Mountains: Source of Divine Inspiration

Jun 9, 2004, 12.00am IST
JANINA GOMES.

Men pass, mountains remain. Little wonder, why mountains are a sign of solidity and stability. They tower over us, touching the sky, sometimes through clouds ... they convey a sense of mystery.


In fact, philosophers say that the mountain is the point where heaven and earth meet. Mountains, therefore, are considered holy in many faiths . They are believed to be the abode of gods , even a place where one can find salvation.

Christian literature reveals the symbolic role of mountains. In the Old Testament, God was depicted as God of the mountains. But God was also a God of the valleys.


The mountains in the Bible are not divinised. The Psalms say: "Before the mountains were born, you always were, O God". It was God as creator who weighed the mountains with a balance and the hills with a scale.

Mountains also provided the backdrop to many key events in the unfolding story of the Bible. From the days of the flood to the days of the prophets, the mountains continued to be important points of spiritual contact or revelation.

In the story of the Great Flood, only Noah, his family and the animals in his boat were saved. When the rain stopped and the water outlets beneath the earth and the floodgates of the sky were closed, after a deluge that lasted 150 days, the Noah's boat came to rest on a mountain in the Ararat range.

It was from that mountainous perch that Noah sent out a dove to find out whether the floods had fully abated and if he could emerge from the ark to begin life anew.

It was also on Sinai — the holy mountain where Moses was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law Jethro — that Moses received his call from God in the burning bush to deliver his people from the cruelty of their Egyptian masters. Sinai was also the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

In the book of Psalms there are many canticles of the mountains. In the 121st Psalm, which looks upon God as our protector, the psalmist says: "I look to the mountains; where will my help come from? My help will come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth".

Psalm 125 says: "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which can never be shaken, never be moved. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people now and for ever".

In the New Testament, too, we see that mountains play a significant symbolic role. Jesus often went away to the hills to pray and be alone. He delivered the famous Sermon on the Mount from here.

Mountains were also places for testing spiritual strength. One of the temptations of Jesus reported in the Bible is that the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness, saying: "All this I will give you if you kneel down and worship me".

When Jesus showed three of his disciples, Peter, James and John his divine form, they were alone with him on a high mountain and as they looked on a change came over Jesus and his face shone like the Sun and his clothes became dazzling white.

Mountains have provided refuge to truth-seekers, hermits, and even to ordinary men. With their beauty, mystery and transcendence, they can help lift our lives above the grime and dirt associated with the plains below.

Till today to conquer a mountain is seen as a human and spiritual feat. When we are saddened by the transient nature of our earthly existence mountains through their sheer lasting quality can challenge us to look beyond ourselves and to hope for unending life.