Wedding Ceremony
The Ananda Wedding ceremony and vows were written by Swami Kriyananda, direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi.
(Expressed first by the couple to God:)
HOLY VOWS AT MARRIAGE
Beloved Lord,
We dedicate to Thee our lives, our service, and the love we share.
May the communion we find with one another lead us to inner communion with Thee.
May the service we render one another perfect in us our service of Thee.
May we behold Thee always enshrined in one another’s forms.
May we always remember that it is above all Thee we love.
In every test of love, may we see Thy loving hand.
In any disagreement, may we see Thy hidden guidance.
May our love not be confined by selfish needs,
But give us strength ever to expand our hearts
Until we see all human beings, all creatures as our own.
Teach us to love all beings equally, in Thee.
(The couple then speaks these vows to each other:)
Dear Beloved,
I will be true to you as I pray always to be true to God.
I will love you without condition, as I would be loved by you
And as we are ever loved by God.
I will never compete with you; I will cooperate always for our own good, and for all others’, highest good.
I will forgive you always, and under all circumstances.
I will respect your right to see truth as you perceive it,
And to be guided as you feel deeply within yourself,
And I will work with you always, in freedom, to arrive at a common misunderstanding.
All that we do, may we do for God’s glory.
May we live and grow together in His love and joy.
And may the offspring of our union
Whether human children, or creative deeds
Be doorways for the inspiration that we feel from Him,
Through each other.
May our love grow ever deeper, purer, more expansive,
Until, in our perfected love,
We find the perfect love of God.
Baptism
Astral Ascension
I Am Thy Bird of Paradise Wishing to Fly in Thy Astral Airplane – Paramhansa Yogananda
Thy astral airplane of parting came to take my soul away from this earth. I wondered through what strange skies I would soar now, and to what lands I would travel.
I asked the mystic Pilot, Cosmic Law, whither I was to go. That Silent One answered soundlessly:
“I am the Pilot of Life, mistakenly called Terrible Death by ignorant earth‐folk. I am thy brother, uplifter, redeemer, friend— unloader of every gross burden of bodily troubles. I have come to fetch thee away from thy valley of broken dreams to the highlands of light, where poisonous vapors of sorrow never rise.
“I have broken mercifully thy cage of flesh‐attachment that thy soul‐bird may escape. I have broken thy chains of disease and fear. Thy long encasement behind bars of bones accustomed thee to thy little cage, making thee cling to it fearfully even when I opened its door. Yet, in thy heart, thou didst want thy freedom always. Why, now, art thou fear-led, having won thy long‐craved freedom?
“O bird of paradise! hop into My plane of omnipresence! Fold now thy uttering wings and ride with Me peacefully, anywhere, everywhere in thine ethereal home!”