniguchi wrote about the importance of being dedicated to your work as done by
Ms. Kimura in “For Young People,” ‘Chapter 10: A Life of Thanks for everything’
as follows:
Whether our
field of expression should be music, literature, physical beauty, or scientific
invention, we shall witness the presence of eternal life when the product is
truly great.
If
we wish to express ourselves perfectly, we must not forget to be grateful.
Since our self-expression is really a self-expression of God’s life, all
expressions come from God. We must then not forget to offer thanks to God.
Since the activities of our daily lives, from the time we get up to the time we
go to sleep, are all carried out by the life force that flows from God, we must
not forget to thank God for everything, even for the smallest effort that we
allowed to make. “Give, and it shall be given unto you” is the golden rule for
receiving infinite supply, and this does not apply only with respect to
physical wealth. If we make it a point to give thanks to God for everything in
our daily lives, for each and everything as it takes shape, our abilities will
definitely become even more abundant and we shall be able to carry our next
plan to completion in an even greater manner.
(“For Young People”, pp. 72-73)
If we deepen our awareness that we are a child of God, and express ourselves
with the feeling of gratitude, we truly tune ourselves with God's mind, and our
prayer is answered.
Then what does it mean ‘to give thanks to God’ in the above excerpt?
It is written in the "Divine message of the grand harmony" as
follows:
Those who are grateful to God but cannot be grateful to their
parents are against the Divine Will. To be reconciled with the whole universe
means to be grateful to everything in the universe.
And this Divine Message ends as follows:
Since I am Love, I shall appear when you have become reconciled with
the whole universe.
Therefore, ‘to be grateful to God’ means ‘to be grateful and
reconciled with the whole universe’. Moreover, Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi emphasizes
in the Truth of Life vol.7 that if you are working, you have to give your life
fully to the object of your work or love, as follows:
If you are working, you have to give your life entirely to your
work. When you love, you have to give
your life fully to the object of your love. Your effort must be undistracted.
You must not look this way and that. Concentrate. Gather the energy that has
been scattered on various fronts in one place and become one with your
objective. If necessary, take the initiative to burn your bridge behind you.
(“Truth of Life” Vol.7 p. 71)
If we work with such an earnest feeling as demonstrated by Ms.
Kimura, and express our gratitude concretely towards our parents and the whole
universe, we will truly be able to bring heaven on earth.
Thank you very
much.
May 20th,
2013.
Yoshiharu Taka
Chief of Toronto
Resident
Ordained Minister in Canada
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