Befriended Stranger

Some things never change… Back in 1983, ABC Broadcasting had a 20/20 TV program on the persecution of the Baha’is of Iran. Now news sources as diverse as CNN and the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights report that the seven leaders of the Baha’i Faith in Iran have been sentenced to 20 years in prison each! Talk about injustice… This cannot continue forever.

O OPPRESSORS ON EARTH!
Withdraw your hands from tyranny, for I have pledged Myself not to forgive any man’s injustice. This is My covenant which I have irrevocably decreed in the preserved tablet and sealed with My seal.
(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words, #64)

Last night I read the powerful Tablet of Ahmad with my heart’s thoughts centered on those innocent souls so unjustly imprisoned. That same evening, a friend of mine dedicated her Yoga practice to the cause of their liberation. What would you do? Let us all pray:

Lauded be Thy name, O Thou Who beholdest all things and art hidden from all things! From every land Thou hearest the lamentations of them that love Thee, and from every direction Thou hearkenest unto the cries of such as have recognized Thy sovereignty. Were their oppressors to be asked: “Wherefore have ye oppressed them and held them in bondage in Baghdad and elsewhere? What injustice have they committed? Whom have they betrayed? Whose blood have they spilled, and whose property have they plundered?” they would know not what to answer.

Thou knowest full well, O my God, that their only crime is to have loved Thee. For this reason have their oppressors laid hold on them, and scattered them abroad. Aware as I am, O my God, that Thou wilt send down upon Thy servants only what is good for them, I nevertheless beseech Thee, by Thy name which overshadoweth all things, to raise up, for their assistance and as a sign of Thy grace and as an evidence of Thy power, those who will keep them safe from all their adversaries.

Potent art Thou to do Thy pleasure. Thou art, verily, the Supreme Ruler, the Almighty, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting
(Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 23)

O All-Sufficient One! Thou dost suffice Me in every hardship that may descend upon Me and in every affliction that may wax great before Me. Thou art My sole Companion in My loneliness, the Delight of My heart in My solitude and My Best Beloved in My prison and in My Abode. No God is there but Thee!

Whomsoever Thou dost suffice shall not be put to grief; whomsoever Thou dost protect shall never perish; whomsoever Thou dost help shall never be abased; and he unto whom Thou turnest Thy gaze shall never be far removed from Thee.

Write down for us then whatsoever is of Thee, and forgive us for what we are. Verily Thou art the Lord of power and glory, the Lord of all the worlds.

- The Bab

O servants! Lifeless is the body that is bereft of a soul, and withered the heart that is devoid of the remembrance of its Lord. Commune with the remembrance of the Friend and shun the enemy. Your enemy is such things as ye have acquired of your own inclination, to which ye have firmly clung, and whereby ye have sullied your souls. The soul hath been created for the remembrance of the Friend; safeguard its purity. The tongue hath been created to bear witness to God; pollute it not with the mention of the wayward.

Baha’u’llah, The Tabernacle of Unity P. 68

Know also that the soul is endowed with two wings: should it soar in the atmosphere of love and contentment, then it will be related to the All-Merciful, and should it fly in the atmosphere of self and desire, then it will pertain to the Evil One; may God shield and protect us and protect you therefrom, O ye who perceive! Should the soul become ignited with the fire of the love of God, it is called benevolent and pleasing unto God, but should it be consumed with the fire of passion, it is known as the concupiscent soul.

Baha’u’llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts P. 154

I miss the excitement of the International Day of Children as it was widely celebrated back in Bulgaria.  Here the majority of people are not even aware of it. Symbolically, even the email card my brother sent me, congratulating my little ones with the 1st of June holiday, was caught in my spam inbox. The irony is that in this country children are put on a special pedestal yet so often they do not know true childhood, oppressed as they are by their parents and society by the demand of the consumerist society. Paradoxically, of course, we are all children, adults included. We just often miss the right perspective. Here is a reminder:

O true companions! All humankind are as children in a school, and the Dawning-Points of Light, the Sources of divine revelation, are the teachers, wondrous and without peer. In the school of realities they educate these sons and daughters, according to teachings from God, and foster them in the bosom of grace, so that they may develop along every line, show forth the excellent gifts and blessings of the Lord, and combine human perfections; that they may advance in all aspects of human endeavour, whether outward or inward, hidden or visible, material or spiritual, until they make of this mortal world a widespread mirror, to reflect that other world which dieth not.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 127)

O peoples of the world! The Sun of Truth hath risen to illumine the whole earth, and to spiritualize the community of man. Laudable are the results and the fruits thereof, abundant the holy evidences deriving from this grace. This is mercy unalloyed and purest bounty; it is light for the world and all its peoples; it is harmony and fellowship, and love and solidarity; indeed it is compassion and unity, and the end of foreignness; it is the being at one, in complete dignity and freedom, with all on earth.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 1)

Dear friends!

As seven Baha’i leaders in the cradle of their Faith enter their third year of imprisonment, new details about the harsh conditions of their incarceration have emerged, prompting renewed calls for their immediate release.

This Friday, May 14th, I invite you and your loves ones to an interfaith Prayer Station in Arlington on the theme of “Love and Solidarity”. Let us together, united in one common prayer, attract divine assistance for our friends and all suffering people in Iran, the land which gave birth to the Faith of Baha’u'llah!

We’ll start at 8 pm with a devotional program of selected Holy Writings and Prayers. I have many books of prayers from different faith traditions but if you wish, feel free to bring your own prayer. We’ll also uplift and refresh our souls with music, and we’ll conclude with tea and refreshments.

We’ll also say prayers for anyone in need, so if you can’t join us and would like to request prayers please contact me.

The fruits that best befit the tree of human life are trustworthiness and godliness, truthfulness and sincerity; but greater than all, after recognition of the unity of God, praised and glorified be He, is regard for the rights that are due to one’s parents. This teaching hath been mentioned in all the Books of God, and reaffirmed by the Most Exalted Pen. Consider that which the Merciful Lord hath revealed in the Qur’an, exalted are His words: “Worship ye God, join with Him no peer or likeness; and show forth kindliness and charity towards your parents…” Observe how loving-kindness to one’s parents hath been linked to recognition of the one true God! Happy they who are endued with true wisdom and understanding, who see and perceive, who read and understand, and who observe that which God hath revealed in the Holy Books of old, and in this incomparable and wondrous Tablet.

- Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas

O congregation of the Bayan, and all who are therein! Recognize ye the limits imposed upon you, for such a One as the Point of the Bayan Himself hath believed in Him Whom God shall make manifest, before all things were created. Therein, verily, do I glory before all who are in the kingdom of heaven and earth. Suffer not yourselves to be shut out as by a veil from God after He hath revealed Himself. For all that hath been exalted in the Bayan is but as a ring upon My hand, and I Myself am, verily, but a ring upon the hand of Him Whom God shall make manifest — glorified be His mention! He turneth it as He pleaseth, for whatsoever He pleaseth, and through whatsoever He pleaseth. He, verily, is the Help in Peril, the Most High.

The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 168

Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first day of Ridvan, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes.
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 47)

From the notes of Kitab-i-Aqdas: first day of Ridvan:

This is a reference to the arrival of Bahá’u'lláh and His companions in the Najibiyyih Garden outside the city of  Baghdad, subsequently referred to by the Bahá’ís as the Garden of Ridvan. This event, which took place thirty-one days after Naw-Ruz, in April 1863, signalized the commencement of the period during which Bahá’u'lláh declared His Mission to His companions. In a Tablet, He refers to His Declaration as “the Day of supreme felicity” and He describes the Garden of Ridvan as “the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of His Name, the All-Merciful”. Bahá’u'lláh spent twelve days in this Garden prior to departing for Istanbul, the place to which He had been banished. The Declaration of Bahá’u'lláh is celebrated annually by the twelve-day Ridvan Festival, described by Shoghi Effendi as “the holiest and most significant of all Bahá’í festivals”.

Give me to drink of the river that is life indeed, whose waters have streamed forth from the Paradise (Ridvan) in which the throne of Thy Name, the All-Merciful, was established, that mine eyes may be opened, and my face be illumined, and my heart be assured, and my soul be enlightened, and my steps be made firm.
(Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 4)

In God We put Our trust, and to Him We cry for help, that haply there may flow from this pen that which shall  quicken the souls of men, that they may all arise from their beds of heedlessness and hearken unto the rustling of the leaves of Paradise, from the tree which the hand of divine power hath, by the permission of God, planted in the Ridvan of the All-Glorious.
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 19)

Make haste, O my brother, that while there is yet time our lips may taste of the immortal draught, for the breeze of life, now blowing from the city of the Well-Beloved, cannot last, and the streaming river of holy utterance must needs be stilled, and the portals of the Ridvan cannot for ever remain open.
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 23)

O my brother! Take thou the step of the spirit, so that, swift as the twinkling of an eye, thou mayest flash through the wilds of remoteness and bereavement, attain the Ridvan of everlasting reunion, and in one breath commune with the heavenly Spirits. For with human feet thou canst never hope to traverse these immeasurable distances, nor attain thy goal. Peace be upon him whom the light of truth guideth unto all truth, and who, in the name of God, standeth in the path of His Cause, upon the shore of true understanding.
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 43)

Behold how within all things the portals of the Ridvan of God are opened, that seekers may attain the cities of understanding and wisdom, and enter the gardens of knowledge and power. Within every garden they will behold the mystic bride of inner meaning enshrined within the chambers of utterance in the utmost grace and fullest adornment.
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 139)

We are interconnected, like rippling waves. From time to time we get glimpses of this interconnectedness but more often than not they are so subtle that we do not even notice them. Which makes the times when it is impossible to miss those glimpses, even more precious…

Yesterday I got a pleasant surprise when the apartment building’s manager — a very sweet young woman from Yemen who grew up in Germany — sent me an email that she would like to come to the Prayer Station. I was so overjoyed! In case you wonder why, and to put things in perspective, she’s been on my weekly invitation list since… June 2008. And even though on many occasions she had asked me to pray for her, it was the first time that she decided to join me…

When she arrived, she asked me if I knew why she came this time after all these invitations — I had no idea but she explained…

The previous week, she had contacted me to remind me that I need to clear up my apartment for carpet replacement. I had totally missed the message during my recent trip to Bulgaria so I had to take last Monday’s afternoon off from work to be able to move all the stuff to the balcony, kitchen and restroom — the only places not covered with carpeting. Then on Tuesday morning she called me to tell me that a mistake had been made and that in fact my carpet is not old enough and it will not be replaced. My reply was… “Oh, OK, no problem”. She felt badly about the mistake and offered to have the carpet cleaned to which I gratefully agreed.

So, yesterday she explained to me that she  was so surprised that I did not get mad at her as she was anticipating, that she decided to come to the prayer meeting to find out what makes me who I am. I hope this is not a post to brag about how calm I can be, so in full honesty I don’t know if I would have gotten mad on another more regular day but that day in particular I was most certainly very impacted by the passing of Joe Pagano which, putting everything else in perspective, had reminded me how fragile and precious life is,  and by the beginning of the Fast.

One way or another, she came to join the prayer meeting and a group of  five other souls — four Baha’is and a young woman of Catholic background — and we all had great time reading and praying for the equality of women and men.

I am so grateful for this confirmation, this glimpse into the power of the positive impact we all can have on each other, for the reminder that we all are indeed rippling waves of one sea, passing energy into the universe and onto each other…

O Lord! Cause our souls to depend upon the signs of Thy Oneness, our hearts to be dilated with the bounties of Thy Singleness, so that we may become united as are ripples on a waving sea; become harmonized as are the rays which shine forth from a brilliant light; so that our thoughts, opinions and feelings become as one reality from which the spirit of accord may be diffused throughout all regions.

Verily Thou art the Beneficent, the Bestower! Verily Thou art the Giver, the Mighty, the Loving, the Merciful!

(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v1, p. 3)

The most vital duty, in this day, is to purify your characters, to correct your manners, and improve your conduct. The beloved of the Merciful must show forth such character and conduct among His creatures, that the fragrance of their holiness may be shed upon the whole world, and may quicken the dead, inasmuch as the purpose of the Manifestation of God and the dawning of the limitless lights of the Invisible is to educate the souls of men, and refine the character of every living man — so that blessed individuals, who have freed themselves from the murk of the animal world, shall rise up with those qualities which are the adornings of the reality of man. The purpose is that earthlings should turn into the people of Heaven, and those who walk in darkness should come into the light, and those who are excluded should join the inner circle of the Kingdom, and those who are as nothing should become intimates of the everlasting Glory. It is that the portionless should gain their share of the boundless sea, and the ignorant drink their fill from the living fount of knowledge; that those who thirst for blood should forsake their savagery, and those who are barbed of claw should turn gentle and forbearing, and those who love war should seek instead for true conciliation; it is that the brutal, their talons razor-sharp, should enjoy the benefits of lasting peace; that the foul should learn that there is a realm of purity, and the tainted find their way to the rivers of holiness.

‘Abdu’l-Baha, Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha  Pp. 11-12.