(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Hidden Words
of Baha’u’llah’)
May 14
O SON OF DUST! Blind thine eyes, that thou mayest behold My
beauty; stop thine ears, that thou mayest hearken unto the sweet melody of My
voice; empty thyself of all learning, that thou mayest partake of My knowledge;
and sanctify thyself from riches, that thou mayest obtain a lasting share from
the ocean of My eternal wealth. Blind thine eyes, that is, to all save My
beauty; stop thine ears to all save My word; empty thyself of all learning save
the knowledge of Me; that with a clear vision, a pure heart and an attentive
ear thou mayest enter the court of My holiness.
May 13
Indeed, O Brother, if we ponder each created thing, we shall
witness a myriad perfect wisdoms and learn a myriad new and wondrous truths.
One of the created phenomena is the dream. Behold how many secrets are
deposited therein, how many wisdoms treasured up, how many worlds concealed.
Observe, how thou art asleep in a dwelling, and its doors are barred; on a
sudden thou findest thyself in a far-off city, which thou enterest without
moving thy feet or wearying thy body; without using thine eyes, thou seest;
without taxing thine ears, thou hearest; without a tongue, thou speakest. And
perchance when ten years are gone, thou wilt witness in the outer world the
very things thou hast dreamed tonight.
Now there are many wisdoms to ponder in the dream, which
none but the people of this Valley can comprehend in their true elements.
First, what is this world, where without eye and ear and hand and tongue a man
puts all of these to use? Second, how is it that in the outer world thou seest
today the effect of a dream, when thou didst vision it in the world of sleep
some ten years past? Consider the difference between these two worlds and the mysteries
which they conceal, that thou mayest attain to divine confirmations and
heavenly discoveries and enter the regions of holiness.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The
Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys)
May 12
The second Tajallí is to remain steadfast in the Cause of
God—exalted be His glory—and to be unswerving in His love. And this can in no
wise be attained except through full recognition of Him; and full recognition
cannot be obtained save by faith in the blessed words: ‘He doeth whatsoever He
willeth.’ Whoso tenaciously cleaveth unto this sublime word and drinketh deep
from the living waters of utterance which are inherent therein, will be imbued
with such a constancy that all the books of the world will be powerless to
deter him from the Mother Book. O how glorious is this sublime station, this
exalted rank, this ultimate purpose!
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Tajalliyat (Effulgences),
‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 11
Truly, the Lord loveth union and harmony and abhorreth
separation and divorce. Live ye one with another, O people, in radiance and
joy. By My life! All that are on earth shall pass away, while good deeds alone
shall endure; to the truth of My words God doth Himself bear witness. Compose
your differences, O My servants; then heed ye the admonition of Our Pen of
Glory and follow not the arrogant and wayward.
(Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas)
May 10
Should resentment or antipathy arise between husband and
wife, he is not to divorce her but to bide in patience throughout the course of
one whole year, that perchance the fragrance of affection may be renewed
between them. If, upon the completion of this period, their love hath not
returned, it is permissible for divorce to take place. God’s wisdom, verily,
hath encompassed all things.
(Baha’u’llah, The
Kitab-i-Aqdas)
May 9
They that immerse themselves in the ocean of His utterances
should at all times have the utmost regard for the divinely-revealed ordinances
and prohibitions. Indeed His ordinances constitute the mightiest stronghold for
the protection of the world and the safeguarding of its peoples—a light upon
those who acknowledge and recognize the truth, and a fire unto such as turn
away and deny.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Tajalliyat (Effulgences), ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah
revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 8
Thou hast written that one of the friends hath composed a
treatise. This was mentioned in the Holy Presence, and this is what was
revealed in response: Great care should be exercised that whatever is written
in these days doth not cause dissension, and invite the objection of the
people. Whatever the friends of the one true God say in these days is listened
to by the people of the world. It hath been revealed in the Lawh-i-Hikmat:
"The unbelievers have inclined their ears towards us in order to hear that
which might enable them to cavil against God, the Help in Peril, the
Self-Subsisting." Whatever is written should not transgress the bounds of
tact and wisdom, and in the words used there should lie hid the property of
milk, so that the children of the world may be nurtured therewith, and attain
maturity. We have said in the past that one word hath the influence of spring
and causeth hearts to become fresh and verdant, while another is like unto
blight which causeth the blossoms and flowers to wither. God grant that authors
among the friends will write in such a way as would be acceptable to
fair-minded souls, and not lead to cavilling by the people.
(Baha’u’llah, from
a Tablet translated included in a letter dated 20 July 1997, written on behalf
of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
May 7
Worship thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee
to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so
likewise if thy recompense should be paradise. Thus and thus alone should be
the worship which befitteth the one True God. Shouldst thou worship Him because
of fear, this would be unseemly in the sanctified Court of His presence, and
could not be regarded as an act by thee dedicated to the Oneness of His Being.
Or if thy gaze should be on paradise, and thou shouldst
worship Him while cherishing such a hope, thou wouldst make God’s creation a
partner with Him, notwithstanding the fact that paradise is desired by men.
Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves
before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake,
without fear of fire, or hope of paradise.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian
Bayan, ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
May 6
O My servant, who hast sought the good-pleasure of God and
clung to His love on the Day when all except a few who were endued with insight
have broken away from Him! May God, through His grace, recompense thee with a
generous, an incorruptible and everlasting reward, inasmuch as thou hast sought
Him on the Day when eyes were blinded. Know thou that if We reveal to thee but
a sprinkling of the showers which, through God’s decree, and at the hands of
the envious and the malicious, have rained upon Us, thou wouldst weep with a
great weeping, and wouldst bewail day and night Our plight. Oh, would that a
discerning and fair-minded soul could be found who would recognize the wonders
of this Revelation—wonders that proclaim the sovereignty of God and the
greatness of its power. Would that such a man might arise and, wholly for the
sake of God, admonish, privately and openly, the people, that haply they may
bestir themselves and aid this wronged One Whom the workers of iniquity have so
sorely afflicted.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
May 5
Rejoice with exceeding gladness, O people of Bahá, as ye
call to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of
the Ancient of Days hath spoken, as He departed from His House, proceeding to
the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendors of His
name, the All-Merciful. God is Our witness. Were We to reveal the hidden
secrets of that Day, all they that dwell on earth and in the heavens would
swoon away and die, except such as will be preserved by God, the Almighty, the
All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha’u’llah’)
May 4
There is no paradise more wondrous for any soul than to be
exposed to God’s Manifestation in His Day, to hear His verses and believe in
them, to attain His presence, which is naught but the presence of God, to sail
upon the sea of the heavenly kingdom of His good-pleasure, and to partake of
the choice fruits of the paradise of His divine Oneness.
(The Báb, excerpt from
the Persian Bayan, ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
May 3
Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! I implore Thee by Thine
Ancient Beauty and Most Great Name, Whom Thou hast sacrificed that all the
dwellers of Thine earth and heaven may be born anew, and Whom Thou hast cast
into prison that mankind may, as a token of Thy bounty and of Thy sovereign
might, be released from the bondage of evil passions and corrupt desires, to
number me with those who have so deeply inhaled the fragrance of Thy mercy, and
hastened with such speed unto the living waters of Thy grace, that no dart
could hinder them from turning unto Thee, nor any spear from setting their
faces towards the orient of Thy Revelation.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Prayers and
Meditations of Baha’u’llah’)
May 2
The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the
utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not
beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable
is it in the presence of God.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian Bayan,
‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
May 1
And now, concerning His words: “And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven.” By these words it is meant that when the sun
of the heavenly teachings hath been eclipsed, the stars of the
divinely-established laws have fallen, and the moon of true knowledge—the
educator of mankind—hath been obscured; when the standards of guidance and
felicity have been reversed, and the morn of truth and righteousness hath sunk in
night, then shall the sign of the Son of man appear in heaven. By “heaven” is
meant the visible heaven, inasmuch as when the hour draweth nigh on which the
Day-star of the heaven of justice shall be made manifest, and the Ark of divine
guidance shall sail upon the sea of glory, a star will appear in the heaven,
heralding unto its people the advent of that most great light. In like manner,
in the invisible heaven a star shall be made manifest who, unto the peoples of
the earth, shall act as a harbinger of the break of that true and exalted Morn.
These twofold signs, in the visible and the invisible heaven, have announced
the Revelation of each of the Prophets of God, as is commonly believed.
(Baha'u'llah,
The Kitab-i-Iqan)
April 30
It is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is
on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of
Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of
God’s tender mercy, whereas possession of earthly things will cease at the time
of death. The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and
coercion. This hath been God’s method in the past, and shall continue to be in
the future! He causeth him whom He pleaseth to enter the shadow of His Mercy.
Verily, He is the Supreme Protector, the All-Generous.
(The Báb, excerpt from
the Persian Bayan, ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
April 29
The Day of Resurrection is a day on which the sun riseth and
setteth like unto any other day. How oft hath the Day of Resurrection dawned,
and the people of the land where it occurred did not learn of the event. Had they
heard, they would not have believed, and thus they were not told!
When the Apostle of God [Muhammad] appeared,
He did not announce unto the unbelievers that the Resurrection had come, for
they could not bear the news. That Day is indeed an infinitely mighty Day, for
in it the Divine Tree proclaimeth from eternity unto eternity, ‘Verily, I am
God. No God is there but Me’. Yet those who are veiled believe that
He is one like unto them, and they refuse even to call Him a believer, although
such a title in the realm of His heavenly Kingdom is conferred everlastingly
upon the most insignificant follower of His previous Dispensation. Thus, had
the people in the days of the Apostle of God regarded Him at least as a
believer of their time how would they have debarred Him, for seven years while
He was in the mountain, from access to His Holy House [Ka’bah]? Likewise in
this Dispensation of the Point of the Bayán, if the people had not refused to
concede the name believer unto Him, how could they have incarcerated Him on
this mountain, without realizing that the quintessence of belief oweth its
existence to a word from Him? Their hearts are deprived of the power of true
insight, and thus they cannot see, while those endowed with the eyes of the
spirit circle like moths round the Light of Truth until they are consumed. It
is for this reason that the Day of Resurrection is said to be the greatest of
all days, yet it is like unto any other day.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian
Bayan, ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
April 28
I pray Thee, O Thou Who causest the dawn to appear, by Thy
Name through Which Thou hast subjected the winds, and sent down Thy Tablets,
that Thou wilt grant that we may draw near unto what Thou didst destine for us
by Thy favor and bounty, and to be far removed from whatsoever may be repugnant
unto Thee. Give us, then, to drink from the hands of Thy grace every day and
every moment of our lives of the waters that are life indeed, O Thou Who art
the Most Merciful! …Write down, then, for us the recompense ordained for him
that hath attained Thy presence, and gazed on Thy beauty, and supply us with
every good thing ordained in Thy Book for such of Thy creatures as enjoy near
access to Thee.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Prayers and Meditations of Baha’u’llah’)
April 27
O FLEETING SHADOW! Pass beyond the baser stages of doubt and
rise to the exalted heights of certainty. Open the eye of truth, that thou
mayest behold the veilless Beauty and exclaim: Hallowed be the Lord, the most
excellent of all creators!
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
April 26
The first Tajallí which hath dawned from the Day-Star of
Truth is the knowledge of God—exalted be His glory. And the knowledge of the
King of everlasting days can in no wise be attained save by recognizing Him Who
is the Bearer of the Most Great Name. He is, in truth, the Speaker on Sinai Who
is now seated upon the throne of Revelation. He is the Hidden Mystery and the
Treasured Symbol. All the former and latter Books of God are adorned with His
praise and extol His glory. Through Him the standard of knowledge hath been planted
in the world and the ensign of the oneness of God hath been unfurled amidst all
peoples. Attainment unto the Divine Presence can be realized solely by
attaining His presence. Through His potency everything that hath, from time
immemorial, been veiled and hidden, is now revealed. He is made manifest
through the power of Truth and hath uttered a Word whereby all that are in the
heavens and on the earth have been dumbfounded, except those whom the Almighty
was pleased to exempt. True belief in God and recognition of Him cannot be
complete save by acceptance of that which He hath revealed and by observance of
whatsoever hath been decreed by Him and set down in the Book by the Pen of
Glory.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Tajalliyat (Effulgences), ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah
revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
April 25
Wert thou to consider in this station [1] the last of them
to be the first, or conversely, thou wouldst indeed be speaking the truth, as
hath been ordained by Him Who is the Wellspring of Divinity and the Source of
Lordship: “Say: Call upon God or call upon the All-Merciful: by whichsoever
name ye will, invoke him, for He hath most excellent names.” [2] For they are
all the Manifestations of the name of God, the Dawning-Places of His
attributes, the Repositories of His might, and the Focal Points of His
sovereignty, whilst God—magnified be His might and glory—is in His Essence
sanctified above all names and exalted beyond even the loftiest attributes.
Consider likewise the evidences of divine omnipotence both in their Souls and
in their human Temples, that thine heart may be assured and that thou mayest be
of them that speed through the realms of His nearness.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Gems of
Divine Mysteries’, ‘Javáhiru’l-Asrár’)
[1] City of Divine Unity
[1] City of Divine Unity
[2] Qur’án 17:110
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