November 29

He is God

The Hand of the Cause of God, Jináb-i-Ibn-i-Abhar,

upon him be the Glory of God!

O thou who art steadfast in the Covenant! A few days ago I was glancing at some photographs of the friends. By chance I came across thy photograph. As I beheld thy person standing poised and in the utmost dignity with chains around thy neck, I was so affected that all sorrow was turned into joy and radiance, and I praised God that the world’s Greatest Luminary hath nurtured and trained such servants who, while tied in chains and under the threat of the sword, shine forth in the utmost exultation and rapture. And this is but a token of the grace of thy Lord, the Merciful, the Compassionate. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a Tablet; ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre)

November 27

O thou whose heart hath been filled with love for the beauty of God! I have perused thy gracious letter and intoned thy words that testify to the intensity of thy love for God, to the strength of thine attachment to His Cause, and to the greatness of thine attraction to His Kingdom; truly, this befitteth such as thee. From this sublime retreat I greet thee, and bestow upon thee praise and salutation. Distant as thou art in that far region, yet with my heart’s eye do I see thee here before me, and with my spirit’s tongue do I address thee, saying, “Happiness, all happiness is thine! Do thou announce unto the beloved of God in those regions the joyful tidings of His Glory.” 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a Tablet; ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre)

November 25

I pray in your behalf that your hearts may be enlightened with the light of the love of God; that your minds may develop daily; that your spirits may become aglow with the fire and illumination of His glad tidings, until these divine foundations may become established throughout the human world. The first of these institutions and foundations is the oneness of humanity and love among mankind. The second is the Most Great Peace. Praise be to God! This American democracy manifests capacity, showing forth readiness to become the standard-bearer of the Most Great Peace. May its hosts be the hosts of the oneness of humanity. May they serve the threshold of God and spread the message of the good pleasure of God. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, 30 April 1912, Boston, Massachusetts; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

November 23

Then divine policy shall govern the world, for the divine policy is the oneness of humanity. God is just and kind to all. He considers all as His servants. He excludes none, and His judgments are correct and true. No matter how complete human policy and foresight may appear, they are imperfect. If we do not seek the counsel of God or if we refuse to follow His dictates, it is presumptive evidence that we are knowing and wise, whereas God is ignorant; that we are sagacious and God is not. God forbid! We seek shelter in His mercy for this suggestion! No matter how far the human intelligence may advance, it is still but a drop, while divine omniscience is the ocean. Shall we say that a drop is imbued or endowed with qualities of which the ocean is devoid? Shall we believe that the policy and plan of this atom of a human soul are superior to the wisdom of the Omniscient? There is no greater ignorance than this. Briefly, some are mere children; with the utmost love we must educate them to make them wise. Others are sick and ailing; we must tenderly treat them until they recover. Some have unworthy morals; we must train them toward the standard of true morality. Other than this we are all the servants of one God and under the providence and protection of one Father. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk; 30 April 1912, Boston, Massachusetts; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

November 21

Our hope is that the Spiritual Assembly of Rangoon may shine resplendent and become as delightsome as the highest heaven, that eloquent words and sweet utterances may be voiced therein, that it may ever consult upon and determine the means of exalting the Word of God, and that it may resort to every possible measure so that the light of truth might shine forth in that country and the banner of divine guidance be unfurled therein. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Extract from a Tablet; ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre)

November 19

Know thou, verily, it is becoming in a weak one to supplicate to the Strong One, and it behooveth a seeker of bounty to beseech the Glorious Bountiful One. When one supplicates to his Lord, turns to Him and seeks bounty from His Ocean, this supplication brings light to his heart, illumination to his sight, life to his soul and exaltation to his being. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted by J. E. Esslemont in ‘Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era’; compilation: ‘Prayer and Devotional Life’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice’)

November 17

Glad tidings! The light of the Sun of Truth hath shed its radiance from the East!

Glad tidings! The heavenly powers are set in motion!

Glad tidings! The powers of the earth are quaking!

Glad tidings! The sun of religious imitation is clouded!

Glad tidings! The moon of superstition is eclipsed!

Glad tidings! The stars of worldly glory have fallen!

Glad tidings! The Spirit of God and the hosts of the Kingdom are rushing in!

Glad tidings! The angels of heaven have scattered throughout all regions!

Glad tidings! The breaths of the Holy Spirit have been wafted!

Glad tidings! The morn of joyful tidings hath dawned!

Glad tidings! The Sun of Truth hath shone forth! 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a Tablet; ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre)

November 15

O thou who seekest for the Will of God! Give thanks to God that thou entered the divine Kingdom and knowest the heavenly Lord of Hosts! The light of truth hath radiated from the Sun of Divinity to the horizons in such a manner that the East and the West are illumined. But, alas! the blind do not see and the deaf do not hear the divine proclamation. The bats do not perceive the light of the sun and the beetles cannot enjoy the fragrances of a rose-garden.

Consider that the horizons of the world were enlightened through the light of the beauty of His Holiness Christ; yet all the people were asleep, blind and sightless, except a few whose eyes were opened and perceived the lights. Now thou shalt thank God that a beam of the light came to thy sight. I ask God that thine inner sight may be illumined so that thou mayest discover the hidden mysteries of the Kingdom of God. If thou become so, thou wilt be an evident light and a divine angel in the celestial dominion; then it dependeth on the divine confirmation, according to thy perseverance. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 2)

November 13

The meaning is this: Although those ill-mannered ones offered thee insults and taunts, cursed and reviled thee, and at last dismissed thee with the greatest disrespect and banished thee from thy town, it doth not matter. It behoveth thee to offer thanksgiving and praise for having attained to so great a bestowal, so manifest a bounty. O servant of Bahá! The Ancient Beauty, may my life be sacrificed for His loved ones, was repeatedly exiled from one land to another and banished from one country to the next. Thou didst follow in the footsteps of the Blessed Beauty and didst drink a cup from the ocean of His tribulations. May it redound to your health! God willing, thou wilt drink again from this brimming, life-giving chalice of joy and wilt partake of this delectable sweetmeat. Delight therein! 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Extract from a Tablet; ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre)

November 11

When that essence of holiness and reality of sanctity, her honour the Virgin Mary—upon her be salutations and praise—became purified and sanctified from all else save God, she brought forth such a luminous fruit that she became the shell for that divine Pearl and the target for the darts of infinite malice. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Extract from a Tablet; ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre)

November 9

The human spirit has certain signs and manifestations in the stage of the embryo, and yet other splendours and expressions in the stages of childhood, adolescence, and maturity. The spirit is one, and yet in the embryonic stage it lacks the powers of sight and hearing, whereas in the stages of adolescence and maturity it appears with the utmost splendour and radiance. In the same way, the seed at the beginning of its growth appears only as a leaf, which is the place of appearance of the vegetable spirit; and in the stage of fruition that same spirit, that is, the power of growth, becomes manifest in the plenitude of its perfection—yet how far is the station of the leaf from that of the fruit! For from the fruit a hundred thousand leaves will in time appear, even though they all grow and develop through the same vegetable spirit. Pause then to reflect upon the difference between the virtues and perfections of Christ and the splendours and effulgences of Bahá’u’lláh, on the one hand, and the virtues of the Prophets of the House of Israel, such as Ezekiel or Samuel, on the other. All were the recipients of divine revelation, but between them there is an immeasurable distance. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)

November 7

O thou whose breast is dilated by the Fragrances of God! Verily thy letter reached me and I prayed God to confirm thee in guiding the people to the Manifestation of Lights; satisfying the thirsty ones with the pure and peaceful water; leading the sick to the Glorious Physician; guiding those who are led astray into the Path, imparting the wine to those who are seeking, and feeding the hungry souls with the food which descendeth from the heaven of thy Lord, the Glorious! 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 2)

November 5

Know that the attributes of perfection, the outpourings of divine grace, and the effulgences of divine revelation shine resplendent in all the Manifestations of God, but that the all-encompassing Word of God—Christ—and His Most Great Name—Bahá’u’lláh—have appeared with a revelation beyond all conception. For not only do They possess all the perfections of the former Manifestations, but They also evince beyond those such perfections as to make all others even as Their followers. Thus the Prophets of Israel were all recipients of divine revelation, and so too was Christ, but what a difference between the revelation of Him Who was the Word of God and the inspiration of an Isaiah, a Jeremiah, or an Elijah!

Consider that light consists in the vibrations of the ether, whereby the nerves of the eye are stimulated and vision is produced. Now, though the vibrations of the ether exist both in the lamp and in the sun, yet what a difference there is between the light of the sun and that of the stars or of the lamp! 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)

November 3

O beloved of God! Is there any giver save God? He chooseth for His mercy whomsoever He desireth.

He shall open unto you the doors of His knowledge, fill your hearts with His love, rejoice your spirits by the wafting of His holy fragrances, illumine your faces by the Manifest Light and elevate your names among the people.

Verily your Lord is the most merciful of the merciful! He will aid you through an unseen host, and help you by armies of inspiration from the Supreme Concourse, send you the fragrances of the Supreme Paradise, perfume your nostrils by the breath of purity wafted from the garden of the Supreme Concourse, cause you to enter the Ark of Safety, and reveal to you the Manifest Signs.

Verily this is a great bounty! Verily this is a manifest attainment! 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 2)

November 1

It is evident that if we attempt to conceive the reality of the Divinity, that conception would be encompassed and our mind would be that which encompasses it—and assuredly that which encompasses is greater than that which is encompassed! Thus it follows that any reality that we might conceive for the Divinity besides that of the holy Manifestations would be mere delusion, as there is no means of approach to that divine Reality which is entirely beyond the reach of the mind. And all that we might conceive is pure imagination.

Consider then how the peoples of the world are circling round their own vain imaginings and worshipping the idols of their own thoughts and fancies, without the least awareness of doing so. They regard these vain imaginings as that Reality which is sanctified above all understanding and exalted beyond every allusion. They consider themselves to be the proponents of the Divine Unity and all others as worshippers of idols, even though idols at least enjoy a mineral existence, whereas the idols of human thoughts and imaginations are sheer illusion and have not even the existence of stones. “Take ye good heed, O people of insight!” 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)

[1] Qur’án 59:2