O Son of Man! Be thou content with Me and seek no other
helper. For none but Me can ever suffice thee.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Hidden Words
of Baha’u’llah’)
April 13
The beginning of all utterance is the worship of God, and
this followeth upon His recognition. Sanctified must be the eye if it is to
truly recognize Him, and sanctified must be the tongue if it is to befittingly
utter His praise. In this day the faces of the people of insight and
understanding are turned in His direction; nay every direction inclineth itself
towards Him.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Tabernacle of Unity’)
April 12
…as He hath said: “Man is My mystery, and I am his mystery.”
Manifold are the verses that have been repeatedly revealed in all the heavenly
Books and the holy Scriptures, expressive of this most subtle and lofty theme.
Even as He hath revealed: “We will surely show them Our signs in the world and
within themselves.” [Qur’án 41:53] Again He saith: “And also in your own
selves: will ye not then behold the signs of God?” [Qur’án 51:21] And yet again
He revealeth: “And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath
therefore caused to forget their own selves.” [Qur’án 59:19] In this
connection, He Who is the eternal King—may the souls of all that dwell within
the mystic Tabernacle be a sacrifice unto Him—hath spoken: “He hath known God
who hath known himself.”
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
April 11
Again, consider the Mosque of Aqsá and the other places
which We have made sanctuaries unto the people in every land and region. The
honour and distinction they enjoy is in no wise due to their own merit, but
stemmeth from their relation to Our Manifestations, Whom We have appointed as
the Daysprings of Our Revelation amidst mankind, if ye be of them that
understand. In this there lieth a wisdom
inscrutable to all save God. Inquire, that He may graciously make plain unto
you His purpose. His knowledge, verily,
embraceth all things. Detach yourselves,
O people, from the world and all its vanities, and heed not the call of such as
have disbelieved in God and joined partners with Him. Arise above the horizon
of utterance to extol and praise your Lord, the All-Merciful. This is that
which God hath purposed for you; well is it with them who perceive it.
(Baha'u'llah,
‘Suriy-i-Haykal, ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
April 10
It is indeed in Our power to take up a handful of dust and
to adorn it with the vesture of Our Names. This, however, would be but a sign
of our favour, and not an indication of any merit it may have inherently
possessed. Thus hath it been revealed in truth by Him Who is the Sovereign
Revealer, the All-Knowing. Consider the Black Stone,[1] which God hath made a
point whereunto all men turn in adoration.
Hath this bounty been conferred upon it by virtue of its innate excellence? Nay, by Mine own Self! Or doth such
distinction stem from its intrinsic worth? Nay, by Mine own Being, Whose
Essence even the wisest and most discerning of men have failed to grasp!
(Baha'u'llah,
‘Suriy-i-Haykal, ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
[1] A small rock situated low in the eastern
corner of the Kaaba
April 9
The word of God which the Supreme Pen
hath recorded on the fourth leaf
of the Most
Exalted Paradise is the following: O people of God! Beseech ye the True One — glorified
be His Name—that He may graciously shield the manifestations of dominion and
power from the suggestions of self and desire and shed the radiance of justice
and guidance upon them.
His Majesty Muhammad Sháh, despite the excellence of his rank, committed two heinous deeds. One was the order to banish the Lord of the Realms of Grace and Bounty, the Primal Point; and the other, the murder of the Prince of the City of Statesmanship and Literary Accomplishment. [1]
His Majesty Muhammad Sháh, despite the excellence of his rank, committed two heinous deeds. One was the order to banish the Lord of the Realms of Grace and Bounty, the Primal Point; and the other, the murder of the Prince of the City of Statesmanship and Literary Accomplishment. [1]
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
[1] Mírzá Abu’l-Qásim Faráhání, the Qá’im Maqám, a
distinguished poet and scholar during the reign of Fath ‘Alí Sháh. He
was a friend of Mírzá Buzurg, father of Bahá’u’lláh. Qá’im Maqám became Prime Minister of Persia in 1821, but in 1835 he was put to death by
order of Muhammad Sháh, at the instigation of Hájí Mírzá Aqásí.
April 8
…whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is
a direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of
God, inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent
testimony to the revelation of that most great Light. Methinks, but for the
potency of that revelation, no being could ever exist.
How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast
the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop! To a supreme degree is this true
of man, who, among all created things, hath been invested with the robe of such
gifts, and hath been singled out for the glory of such distinction. For in him
are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that
no other created being hath excelled or surpassed.
(Baha’u’llah,
‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
April 7
In this day no less than seventy thousand people make
pilgrimage every year to the holy House of God in compliance with the bidding
of the Apostle of God; while He Himself Who ordained this ordinance took refuge
for seven years in the mountains of Mecca. [1] And this notwithstanding that
the One Who enjoined this commandment is far greater than the commandment
itself. Hence all this people who at this time go on pilgrimage do not do so
with true understanding, otherwise in this Day of His Return which is mightier
than His former Dispensation, they would have followed His commandment. But now
behold what hath happened. People who profess belief in His former religion,
who in the daytime and in the night season bow down in worship in His Name,
have assigned Him to a dwelling place in a mountain, while each one of them
would regard attaining recognition of Him as an honour.
(The Báb, excerpt from
Persian Bayan; ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
[1] For no less than seven years no one acknowledged His Teachings
except Imám ‘Ali, His son-in-law.
April 6
O ye the dawning-places of knowledge! Beware that ye suffer
not yourselves to become changed, for as ye change, most men will, likewise,
change. This, verily, is an injustice unto yourselves and unto others. Unto
this beareth witness every man of discernment and insight. Ye are even as a
spring. If it be changed, so will the streams that branch out from it be
changed. Fear God, and be numbered with
the godly. In like manner, if the heart of man be corrupted, his limbs will
also be corrupted. And similarly, if the root of a tree be corrupted, its
branches, and its offshoots, and its leaves, and its fruits, will be corrupted.
Thus have We set forth similitudes for your instruction, that perchance ye may
not be debarred by the things ye possess from attaining unto that which hath
been destined for you by Him Who is the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful.
(Baha'u'llah,
‘Suriy-i-Haykal, ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
April 5
The
word of God which the Supreme Pen hath recorded on the third leaf of the Most Exalted Paradise is this: O son of
man! If thine eyes be turned towards mercy, forsake the things that profit thee
and cleave unto that which will profit mankind. And if thine eyes be turned
towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for
thyself. Humility exalteth man to the heaven of glory and power, whilst pride
abaseth him to the depths of wretchedness and degradation.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Tablets
of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
April 4
By the righteousness of God! The world, its vanities and its
glory, and whatever delights it can offer, are all, in the sight of God, as
worthless as, nay even more contemptible than, dust and ashes. Would that the
hearts of men could comprehend it. Wash yourselves thoroughly, O people of
Bahá, from the defilement of the world, and of all that pertaineth unto it. God
Himself beareth Me witness! The things of the earth ill beseem you. Cast them
away unto such as may desire them, and fasten your eyes upon this most holy and
effulgent Vision.
(Baha’u’llah, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of
Divine Justice’)
April 3
Hear thou Me once again. God is well-pleased with thee [1],
as a token of His grace and a sign of His mercy. He hath made thee to be His
companion in every one of His worlds, and hath nourished thee with His meeting
and presence, so long as His Name, and His Remembrance, and His Kingdom, and
His Empire shall endure. Happy is the handmaid that hath mentioned thee, and
sought thy good-pleasure, and humbled herself before thee, and held fast unto
the cord of thy love. Woe betide him that denieth thy exalted station, and the
things ordained for thee from God, the Lord of all names, and him that hath
turned away from thee, and rejected thy station before God, the Lord of the
mighty throne.
(Baha’u’llah, quoted by Shoghi
Effendi in a letter dated December
21, 1939; ‘Messages to America’)
[1] Navváb, the wife of Baha’u’llah
April 2
During the days I lay in the prison of Tihrán, though the
galling weight of the chains and the stench-filled air allowed Me but little
sleep, still in those infrequent moments of slumber I felt as if something
flowed from the crown of My head over My breast, even as a mighty torrent that
precipitateth itself upon the earth from the summit of a lofty mountain. Every
limb of My body would, as a result, be set afire. At such moments My tongue
recited what no man could bear to hear.
(Baha’u’llah, quoted by Shoghi Effendi
in a letter dated June 15, 1946; ‘Messages to America’)
April 1
The Bayán is, from beginning to end, the repository of all
of His [Baha’u’llah’s] attributes, and the treasury of both His fire and His
light.
(The Báb, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘God Passes By’)
March 31
The soul of man is the sun by which his body is illumined,
and from which it draweth its sustenance…
(Baha'u'llah, ‘Gleanings from the
Writings of Baha'u'llah’)
March 30
If thou attainest unto His [Baha’u’llah’s] Revelation and
obeyest Him, thou wilt have revealed the fruit of the Bayán; if not, thou art unworthy
of mention before God.
(The Báb, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘God Passes By’)
March 29
…in the forthcoming Revelation it is He Who is the
Remembrance of God, whereas the devotions which thou art offering at present
have been prescribed by the Point of the Bayán, while He Who will shine resplendent
in the Day of Resurrection is the Revelation of the inner reality enshrined in
the Point of the Bayán — a Revelation more potent, immeasurably more potent,
than the one which hath preceded it.
(The Báb, excerpt from Persian Bayan;
‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
March 28
Salutation
and praise rest upon them that have not been kept back by any transitory thing
whatever, nor have been alarmed by the violent commotions provoked by the
people of the earth-- such people as are immersed in the pursuit of earthly
vanities and have been deluded by the gay livery of the world, in such wise
that they have cast the Cause of God behind their backs. The day is fast
approaching when He will have rolled up their domain and spread out a new one in
its spread. Verily, He is the One, the Peerless. the Powerful, the Invincible,
the Almighty.
(Baha’u’llah, compilation: ‘Fire and Light’, prepared by the Research Department of the
Universal House of Justice; The Baha’i World 1979-1983)
March 27
With the utmost unity, and in a spirit of perfect
fellowship, exert yourselves, that ye may be enabled to achieve that which
beseemeth this Day of God. Verily I say, strife and dissension, and whatsoever
the mind of man abhorreth are entirely unworthy of his station.
(Baha’u’llah,
‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
March 26
O people of the Bayán! act not as the people of the Qur’án
have acted, for if ye do so, the fruits of your night will come to naught.
(The
Báb, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘God Passes By’)
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