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TOPIC: Divine Light - by Siraj Prapapati O'Neill   
 
From the Hindu Scriptures
Mundaka Upanishad 2.29 10

In the highest golden sheath is Brahma, without stain, without parts.
Brilliant is It, the light of lights  that which knowers of the Soul do know!
The sun shines not there, nor the moon and stars,
these lightnings shine not, much less this earthly fire!
After Him, as He shines, cloth everything shine.
This whole world is illuminated with His light.

From the Buddhist Scriptures
Shinran's Songs to Amida  Honen

Since the attainment of Buddhahood by Amitabha, Ten kalpas have now passed away; The light radiating from the Kharmakaya has no limits; It illumines the world's blindness and darkness.
The Light of His wisdom is measureless, all conditional forms without exception are enveloped in the dawning Light;Therefore take refuge in the True Light.

Amida's Light is like a wheel radiating without bounds.  Buddha declared that all things embraced by His Light are freed from all forms of belay and non being.  Take refuge in the One who is Universally Enlightened.  The clouds of Light have, like apace, no hindrances; all that have obstructlons are not impeded by them;  There is no one who is not embraced in His Soft Light;  Take refuge in His who is beyond thought.

Nothing can be compared to His Pure Light.  The result of encountering this Light destroys all karma bondage;  So take refuge in Him who la the Ultimate Haven.  However far His Light illumines, Love penetrates, the joy of faith is attained, so we are told. Take refuge in the Great One who gives comfort.

He is known as the Buddha of the Light of Prajna because He dispels the darkness of ignorance; the Buddhas and the beings of the Three Vehicles all join in praising Him. As there is a constant flow of Light, he is known as the Buddha of Constancy; because of perceiving the power of Light with uninterrupted faith, we are born into the Pure Land.

From the Zoroastrian Scriptures

O ye, who come to seek knowledge, now shall I proclaim to you the joyful message of the Wise Creator, The hymns unto Ahura, and the prayer offerings of the Good Mind, the Sublime Truth I see arising from these sacred flames, And the glorious vision of the Heavenly Lights attainable
through Truth sublime.

From the Hebrew Scriptures
Psalm 118:24 27

This la the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Save us, we beseech thee, give us success! Blessed be he who enters in the name of the Lord!  We bless you from the house of the Lord.  The Lord is God, and he has given us Light.

From the Christian Scriptures
John 1:1 13

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Cod, and the Word wee Cod. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him wee life, and the life was the light of men. The light shine in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There wee a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every ran was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through hire, yet the world knew him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

From the Islamic Scriptures
Koran: Light

God is the light of heaven and earth: the similitude of his light is as a niche in a wall, wherein a lamp is placed, and the lamp enclosed in a case of glass; the glass appears as it were a shining star. It is lighted with the oil of a blessed tree, an olive neither of the east, nor of the west:  It wanteth little but that the oil thereof would give light, although no fire touched it. This is light added unto light: Cod will direct unto his light whom he pleaseth. God propoundeth parables unto men; for God knoweth all things. In the houses which God hath permitted to be raised, and that his name be commemorated therein: men celebrate his praise in the same morning and evening, whom neither merchandising, nor selling diverteth from the remembering of God, and the observance of prayer, and the giving of alms; fearing the day whereon men's hearts and eyes shall be troubled; that God may recompense them according to the utmost merit of what they shall have wrought, and shall add unto them of his abundance a more excellent reward.

Fromthe Complete Sayings of Hazrat Inayat Khan
Gayan, Vadan, Aphorisms, Bowl of Saki

The same light which is fire on earth and the sun in the sky, is God in heaven.

Let my heart reflect Thy light, O Lord, as in a pool of water the sum la reflected.

My heart melts in Thy Light, Beloved, as snow in the sun.

The Light illuminates the path of those who are distant from it; those who are near are dazzled by it.

The light which comes from the soul, rises through the heart, and manifests outwardly in man's smile, is indeed the light from heaven. In that light many flowers grow and many fruits ripen.

There is a light within every soul; it only needs the clouds that overshadow it to be broken, for it to beam forth.


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