Christ Lives! — An Oratorio

Christ Lives is a contemporary Oratorio that vividly brings to life the deep meaning of Christ's life. Composed after Swami Kriyananda visited the Holy Land in 1983, Christ Lives! brilliantly captures the profoundly inspiring and uplifting experience of Christ’s presence there.

Swami Kriyananda: “I wrote this Oratorio after a visit to Israel, which we in the West call the Holy Land. I meditated. It’s very different Oratorio from any other you might find. I meditated in the various scared places. I felt the presence of Christ there, and I prayed to Him and He gave me these melodies. You can take that as you will, but to me it’s a reality. The melodies express the vibration of His presence which I felt there. It was a very holy visit for me. I hope you will feel His presence.”

As music alone can do, the Oratorio reaches the soul with both the message and spirit of Christ's life, and his call to all seekers to awaken the Divine within.

Recorded March 29th 2024 at the Temple of Light at Ananda Village

🔹 To access PDF's of lyrics and/or sheet music click here.

“Let us, like the prophet Jeremiah, arise and go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. Like pilgrims, let us visit in spirit the land of the prophets, of Jesus Christ, and Mary, and the apostles, and let us feel their spirit in that land, a land made holy not only by what transpired there, but because their blessings infuse the very soil.

For behind the Holy Bible -- by most men read as dusty history -- lives a radiant, singing, ever-fresh Reality! In imagination, let us visit those holy shrines; in desert winds hear angel melodies; in sacred stones, see windows to God's light. Let us walk where Jesus walked, pray where he prayed, receive him inwardly, as the apostles did -- that we, like them, may be given "the power to become the sons of God."

And, then, as we return from our visit to the Holy Land let us do so with the resolution to see life itself as a pilgrimage. For this green and fragrant earth is the Lord's, and all its welcoming, green fields, its smiling flowers, praise-singing, soaring mountains, timeless deserts, and deep, solemn seas comprise also, in very truth, a holy land. May our visit make us sensitive to the deep truth that God is everywhere. For Christ lives in the Holy Land, but Christ lives also in you.”

—Swami Kriyananda