Befriended Stranger

My God, my Fire and my Light! The days which Thou hast named the Ayyam-i-Ha (the Days of Ha, Intercalary days) in Thy Book have begun, O Thou Who art the King of names, and the fast which Thy most exalted Pen hath enjoined unto all who are in the kingdom of Thy creation to observe is approaching. I entreat Thee, O my Lord, by these days and by all such as have during that period clung to the cord of Thy commandments, and laid hold on the handle of Thy precepts, to grant that unto every soul may be assigned a place within the precincts of Thy court, and a seat at the revelation of the splendors of the light of Thy countenance.
- Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, pp. 65-66.

Happy Ayyam-i-Ha, everyone! May peace and love fill the hearts, and joy and prosperity embrace the world!

I’ve been listening to a beautiful song called “Divine Tapestry” from the first album, “Open The Gate”, by the extremely talented Canadian band “Smith and Dragoman“. This morning somebody posted on the Baha’i Communities website a video of this song from the recently released Smith and Dragoman DVD:

Find more videos like this on Baha’i CommunitiesEnjoy the music and remember the sufferings of those first souls who recognized the divine dawn light even though it appeared on a new horizon!

The whole purpose of the Dispensation of the Bab was to prepare the whole world (”TABLET TO THE FIRST LETTER OF THE LIVING This is that which We have revealed for the First Believer in Him Whom God shall make manifest, that it may serve as an admonition from Our presence unto all mankind. - The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 7), and His followers in particular, for the coming of Baha’u'llah.

As the Bab was submissive to the Will of God, He was equally submissive to Baha’u'llah:

“I, indeed, beg to address Him Whom God shall make manifest, by Thy leave in these words: ‘Shouldst Thou dismiss the entire company of the followers of the Bayan in the Day of the Latter Resurrection by a mere sign of Thy finger even while still a suckling babe, Thou wouldst indeed be praised in Thy indication.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 6)

because the Bab was clearly aware of the unique station of Baha’u'llah:

“Know thou of a certainty that whenever thou makest mention of Him Whom God shall make manifest, only then art thou making mention of God.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 80)

Thus to submit to God is to submit to Baha’u'llah:

“And know thou of a certainty that by Paradise is meant recognition of and submission unto Him Whom God shall make manifest, and by the fire the company of such souls as would fail to submit unto Him or to be resigned to His good-pleasure.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 82)

I recently joined a marvelous online course at the Wilmette Institute, on “The Three Covenants of the Bab, Baha’u'llah, and Abdu’l-Baha”.

As part of the course, we have assignments and I will share some of my thoughts based on them.

The first one is:

How can I become one of those “heavenly souls” who “tender their services” to the Covenant; one of those “heavenly angels” who “promulgate and spread it broadcast”?

Here is my response. Hope it might be of assistance to a searching soul:

When finally I could not ignore the call of my soul which had silenced my mind’s fears of inadequacy, and decided to sign my Baha’i card, my Baha’i teacher told me that the main thing from now on is the Covenant. It took me 12 years to start getting it. I am sure it will take the rest of infinity to continue getting it Thus, it is very difficult to coherently express my thoughts on this important subject but I will try:

For me, the Covenant is the relationship between God — my Creator — and me. God has given me the priceless bounty of opening my soul and eyes and discovering His manifestation for today. In return, God has prescribed certain duties. In my Baha’i path over the years, my ability and desire to perform these duties has evolved tremendously. From intellectual burden they have been transformed into spiritual nourishment. Before I was able to see their spiritual value, I had to detach myself from all illusions of understanding.

To this day, one thought at a time, I need to remind myself what is my reality (spiritual, temporarily bound within physical body), and what is my responsibility (for follow God’s will).

To become a “heavenly soul”, I needed to understand that every action — physical act or a thought — has its reverberations throughout the universe. The only safe way to go through life, make the right choices all the time, and gradually draw closer to God is by closely following God’s prescriptions for life, one a daily basis, one step at a time, one thought at a time. The source of the prescription for living is the full continuum of guidance — from the Holy Writings to the messages from the Universal House of Justice.

A friend once shared a story at a Feast that touched me a lot. She had expressed a wish that God would just give her personalized instructions so that rather than dealing with free will choices, she would just follow what these instructions are. Someone replied to her — yes, God does send you each year a letter, the Ridvan message from the Universal House of Justice!

Isn’t this marvelous — each one of us has (or will sooner or later) come to realize that God deeply cares for us, He has sent us instructions on how to live our lives, He has established the means for updating those instructions constantly (through the Administrative Order of Baha’u'llah) and He has poured His love and mercy upon all of us so we don’t get discouraged even when we might not be perfect in our attempts for follow His will!

This to me is the Covenant — the finely tuned, personally prescribed nourishing and healing medicine for my soul, body and mind. Following this heavenly prescription is the way to become a heavenly soul.

From Tablets of Baha’u'llah Revealed After the Kitab-i-Aqdas, pp. 138-139:

O ye beloved of the Lord! Commit not that which defileth the limpid stream of love or destroyeth the sweet fragrance of friendship. By the righteousness of the Lord! Ye were created to show love one to another and not perversity and
rancour. Take pride not in love for yourselves but in love for your fellow-creatures. Glory not in love for your country, but in love for all mankind. Let your eye be chaste, your hand faithful, your tongue truthful and your heart enlightened. Abase not the station of the learned in Baha and belittle not the rank of such rulers as administer justice amidst you. Set your reliance on the army of justice, put on the armour of wisdom, let your adorning be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth the hearts of the well-favoured of God.

From Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p.168:

Indeed ye have been called into being through the power of the Point of the Bayan while the Point Himself is resigned to the Will of Him Whom God shall make manifest, is exalted through His transcendent sublimity, is sustained by the evidences of His might, is glorified by the majesty of His oneness, is adorned by the beauty of His singleness, is empowered by His eternal dominion and is invested with authority through His everlasting sovereignty. How then could they, who are but the creation of the Point, be justified in saying ‘why or wherefore’?

From Abdu’l-Baha’s Tablets of the Divine Plan, pp.45-46:

Still more ideal than this life is the life of the bird. A bird, on the summit of a mountain, on the high, waving branches, has built for itself a nest more beautiful than the palaces of the kings! The air is in the utmost purity, the water cool and clear as crystal, the panorama charming and enchanting. In such glorious surroundings, he expends his numbered days. All the harvests of the plain are his possessions, having earned all this wealth without the least labor. Hence, no matter how much man may advance in this world, he shall not attain to the station of this bird! Thus it becomes evident that in the matters of this world, however much man may strive and work to the point of death, he will be unable to earn the abundance, the freedom and the independent life of a small bird. This proves and establishes the fact that man is not created for the life of this ephemeral world — nay, rather, is he created for the acquirement of infinite perfections, for the attainment to the sublimity of the world of humanity, to be drawn nigh unto the divine threshold, and to sit on the throne of everlasting sovereignty!