I wish to express my deep appreciation to all of you for returning to Jiba from various parts of the world to attend today’s Autumn Grand Service. I am very pleased that we have been able to duly perform the Service. May I take this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you.
A key aspect of the significance of observing the Autumn Grand Service is to return our thoughts to the day of origin of the Teaching. God the Parent created the world and human beings out of the desire to see us lead the Joyous Life and share in that joy. Over a long span of time since then, God the Parent has nurtured and guided us with unchanging parental love. Moreover, upon the arrival of the promised time in October 1838, God the Parent became openly revealed by taking Oyasama, who had the causality of the soul of the mother in creation, as the Shrine and began the path of single-hearted salvation at the Residence of Origin, where human beings were first conceived.
The first words declared by God the Parent state, “I have descended here to save all humankind” (The Life of Oyasama, Foundress of Tenrikyo). Because we human beings were unaware of the intention of the Parent of Origin, we used our minds and took actions in ways that contradicted the Joyous Life over and over again. As a result, we created anxiety and worry, experienced suffering, and even fought one another. God the Parent wished to save us from these problems and thereby guide us to the Joyous Life, which reflects the original state of human beings. It is for such a purpose that Oyasama taught us the Service. In the Service, ten Service performers encircle the Jiba-Kanrodai and symbolize by hand-gestures the principles of God the Parent’s workings by which the world and humankind were created, thereby bringing forth the original workings in the present. The Service is the means by which we call forth God the Parent’s blessings of universal salvation, whereby the world will be reconstructed as the world of the Joyous Life. Thus, the Service is the fundamental means for single-hearted salvation.
Regarding the grand services conducted in January and October, a Divine Direction says:
[C]oncerning the twenty-sixth, the principle of the founding and that of the ending are one in truth.
Osashizu, February 29, 1896
The date October 26, which is the day of origin of the Teaching, marks the starting point of the path of single-hearted salvation and of the Divine Model—the path that Oyasama paved in order to save all human beings throughout the world. The day of origin of the Spring Grand Service, on the other hand, marks the day when Oyasama, after having made all the arrangements for single-hearted salvation including the Service, withdrew from physical life and stepped out into the world to level the ground. The second Shinbashira taught us on various occasions that these two events took place precisely because of the parental love that desires to save all people throughout the world and thereby guide them toward the Joyous Life. These two are one in truth in terms of the Parent’s love for us children, he said.
God the Parent drew forth the instruments and created human beings with the intention of having them lead the Joyous Life. Oyasama became the Shrine of Tsukihi due to the causality of Her soul and began to teach the path that leads to the Joyous Life. Creating a world so intended by God the Parent requires people who will spread God the Parent’s intention throughout the world by serving as Oyasama’s instruments. These are the roles that should be fulfilled by Yoboku, that is, people who have received the truth of the Sazuke.
Yoboku refers to people who work toward the Joyous Life as the instruments of Oyasama. When we completely melt into the mind of Oyasama—just as the instruments melted into the mind of God the Parent at the time of human creation—and thereby serve in our respective roles and positions in unity of mind, we can take steady steps forward toward the Joyous Life for all people throughout the world.
Since the time of God the Parent’s original revelation, Oyasama has left for us various exemplary models to follow. But due to Her children’s slow progress in spiritual growth, Oyasama shortened Her natural term of life by twenty-five years out of Her hastening. This became the origin of observing an anniversary of Oyasama.
An anniversary of Oyasama represents a knot, or a crucial juncture, where we children are urged by parental love to be decisive. As we prepare to observe the upcoming anniversary, we would do well to—just as our predecessors strove to—respond to the intention of the Parent, who has been nurturing and guiding us through this knot with boundless parental love. Such is the significance of observing an anniversary of Oyasama.
During the pre-anniversary period, all of us followers of the path have been implementing what we have been taught and striving to make progress in spiritual growth in unity of mind with our sights set on the Divine Model so as to bring joy and peace of mind to Oyasama. Now, there are only three months left before the anniversary. I trust that all of you are now working tirelessly in order to achieve the goals you set for the “three years, one thousand days” period. The more efforts you make, the more blessings will be shown to you. Moreover, the efforts you are making now will be the seeds for your future journey and will therefore never be wasted.
As I said last year on the occasion of the Autumn Grand Service, I would like to ask you all to continue to earnestly engage in your activities during the remaining months of the pre-anniversary period in the hope that you will be able to observe the anniversary with joy and satisfaction, knowing that you have exerted your utmost. With this request, I now conclude my short remarks. Thank you very much for your kind attention.