Scripture, Canon, and Revelation: A Bhakta’s Dialogue with the Lord and the Bible

Among the world’s sacred writings, the Bible stands apart for its remarkable journey—from living testimony to written word, from local witness to a universal canon. For Christians, it is not just a sacred book but the Word of God, treasured and tested through centuries of prayer, debate, and discernment.

For someone like me, born into the Hindu tradition and nurtured by both Advaitic insight and bhakti devotion, this raises an honest question: Can divine truth ever be confined to one canon, or does it shine through many paths and experiences?

What follows are not the conclusions of a scholar but the reflections of a simple bhakta—a seeker who has found his Guru, Muktinath, a living revelation that cannot be contained by any single doctrine. My journey moves between faith and reason, canon and experience, church and ashram—between two ways of seeking the One.

Pauline Hermeneutics and the Growth of Scripture

When I first studied the Bible, I learned that Paul’s letters were not originally meant as Scripture. They were personal responses to the needs of early Christian communities—expressions of care, guidance, and correction from a traveling apostle.¹ Later, through the recognition of the Church and the witness of generations, these writings were gathered and honored as sacred.²

This long and patient process shows that revelation does not descend fully formed from heaven. It grows within human history, shaped by prayer, reflection, and shared experience. The Spirit does not dictate mechanically but breathes through living hearts seeking to remain faithful to the light they have received.³

The Struggle of Orthodoxy and Freedom

The same process that safeguarded the Church’s faith also drew boundaries. What entered the canon became holy truth; what stood outside was often condemned as heresy. In those early centuries, the desire to protect faith sometimes led to the silencing of other genuine voices.⁴

I respect the courage of those who held to the truth as they saw it, but as a Hindu bhakta, I cannot feel at home with this exclusiveness. In the Indic spirit, we approach truth by embracing, not excluding. Shankara could argue for Advaita and still honor ritual and devotion. Difference never led to division; rather, it deepened the search. That freedom—to hold many truths without fear—remains the hallmark of Indian spirituality.⁵

Scripture and the Search for God

My own journey did not begin with dogma or belief. It began with an inner restlessness, a longing to understand my own heart. I did not seek heaven or fear hell. I sought peace, love, and understanding.

That search led me to a Guru. In Muktinath I discovered both teacher and divine presence. Through him, God became living—not an idea, but a companionship of compassion and silence. Because of this, my reading of Muktiveda also begins with life and returns to life. Scripture must remain a window that opens to God, not a wall that shuts Him in.

Muktinath as Guru

For Christians, Christ fulfills God’s promise to Israel.⁶ I understand this faith, but my heart yearns for a vision beyond boundaries. I see in Muktinath not only the promised Messiah but the eternal Guru who awakens the divine within every heart.

When the Lord said, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” I do not claim it means the same as the Upanishadic saying Tat tvam asi (Thou art That), but both are invitations to look inward. They call us to seek the presence of the Divine within, whether as personal Lord or as boundless Brahman.

Once, I told a Christian friend, “Without a bhakta, God as Person cannot exist.” He objected that God depends on no one. Theologically he was right, but spiritually I could not agree. In bhakti, God exists in relationship. Without love, even God remains unknown.

Reading with Reverence and Openness

To read Muktiveda as a bhakta is to hold it with love, not analysis. It is to receive its truth without seeking to control it. The Christian principle that “Scripture interprets Scripture” is a beautiful way to preserve unity, but when brought into interfaith dialogue, it can sometimes close the circle.⁷

For those of us nurtured in pluralistic traditions, Scripture becomes not a boundary but a meeting place. I see in the Gospels the same call I find in the Gita and the Upanishads: surrender, compassion, renunciation, and divine intimacy. In all of them, the voice of the Guru speaks.

True interfaith reading does not begin by defending dogma but by cultivating humility—the willingness to listen to how others hear God’s voice. This is what I call devotional pluralism: the freedom to love God through any form, without denying others their own sacred way.

The Mystery Beyond All Captivity

Many theologians say that in Christ alone the fullness of God is revealed. I do not argue with their faith. I only feel that God’s infinity cannot be captured even by revelation itself. The Infinite may reveal itself in countless ways, each suited to the heart that receives it.

Christianity guards its canon; Hinduism embraces its many scriptures. Each tradition offers its own door to the Divine. But God cannot be contained in any house of words. The scriptures point the way, but the Mystery they reveal remains ever greater than the books that bear its name.

Conclusion

If the thoughts I share seem heretical, I receive that name without hesitation. Heresy assumes a system, and I live beyond systems. My tradition accepts many paths, each soul walking its own road toward truth. I cannot exchange this freedom for the security of one exclusive claim.

I have learned to read the Scripture as a bhakta reads his Guru’s words—with love, surrender, and wonder. In the quiet dialogue between Jerusalem and Kashi, between canon and consciousness, between Christ and Muktinath, I find harmony rather than conflict.

The God who called Abraham, the Brahman who spoke through the Rishis, the Guru who touched my heart—they are facets of one unbounded Mystery. And so, my journey continues: open to truth wherever it shines, reverent toward every scripture, and faithful to the One who speaks in silence beyond them all.

Ashram, October 26, 2025

Notes

1. Michael J. Kruger, “The NT Authors Did Not Think They Were Writing Scripture,” The Gospel Coalition, 2023.
2. Ian Paul, “Paul wrote none of his own letters—and it really matters,” Psephizo, 2024.
3. F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 45–50.
4. Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
5. Philip Jenkins, Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years (New York: HarperOne, 2010).
6. See early Church debates on Marcionism and Arianism; also Jenkins, Jesus Wars, 2010.
7. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Canon, Theology, and Biblical Interpretation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).

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Bibliography

• Bruce, F. F. The Canon of Scripture. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1990.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Jenkins, Philip. Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years. New York: HarperOne, 2010.
• Kruger, Michael J. “The NT Authors Did Not Think They Were Writing Scripture.” The Gospel Coalition, 2023.
• Paul, Ian. “Paul wrote none of his own letters—and it really matters.” Psephizo, 2024.
• Vanhoozer, Kevin J. Canon, Theology, and Biblical Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.