Befriended Stranger

As the Baha’i Fast is approaching its closure, I am reflecting on the experience of my heart these past few weeks. A sweet video that was sent by a friend captures it very nicely — “The Baha’i Fasting: 51 Reasons Why”.

I particularly like this reason:

During fasting the heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases.

And so, here are a couple of more readings to supplement this thought:

“Make me ready, in all circumstances, O my Lord, to serve Thee and to set myself towards the adored sanctuary of Thy Revelation and of Thy Beauty. If it be Thy pleasure, make me to grow as a tender herb in the meadows of Thy grace, that the gentle winds of Thy will may stir me up and bend me into conformity with Thy pleasure, in such wise that my movement and my stillness may be wholly directed by Thee.”

– Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 240

And a poem by Rumi:

Fasting

There is a unseen sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness.
We are lutes. When the soundbox is filled, no music can come out.
When the brain and the belly are burning from fasting,
every moment a new song rises out of the fire.
The mists clear, and a new vitality makes you
spring up the steps before you.
Be empty and sing as a reed instrument.
Be empty and write secrets with a reed pen.
When satiated by food and drink, an unsightly metal statue
is seated where your spirit should be.
When fasting, good habits gather like helpful friends.
Fasting is Solomon’s ring. Don’t give in to illusion and lose your power.
But even when all will and control have been lost,
they will return when you fast, like soldiers appearing out of the ground,
or pennants flying in the breeze.
A table descends to your tents, the Lord’s table.
Anticipate seeing it when fasting, this table spread with a different food,
far better than the broth of cabbages.

– Poem by the 13th century Persian poet Jalal’u'ddin Rumi

This morning I witnessed a wonderful discussion on the Wilmette Institute forum and with permission from the participants, I will repost Brent’s response to Ernest:

Ernest observes: “Is it that things of the spirit are not subject to strict mathematical laws?”

I think that’s a good observation. When God decided to give us water, He didn’t say, “Here’s a glass of water, 12 ounces exactly.” He said: “Mountain. Sun. Cloud. Stream.”

When He gave us orange juice, He didn’t say, “Box, sugar, reconstituted semi-palatable juice.” He said, “Tree. Ground. Sun. Leaves. Oranges.”

And likewise in the spiritual realm, when He gives us guidance, it is a growing, organic thing.

Sometimes the Tablets look like the forces of nature:

Compare:

and:

Or maybe it is that the forces of nature resemble the Tablets?

Wow! Indeed one realizes with awe that regardless of our preoccupation with the physical world, the world of the spirit does not limit itself to the laws of the physical. A mention of quantum physics would be an illustration, albeit an inadequate one, of what happens at the point of the intersection of physical and spiritual.

And as Hossein added to the discussion:

I seem to recall from the readings of Abdu’l Baha that since the world of the spirit is not of this world, there are things in that realm which are beyond our ken and understanding; they can not be adequately explained by the tools of this plane of existence, as human words.

Given this back drop, I would think that “strict mathematical laws” will certainly be very wonting in explaining spiritual phenomena, let alone be subjected to it.

What a bounty to realize on a daily basis, through the interaction with the Writings and the marvelous friends, the depth of the wisdom of our marvelous Faith!

Sometime ago the thought for a posting titled “Playing pick-a-boo with God” came to mind following an interesting interplay with my two-year old daugther but I never had the time to follow up and write it. I feel, the time now is right.

Here is the original story that prompted the idea for the title:

One evening, as I was putting my younger daughter to bed she was playing a bit rough, poking me in my face as I was laying next to her in the dark room. In my attempt to protect myself, I covered my face with two hands. As I did that, she got very concerned that I had disappeared and started calling on me “Daddy, Daddy!”. I was, of course, just there with her, but you know how little ones react — if they don’t see your face, they think they are not there. The moment, I opened my two hands and she could see my face, she sighed with relief and exclaimed “I love you Daddy!” It was a very sweet moment and I tried it again — she started poking my face, I hid it behind my hands, she started asking where I was even though I was next to her, and the moment I uncovered my face, she would say with relief and joy that she loved me.

So, that story made me think about our love for the heavenly Father and our need to see Him in order to make sure He loves us too. Of course, He does love us, and not seeing Him does not mean He is not there, next to us, lovingly supporting us in our growth. Yet, immature as we are spiritually, we want the proof He is there.

But then even when He does show us He is there, we pull back and pretend He is not.

So, we play this pick-a-boo game with God…

Now, I don’t object the idea of playfulness in our interaction with God — I am pretty sure God has a good sense of humor, and A LOT OF LOVE for us all (otherwise we would all be in deep trouble). What I am thinking of is the delusion that God is not there when we don’t look at Him; I am talking about the delusion that God is not seeing when we are not seeing Him.

The only mature response to this is the constant reminder that God is indeed, near us, every second of our life:

O My servants! Deprive not yourselves of the unfading and resplendent Light that shineth within the Lamp of Divine glory. Let the flame of the love of God burn brightly within your radiant hearts. Feed it with the oil of Divine guidance, and protect it within the shelter of your constancy. Guard it within the globe of trust and detachment from all else but God, so that the evil whisperings of the ungodly may not extinguish its light. O My servants! My holy, My divinely ordained Revelation may be likened unto an ocean in whose depths are concealed innumerable pearls of great price, of surpassing luster. It is the duty of every seeker to bestir himself and strive to attain the shores of this ocean, so that he may, in proportion to the eagerness of his search and the efforts he hath exerted, partake of such benefits as have been pre-ordained in God’s irrevocable and hidden Tablets. If no one be willing to direct his steps towards its shores, if every one should fail to arise and find Him, can such a failure be said to have robbed this ocean of its power or to have lessened, to any degree, its treasures? How vain, how contemptible, are the imaginations which your hearts have devised, and are still devising! O My servants! The one true God is My witness! This most great, this fathomless and surging Ocean is near, astonishingly near, unto you. Behold it is closer to you than your life-vein! Swift as the twinkling of an eye ye can, if ye but wish it, reach and partake of this imperishable favor, this God-given grace, this incorruptible gift, this most potent and unspeakably glorious bounty.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 325)

The reason I started thinking of this again was my reading for an online class I am talking now at the Wilmette Institute on Islam. One of the fascinating things I am discovering is the gentleness of Islam (in its original message as conveyed in the Qu’ran), where there is no concept of original sin but awareness that man is forgetful. Thus, the need for the constant Remembrance of God.

I am a Baha’i and mercifully God has ordained only one daily obligatory prayer rather than five of them, but the concept is the same: the need to remind myself of God’s constant presence is a key to my spiritual advancement. When I read Tablets of Baha’u'llah or Abdu’l Baha, and even memoirs of early Baha’is, they always start with the invocation of God’s majesty. It is only now, in my spiritual adolescence, that I am starting to understand the reason — the need for the Remembrance of God.

LXXV. Tear asunder, in My Name, the veils that have grievously blinded your vision, and, through the power born of your belief in the unity of God, scatter the idols of vain imitation. Enter, then, the holy paradise of the good-pleasure of the All-Merciful. Sanctify your souls from whatsoever is not of God, and taste ye the sweetness of rest within the pale of His vast and mighty Revelation, and beneath the shadow of His supreme and infallible authority. Suffer not yourselves to be wrapt in the dense veils of your selfish desires, inasmuch as I have perfected in every one of you My creation, so that the excellence of My handiwork may be fully revealed unto men.
(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 142)

The Greater Covenant of Baha’u'llah — the promise that God will never leave us alone and will send yet another messenger — is yet another chapter in “the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future”.

The Bab writes:

“The Lord of the universe hath never raised up a prophet nor hath He sent down a Book unless He hath established His covenant with all men, calling for their acceptance of the next Revelation and of the next Book; inasmuch as the outpourings of His bounty are ceaseless and without limit.”
(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 86)

and:

“The purpose underlying this Revelation, as well as those that preceded it, has, in like manner, been to announce the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest. And this Faith — the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest — in its turn, together with all the Revelations gone before it, have as their object the Manifestation destined to succeed it.”
(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 105)

Baha’u'llah Himself quotes His Forerunner, the Bab, referring to The Bayan:

“Glorified art Thou, O My God! Bear Thou witness that, through this Book, I have covenanted with all created things concerning the Mission of Him Whom Thou shalt make manifest, ere the covenant concerning Mine own Mission had been established. Sufficient witness art Thou and they that have believed in Thy signs. Thou, verily, sufficest Me. In Thee have I placed My trust, and Thou, verily, takest count of all things.”
(Baha’u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 160)

Just as the Bab was specific in indicating that Baha’u'llah’s mission won’t be revealed until the passing of nine years, Baha’u'llah specifies that there will not be another Manifestation of God before the passing of a thousand years:

“Whoso layeth claim to a Revelation direct from God, ere the expiration of a full thousand years, such a man is assuredly a lying impostor.”
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 32)

Abdu’l Baha confirms:

“O servant of God! We have noted what thou didst write to Jinab-i-Ibn-Abhar, and thy question regarding the verse: ‘Whoso layeth claim to a Revelation direct from God, ere the expiration of a full thousand years, such a man is assuredly a lying impostor.’

The meaning of this is that any individual who, before the expiry of a full thousand years — years known and clearly established by common usage and requiring no interpretation — should lay claim to a Revelation direct from God, even though he should reveal certain signs, that man is assuredly false and an impostor.”
(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 67)

Shoghi Effendi elaborates:

“That ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is not a Manifestation of God, that, though the successor of His Father, He does not occupy a cognate station, that no one else except the Báb and Bahá’u'lláh can ever lay claim to such a station before the expiration of a full thousand years — are verities which lie embedded in the specific utterances of both the Founder of our Faith and the Interpreter of His teachings.”Whoso layeth claim to a Revelation direct from God,” is the express warning uttered in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, “ere the expiration of a full thousand years, such a man is assuredly a lying imposter. We pray God that He may graciously assist him to retract and repudiate such claim. Should he repent, God will no doubt forgive him. If, however, he persists in his error, God will assuredly send down one who will deal mercilessly with him. Terrible indeed is God in punishing!” “Whosoever,” He adds as a further emphasis, “interpreteth this verse otherwise than its obvious meaning is deprived of the Spirit of God and of His mercy which encompasseth all created things.” “Should a man appear,” is yet another conclusive statement, “ere the lapse of a full thousand years — each year consisting of twelve months according to the Qur’án, and of nineteen months of nineteen days each, according to the Bayan — and if such a man reveal to your eyes all the signs of God, unhesitatingly reject him!”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s own statements, in confirmation of this warning, are no less emphatic and binding: “This is,” He declares, “my firm, my unshakable conviction, the essence of my unconcealed and explicit belief — a conviction and belief which the denizens of the Abha Kingdom fully share: The Blessed Beauty is the Sun of Truth, and His light the light of truth. The Báb is likewise the Sun of Truth, and His light the light of truth… My station is the station of servitude — a servitude which is complete, pure and real, firmly established, enduring, obvious, explicitly revealed and subject to no interpretation whatever… I am the Interpreter of the Word of God; such is my interpretation.”
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u'llah, p. 132)

Completing the confirmation of the promised arrival of a new Manifestation, the Universal House of Justice indicates in its Constitution that its authority is absolute until the coming of the new Manifestion of God:

“The provenance, the authority, the duties, the sphere of action of the Universal House of Justice all derive from the revealed Word of Bahá’u'lláh which, together with the interpretations and expositions of the Centre of the Covenant and of the Guardian of the Cause – who, after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is the sole authority in the interpretation of Bahá’í Scripture – constitute the binding terms of reference of the Universal House of Justice and are its bedrock foundation. The authority of these Texts is absolute and immutable until such time as Almighty God shall reveal His new Manifestation to Whom will belong all authority and power.”
(The Universal House of Justice, The Constitution of The Universal House of Justice, p. 4)

Until that time (of the next Manifestation), we have the bounty and wonderful responsibility of following the teachings of Baha’u'llah as interpreted by Abdu’l Baha, expounded by Shoghi Effendi, and applied to the challenges of today (for at least ten more centuries) by the Universal House of Justice.

This thought reminds me of a conversation with a friend on the bounty of having the Universal House of Justice send us annual Ridvan messages. But you can read about it yourself…

Everybody in the Baha’i community here in Northern Virginia is excited about a story broadcast this morning on National Public Radio: “Class Teaches Virtues to Children of Many Faiths”. Praised be God, this is a wonderful story and the world needs more of these!

In the past decade, the Baha’i faith has sponsored about 900 such classes nationwide. They’re based on the central Baha’i tenet that all religions are different but come from the same source, God…

The parents come from Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Greek Orthodox and Baha’i backgrounds…

Layli calls the children to the dining room table. In front of each child sits a little lamp shade.

“Remember how we talked about how religions are a lot like lamp shades?” she asks the group. “They may look different, they may be different colors or sit in different rooms, but they all have the light of God inside of them.”

The kids glue symbols of various religions onto the shades — a Christian cross, a Buddhist wheel, a star and crescent for Islam. Then Layli calls out, “Come to the light!” And the children, one by one, place their decorated lamp shades on a light bulb.

This morning a friend sent this story. It is beautiful — enjoy it!

Malachi 3:3 says: ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.‘

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says:

‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’

He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it’

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them.

O SON OF MAN!
For everything there is a sign. The sign of love is fortitude under My decree and patience under My trials.

(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

O SON OF MAN!
My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy. Hasten thereunto that thou mayest become an eternal light and an immortal spirit. This is My command unto thee, do thou observe it.

(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

I got an email today from the Bookshelf application on Facebook: “You’ve been reading ‘Gleanings from the Writings…’ for more than a week. Still true?”

This question made me smile — how is it possible to complete reading “Gleanings” in a week? I truly think one could read and reread and refer and come back and reflect and reread again and again this gem of Divine Wisdom!

So, yes, Gleanings will be on my bookshelf for a long long time!

The story of the evolution of my appreciation of Gleanings is the story of my Baha’i Life:

I was given a copy of this wondrous book in the summer of 1990 in Odessa, Ukraine, when I was first introduced to the teachings of Baha’u'llah. Back home in Bulgaria, I was offered a unique opportunity to join a team which would translate Gleanings into Bulgarian. Unfortunately, due to my lack of understanding and maturity I deprived myself from this bounty. The book stayed on my bookshelf, and traveled with me, for 17 more years until last May, when facing the biggest devastation of my life I went on Pilgrimage to seek spiritual guidance and healing.

What a marvelous surprise it was to realize that the prescription for living I’ve been yearning for, has been always with me in these precious pages. Nowadays, no morning passes by without me going back to Gleanings for spiritual nourishment — particularly now that the act of fasting is inviting me to turn to God on my own, not because of fear or mere duty but out of true gratitude for the gift God has bestowed on me.

May God bless the wonderful Canadian pioneer (I think his last name was Margulis) who gave me his copy of Gleanings back in July or August of 1990.

May God guide many others to the healing message hidden in Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, because:

The beginning of all things is the knowledge of God, and the end of all things is strict observance of whatsoever hath been sent down from the empyrean of the Divine Will that pervadeth all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah)

Whatsoever the Creator commandeth His creatures to observe, the same must they diligently, and with the utmost joy and eagerness, arise and fulfill. They should in no wise allow their fancy to obscure their judgment, neither should they regard their own imaginings as the voice of the Eternal. In the Prayer of Fasting We have revealed: “Should Thy Will decree that out of Thy mouth these words proceed and be addressed unto them, ‘Observe, for My Beauty’s sake, the fast, O people, and set no limit to its duration,’ I swear by the majesty of Thy glory, that every one of them will faithfully observe it, will abstain from whatsoever will violate Thy law, and will continue to do so until they yield up their souls unto Thee.” In this consisteth the complete surrender of one’s will to the Will of God. Meditate on this, that thou mayest drink in the waters of everlasting life which flow through the words of the Lord of all mankind, and mayest testify that the one true God hath ever been immeasurably exalted above His creatures. He, verily, is the Incomparable, the Ever-Abiding, the Omniscient, the All-Wise. The station of absolute self-surrender transcendeth, and will ever remain exalted above, every other station.

Baha’u’llah, Gleanings From the Writings of Baha’u’llah, pp. 337 – 338

Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. Baha’u’llah in one of His Tablets affirms that He has revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting so that through them the believers may draw nigh unto God.

Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting period, which involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset, is …essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires.

Fasting is enjoined on all the believers once they attain the age of 15 and until they reach the age of 70 years.

Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, pp. 24 – 25