Photography by Kulbir Thandi
Must Own: AMEN – Prayers and Blessings from Around the World – 1
In the name of God,
I ______, take you ______,
to be my wife/husband,
to have and to hold from this day forward,
for better for worse, for richer for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish until we are parted by death,
This is my solemn vow.
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER
From the beginning oc Creation
God made them male and female.
This is why a man must leave father and mother,
and the two become one body.
So then, what God has united, man must not divide.
This is the Gospel of the LORD.
MARK 10:6-9
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O LORD our GOD,
Who grant us what we ask for our salvation,
Who hath commanded us to love each other
and to pardon each other our transgressions,
Bless, Lord, Giver of good things,
Lover of mankind,
these two servants of Thine
who love each other
with a love of the spirit
and have come to Thy Holy Temple
wishing to receive Thy sanctification and benediction;
Grant them unabashed faithfulness and sincere love,
and just as Thou gave Thy holy disciples and apostles
Thy peace and love,
Grant them also to these,
Christ our God,
Giving them all these things necessary for salvation and eternal life.
11TH-12TH CENTURY
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Let the earth of my body
be mixed with the earth my beloved walks on.
Let the fire of my body
be the brightness in the mirror that reflects his face.
Let the water of my body
join the waters of the lotus pool he bathes in.
Let the breath of my body
be air lapping his tired limbs.
Let me be sky, and moving through me
that cloud-dark SHYAMA my beloved.
HINDU LOVE POEM
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We have taken the seven steps.
You have become mine forever.
Yes, we have become partners.
I have become yours.
Hereafter, I cannot live without you.
Do not live without me.
Let us share the joys.
We are word and meaning, united.
You art thought and I am sound.
May the nights be honey-sweet for us;
May the mornings be honey-sweet for us;
May the earth be honey-sweet for us;
May the heavens be honey-sweet for us.
May the plants be honey-sweet for us;
May the sun be all honey for us;
May the cows yield us honey-sweet milk!
As the heavens are stable, as the earth is stable,
as the mountains are stable, as the whole universe is stable,
So may our union be permanently settled.
HINDU: THE SEVEN STEPS
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The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes, leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands behind our wall,
gazing in the windows, looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, 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 has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
They give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.
SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8-13