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THE SACRED READINGS ARCHIVE


Subject: Scriptures Read at Weddings 
Tansen-Muni, Camarillo, CA

Great Mother: (From "Song of Songs" as printed in Women in Praise of the Sacred)

Come my beloved, let us go out into the fields and sleep all night among the flowering henna. Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossoms have opened and the pomegranate is in flower. There I will give you my love. The air is filled with the scent of mandrakes and at our doors rich gifts of every kind, new and old, my love, I have hidden away for you.

(Light of the divine Love)
 

Hindu: (Yogananda)

"Breathe in me the way to love you, that I may learn to faultlessly love You. 
Pour me the wisdom-wine, by which I become intoxicated with You.
Whisper in my ears of silence; the way to be with You always.
Speak to my wandering senses and lead them back to your sanctuary within.
Call the marauding mind and counsel it how to retrace its steps to your home.
With your silent eyes, just look at me, and I will know where to find You.
For in the mirroring light of my love, You are revealed.
Love is the song of the soul, singing to God."

 (Light of divine Wisdom)

Hindu: (From the "Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad")

It is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear - 
but for the love of the soul in the husband that a husband is dear.
It is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear - 
but for the love of the soul in the wife that a wife is dear.
It is not for the love of children that children are dear - 
but for the love of the soul in children that children are dear.

(Light of divine Wisdom)
 
 

Buddhist: (From "The Gospel of Buddha" by Paul Carus)

"The greatest happiness which a mortal man and woman can imagine is the bond of marriage that ties together two loving hearts. But there is a greater happiness still: it is the embrace of truth. Death will separate husband and wife, but death will never affect one who has espoused the truth."

"Therefore be married unto the truth and live with the truth in holy wedlock. The husband who loves his wife and desires for a union that shall be everlasting must be faithful to her so as to be like truth itself, and she will rely upon him and revere him and minister unto him. And the wife who loves her husband and desires a union that shall be everlasting must be faithful to him so as to be like truth itself, and he will place his trust in her, he will provide for her. Verily, I say unto you, their children will become like unto their parents and will bear witness to their happiness." 

 (Light of divine Compassion)
 
 

Zoroastrian: (From "The Divine Songs of Zarathushtra" by D. J. Irani)

These words do I address to you, maidens marrying,
These counsels do I give to you, bridegrooms;
Pay heed to my words and lay them to heart:
Learn from the righteous the precepts of the Good Religion;
Let both strive to lead the life of the Good Mind;
With upright hearts love and cherish each other;
Then surely a happy home-life shall be yours!

 (Light of divine Purity)
 
 

Native Peoples of the World: (Native American Wedding Song from Earth Prayers)

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other.
You are two persons, but there is only one life before you.
Go now to your home and enter into the days of your life together.
And may they be good and long upon the earth.

(Light of divine Dignity)
 
 

Jewish: (From the "Song of Songs: 2:10")

"My beloved spoke, and said unto me: 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; 
The time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 
The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff,
Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; 
For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.'

(Light of divine Covenent)
 
 

Christian: ("1 Corinthians 13:4-13")

"Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends; as for prophecy, it will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

 (Light of divine Self-sacrifice)
 
 

Islam: (From the "Koran: Chapter, The Women")

O ye mankind! 
Reverence your Lord 
Who made you from a single being, 
and from that being He made its mate, 
And from the twain He caused to spread 
Many men and many women;
And reverence God 
By Whom you question one another 
And (pay respect to) the ties of relationship. 
Surely, God watches over you."

 
(Light of divine Unity)
 
 

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan: ("Gayan, Vadan, Nirtan")

Is LOVE pleasure, is love merriment? No, love is longing constantly; 
love is persevering unwearedly; love is hoping patiently; love is willing surrender; 
love is regarding constantly the pleasure and displeasure of the beloved, 
for love is resignation to the will of the posessor of one's heart; 
it is love that teaches man: Thou, not I.  Complete Sayings #669 

Love that ends, is the shadow of love; true love is without beginning or end.
In the union of two loving hearts is the Unity of God. Complete Sayings #670

 
(Light of divine Truth)