September 29

That sanctified Being [Baha’u’llah] spent His days in chains and fetters, and lived to the end of His life under the threat of the sword. Not a moment’s rest did He find; not a tranquil breath did He draw. Not for a single night did He repose on a bed of comfort, nor lay His head upon a pillow of ease. Every bird hath a nest, and every creature dwelleth in its abode, while the Blessed Beauty was consumed by the fire of cruelty lit by His enemies. The people of the world are asleep upon the couch of ease, while the Most Great Name found not a moment’s rest, nor drew a single breath in peace. By what standard of fairness or fidelity can we seek repose or pursue comfort and rest?

Praise be to God that thou art engaged day and night in serving the Cause of God, and art earnestly striving to diffuse His fragrances and to propagate the splendours of the light of His knowledge. By thy very life! This is a bounty from amongst the bestowals of the Lord, one that no other bounty in the world of being can ever rival. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; ‘Light of the World’)

September 27

But the love which sometimes exists between friends is not (true) love, because it is subject to transmutation; this is merely fascination. As the breeze blows, the slender trees yield. If the wind is in the East the tree leans to the West, and if the wind turns to the West the tree leans to the East. This kind of love is originated by the accidental conditions of life. This is not love, it is merely acquaintanceship; it is subject to change.

Today you will see two souls apparently in close friendship; tomorrow all this may be changed. Yesterday they were ready to die for one another, today they shun one another’s society! This is not love; it is the yielding of the hearts to the accidents of life. When that which has caused this ‘love’ to exist passes, the love passes also; this is not in reality love. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Paris Talks: Addresses given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris in 1911-1912’)

September 25

There are four kinds of love. The first is the love that flows from God to man; it consists of the inexhaustible graces, the Divine effulgence and heavenly illumination. Through this love the world of being receives life. Through this love man is endowed with physical existence, until, through the breath of the Holy Spirit—this same love—he receives eternal life and becomes the image of the Living God. This love is the origin of all the love in the world of creation.

The second is the love that flows from man to God. This is faith, attraction to the Divine, enkindlement, progress, entrance into the Kingdom of God, receiving the Bounties of God, illumination with the lights of the Kingdom. This love is the origin of all philanthropy; this love causes the hearts of men to reflect the rays of the Sun of Reality.

The third is the love of God towards the Self or Identity of God. This is the transfiguration of His Beauty, the reflection of Himself in the mirror of His Creation. This is the reality of love, the Ancient Love, the Eternal Love. Through one ray of this Love all other love exists.

The fourth is the love of man for man. The love which exists between the hearts of believers is prompted by the ideal of the unity of spirits. This love is attained through the knowledge of God, so that men see the Divine Love reflected in the heart. Each sees in the other the Beauty of God reflected in the soul, and finding this point of similarity, they are attracted to one another in love. This love will make all men the waves of one sea, this love will make them all the stars of one heaven and the fruits of one tree. This love will bring the realization of true accord, the foundation of real unity. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Paris Talks: Addresses given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris in 1911-1912’)

September 23

What a power is love! It is the most wonderful, the greatest of all living powers. Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is cold. Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful. In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love. When the heart of man is aglow with the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all—even his life. In the Gospel it is said God is love. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Paris Talks: Addresses given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris in 1911-1912’)

September 21

Regarding the question of marriage, know thou that the command of marriage is eternal. It will never be changed or altered.  This creation is divine, and it is not possible for that which is created by God to be changed or altered. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; compilation: ‘To Set the World in Order: Building and Preserving Strong Marriages’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, August 2023)

September 19

Wherefore thou shouldst seek to impart the Message to influential persons and become a cause of guidance to the learned and distinguished, that perchance there may be raised up in Iran wise, sagacious souls who shall be solicitous for both the good of the state and the welfare of the populace; who shall labour diligently night and day to the end that their great nation may retrieve its former glory and restore, for all the world to see, the splendour of the Kíyáníyán kings, and that its illustrious people may shine out amongst mankind with an extraordinary brilliance and attain to lasting happiness and contentment. 

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

September 17

The greatness and honour of man reside in purity, truthfulness, benevolence, virtue, and constancy, not in earthly wealth and riches. Should a soul succeed in rendering a signal service to world of humanity, and in particular to the land of Persia, he will be a leader among leaders, and among those of preeminent rank he will be held most dear. This indeed is abounding wealth! This indeed is abundant prosperity! This indeed is everlasting riches! 

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

September 15

When a speaker’s brow shineth with the radiance of the love of God, at the time of his exposition of a subject, and he is exhilarated with the wine of true understanding, he becometh the centre of a potent force which, like unto a magnet, will attract the hearts. This is why the expounder must be in the utmost enkindlement. 

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

September 13

Praise be unto God Who hath adorned the human reality with manifest signs of divine love, and hath illumined all existent beings with the light of attraction, in such wise that they have become harmonized, interconnected, and mutually attracted through the power of heaven. Verily, union, assemblage, marriage, intermingling, association, and integration are the cause of life for all beings, whereas dissolution, separation, dissociation, divorce, and division lead to the death and destruction of created things. God hath created no being but that its existence doth depend upon the association, composition, and intermingling of simple, primal elements—whereas all that God hath decreed of death, destruction, and extinction occurreth by way of the dissolution, separation, dispersion, and dissociation of the principal constituent parts. Whensoever the natures and elements are gathered, joined, paired, and intermingled, a living being or composite entity is formed, fashioned, and brought into existence. And whensoever they dissociate, separate, and disperse, then that being shall deteriorate, decline, and fall from its station of existence within creation. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; compilation: ‘To Set the World in Order: Building and Preserving Strong Marriages’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, August 2023)

September 11

O thou steadfast in the Covenant! Your letter hath come and imparted great delight, with its word that, praised be God, the youth of the Abhá paradise are verdant and tender from showers scattered out of clouds of heavenly grace, that they thrive and flourish in the April rains of heavenly guidance and are progressing day by day.

It is certain that each and every one of them will grow to be as a banner of guidance, a symbol of the bestowals that come from the realm of the All-Glorious. They will be sweet-singing nightingales in the gardens of knowledge, gazelles delicate and comely, roaming the plains of the love of God. You must attach the greatest importance to the education of children, for this is the foundation of the Law of God and the bedrock of the edifice of His Faith.

If it were known how much joy you have imparted through what hath been done for the children, the believers would surely educate all their children in the same way. 

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

September 9

Question: ‘Can a departed soul converse with someone still on earth?’

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: ‘A conversation can be held, but not as our conversation. There is no doubt that the forces of the higher worlds interplay with the forces of this plane. The heart of man is open to inspiration; this is spiritual communication. As in a dream one talks with a friend while the mouth is silent, so is it in the conversation of the spirit. A man may converse with the ego within him saying: “May I do this? Would it be advisable for me to do this work?” Such as this is conversation with the higher self.’ 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Paris Talks: Addresses given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris in 1911-1912’)

September 7

Question: ‘Does the soul progress more through sorrow or through the joy in this world?’

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: 'The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most.' 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Paris Talks: Addresses given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris in 1911-1912’)

September 5

Those loved ones of God who have turned from the Mosaic gulf towards the ocean of the Almighty Lord and the billowing waters of His Ancient Beauty have at all times been remembered in the court of His manifold bounties and in the presence of the Lord of Hosts. Now that the Day-Star of the heaven of holiness hath ascended unto the Most Exalted Kingdom and dawned above the horizon of the all-glorious Concourse, every firm and constant believer is mentioned in that Realm of sanctity in the august presence of the Beloved.

Despair not over this grievous calamity, this dire affliction. For although the Ancient Beauty is now hidden from the horizon of the world, His light shineth forth from the heaven of eternity, in the Most Great Kingdom. Was the eternal radiance that shone forth from the horizon of Moses in bygone days extinguished after He ascended to the realms above? Nay, by the righteousness of the Lord! It rose and shone even more intensely, and the bright flame of the remembrance of God blazed even higher. Now once again, ye shall behold how the resplendent lights of Divine Unity will erelong envelop the kingdom of existence, and the ensigns of His words will be raised upon the loftiest heights of the realities of all beings.

Esther was a woman; when she was favoured with pure intent and turned her gaze unto the Lord, what services she was enabled to render! Now behold the tomb of this woman of noble birth, and consider the myriads of mighty kings who ruled over Persia, Transoxania, and other countries in the world. Neither name nor fame nor trace doth remain of any of those kings; all have faded into utter nothingness and have been utterly abased. Yet, as this woman who was the pride of all men drew a breath in the path of the All-Merciful, the influence of her actions still endureth, and her name is, to this day, mentioned amongst the loved ones of God. Take ye good heed, O people of insight! 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; ‘Light of the World’)

September 3

…God hath made harmony the cause of life, and discord the cause of death, and hath ordained that coupling, union, and mutual attraction between the hearts of the servants and maidservants through the bond of matrimony be the cause of joy and prosperity of both body and soul.  “Glory be to Him Who hath created all the pairs, of such things as the earth produceth, and of themselves, and of things beyond their ken.” (Qur’an 36:36)   This, verily, is an evidence of His tender mercy, bounty, and grace unto His devoted servants.

We beseech God to make this marriage to be a cause of felicity, advancement, honour, glory, upliftment, and freedom, so that from this servant and handmaiden there may issue forth many souls who will worship God, bow down in adoration before Him, be devoted and sincere in their faith, and arise to render service to Him and to the world of humanity.  He, verily, is the Beneficent, the All-Merciful. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; compilation: ‘To Set the World in Order: Building and Preserving Strong Marriages’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, August 2023)

September 1

It is highly important for man to raise a family. So long as he is young, because of youthful self-complacency, he does not realize its significance, but this will be a source of regret when he grows old…. In this glorious Cause the life of a married couple should resemble the life of the angels in heaven—a life full of joy and spiritual delight, a life of unity and concord, a friendship both mental and physical.  The home should be orderly and well-organized. Their ideas and thoughts should be like the rays of the sun of truth and the radiance of the brilliant stars in the heavens. Even as two birds they should warble melodies upon the branches of the tree of fellowship and harmony. They should always be elated with joy and gladness and be a source of happiness to the hearts of others. They should set an example to their fellow-men, manifest a true and sincere love towards each other and educate their children in such a manner as to blazon the fame and glory of their family.

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From the Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha; compilation: ‘To Set the World in Order: Building and Preserving Strong Marriages’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, August 2023)