February 4

Christ, referring to Peter, said: “Thou art a Rock and upon this Rock I shall build My Church.” This statement is not recorded by the pen of Christ, nor doth it clearly call for turning to Peter, nor hath it been revealed by Christ in His Book. It is but a tradition handed down by the apostles. This tradition, however, caused everyone to obey, and eliminated misunderstandings among the apostles and the Christians. Now here is the Book of the Covenant, and not a tradition. It hath been inscribed by the Supreme Pen of Bahá’u’lláh and is not conveyed by word of mouth. Therein He hath explicitly enjoined that after His passing all must turn to the Centre of the Covenant, and that for anything not understood in the Book, He is the authorised Interpreter and whatsoever He uttereth is right. On Him alone hath this authority been conferred. The Book of the Covenant is the last Tablet revealed by the Supreme Pen before His ascension, and all previous Tablets are subordinate to the Book of the Covenant, which is the last emanation of His Will, whereas all other Tablets were revealed prior to this One, and He hath named it the “Book of the Covenant”. Therefore reflect ye carefully. Should the friends be firm in the Covenant, could misunderstandings arise among them? By God, that cannot be, except among those individuals who harbour evil intentions and malice, who cherish the idea of leadership and partisanship. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

February 2

You are the children of whom Christ has said, “Of such is the kingdom of God”; and according to the words of Bahá’u’lláh you are the very lamps or candles of the world of humanity, for your hearts are exceedingly pure and your spirits most sensitive. You are near the source; you have not yet become contaminated. You are the lambs of the heavenly Shepherd. You are as polished mirrors reflecting pure light. My hope is that your parents may educate you spiritually and give you thorough moral training. May you develop so that each one of you shall become imbued with all the virtues of the human world. May you advance in all material and spiritual degrees. May you become learned in sciences, acquire the arts and crafts, prove to be useful members of human society and assist the progress of human civilization. May you be a cause of the manifestation of divine bestowals—each one of you a shining star radiating the light of the oneness of humanity toward the horizons of the East and West. May you be devoted to the love and unity of mankind, and through your efforts may the reality deposited in the human heart find its divine expression. I pray for you, asking the assistance and confirmation of God in your behalf. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk at a children’s meeting, 5 May 1912, Chicago, Illinois; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

January 31

O ye believers of God! This is the time of self-abnegation and renunciation and the era of servitude and loyalty. The utmost height of this servant is the station of Servitude to His Highness the Almighty. If he becomes accepted at the threshold of servitude how glorious will be this most great gift. Otherwise he will be deprived of the mercy of God. Therefore the utmost hope and aspiration of ‘Abdu’l-Baha is to open his wings in this space, to run toward this field, obtain infinite exhilaration from this wine, be intoxicated with this cup and acquire the longing of heart and spirit. Every other mention save this unchangeable, beloved name (‘Abdu’l-Baha) will become the cause of grief and sorrow and the source of the greatest regret and illimitable remorse. I request from the friends of God that day and night they may supplicate and implore at the divine Kingdom so that my servitude might become accepted in the threshold of Baha’u’llah. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol.7, no. 14, November 23, 1916)

January 29

O true believer in the verses of God! It is said that the greatest power in the world is the power of an all-compelling sovereignty and the might of an all-subduing government. However, the utmost that such might and power can achieve is to besiege men and conquer fortified strongholds. Such power and might is only made manifest by the aid of massed troops and conquering armies.

Yet, reflect thou on the power and ascendancy of the Greatest Name, on its might and dominion. Ponder how, though alone and forsaken, with none to help or succour Him, He, through the might and power of God and the sovereignty of the Kingdom, subdued the realm of being and conquered the citadels of the hearts of men. He prevailed over the whole world and established His authority over all existence. Single-handedly, He scattered the battalions of the earth; unaided, He defeated the unyielding hosts of darkness. In this day, the evidences of these victories exist in the invisible realm, but in the future they will appear in the visible plane as well. Then shall all witness the truth of the verse “Behold the confusion that hath befallen the tribes of the defeated!” (Qur’an 38:11) 

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

January 27

The magnanimity of man must be heavenly—or, in other words, it must be assisted by the divine confirmation, so that he may become the cause of the illumination of the world of humanity. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol. 7, no. 10, September 8, 1916)

January 25

O ye friends! This is not the time of rest and tranquillity! This is not the season of silence and stillness. The nightingale of the rose-garden of uprightness must display its wonderful melodies and trills. The bird of guidance must exhibit its eloquent speech. The light and the heat are the concomitant results of the lamp. The brilliancy of the stars must be everlasting. The existence of the ocean connotes the waves. The birds must soar toward the apex. The pearls are inseparable from their lustre and sweet fragrance must qualify the blossoms of the rose-garden of knowledge. It is hoped that through the favor of the living, Self-subsistent, we may become assisted in a befitting manner. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol.7, no. 14, November 23, 1916)

January 23

During my stay in America I cried out in every meeting and summoned the people to the propagation of the ideals of universal peace. I said plainly that the continent of Europe had become like unto an arsenal and its conflagration was dependent upon one spark, and that in the coming years, or within two years, all that which is recorded in the Revelation of John and the Book of Daniel would become fulfilled and come to pass. This matter, in all probability, was published in the San Francisco Bulletin, October 12, 1912. You may refer to it, so that the truth may become clear and manifest; thus ye may fully realize that this is the time for the diffusion of the fragrances. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol. 7, no. 10, September 8, 1916)

January 21

…you must thank God that He has bestowed upon you the blessing of life and existence in the human kingdom. Strive diligently to acquire virtues befitting your degree and station. Be as lights of the world which cannot be hid and which have no setting in horizons of darkness. Ascend to the zenith of an existence which is never beclouded by the fears and forebodings of nonexistence. When man is not endowed with inner perception, he is not informed of these important mysteries. The retina of outer vision, though sensitive and delicate, may, nevertheless, be a hindrance to the inner eye which alone can perceive. The bestowals of God which are manifest in all phenomenal life are sometimes hidden by intervening veils of mental and mortal vision which render man spiritually blind and incapable, but when those scales are removed and the veils rent asunder, then the great signs of God will become visible, and he will witness the eternal light filling the world. The bestowals of God are all and always manifest. The promises of heaven are ever present. The favors of God are all-surrounding, but should the conscious eye of the soul of man remain veiled and darkened, he will be led to deny these universal signs and remain deprived of these manifestations of divine bounty. Therefore, we must endeavor with heart and soul in order that the veil covering the eye of inner vision may be removed, that we may behold the manifestations of the signs of God, discern His mysterious graces and realize that material blessings as compared with spiritual bounties are as nothing. The spiritual blessings of God are greatest. When we were in the mineral kingdom, although we were endowed with certain gifts and powers, they were not to be compared with the blessings of the human kingdom. In the matrix of the mother we were the recipients of endowments and blessings of God, yet these were as nothing compared to the powers and graces bestowed upon us after birth into this human world. Likewise, if we are born from the matrix of this physical and phenomenal environment into the freedom and loftiness of the spiritual life and vision, we shall consider this mortal existence and its blessings as worthless by comparison. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, 4 May April 1912, Evanston, Illinois; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

January 19

His Holiness Muhammad, the messenger of God, says: "If a person becomes the cause of the illumination of one soul it is better than a boundless treasury." Again He says: "O Ali, if God guide through thee one soul it is better for thee than all the riches." Again He says: "Direct us to the straight path," that is, show us the direct road. In brief, I hope you will display in this respect the greatest effort and magnanimity. It is assured that you will become assisted and confirmed. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol. 7, no. 10, September 8, 1916)

January 17

O ye friends! With heart and soul yearn for the service of the divine threshold and like unto the righteous ones become ye the guardians of the court of the merciful. Servitude at the holy threshold means the spread of the fragrances, the explanation of signs and verses, thraldom at the hall of unity and attachment to the palace of mercifulness. Consider with what severance, attraction and enkindlement the apostles of His Holiness the Spirit—May my life be a ransom to Him!—arose in the promulgation of the Word of God after His crucifixion. We hope from the bestowal of the True One that we may likewise walk in the footsteps of those pure ones and hasten unhesitatingly and rejoicingly toward the arena of love and sacrifice. This is the inexhaustible outpouring. This is the grace of His Highness the forgiving Lord. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol.7, no. 14, November 23, 1916)

January 15

After the departure of His Holiness Christ only a limited number of people were His disciples; notwithstanding this His fame became world-conquering and His song reached the sphere of ether." But, the Blessed Perfection—May my life be a ransom to His believers!—on the eve of His ascension, hundreds and thousands were associating together under the shade of the flag of His majesty. From this illustration you can draw the conclusion that a mighty resurrection will be witnessed in the not-far distant future. One of the greatest apostles of His Holiness the Spirit was the great Peter; but, notwithstanding this, before Christ's crucifixion he became agitated and was harassed with fear; while thousands of souls, singing, dancing and clapping their hands, have given up their lives and hastened toward the city of martyrdom, for the sake and in the path of the Most Great Name—May my identity be a sacrifice to His friends! 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol.7, no. 14, November 23, 1916)

January 13

We are commanded to quicken the souls, to train the characters, to illumine the realm of man, to guide all the inhabitants of the earth, to create concord and unity among all men and to lead the world of humanity to the Fountain of the Everlasting Glory. The reformation of one empire is not our aim; nay, rather we invoke from God that all the regions of the world be reformed and cultivated; the republic of men become the manifestors of the bounty of the most glorious Lord; the East and the West be brought nearer together;… in brief, all the nations and peoples of the world become as one soul and one spirit, in order that strife and warfare be entirely removed and the rancor and hostility disappear so that all become as the waves of one ocean, the drops of one sea, the flowers of one rose-garden, the trees of one orchard, the grains of one harvest and the plants of one meadow. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 3)

January 11

The bestowal and grace of God have quickened the realm of existence with life and being. For existence there is neither change nor transformation; existence is ever existence; it can never be translated into nonexistence. It is gradation; a degree below a higher degree is considered as nonexistence. This dust beneath our feet, as compared with our being, is nonexistent. When the human body crumbles into dust, we can say it has become nonexistent; therefore, its dust in relation to living forms of human being is as nonexistent, but in its own sphere it is existent, it has its mineral being. Therefore, it is well proved that absolute nonexistence is impossible; it is only relative. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, 4 May April 1912, Evanston, Illinois; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

January 9

O servant of the one true God! The Morn of divine guidance hath shed its radiance upon the East and lit up the Orient. It hath cast its beams upon the West and brightened the Occident. God be praised, for the renown and glory of the Abhá Beauty hath conquered the world, and the fame of the advent of the Most Great Name hath stirred up the whole earth. His call is now raised in every land, and His life-giving breezes blow from every region. Yet, regrettably, the unfaithful are striving to the utmost to extinguish His radiant Light, to still the wafting of His perfumed breeze, and to hinder the diffusion of His sweet fragrance. Alas, alas! Even if the dark clouds obscure the light of the sun for a while, they shall, in the end, be dispersed, and its effulgent rays shall shine forth once again. Upon thee be greetings and praise. 

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

January 7

O people! Bahá’u’lláh laid the foundation of universal peace fifty years ago. He even addressed Epistles to the kings wherein He declared that war could destroy the foundation of the world of humanity, that peace was conducive to everlasting life and that dire peril awaited mankind. Also three years before the outbreak of the world war ‘Abdu’l-Bahá travelled to America and most of Europe, where he raised His voice before all gatherings, societies and churches, appealing: O ye assemblage of men! The continent of Europe hath virtually become an arsenal filled with explosives. There are vast stores of destructive material hidden underground, liable to burst forth at a single spark, causing the whole earth to quake. O ye men of understanding! Bestir yourselves that perchance this accumulation of volatile material may not explode. But the appeal went unheeded and consequently this murderous war broke out.

The bulk of humanity now realiseth what a great calamity war is and how war turneth man into a ferocious animal, causing prosperous cities and villages to be reduced to ruins and the foundations of the human edifice to crumble. Now, since all men have been awakened and their ears are attentive, it is time for the promulgation of universal peace—a peace based on righteousness and justice—that mankind may not be exposed to further dangers in the future. Now is the dawn of universal peace, and the first streaks of its light are beginning to appear. We earnestly hope that its effulgent orb may shine forth and flood the East and the West with its radiance. The establishment of universal peace is not possible save through the power of the Word of God. Effort must be made for the Word of God to exert its influence so that universal peace may be established. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet to Martha Root dated 20 July 1919; Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

January 5

Thou desirest forgiveness of sins; thou seekest utmost peace and tranquillity; thou beseechest nearness to the Threshold of Grandeur; thou desirest renunciation of thine own will and acquiescence in the will of God; thou beseechest deliverance from self; thou seekest to progress upwards through the grades of knowledge; thou desirest to render service unto the one true God; and thou cherishest the hope that thy respected husband and thy children will all become enkindled with the fire of the love of God, and that their faces will become illumined with the light of His knowledge. Truly, all these desires are worthy of entreaty.

In particular, thou wishest for deliverance from self-conceit. This quality, which is pride, hath been the ruin of many important people in the world. Should a person be possessed of all praiseworthy qualities yet be egotistical, then all those virtues and goodly characteristics will be obliterated and ultimately converted into the worst of defects. My hope is that the friends of God and the maidservants of the All-Merciful will be wholly free of pride and selfishness. Should they achieve this, they will manifest bountiful blessings, and the gates of heavenly bestowal will be opened wide. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

January 3

O thou servant of the Abhá Beauty! When the celestial Lion rushed forth from the forest of the All-Merciful, He let out such a mighty roar that the sly foxes of ignorance and the cunning jackals, stained with the dye of deceit, fled the field. [1] They then began to plot and conspire, raised the dust of cruelty and malice, and abased themselves to the depths of degradation, and now bewail and lament in the remoteness of obscurity and extinction. Leave them, therefore, in their corner of oblivion. They are “those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves”.  (Qur’an 59:19) Surely they are a people, evil, in grievous loss!  (Cf. Qur’an 21:74) Upon thee be greetings and praise. 

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

[1] An allusion to Rúmí’s story about a jackal that fell into a barrel of paint and then claimed to be a peacock.

January 1

For example, an atom of the soil or dust of earth may traverse the kingdoms from mineral to man by successive incorporations into the bodies of the organisms of those kingdoms. At one time it enters into the formation of the mineral or rock; it is then absorbed by the vegetable kingdom and becomes a constituent of the body and fibre of a tree; again it is appropriated by the animal, and at a still later period is found in the body of man. Throughout these degrees of its traversing the kingdoms from one form of phenomenal being to another, it retains its atomic existence and is never annihilated nor relegated to nonexistence. 

Nonexistence, therefore, is an expression applied to change of form, but this transformation can never be rightly considered annihilation, for the elements of composition are ever present and existent as we have seen in the journey of the atom through successive kingdoms, unimpaired; hence, there is no death; life is everlasting. So to speak, when the atom entered into the composition of the tree, it died to the mineral kingdom, and when consumed by the animal, it died to the vegetable kingdom, and so on until its transference or transmutation into the kingdom of man; but throughout its traversing it was subject to transformation and not annihilation. Death, therefore, is applicable to a change or transference from one degree or condition to another. In the mineral realm there was a spirit of existence; in the world of plant life and organisms it reappeared as the vegetative spirit; thence it attained the animal spirit and finally aspired to the human spirit. These are degrees and changes but not obliteration, and this is a rational proof that man is everlasting, ever-living. Therefore, death is only a relative term implying change. For example, we will say that this light before me, having reappeared in another incandescent lamp, has died in the one and lives in the other. This is not death in reality. The perfections of the mineral are translated into the vegetable and from thence into the animal, the virtue always attaining a superlative degree in the upward change. In each kingdom we find the same virtues manifesting themselves more fully, proving that the reality has been transferred from a lower to a higher form and kingdom of being. Therefore, nonexistence is only relative and absolute nonexistence inconceivable. This rose in my hand will become disintegrated and its symmetry destroyed, but the elements of its composition remain changeless; nothing affects their elemental integrity. They cannot become nonexistent; they are simply transferred from one state to another. 

Through his ignorance man fears death, but the death he shrinks from is imaginary and absolutely unreal; it is only human imagination. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, 4 May April 1912, Evanston, Illinois; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)