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THE SACRED READINGS
ARCHIVE
Subject:
Vessel of Earth and Spirit
Church of All - Pagosa
Springs, CO January 15th, 1995 10:00am
Attendance: 5 adults,
5 children Style: Formal Service - no music
Readings collected by:
Rev.Reverend Hamid Cecil Touchon Sermon delivered by: Rev. Hamid Cecil
Touchon
From the Hindu Tradition
Bagavat-Gita, Chapter 7:2-6,13,15-17
"One man among thousands strives
for success, and of the few who are successful, a rare one knows My reality.
My nature has eight aspects:
earth, water, fire, wind, space, mind, understanding, and individuality.
This is my lower nature;
Know my higher nature too; The life-force that sustains this universe.
Learn that this is the womb
of all creatures.
I am the source of all the
universe, just as I am its dissolution.
All this universe, deluded
by the qualities inherent in nature, fails to know that I am beyond them
and unchanging.
Arjuna, Four types of virtuous
men are devoted to me: The distressed, The man of wisdom, the supplicant,
and the sage.
Of these the disciplined
man of wisdom is set appart by his singular devotion.
I am dearer to the man of
wisdom and he is dearer to me.
They are all noble, but
I regard the man of wisdom to be my very Self; self-disiplined, he holds
me to be the highest Way.
From the Buddhist Scriptures
Life and Hymns of Milarepa (from,
A Buddhist Bible, pages 562-62)
I have understood this body
of mine to be the product of Ignorance... composed of flesh and blood,
lit up by the perceptive power of consciousness. To those fortunate ones
who long for Emancipation, it may be the great vessel by means of which
they procure Freedom and Endowments; but those unfortunate ones, who only
sin, it may be the guide to the lower and miserable states of existance.
This our life, is the boundry-mark whence one may take an upward or a downward
path. Our present life is a most precious time, wherein each of us must
deceide, in one way or another, for lasting good or lasting ill. I have
understood this to be the chief aim of our present term of life. Here,
again, by holding on to Thee, O powerful Lord and Savior of sentient beings
like myself, I hope to cross over this Ocean of Worldly Existance, the
source of all pains and griefs, so difficult to escape from.
From the Tradition of Tao
Tao te Ching, Chapter 7
Heaven lasts long, and earth
abides
What is the secret of their
durability?
Is it not because they do
not live for themselves
That they can last so long?
Therefore, the sage wants
to remain behind
But he finds himself at
the head of others;
Counts himself out
But finds himself safe and
secure.
Is it not because he is
selfless
That his Self is realized?
From the Jewish Tradition
Bible, Genisis 2:7
Yahweh God fashioned man of
dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of Life,
and thus man became a living being.
From the Christian Tradition
First letter to the Corinthians
of Paul Chapter 15; 44-50 and Matthew, chapter 16:24-25
If there is such a thing as
an animal body, there is also a spiritual body. It is in the sense that
the Scriptures say, 'The first man Adam became an animate being, whereas
the last Adam, has become a life-giving spirit. Observe, the spiritual
does not come first; the animal body comes first, and then the spiritual.
The first man was made, 'of the dust of the earth': the second man is from
heaven. The man of dust is the pattern of all men of dust, so shall we
wear the likeness of the heavenly man.
What I mean, my brothers,
is this: flesh and blood can never possess the Kingdom of heaven, and the
perishable cannot possess immortality.
Jesus said to his disciples,
'If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine he must leave self behind; he
must take up his cross and come with me. Whoever cares for his own safety
is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, he will find
his true self.
From the Tradition of Islam
Qur'an book 2, chap. 76, verse
3-4 and chap. 49, verse 15
We created man from a sperm-drop,
a mingling, trying him,
and we made him hearing,
seeing.
Surely we guided him upon
his way
whether he be thankful or
unthankful.
We indeed created man,
and we know what his soul
whispers within him
and We are nearer to him
than his jugular vein.
From the Gayan of Hazrat Inayat
Khan
Matter is a state of the spirit
The true Ego is born of the
ashes of the false ego.
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