Adding a non-jar file to the Java class path

I'm trying to make a .txt file available to my application via the class path. In my startup script--which is co-located in the same folder as the .txt file--I've set the following:

set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;%CD%\sample.txt java -classpath %CD%\sample.txt

In my application, I've tried the following:

1. getClass().getResource("sample.txt")
2. getClass().getResource("/sample.txt")
3. getClass().getResource("classpath:sample.txt")

None of the above work. Any help would be appreciated.