Many Names

I say my prayers on beads of love, strung together with everlasting threads of devotion.
I hold to no single Name - God, Spirit, Brahma, Allah, Heavenly Father, Divine Mother - for All are Thine.

I invoke Thee sometimes as Christ, Krishna, Shankaracharya, Mohammed, Buddha, Moses and other prophets; for I know Thou hast delighted and wilt ever delight, in revealing Thyself in different forms.

In Thy cosmic play on the stage of the centuries, in Thy myriad appearances, Thou didst take many Names, but Thou hast only one Nature: Perennial Joy.

                                     ___________________________________

The diverse religions are branches of Thy one immeasurable tree of truth.  May we enjoy the luscious fruits of soul realisation that hang from the boughs of scriptures of every clime and time.

Teach us to chant in harmony the countless expressions of our supreme devotion.  In Thy temple of earth, in a chorus of many-accented voices, we are singing only of Thee.

O Divine Mother, lift us on Thy lap of universal love.   Break Thy vow of silence and sing us the heart-melting melody of human brotherhood.

                                      ___________________________________

O Spirit, I worship Thee in all shrines.  Into the temple of peace come Thou, O Lord of Joy!  Enter my shrine of meditation, O Bliss God, Sanctify me with Thy presence.

Eternal Allah, hover over the lone minaret of my holy aspiration.  The mosque of my mind exudes a frankincense of stillness.

On the alter of my inner vihara I place flowers of desirelessness.  Their chaste beauty is Thine, O Spirit!

In a tabernacle not made with hands, I bow before the sacred ark and vow to keep Thy commandments.

Heavenly Father, in an invisible church built of devotion granite, receive Thou my humble heart offerings, daily renewed by prayer.

Attributed to Paramahamsa Yogananda (1893 - 1952) - founder of the Self-Realisation Fellowship.

Love

I looked for Love, and there it was - in the innocent eyes of a child,
I looked again and there it was - in a creature shy and wild.
Again I looked, and lo! I saw a fluffy cloud float by
Rosy-rimmed with sunset rays in a beautiful azure sky.
The sparkling sea reflected Love - I thought my heart would burst
As Love began to flow within and quenched my aching thirst;
For I had sought this Love so long, so hard, in many a diverse way
And sat and thought, walked and talked, and often knelt to pray;
Yet when the floodgates opened up and the river burst its dam
I saw that Love is everywhere - and in everything - for Man.
I had looked outside without success and tried to look within,
As each day passed I must confess my patience wore quite thin,
Until one day I ceased to strive, and began to live each day -
Each day brought forth a glowing gem which helped to light the way
To the secret sought by Man - my heart had found the key -
'Tis Love - so simple - yet 'tis all - to know Eternity.
                                                   
                                                                             by Sue Coad

The Angel of Love

Love is stronger

than the currents of deep waters.

Love is stronger than death.

Beloved, let us love one another:

For love is of the Heavenly Father:

And every one that loveth is born

Of the Heavenly Father and the Earthly Mother,

And knoweth the Angels.

Ye shall love one another,

As the Heavenly Father hath loved you.

For the Heavenly Father is love:

And he that dwelleth in love 

Dwelleth in the Heavenly Father,

And the Heavenly Father in him.

Let him that love him be as the sun

When he goeth forth in his might.

Brothers, be ye all of one mind,

Having endless love and compassion one for another.

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge

Against the children of thy people,

But thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

If a man say,

I love the Heavenly father, but hate my brother,

He is a liar:

For he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen,

How can he love the heavenly Father

Whom he hath not seen?

He who loveth the Heavenly Father

Loveth also his brother.

Love ye also the stranger:

For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

It is said by the people,

Better a dinner of herbs where love is,

Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

Loving words are as an honeycomb,

Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters,

And the wellspring of love as a flowing brook.

What doth the Law require of thee,

But to do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with the Angels.

By this do we know that the Angel of Love

Doth dwell in us,

When we love the Heavenly Father,

And keep his Law.

O Gracious Love!

O Creator of Love!

Reveal the best words

Through thy divine mind living within us.

Extract from 'The Gospel of the Essenes', Book Three.  As translated by E B Szekly.

Camphill Prayers - 1

Evening Prayer

I go into the realm of the invisible,
The weight of my earthly body,
The surging forces of my earthly life
Release their hold.

In the world into which I now enter
The watchful care of the Angels,
The loving kindness of the Archangels,
The creative power of the Spirits of the Ages
Work upon the souls of men

My heart bears in it many thoughts of conflict
But also the thought of Christ.
May this grow in the world of sleep
Into full being
That I may receive through powers of light
His Living Peace.
                                  Amen

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This is just one of many Camphill prayers that are in my little green book from my time living at both Delrow House in Hertfordshire and Newton Dee Village near Aberdeen.
I posted one prayer on the 1st. of May 2013.  I still have approximately fourteen short graces and blessings which I intend to post on this site in the next few weeks.  

Remember This

'Tis true that thoughts are living things,

And speed like light, on angel's wings,

To places far apart.

So when it seems we're far away

From those we love. 

When all the day is dull

And we are sad,

    Remember this.....

Our thoughts are real,

And each the other's soul may feel,

And make the other glad.

Thus, if by death, the ones we love

Should pass to higher realms above

And from this earth depart,

Never forget that life goes on,

An endless stream.

And if at times we grieve

Or tend to sigh,

   Remember this.....

The clouds will go,

The sun is always there to show

That joy is ever nigh.

As day by day we tread our ways,

Still brighter, brighter grow the days

Which for us yet remain.

For we have angel friends at hand

To guide and bless.

They too,like us, this life

On earth have trod.

   Remember this.....

All things are planned,

And one day we shall understand

That love alone is God                  

                                                 by William Kingsley

Life and the Reality of Life

Man is like the foam of the sea, that floats upon the surface of the water.  When the wind blows, it vanishes, as if it had never been.  Thus are our lives blown away by Death.......
The Reality of Life is Life itself, whose beginning is not in the womb, and whose ending is not in the grave.
For the years that pass are naught but a moment in eternal life; and the world of matter and all in it is but a dream compared to the awakening which we call the terror of Death.
The ether carries every sound of laughter, every sigh that comes from our hearts, and preserves their echo, which responds to every kiss whose source is joy.
The angels keep count of every tear shed by Sorrow; and they bring to the ears of the spirits hovering in the heavens of the Infinite each song of Joy wrought from our affections.
There, in the world to come, we shall see and feel all the vibrations of our feelings and the motions of our hearts.  We shall understand the meaning of the divinity within us, whom we contemn because we are prompted by Despair.
That deed which in our guilt we today call weakness, will appear tomorrow as an essential link in the complete chain of Man.
The cruel tasks for which we received no reward will live with us, and show forth in splendour, and declare our glory; and the hardships we have sustained shall be as a wreath of laurel on our honoured heads.

                           Extract from 'The Voice of the Master' by Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

The Knowledge Within

All true knowledge comes only from within ourselves, in silent communication with your own soul.

Doctrines and civilisation have robbed us of the silence, have robbed us of the knowledge that we know all within ourselves.

We have been led to believe that we must be taught by others, and our own Spiritual Selves have become submerged.

The acorn, carried hundreds of miles from it's mother-tree knows without instruction how to become a perfect oak.  The fish of the sea and rivers lay their spawn and swim away.  The same with the frog.  The serpent lays it's eggs in the sand, and goes on it's journey; and yet within the acorn, and the spawn, and the eggs is all the knowledge necessary for the young to become as perfect as their parents.

Young swallows can find their way to their winter quarters hundreds of miles away, whilst parent birds are still busy with the second brood.

We need so much to come back to the knowledge that within ourselves lies all truth.  To remember that we need to seek no advice, no teaching but from within.

The Christ taught us that the lilies of the field, though they neither toiled nor spun, were more perfectly arrayed than Solomon in all his glory.

And the Lord Buddha taught us that we were well on the path to our self realisation once we became rid of priests and the books.

      From the 'Philosophical Writings' of Dr.Edward Bach (1896-1936) - The item above was dated 
      May 21.1936.

St.Brigid of Kildare

Prayer to St. Brigid

Brigid.  You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,
and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid, you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into a greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen.


Saint Brigid of Kildare (451 - 525) also known as Brigit of Ireland, variously spelled as Bridget, Brid and Bride.  Sometimes known as Mary of the Gael.

                                                     
                                                                  St. Brigid's cross.

For instructions on how to make a St.Brigid's cross go to:-
                           http:// fisheaters.com/stbrigidscross.html