To insist they are literally true or to deny them because they are not is a failure of intelligence, the application of a wrong standard. To understand life we must return to the sacred vision such as we find in the Vedas that makes the inner dimension of life rule over the outer, but which gives each its appropriate place.  

The way to enter into sacred time is through participation in the ritual. The ritual occurs according to the sacred calendar. It celebrates the life of the deity or the avatar. Through it we leave our petty personal time wherein we are caught in the affairs of the outer world and participate inwardly in the life of the universe. The way to enter into sacred space is to enter into a temple or other sacred place. This is to leave the world of territory and possession and enter the domain of the infinite. 

Hence scriptures always seek to incarnate themselves in temples and religious festivals. These are the scripture or source teaching in manifestation in the outer world. In the world of the mind they manifest through study, chanting and meditation. This living application is their real power and existence which we should maintain and which we must maintain to keep our lives in harmony with the Divine.

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