If the holy Manifestations had not appeared, all humanity
would have remained in a state of animality, if not worse. If the children are
not educated and are not trained in schools, they will remain ignorant. If
plains and hills are left to their natural state, they will turn into jungles
and forests which will not bear sweet and luscious fruit, but when the gardener
takes control, flowers bloom, fruits appear and prosperity sheds its blessings.
Creation is a dreary forest full of thorns under the yoke of nature and the
holy Manifestations are the divine gardeners and the supreme educators of the
world of man who come to promote the progress of the world of existence in
order that the trees of beings may continue to be verdant, may burst into fresh
foliage, may yield good fruits and may adorn the gardens of the human
realities. This divine bestowal of this heavenly education is continuous.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, December 4, New York, recorded by Mahmud
Zarqani; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)
