By the righteousness of Him Who is the Absolute Truth, were the veil to be lifted, thou wouldst witness on this earthly plane all men sorely afflicted with the fire of the wrath of God, a fire fiercer and greater than the fire of hell, with the exception of those who have sought shelter beneath the shade of the tree of My love. For they in very truth are the blissful.…
- The Báb
(‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
This day in Persia inaugurates a feast which continues for thirteen days and in which all take part, rich and poor alike. They adorn themselves with new clothes and their houses are open to all. Money is distributed, music is played and the houses are decorated with flowers, for it is a fete; work is put aside and enjoyment invited. Travelers in Persia feel this transformation, for the country is in a state of complete renewal. A town which seemed dead yesterday comes to life today. People who looked anxious yesterday, today have faces shining with gladness. The poor man of yesterday, with sordid garments, is well dressed today and the whole national life is infused with joy. From time immemorial this day has been consecrated, for in this there is a symbol.
At this moment the sun appears at the meridian and the day and night are equal. Until today the north pole has been in darkness. This sacred day when the sun illumines equally the whole earth is called the equinox and the equinox is the symbol of the divine messenger. The sun of truth rises on the horizon of divine mercy and sends forth its rays on all. This is the beginning of the spring. When the sun appears at the equinox it causes a movement in all living things. The mineral world is set in motion, plants begin to sprout, the desert is changed into a prairie, trees bud and every living thing responds, including the bodies of animals and men.
Question: Are there "earthbound" souls who try to have, and do have, an influence over people, sometimes taking entire possession of their wills?
'Abdu'l-Baha answered, "There are no earthbound souls. When the souls that are not good die, they go entirely away from this earth and so cannot influence anyone. They are spiritually dead. Their thoughts can have influence only while they are alive on the earth. Caiaphas had great influence during his life, but as soon as he died, his influence ceased. It was of this kind that Christ said, 'Let the dead bury their dead.'”
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (From a table talk by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Daily Lessons Received
at Akka January 1908”, by Helen Goodall and Ella Goodall Cooper)
"In my talks with the reverend doctors of religion and men of the peace societies I have spoken the Glad-tidings of Baha’u’llah, but always according to their varying need and capacity. As capacities differ, the purpose must be to satisfy the degree of hunger, destroy all possible antagonism and establish a point of agreement. We cannot induce men to lay clown their arms by fighting with them. War intensifies the spirit of strife. War begets war. We are peacemakers, not destroyers of peace. Therefore ‘Abdu’l-Baba finds the note of harmony which vibrates in every human heart. This is our subtle basis. Build upon it. Follow no other method. Talk about things upon which we agree and say nothing about things upon which we differ. We must disorganize humanism in order to construct a spiritual edifice in the world of humanity. This edifice is heavenly but its foundations are planted in the unity of human hearts."
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Utterances of 'Abdu'l-Baha, recorded by Howard MacNutt; Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 1, 21 March 1913)
Does not 'Abdu'l-Bahá wish us, as He looks down upon us with loving expectation from His glorious Station, to obliterate as much as possible all traces of censure, of conflicting discussions, of cooling remarks, of petty unnecessary observations that impede the onward march of the Cause, that damp the zeal of the firm believer and detract from the sublimity of the Bahá'í Cause in the eyes of the inquirer? In order, however, to insure fair and quick and vigorous action whenever such an evil activity is revealed and has been carefully ascertained, the best and only means would appear to be, for the careful observer, once he is assured of such an evil action, and has grown hopeless of the attitude of kindness and forbearance, to report it quietly to the Spiritual Assembly representative of the friends in that locality and submit the case to their earnest and full consideration. Should the majority of the members of that Assembly be conscientiously convinced of the case -- and this being a national issue affecting the body of the friends in America -- it should, only through the intermediary of that Assembly, be cautiously communicated to that greater body representing all the Assemblies in America, which will in its turn obtain all the available data from the local Assembly in question, study carefully the situation and reserve for itself the ultimate decision. It may, if it decides so, refer to the Holy Land for further consideration and consultation.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated
March 5, 1922; ‘Baha'i Administration’)
Consider ... the revelation of the light of the Name of God, the Educator. Behold, how in all things the evidences of such a revelation are manifest, how the betterment of all beings dependeth upon it. This education is of two kinds. The one is universal. Its influence pervadeth all things and sustaineth them. It is for this reason that God hath assumed the title, "Lord of all worlds". The other is confined to them that have come under the shadow of this Name, and sought the shelter of this most mighty Revelation. They, however, that have failed to seek this shelter, have deprived themselves of this privilege, and are powerless to benefit from the spiritual sustenance that hath been sent down through the heavenly grace of this Most Great Name. How great the gulf fixed between the one and the other!...
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Baha’i Education)
"In the middle of the nineteenth century Iran, then remote from the West, was roused and convulsed by the appearance of the Marty-Prophet, the Báb, Whose brief Ministry of six years (1844-50) ended in His own martyrdom and that of thousands of His followers. The Báb was a youthful merchant Who fulfilled wide expectation in The East and West by His declaration that ‘He Whom God shall manifest” would soon arise to guide mankind into a new epoch of spiritual civilization.
The Báb and His religion were observed at first hand by Western diplomats – British, Russian, French, and Austrian, in particular – whose official reports and accounts in books provide unparalleled data for the study of the birth and rise of a faith which, in the words of a Cambridge scholar, Edward Grandville Brown, 'may not impossibly win a place amidst the great religions of the world'.
Mr. Balyuzi has made use of many official documents from governmental records, and also cites material gathered from family archives, accessible to him as a relative of the Báb. His illustrations include several items from these archives."
In the forward section of the book, Hand of the Cause of God Mr. Baluzi indicates that:
And when the days of Moses were ended, and the light of Jesus, shining forth from the dayspring of the Spirit, encompassed the world, all the people of Israel arose in protest against Him. (Baha’u’llah, 'The Book of Certitude')
Reflect how Jesus, the Spirit of God, was, notwithstanding His extreme meekness and perfect tender-heartedness, treated by His enemies. So fierce was the opposition which He, the Essence of Being and Lord of the visible and invisible, had to face, that He had nowhere to lay His head. He wandered continually from place to place, deprived of a permanent abode. (Baha’u’llah, 'Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah')
On the other hand -- no -- on the some hand -- was a thumb. But how different he was! The fingers that were “normal" would get terribly upset at him. “You’re not a real finger! Why can’t you be a normal everyday finger like us?"
They would complain: "We face and move this way but you face and move that way.”
“But I can’t help it,” whined Thumb. "I was made this way; I grew out of the side of the hand and not out of the end like you.”
“Well, ok,” they cut in, "but we all have three joints and you only have two.”
"Now, not quite so fast,” said Thumb. "I have only two that you can see, but inside the hand is a third big joint covered with a large muscle that makes me strong. If it were not for this I wouldn't be able to move like this… and this… and even get close to you like this…”
"Oo… ooh! Go back to your place. It’s clear now that we are superior and you are inferior; we are high and you are low. We were created apart. Our ways are different than yours. You are strange and different. Now let us stay apart.”
Poor Thumb felt so lonely and left out. He cried and cried. “Why am I so different? Why must I always be left out? Surely, since I was created, I must be good for something.”
Question: What is the source of evil thoughts that disturb those who do not wish to entertain them?
Answer [by 'Abdu'l-Baha]: “They come from other minds; they are reflected. One should not become a mirror for them - to reflect them; neither should one try to control them, for this is impossible; it only aggravates the difficulty, causing more to appear.
One should constantly turn the mirror of his heart squarely toward God so that the Light of the Sun of Truth may be reflected there.
This is the only cure for attacks of evil thoughts. The face of the mirror should be turned toward God, and the back of the mirror toward the evil thoughts.”
- "Abdu'l-Baha (Utterances of 'Abdu'l-Baha, quoted by Helen Goodall and Ella Goodall Cooper in ‘Daily Lessons Received at Akka January 1908')
At the time of Shoghi Effendi's birth [ March 1, 1897] 'Abdu'l-Bahá and His family were still prisoners of the Sultan of Turkey, Abdu'l Hamid; … In 1897 they were all living in a house known as that of Abdullah Pasha … It was in this home that the first group of pilgrims from the Western World visited the Master in the winter of 1898-9 …
- Ruhiyyih Khanum ('The Priceless Pearl')
We should remember the suffering that occurred at this prison - the prison designated by Him as the Most Great Prison, which is deeply significant considering the conditions under which He suffered in the ‘Black-Pit’, the Siyah-Chal, in Tehran. He had just arrived when he was forced to sell His carpet, the carpet He used to sleep on, to pay for the funeral expenses of one of the members of His entourage. Even after paying the expenses, the body was still treated very disrespectfully, but He had to make the attempt. It was while confined to this Cell that He sacrificed His son. Many, many other afflictions were faced by Him there.
Many events of note also took place in this Cell, one of which was His giving the Tablet to the Shah of Persia to Badi for its delivery. Baha’u’llah had written the Tablet prior to His arrival in Acco, but there was not a believer at that time who exhibited the necessary levels of devotion and sacrifice. So to give the Tablet to Badi, He bound the eyes of the guards so that Badi could be smuggled into His presence and safely back out again. The second Tablet to Napoleon and the Tablet to Queen Victoria were also written from this Cell.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha
(Quoted by Ishraq-Khavari in ‘Risaliy-i-Ayyam-i-Tis’ih’; in ‘Stories of
Baha’u’llah’, compiled by Ali-Akbar Furutan)
Symbol of the Covenant, was my first thought. How perfectly beautiful to be wakened today by it! But at once I remembered another time when I had seen the waning moon hanging, then, above palm trees. I was on the roof of the House in ‘Akká with the Master and Munavvar Khánum. The Master was pointing to the moon. “The East. The moon. No!” He said. “I am the Sun of the West.”
At dawn, kneeling at my window, I prayed in the swelling light for all this land, now sleeping, that it would wake to received its Lord; conscious, as I prayed, of an overshadowing Sacred Presence: a great, glorious, burning Presence—the Sun of Love rising. This fiery dawn was but a pale symbol of such a rising.
Between seven and eight I went to the pier with Marjorie Morten and Rhoda Nichols. The morning was crystal clear, sparkling. I had a sense of its being Easter: of lilies, almost seen, blooming at my feet.
All the believers of New York had gathered at the pier to meet the Master’s ship. Marjorie and I had suggested to them that the Master might not want this public demonstration, but their eagerness was too great to be influenced by just two, and so we had gone along with them—only too glad to do so, to tell the truth.
During the morning the harbour misted over. At last, in the mist we saw: a phantom ship! And at that very moment some newsboys ran through the crowd, waving Extras. “The Pope is dead! The Pope is dead!” they shouted. The Pope was not dead. The Extras had been printed only on a rumour; but what a symbol, and how exactly timed!
In the innate nature of things there is no evil—all is good. This applies even to certain apparently blameworthy attributes and dispositions which seem inherent in some people, but which are not in reality reprehensible. For example, you can see in a nursing child, from the beginning of its life, the signs of greed, of anger, and of ill temper; and so it might be argued that good and evil are innate in the reality of man, and that this is contrary to the pure goodness of the innate nature and of creation. The answer is that greed, which is to demand ever more, is a praiseworthy quality provided that it is displayed under the right circumstances. Thus, should a person show greed in acquiring science and knowledge, or in the exercise of compassion, high-mindedness, and justice, this would be most praiseworthy. And should he direct his anger and wrath against the bloodthirsty tyrants who are like ferocious beasts, this too would be most praiseworthy. But should he display these qualities under other conditions, this would be deserving of blame.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Table
talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014
revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)
-- provisional translation by Nima Rafiei
He is the Eternal! Lo, We made this epistle to be the attainment of Our presence for such as have turned unto God in these days, wherein the nations have been made to tremble. Whosoever gazeth upon that which hath been sent down from the Throne of glory in this Tablet and findeth himself in doubt as to whether he hath attained the presence of his Lord, he is of them who have turned away from God, the One Who causeth the dawn to break.
O ye birds of the most exalted paradise! Give ear unto the call of the Beloved in these days wherein the feet of men have slipped. The Concourse on high have rejoiced by reason of your acceptance of this Cause, and the voice of the denizens of the cities of eternity hath been raised aloud in grief and lamentation by virtue of your remoteness from Him and your burning thirst, notwithstanding your nearness to the Ocean of His presence!
O how glorious is this blissful joy, this bitter anguish! Methinks both have embraced in the Day of God, the Powerful, the Almighty, and the Omnipotent!
- 'Abdu'l-Baha
('Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha')
The ego is the animal in us, the heritage of the flesh which is full of selfish desires. By obeying laws of God, seeking to live the life laid down in our teachings, and pray and struggle, we can subdue our egos. We call people "saints" who have achieved the highest degree of mastery over their egos.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi published in ‘Unfolding Destiny’)
“‘After forty years, the Exalted Lord has graced me with a Child who has caused me to wonder over His behavior.’ The Shaykh asked him to explain further, but he only replied. ‘It is hard to say.’ [The Shaykh] insisted, to which [the father] offered:
O venerable Shaykh! Which of His amazing conditions should I recount? Such peculiar characteristics are manifest in Him that the people are astonished. Now, when He is five years old, He sometimes raises His hands to the threshold of the One God, and recites prayers. He wakes in the middle of the night and stands to offer His obligatory prayers, in the midst of which He weeps. Sometimes He is sad, on other occasions He is happy, or immersed in rapture, or preoccupied with the imaginary world. My astonishment and bewilderment prevents me from describing further. Were I to recount all that I have observed from the time of His birth until the present, it would make a thick book.
At such a [young] age, He tells whether an unborn child is a boy or a girl, for the whole clan. After the birth, it is as He foretold.
Shoghi Effendi's divine and indefeasible right to assume the helm of the Cause of God had been fully vindicated through thirty-six years of unremitting, heartbreaking toil. It would be hard indeed to find a comparable figure in history who, in a little over a third of a century, set so many different operations in motion, who found the time to devote his attention to minute details on one hand and on the other to cover the range of an entire planet with his plans, his instructions, his guidance and his leadership. He had laid the foundations of that future society Bahá'u'lláh had fathered upon the mind of the Master, and which He in turn had gestated to a point of perfection, passing it upon His death into the safe hands of His successor.
- Ruhiyyih Khanum
(‘The Guardian of the Baha'i Faith’)
In many cases of breach of marriage laws the believers apparently look upon the law requiring consent of parents before marriage as a mere administrative regulation, and do not seem to realize that this is a law of great importance affecting the very foundations of human society. Moreover they seem not to appreciate that in the Bahá'í Faith the spiritual and administrative aspects are complementary and that the social laws of the Faith are as binding as the purely spiritual ones.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter to the National Spiritual
Assembly of the United States, August 29, 1965: Canadian Bahá'í News, No. 265,
February 1973, compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)
