Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this
nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its
own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images
reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye. 
Materialists say, ‘Where is the soul? What is it? We cannot
see it, neither can we touch it’. This is how we must answer them: However much
the mineral may progress, it cannot comprehend the vegetable world. Now, that
lack of comprehension does not prove the non-existence of the plant! To however
great a degree the plant may have evolved, it is unable to understand the
animal world; this ignorance is no proof that the animal does not exist! The animal,
be he never so highly developed, cannot imagine the intelligence of man,
neither can he realize the nature of his soul. But, again, this does not prove
that man is without intellect, or without soul. It only demonstrates this, that
one form of existence is incapable of comprehending a form superior to itself.
This flower may be unconscious of such a being as man, but the fact of its
ignorance does not prevent the existence of humanity.
It is evident that the divine nearness is an unlimited
nearness, be it in this world or the next one. This is a nearness which is
sanctified from the comprehension of the minds. The more a man seeketh light
from the Sun of Truth, the nearer he will draw. For instance, a clear body is
near unto the sun, and a black stone is far from the sun. This nearness
dependeth upon clearness, purity and perfection and that remoteness is due to
density, dullness (or obscurity) and imperfection.
When the souls of the sincere depart (from this body), then
their unreal vision (i.e., seeing) is changed into a vision of reality. Even as
man, when in the age of babyhood and imperfection, though he seeth things, yet
that vision is superficial and external. But when he reacheth the world (or
age) of perfection and becometh endowed with reasoning faculty and (the power
of) discrimination and comprehension, then that vision of his is a vision
(i.e., seeing) of reality [1] and not the unreality.
Thou hast written concerning the Impersonality of the
Divinity. Personality is in the Manifestation of the Divinity, not in the
Essence of the Divinity. The reality of the divine world is purified and
sanctified from limits and restriction. But the pure Mirror, which is the
Manifestor of the Sun of Truth and in which the Sun of Truth is manifest in
appearance—that mirror is restricted, not the lights.
By seeing God is meant beholding the Manifestation of
Himself; for witnessing the sun in its entire splendor, in a clear glassy
surface, is identical with witnessing the essence of the sun itself.
In all religions the belief exists that the soul survives
the death of the body. Intercessions are sent up for the beloved dead, prayers
are said for their progress and for the forgiveness of their sins. If the soul
perished with the body all this would have no meaning. Further, if it were not
possible for the soul to advance towards perfection after it had been released
from the body, of what avail are all these loving prayers, of devotion?
Praise thou God, for that thou hast found the Light of
Guidance, recognized the Lord of the Kingdom, art engaged in the service of the
Divine Garden and hast guided a number of souls and led them to the Kingdom of
Existence. When thou occupiest thyself with all thy strength in service, thou
wilt become a magnet of attraction and cause every seeker to reach the presence
of the Desired One; thou wilt raise a great clamor in the world and evince such
an ecstasy and rapture that will astonish the minds.
Thy letter was received and a sweet odor wafted from the
rose-garden of its meanings. Thou hast offered thanks before the threshold of
the One God, for that thou hast stepped into the Court of the Manifestation in
such a blessed day and hast partaken a share and portion from the bounties of
the Pre-existent Beauty. This mortal
world is fickle and unstable like unto a shifting shadow, and the human life is
like unto a mirage and a reflection on the water. When thou lookest at the
result thou wilt consider the preliminaries as important, otherwise,
preliminaries without a result are of no fruit or harm; they are pure fancy and
sheer darkness. Therefore even a short duration of life is sufficient.
The inability of the materialistic mind to grasp the idea of
the Life Eternal is no proof of the non-existence of that life. The
comprehension of that other life depends on our spiritual birth!
If the spirit were not immortal, how could the Manifestations
of God endure such terrible trials? Why did Christ Jesus suffer the fearful
death on the cross? Why did Muhammad bear persecutions? Why did the Báb make
the supreme sacrifice and why did Bahá’u’lláh pass the years of his life in
prison? Why should all this suffering have been, if not to prove the
everlasting life of the spirit?
…in the sight of God the past, the present and the future
are all one and the same—whereas, relative to man, the past is gone and
forgotten, the present is fleeting, and the future is within the realm of hope.
And it is a basic principle of the Law of God that in every Prophetic Mission,
He entereth into a Covenant with all believers—a Covenant that endureth until
the end of that Mission, until the promised day when the Personage stipulated
at the outset of the Mission is made manifest. Consider Moses, He Who conversed
with God. Verily, upon Mount Sinai, Moses entered into a Covenant regarding the
Messiah, with all those souls who would live in the day of the Messiah. And
those souls, although they appeared many centuries after Moses, were
nevertheless—so far as the Covenant, which is outside time, was
concerned—present there with Moses.
Regarding the statement in The Hidden Words, that man must
renounce his own self, the meaning is that he must renounce his inordinate
desires, his selfish purposes and the promptings of his human self, and seek
out the holy breathings of the spirit, and follow the yearnings of his higher
self, and immerse himself in the sea of sacrifice, with his heart fixed upon
the beauty of the All-Glorious.
Strive thine utmost to become godlike, characterized with
His attributes, illumined and merciful, that thou mayest be freed from every
bond and become attached at heart to the Kingdom of the incomparable Lord. This
is Bahá’í bounty, and this is heavenly light.
I hope that in this nether world thou shalt attain unto
heavenly light, thou wilt free the souls from the gloom of nature, which is the
animal kingdom, and cause them to reach lofty stations in the human kingdom.
Today all people are immersed in the world of nature. That is why thou dost see
jealousy, greed, the struggle for survival, deception, hypocrisy, tyranny,
oppression, disputes, strife, bloodshed, looting and pillaging, which all
emanate from the world of nature. Few are those who have been freed from this
darkness, who have ascended from the world of nature to the world of man, who
have followed the divine Teachings, have served the world of humanity, are
resplendent, merciful, illumined and like unto a rose garden.
Strive as much as ye can to turn wholly toward the Kingdom,
that ye may acquire innate courage and ideal power.
The great spiritual lights have always appeared in the East.
The Blessed Perfection, Bahá’u’lláh, appeared in the East. Jesus Christ dawned
upon the horizon of the East. Moses, Aaron, Joseph and all the Israelitish
prophets such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah and others appeared from the Orient.
The lights of Muhammad and the Báb shone from the East. The eastern horizon has
been flooded with the effulgence of these great lights, and only from the East
have they risen to shine upon the West. Now—praise be to God!—you are living in
the dawn of a cycle when the Sun of Truth is again shining forth from the East,
illumining all regions.
The divine Jerusalem has come down from heaven. The bride of
Zion has appeared. The voice of the Kingdom of God has been raised. May you
attain supreme capacity and magnetic attraction in this realm of might and
power—manifesting new energy and wonderful accomplishment, for God is your
Assister and Helper. The breath of the Holy Spirit is your comforter, and the
angels of heaven surround you. I desire this power for you. Rest assured that
these bounties now overshadow you.
It is my wish and hope that in the bounties and favors of
the Blessed Perfection we may find a new life, acquire a new power and attain
to a wonderful and supreme source of energy so that the Most Great Peace of
divine intention shall be established upon the foundations of the unity of the
world of men with God. May the love of God be spread from this city, from this
meeting to all the surrounding countries. Nay, may America become the
distributing center of spiritual enlightenment, and all the world receive this
heavenly blessing! For America has developed powers and capacities greater and
more wonderful than other nations. While it is true that its people have
attained a marvelous material civilization, I hope that spiritual forces may
animate this great body and a corresponding spiritual civilization be
established. May the inhabitants of this country become like angels of heaven
with faces turned continually toward God. May all of them become the servants
of the Omnipotent One. May they rise from present material attainments to such
a height that heavenly illumination may stream from this center to all the
peoples of the world.
…know thou, verily, all the souls are created according to
the nature of God, and all are in the state of (unconscious) purity at the time
of their birth. But afterward they differ from one another in so far as they
acquire excellencies or defects. Nevertheless, the creatures have different
degrees in existence in so far as the creation goes; for capacities are many,
but all of them are good and pure (in their essence) then afterward they are
polluted and defiled.
Concerning thy question whether all the souls enjoy Eternal
Life: Know thou, those souls partake of the Eternal Life in whom the Spirit of
Life is breathed from the Presence of God; and all beside them are dead,
without life as Christ has explained (this matter) in the texts of the Gospel.
Any person whose insight is opened by God, sees the souls in their stations
after the disintegration of the bodies. Verily, they are living and are
subsisting before their Lord and see also the dead souls submerged in the gulfs
of mortality.
As to the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, it is of the utmost
importance.… It may assume any form, for even if it be an underground pit, that
pit shall become a sheltering paradise, an exalted bower, and a garden of
delight. It shall become a centre wherein the spirits are gladdened and the
hearts attracted to the Abhá Kingdom.
Those who are uninformed of the world of reality, and do not
study created things, cannot investigate and discover hidden truths. They only
have a superficial idea of things, are embodiments of ignorance and blind
imitators. They believe that which they have heard from their fathers and do
not have any knowledge or understanding of their own and are bereft of hearing
and insight. They rely on traditions and tales and follow the path of their
ancestors. They imagine that God's dominion is accidental, that this world has
existed for but six thousand or eight thousand years and that before that time
God had neither creation nor sovereignty.
Consider for example the sun itself: It knows neither
morning, nor noon, nor evening — all times are one; all moments are the same.
But on account of the rising and setting of the sun, the inhabitants of the
earth see mornings and evenings and reckon the days and nights. Thus all these
times are one in the sun and all these days are identical and indistinguishable.
…we must not consider our ability and capacity, nay rather
we must fix our gaze upon the favors and bounties of God, in these days, Who
has made of the drop a sea, and of the atom a sun.
Man is endowed with superior reasoning power and the faculty
of perception, he is the manifestation of divine bestowals. Shall racial ideas
prevail and obscure the creative purpose of unity in his kingdom?
During the lifetime of Jesus Christ the believing, firm
souls were few and numbered, but the heavenly blessings descended so
plentifully that in a number of years countless souls entered beneath the
shadow of the Gospel. God has said in the Qur’án: ‘One grain will bring forth
seven sheaves, and every sheaf shall contain one hundred grains.’ In other
words, one grain will become seven hundred; and if God so wills He will double
these also. It has often happened that one blessed soul has become the cause of
the guidance of a nation.
Peter, according to the history of the Church, was also
incapable of keeping count of the days of the week. Whenever he decided to go
fishing, he would tie up his weekly food into seven parcels, and every day he
would eat one of them, and when he had reached the seventh, he would know that
the Sabbath had arrived, and thereupon would observe it.
O loved ones of God! Now is the time to be drunk with the
cup of the Covenant. Rend your garments in love for the beauty of the
All-Merciful. In the banquet of the Covenant seize ye the chalice of divine
knowledge. Drunk and yearning, raise up a song of the purity and sanctity of
the Living, the Almighty God, till East and West are bewitched, and North and
South set ablaze.
The holy realities of the Concourse on high yearn, in this
day, in the Most Exalted Paradise, to return unto this world, so that they may
be aided to render some service to the threshold of the Abhá Beauty, and arise
to demonstrate their servitude to His sacred Threshold.
One of the important questions which affect the unity and
the solidarity of mankind is the fellowship and equality of the white and
colored races. Between these two races certain points of agreement and points
of distinction exist which warrant just and mutual consideration. The points of
contact are many.... In this country, the United States of America, patriotism
is common to both races; all have equal rights to citizenship, speak one
language, receive the blessings of the same civilization, and follow the
precepts of the same religion. In fact numerous points of partnership and
agreement exist between the two races, whereas the one point of distinction is
that of color. Shall this, the least of all distinctions, be allowed to
separate you as races and individuals?