Morning
O thou who art mentioned in this outspread roll and who, amidst the gloomy darkness that now prevaileth, hast been illumined by the splendours of the sacred Mount in the Sinai of divine Revelation! Cleanse thy heart from every blasphemous whispering and evil allusion thou hast heard in the past, that thou mayest inhale the sweet savours of eternity from the Joseph of faithfulness, gain admittance into the celestial Egypt, and perceive the fragrances of enlightenment from this resplendent and luminous Tablet, a Tablet wherein the Pen hath inscribed the ancient mysteries of the names of His Lord, the Exalted, the Most High. Perchance thou mayest be recorded in the holy Tablets among them that are well assured.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gems of Divine Mysteries’)
Evening
The story is told of a mystic knower who went on a journey
with a learned grammarian for a companion. They came to the shore of the Sea of
Grandeur. The knower, putting his trust in God, straightway flung himself into
the waves, but the grammarian stood bewildered and lost in thoughts that were
as words traced upon the water. The mystic called out to him, “Why dost thou
not follow?” The grammarian answered, “O brother, what can I do? As I dare not
advance, I must needs go back again.” Then the mystic cried, “Cast aside what
thou hast learned from Síbavayh and Qawlavayh, from Ibn-i-Hájib and
Ibn-i-Málik, and cross the water!” [Famed writers on grammar and rhetoric]
With renunciation, not with grammar’s rules, one must be armed:
Be nothing, then, and cross this sea unharmed. [Rúm, Persian
poet]
Likewise He saith, “And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves. Such men are the evil doers.” [Qur’án 59:19]
If the wayfarers be among them that dwell in the court of the All-Praised, this is the station of the Intellect, which is known as the messenger of the realm of the body and the most great pillar. That which is intended, however, is the universal divine Intellect, whose sovereignty fostereth the growth of all things, and not every vain and feeble mind. Thus hath the wise Saná’í written:
How can feeble reason embrace the Qur’án
Or the spider snare a phoenix in its web?
Wouldst thou that the mind not hold thee in its snare?
Seize it and enrol it in the school of God instead! [Saná’í,
Persian poet]
- Baha’u’llah (‘Four Valleys’; revised translation by the
Baha’i World Center included in ‘The Call of the Divine Beloved’)
