Behold! A Great Force Comes
(Worship At Sunrise)

In days of old, when the Monastery of Arkashea was a totally self-sufficient farm, special hours of the day were set aside for meditation and special hours of the night were set aside for "Directive Meditation."

Since all the residents of the monastery were busy working with their minds on their tasks, it was quite easy for them to miss the appointed hours for meditation. This is why each resident took turns as "The Keeper of The Bells." It was the keeper's task to stand watch to ring the bells when ever strangers approached the farm and when the appointed hours for meditation approached.

While the monastery had two bells -- one for danger and one for meditation --, we, today, have only one bell -- the call to meditation. Also, while the monastery of old had a "Keeper of The Bells," we each keep the task to ring the "Call To Meditation" for ourselves.

Also, while the residents of old simply stopped what they were doing, sat down, and entered the brain wave pattern called "Alfa," we today have a different procedure for meditation.

The residents of old went into the "Altar Room" one day each week -- on the seventh day. We, on the other-hand, view "the world" as a special place of worship. Each morning, before sunrise, each resident of the Monastery must go through "The Ritual Bath," and "The Donning of The White Robe".

After the plain white robe has been donned, proceed to the next step in your purpose for having performed The Rites of The Donning.

Greeting The Sun

The procedure of greeting the sun is pretty much as it was in days of old.

1. Take the "Ritual Bath;"

2. Go through the "Donning of The White Robe;"

3. Go to the "Altar Room (Your chosen place to greet the sun);"

4. Place your prayer rug on the floor/ground, sit or kneel before the rising sun with head bowed. Touch your forehead to the ground (hands flat palms on the prayer rug ready to receive your forehead) as you fill your heart with love;

5. Take your head off the ground and Pick up the "Call To Worship" bell (resting on the ground before you) and ring it three times, then replace it;

6. Recite the following:

"Thou appearest beautifully on the horizon of heaven,
Thou living Aten, the beginning of life!
When thou art risen on the eastern horizon,
Thou hast filled every land with thy beauty.
Thou art gracious, great, glistening, and high over every land;
Thy rays encompass the lands to the limit of all that thou hast made:
As thou art (the giver of life upon the earth), thou (shines upon all that thou has made);
(Thou) subduest thy creations (for) thy beloved son--Man.
Though thou art far away, thy rays are on earth;
Though thou art in (upon the earth), no one knows thy going.

"When thou settest in the western horizon,
The land is in darkness, in the manner of death.
They (all life) sleep in a room, with heads wrapped up,
Nor sees one eye the other.
All their goods which are under their heads might be stolen,
(But) they would not perceive (it).
Every lion is come forth from his den;
All creeping things, they sting.
Darkness is a shroud, and the earth is in stillness,
For he who made them rests in his horizon.

"At daybreak, when thou arisest on the horizon,
When thou shinest as the Aten by day,
Thou drivest away the darkness and givest thy rays.
The earth is in festivity every day,
Awake and standing upon (their) feet,
For thou hast raised them up.
Washing their bodies, taking (their) clothing,
Their eyes are (raised) in praise at thy appearance.
All the world, they do their work.

"All beasts are content with their pasturage;
Trees and plants are flourishing.
The birds which fly from their nests,
Their wings are (stretched out) in praise to thy ka.
All beasts spring upon (their) feet.
Whatever flies and alights,
They live when thou hast risen (for) them.
The ships are sailing north and south as well,
For every way is open at thy appearance.
The fish in the river dart before thy face;
Thy rays are in the midst of the great green sea.

"Creator of seed in women,
Thou who makest fluid into man,
Who maintainest the child in the womb of its mother,
Who soothest him with that which stills his weeping,
Thou nurse (even) in the womb,
Who givest breath to sustain all that he has made!
When he descends from the womb to breathe
On the day when he is born,
Thou openest his mouth completely,
Thou suppliest his necessities.
When the chick in the egg speaks within the shell,
Thou givest him breath within it to maintain him.
When thou hast made him his fulfillment within the egg, to break it,
He comes forth from the egg to speak at his completed (time);
He walks upon his legs when he comes forth from it.

"How manifold it is, what thou hast made!
They are hidden from the face (of man).
O sole god, like whom there is no other!
Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,
Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts,
Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet,
And what is on high, flying with its wings.

"The countries of the world,
Thou settest every man in his place,
Thou suppliest their necessities:
Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned.
Their tongues are separate in speech,
And their natures as well;
Their skins are distinguished,
As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples.
Thou makest a Nile in the underworld,
Thou bringest forth as thou desirest
To maintain the people (of Earth)
According as thou madest them for thyself,
The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them,
The lord of every land, rising for them,
The Aten of the day, great of majesty.

"All distant foreign countries, thou makest their life (also),
For thou hast set a Nile in heaven,
That it may descend for them and make waves upon the mountains,
Like the great green sea,
To water their fields in their towns.
How effective they are, thy plans, O lord of eternity!
The Nile in heaven, it is for the foreign peoples
And for the beasts of every desert that go upon (their) feet;
(While the true) Nile comes from the underworld for Earth.

"Thy rays suckle every meadow.
When thou risest, they live, they grow for thee.
Thou makest the seasons in order to rear all that thou hast made,
The winter to cool them,
And the heat that they may taste thee.
Thou hast made the distant sky in order to rise therein,
In order to see all that thou dost make.
Whilst thou wert alone,
Rising in thy form as the living Aten,
Appearing, shining, withdrawing or aproaching,
Thou madest millions of forms of thyself alone.
Cities, towns, fields, road, and river --
Every eye beholds thee over against them,
For thou art the Aten of the day over the earth....

"Thou are in my heart,
And there is no other that knows thee
Save thy son -- Man,
For thou hast made him well-versed in thy plans and in thy strength.

"The world came into being by thy hand,
According as thou hast made them.
When thou hast risen they live,
When thou settest they die.
Thou art lifetime thy own self,
For one lives (only) through thee.
Eyes are (fixed) on beauty until thou settest.
All work is laid aside when thou settest in the west.
(But) when (thou) risest (again),
[Everything is] made to flourish,
Since thou didst found the earth
And raise them up for thy son (Man).
Who came forth from thy body."

Pick up the "Call To Worship" bell and ring it three times -- replace it on the altar -- and leave your chosen place of worship.