…were they [Manifestations of God] to say: “We are the
servants of God,” this also is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have
been made manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of
which no man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences of
being were deeply immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting
holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of divine mysteries, they
claimed their utterance to be the Voice of divinity, the Call of God Himself.
Were the eye of discernment to be opened, it would recognize that in this very
state, they have considered themselves utterly effaced and non-existent in the
face of Him Who is the All-Pervading, the Incorruptible. Methinks, they have
regarded themselves as utter nothingness, and deemed their mention in that
Court an act of blasphemy. For the slightest whispering of self, within such a
Court, is an evidence of self-assertion and independent existence. In the eyes
of them that have attained unto that Court, such a suggestion is itself a grievous
transgression. How much more grievous would it be, were aught else to be
mentioned in that Presence, were man’s heart, his tongue, his mind, or his
soul, to be busied with anyone but the Well-Beloved, were his eyes to behold
any countenance other than His beauty, were his ear to be inclined to any
melody but His voice, and were his feet to tread any way but His way.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
