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| No. 372 | BAHA’I YEAR 118 | MARCH, 1962 |
“... Verily I beseech God to make Green Acre as the Paradise of El-Abhá ...”—‘ABDU’L-BAHA
Fifty years ago ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, while on His historic eight-month tour of the United States and Canada, spent a week at what is now Green Acre Bahá’í Institute. Above is a view from the porch of Sarah Farmer Hall.
| Three Supremely Important Duties Face Us” | |
| 1.... | “to bring the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh to the waiting masses at this critical time, this unique juncture in human history, when the hearts of so many of the less privileged peoples of the world are ready to receive His Message, and to be enrolled under His banner ‘in troops’ as foretold by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. |
| 2.... | “to win the remaining home-front goals in five of those original twelve stalwart, long-established, much-loved national communities which, at the inception of the Ten Year Plan, received the unique and priceless honor of having the spiritual conquest of no less than an entire planet entrusted to their care. Wherever the army of Bahá’u’lláh was free to march, in their totality, and with the greatest distinction, these global goals have been won. It is inconceivable that the home-front goals, given to them at the same time and forming an integral part of the World Crusade, should not also be triumphantly achieved. |
| 3.... | “undoubtedly the pivotal one at this point of the Crusade ... comprises the heavy, pressing, inescapable duty of every single believer to assist in providing an uninterrupted and greatly amplified flow of that ‘life blood’ of material resources without which construction of the Mother Temple of Europe and other vast undertakings now gaining momentum all over the world, in old and new Bahá’í communities alike, will either cease to go forward, come to a standstill or, in important areas of mass conversion, stand in danger of losing the precious ground won through so much heroic effort and sacrifice. |
| “There can be no doubt that the discharge of these three paramount duties at this time can alone provide a suitably strong and unshakable foundation for the future activities of that glorious and august institution, so soon to be elected, Bahá’u’lláh’s long anticipated Universal House of Justice.” | |
From the Message of the Hands of the Cause, November 5, 1961
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‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s First Visit to Europe Commemorated in Paris[edit]
On December 1 an impressive meeting took place at the Hotel Lutétia in Paris to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s first visit to Europe.
In the course of the program Auxiliary Board member Louis Henuzet gave a general talk on the Faith. Mlle. Lucienne Migette spoke more intimately on the life of the Master, His works and travels. Mme. Henriette Samimy showed slides of the Holy sites and Bahá’í properties.
An appropriate closing was provided by Alain Tammene’s reading of excerpts from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Paris Talks, newly retranslated into French and published in time for the commemoration.
All-France Teaching Conference held in Lyon on November 10. In front row, holding picture of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is Hand of the Cause Dr. Ugo Giachery.
A New Day for the Faith in Japan[edit]
Hand of the Cause
Since the coming to Japan, on his fifth visit last September, of our Bahá’í brother Bernard Leach, the world-famous artist,* a new day seems evident for our glorious Faith in this land.
Because of Mr. Leach’s understanding of the people with whom he has lived and worked, they have great love for him. Both through lectures and newspaper articles he has made known his belief in the Bahá’í Faith. The last of Mr. Leach’s public lectures was given in the commercial city of Osaka, where a Japanese newspaper arranged for, and paid all the expenses of, the occasion. Three hundred and fifty people were present to hear him speak, as requested, on “My Life,” which he did entirely in the Japanese language. A wonderful spirit pervaded the large audience.
Another event of great importance in the Cause is the fulfillment of one of the Guardian’s last requests, that is to teach the Faith to the Ainus, the aborigines of Japan, who live on the northern island of Hokkaido, where it is estimated 15,000 reside. In 1957, one of the Persian believers, accompanied by a Japanese Bahá’í interpreter, visited the island and met some of the Ainus and left Japanese Bahá’í literature.
After a fourth visit this winter the seed which was sown blossomed. When it was learned that three Ainus had declared their faith, they were invited to come to Kobe as guests in the Momtazi home, where they remained for eight days. It was a wonderful experience for them to witness the universality of the Faith. The three were accompanied by a Persian believer. At the first stop on their way, they were greeted by a Japanese and an American Bahá’í, making four races. Arriving in Osaka station they were welcomed by many Persian and Japanese believers.
It is the custom among the Ainu men to grow long beards. The youngest of the three visitors, and son of the first Bahá’í Ainu chief, said that since he was privileged to become a Bahá’í, he felt he should make a sacrifice of something which was dear to him. As he had nothing valuable to sacrifice, and the only thing which he loved very much was his beard, he made this his sacrifice for the Faith.
The word has come, since the Ainus returned to their homes, that many more are coming into the Faith. Thus the beloved Guardian’s prayer is becoming fulfilled.
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What the World Needs
“The thing the world needs today is the Bahá’í spirit. People are craving for love, for a high standard to look up to, as well as for solutions to their many grave problems. The Bahá’ís should shower on those whom they meet the warm and loving spirit of the Cause, and this, combined with teaching, cannot but attract the sincere truthseekers to the Faith.” From a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, through his secretary, to an American believer.
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_____
*Mr. Leach, a British believer, is a renowned potter as well as
artist. Born in Hong Kong, he early became interested in the
ancient stoneware art of Japan. After World War I he taught
pottery in England and founded two workshops. On one of his
visits to Japan he became both student and teacher of well-known Japanese potters, and set up workshops for study and
teaching.
Between 1946 and 1949 Mr. Leach had important exhibitions in England, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Examples of his work are to be found in Stoke-on-Trent Museum and in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. He has lectured before many societies devoted to arts and crafts in Europe, America and Asia. In Japan he is credited with inspiring the now widespread Mingei (folk-craft) movement.
Hand of the Cause Agnes Alexander with Ainu, Japanese and
Persian believers. From left, front row: Kazutomo Umegae
(Ainu chief’s son), Heikichi Sumiyoshi (Ainu chief), Miss
Alexander, Takeichi Morotake (Ainu chief). Rear row: G. V.
Tehrani, Mohamad Lafaib, Nosratullah Matahedin, Kyoshi
Nonoda, Rouhollah Momtazi. Kazutomo Umegae sacrificed
his beard as a token of his devotion to the Faith.
Hands of the Cause Make Request[edit]
The Hands of the Cause have requested that the friends discontinue the practice of referring to them as the “revered” Hands. While they appreciate that in using the term the believers are expressing their love and their respect for the institution and its members, they point out that the beloved Guardian mentioned them simply as Hands of the Cause of God. They therefore consider it inappropriate that any adjective should be applied to them in the way that “revered” is now being commonly used.
European Hands Announce Appointment of New Auxiliary Board Member[edit]
The European Hands of the Cause have announced the appointment of Ernest Gregory as a member of the Auxiliary Board for Teaching.
The appointment fills the vacancy created by the election of former board member Ian Semple to the International Bahá’í Council and his consequent residence in the Holy Land.
Green Acre Genesis[edit]
sprang from the spiritual quest of a high-minded woman
Probably no believer has ever gone to Green Acre
and come away quite the same person. The reason is
that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent a never-to-be-forgotten week
there during His visit to North America in 1912.
There are many reminders of His sojourn, such as the room which he occupied, the path through the pines where He walked, the noble elevation called Mount Salvat where, He is said to have prophesied, the first American Bahá’í university was to rise. But even before becoming familiar with such tangible symbols of the Master’s onetime presence, many a person feels the subtle power that pervades Green Acre. Such an individual will inevitably associate the ethereal influence with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and while never able actually to understand the spiritual spell cast there during the visitation of the Mystery of God, he will always remember its abiding and transforming force.
An Early Spiritual Note is Sounded[edit]
Fittingly enough Green Acre, located in Eliot, Maine, took on a spiritual aspect in the very early years of its history. Sarah Farmer Hall, now the main dormitory, was built in 1889 by a group of local men as a summer hotel, known for many years as Green Acre Inn. However, the Inn, dignified and respectable as it probably was, soon became neighbor to a less mundane enterprise.
Miss Sarah Farmer, in whose memory the building was later renamed, was a spiritually inclined woman desirous of serving God and humanity. Disturbed by the differences between the churches around her, she attended the Congress of World Religions held in Chicago in 1893, and no doubt heard there the first allusion ever made in America to Bahá’u’lláh and His Teachings. A
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year later she opened a school on the Green Acre property for the comparative study of religion.
Rapid Development from a Humble Start[edit]
In the beginning, lectures and conferences were held in a large tent set up near the Inn, on ground now occupied by Bahá’í Hall. Later on the meetings took place under a stately group of pines or, in bad weather, in a nearby building no longer extant.
At Miss Farmer’s invitation, leaders of numerous faiths came to Green Acre to speak, and many other notable people participated in or were associated with the programs, among them the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, actor Joseph Jefferson, writer Ralph Waldo Trine, educator Booker T. Washington, Bahá’í teachers Mirza Abu’l Fadl and Ali Kuli Khan, and the first American believer, Thornton Chase.
Sudden End of a Spiritual Search[edit]
Miss Farmer’s prospectus for the 1899 conferences announced that the school’s primary objective was “the ascertainment of Truth, and its helpful application to life.” Actually her own personal search for truth was already near an end. In the following year she journeyed to ‘Akká in the Holy Land, where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s exposition of the Faith stirred her deeply. The result was decisive. She returned to America and, in the words of the beloved Guardian, “placed ... the facilities these conferences provided at the disposal of the followers of the Faith which she had herself recently embraced.”
By 1904 her school prospectus announced a new emphasis on the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. A year later, to put an end to growing confusion over the school’s purpose,
Picture on opposite page: Entrance to Green Acre Bahá’í Institute in Eliot, Maine.
Above, left: Sarah Farmer Hall with Recreation Hall in right foreground. The room occupied by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1912 is preserved in His memory.
Above, right: Bahá’í Hall and a glimpse of the Piscataqua, “River of Light.”
Middle picture: A teaching conference on the shady lawn in front of Sarah Farmer Hall.
Right: Path through the pines, which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited.
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and to relieve other workers in the Green Acre
project of possible embarrassment, she separated her
forum on the Faith from the rest of the school. Thereafter lectures on the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh were
for several years given under the “Persian Pine.”
Green Acre History Comes to a Climax[edit]
August 16, 1912, ushered in Green Acre’s eagerly awaited climactic event: the week-long visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Following a reverent reception for Him, the Master spoke to audiences every evening. As He did later in some of His tablets, He no doubt prayed for and prophesied an illustrious future for Green Acre, and extolled its beauty and spiritual atmosphere. While enveloping the believers in His great love, He presumably adjured them to deepen and strengthen this already well-defined channel of the true education. As He wrote afterward, He desired that they make of Green Acre “an assemblage for the Word of God and a gathering place for the spiritual ones of the heavenly world.”
Above, left: Group of cottages below Sarah Farmer Hall.
Above, right: Class in session on the porch of library.
Below, left: Recreation at the river. The far shore is the
border of New Hampshire.
Below, right: Children and teachers on the steps of Arts and
Crafts Cottage.
A New Chapter Unfolds[edit]
In 1916 Sarah Farmer, outstanding promoter of the Faith, passed on and the affairs of the Green Acre Fellowship, as the undertaking was then known, were taken in hand by a devoted group of believers. After several years of readjustment and financial rehabilitation, title to the properties was transferred to the Green Acre Trustees. The school came under the sponsorship of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, and was operated as a Bahá’í facility.
In subsequent years many distinguished scholars and teachers, including two more renowned Persian Bahá’ís, Dr. Zia Bagdadi and Jenabi Fazel, lectured at Green Acre. Thousands of people, Bahá’ís and non-believers alike, have gone there for inspiration and instruction. And many dedicated believers, from both the United States and Canada, have given generously of their time, talents and energy to serve as teachers and administrators, thereby helping Green Acre to fulfill its destiny. Since 1953 its programs, like those of other Bahá’í schools, have been oriented to the primary present goal of the entire Bahá’í world — the victorious consummation of Shoghi Effendi’s glorious Crusade.
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The beautiful site of Ecuador’s first Indian Teaching Congress, held in November 1961.
Latin American Communities Spread Glad Tidings of Bahá’u’lláh[edit]
Ecuador Holds its First Indian Bahá’í Teaching Congress[edit]
The first Indian Bahá’í Teaching Congress to be held in Ecuador took place on November 5, 1961, at the Granja Atahualpa, near Lake San Pablo in the province of Imbabura. The site, a beautiful spot situated in mountain country and at the foot of a volcano, was an inspiration in itself.
Over one hundred attended the congress, including ninety-five Indians. Of the latter, twenty were believers and the rest interested friends and relatives from five Indian villages. The program embraced a series of talks, three of them given in Quechua, with great dignity and seriousness, by Indian believers. Two of the other friends spoke in Spanish, one of them including illustrations of the spiritual evolution of mankind through the periodic arrival of Messengers of God. Both languages were used in the prayers, one of which was given by a ten-year-old Indian boy. A relaxing luncheon and recreation period included music and games.
Commenting on the event, the National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador wrote: “We feel that this first Indian Congress will have great results in attracting more of the Indians to our beloved Cause in the province of Imbabura, as the loving association of the Indians and the whites on this occasion was a new experience for them all.”
Music enlivened the lunch hour at Ecuador Congress.
Luncheon-hour recreation at the Ecuador Congress.
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Children being taught in a picturesque village lane; Zunil, Guatemala.
A group of Indians gathered for a Bahá’í meeting in
Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala. Near front and center: Filomena Cajas, Quezaltenango native teacher. In rear, left
of center: Artemus Lamb, U.S. pioneer teacher.
Doubt Turns into Certainty as Guatemala Believers Teach Indians[edit]
In Guatemala the Faith is now being taught in four different native languages: Maya Quichi, Mam, Kekchi and Pokonchi. The believers see the creative word beginning to take effect in the hearts of many of the Indians, changing ignorance into knowledge and doubt into certainty. Whole families are responding to the spirit of the Faith as it gradually becomes the main
Spiritual Assembly of Quezaltenango, Guatemala, incorporated December 1961. Left to right, seated: Luis
Lopez, Filomena Cajas, Evangelina Moreno, Lucrecia
Lopez. Standing: Edith McLaren, Alice Sinclair, Rosa
Lopez, Dale Sinclair, Louise Caswell. The incorporation
was announced in an excellent newspaper article published in the capital, Guatemala City.
interest in their lives. They use the prayers and the
Teachings to solve their problems, and one devoted
native believer recently remarked, “If you had not
come to teach us, we would still be in the clouds of
ignorance.”
A new territory has been opened with the moving of a pioneer couple to Cobán in the department of Alta Vera Paz. With their assistance two native Pokonchi believers make twice-monthly visits to a remote village where at least fifty men attended two of the meetings and some are studying seriously. When two of the men visited the pioneers in Coban and were served tortillas, coarse salt and coffee, they told a friend that these Bahá’ís ate the same kind of food they did; therefore they would not be afraid to invite them to their own homes.
Activities Pointing Toward Things to Come[edit]
A three-day youth congress held in Cobán in December drew young people from a number of towns and villages. Each youth had an opportunity to speak on some aspect of the Faith, and probably all of them felt as did two young Indian girls who returned home completely aglow from this their first experience at such a Bahá’í youth event.
Invited Bahá’ís were instrumental in organizing a United Nations Day meeting held at the headquarters of the United States Information Service in Quezaltenango. Nearly one hundred souls heard the Message as an Indian and a U.S. believer spoke on the relationship of the Faith to the United Nations.
Other highlights appear in the news from beautiful Guatemala, the land “whence the rainbow takes its colors”: teaching in villages reached only by foot travel over the mountains; enrollment by the Retalhuleu community of its first Mam-speaking Indian; a teaching congress centered significantly on study of the conversion of the masses in Africa. Guatemala’s own mass-conversion stage has not yet developed, but it may not be far off.
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Part of the fast-growing Bahá’í group of Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras.
Center built by the believers of Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras, on land donated by one of their number.
National Congress Sparks Upsurge in Honduran Proclamation Effort[edit]
The final week end of 1961 witnessed a successful teaching congress held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, under the sponsorship of the National Teaching Committee. Thirty-five believers and friends from six Crusade goal communities and the village of Triunfo de la Cruz took part. Aside from the effectively presented program, the highlight of the congress was the love, unity and fellowship expressed by the friends of all types, from all parts of the country, as they gathered for the Feast of Honor. This occasion also gave the believers an opportunity to meet the members of their National Assembly, who had come for both the congress and their monthly meeting.
The spirit of unity that prevailed has given rise to an upsurge in the teaching effort throughout the country. Now a strong flow of interchange of teachers is taking place among all the communities to further heighten the zeal of the friends in their striving to reach their Crusade goals.
An Extension Teaching Project That Promises a Resounding Victory[edit]
Last spring several natives from the Carib village of Triunfo de la Cruz were enthusiastically learning of the Faith from the believers of nearby Telas, who had taken on the little coastal community as an extension project. Largely through the efforts of Michael James, a relatively recent enrollee, the teaching was intensified and the new friends were deepened. By the time that Triunfo was called upon in August to play host to a national youth congress, the number of believers had miraculously grown to thirty-one. Meanwhile the Triunfo friends had started to build a center, and the youth conference was housed in the partially completed building. Now the center is being constantly used for all manner of Bahá’í activities, including practice sessions looking toward the establishment of a full-fledged local Assembly at Riḍván.
Faith Makes Inspiring Progress in Mexico’s New National Community[edit]
The necessity for preparing the new believers coming into the Faith in the villages of Mexico made it urgent that a series of teacher-training schools be initiated. The first of these has been held and was highly rewarding.
This school had the specific purpose of giving an intensive teacher-training course to eleven of the eighteen friends who entered the Faith on a memorable day last September in one solid block, in the village of Tequila, Jalisco. The school was carried on for seven days in the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds.
When these dear new believers were asked what they would like to plan for the two evenings set aside
Some of the believers and contacts at the congress held last December in San Pedro Sulas, Honduras.
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Left: Believers and contacts at the dedication of the Center at Raitipura, in the Atlantic coast zone of Nicaragua. Right: Attendants at the summer school held in Masaya, western Nicaragua, last summer.
for recreation, they said, “We thank
you, but we came to Mexico City to study the Faith and
we do not wish
to waste precious time. We want to
dedicate all our
time to the study and discussion of the Teachings.”
“These Are Indeed Incomparable Days”[edit]
From the first moment the intensive schooling was marked with a spirit of complete devotion to the search for the truth. These new Bahá’ís said that they had chanted the Most Great Name the entire night of their trip to Mexico City. Like rich and fertile soil they drank in the Teachings and never seemed to have enough. Since their return, three of them have been teaching in other villages, where some twenty persons in one municipality and twelve in another are now preparing to enroll.
“These are indeed incomparable days in the history of our beloved Faith in Mexico,” writes a correspondent, “with such souls rising upon the horizon during these last months of the World Crusade of our beloved Guardian.”
Courageous Proclamation in Nicaragua Brings Thrilling Results[edit]
Ever since their country became one of the twenty-one Latin American lands in which separate national assemblies were formed last year, the believers of Nicaragua have worked devotedly to consolidate and strengthen their community. In their labors they have been inspired and aided by visits from no less than five Hands of the Cause.
Throughout the convention in which their first national administrative body was established, they received guidance and strength from H. Collis Featherstone. Later some of them were able to spend a few precious minutes with, successively, Zikru’lláh Khádem and William Sears, as they passed through the airport at Managua, Nicaragua’s capital.
In late May the friends welcomed Enoch Olinga, who spent four days visiting both east and west coasts. In Managua he responded brilliantly to questions in a radio interview. In Bluefields two young contacts who heard him speak immediately made their declarations. Of the great number of people whom he reached, many Indians in particular still ask about him.
Then came Dr. Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir, who headed directly for the Indian villages on the Atlantic coast. His eight-day visit was revealing and inspiring, as he not only opened new Indian villages to the Faith but also instructed the pioneers of the region in mass-conversion teaching. As a result three Indian villages embraced the Faith en masse within six weeks.
Teaching on the Pacific Coast[edit]
Nicaragua’s east and west coasts, along which most of the population is settled, are quite isolated from each other. Because of the geographical separation and the high cost of traveling, the National Spiritual Assembly appointed a national teaching committee for each coast.
The goal of eight new local assemblies this year includes three in localities on the Pacific side. The most promising of these, Masaya, is perhaps unique in that the believers and their contacts meet every night for deepening. The country’s fifth annual summer school was held here last September and the response of the students was such that three hours were devoted to each topic, a procedure which resulted in a highly intensive course.
Heroic Pioneering Along the Atlantic[edit]
On the Atlantic coast the nucleus of the teaching effort is Bluefields and extends out to many small islands or cays. These must be reached by boat or by walking the beaches, swamps and muddy woodlands. Because of the travel difficulties, the few available teachers can visit the key points only about once a month. This makes the goal of five new assemblies in this region a difficult one; nevertheless the pioneers,
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Part of the forty-four people who attended the teaching congress in Valencia, Venezuela.
Elena Hernandez Tortabú (right), first declared believer of Margarita Island, virgin goal off the northern coast of Venezuela, with Knight of Bahá’u’lláh Katharine Meyer.
undaunted, joyfully follow their rigorous traveling and
teaching schedule among the primitive islanders. To
facilitate the teaching and at the same time provide
lodgings for the teachers, the Atlantic Teaching Committee launched a project for the building, by the
native believers, of Bahá’í Centers in the goal villages.
One has already been completed in Raitipura, and
another has been started.
Signs of a General Awakening[edit]
The valiant teachers are cheered by such visible symbols of progress, plus the fact that there are signs of a general awakening of the people. Many are gaining the courage to seek the truth regardless of possible repercussions. Deeprooted tradition and superstition, bolstered by clerical opposition and misrepresentation, have raised formidable barriers, yet in one small village where the Teachings had been severely attacked five people suddenly accepted the Faith and three more expressed their intention to enroll.
Thus, little by little, the steadfast Nicaraguan friends are witnessing the removal of the veils from the eyes of those whom God and Bahá’u’lláh have chosen. Gradually, they feel sure, myriad little village candles will be ignited until all mass into one great light.
Venezuela Launches Widespread Series of Week-End Congresses[edit]
Because the cost of attending a central summer school is prohibitive for many of the friends in Venezuela, the National Teaching Committee decided to hold a series of teaching congresses and week-end schools in the various communities.
The believers in the northwestern town of Barquisimeto have had very little contact with those in the rest of the country; consequently the first school was conducted there in early August, with study concentrated on Venezuela’s Crusade goals and the institutions of the Faith. The audience at a public meeting included representatives of five communities.
Teaching of Beloved Indians Emphasized[edit]
Later a second gathering took place in Valencia, a little farther to the east. Forty-four persons, among them a number of contacts, came from seven localities to participate. Teaching among the Indians was heavily stressed by indigenous teachers and pioneers, such as Sra. Yolanda de Stronach, first Venezuelan believer to take the Teachings to these people, and Mrs. Edith McLaren from Guatemala. And again a meeting for the public rounded out a fruitful week end.
Bahá’í Youth Author and Present a Play with a Moral[edit]
Youth representing several countries, states and colleges came together in Dexter, Michigan, last November for a four-day conference. Held over the long Thanksgiving week end at the home of an extra-hospitable believer, it drew a total of seventy-eight young people who, amid their animated sessions, consumed 527 meals plus additional light refreshments.
The program was highlighted by a two-day workshop in which the youth prepared and presented “Wake Up—to Live,” a one-act play interpreting Bahá’í solutions of problems raised by the threat of nuclear war. The nine scenes were enacted in “living newspaper” style and were tied together with a running narration and sound effects.
The drama diagnosed the inner cause of youth’s present ailment as insufficient love of the Faith and imperfect application of its Teachings. The cure was clearly delineated: Carrying the Cause first and foremost in mind and heart, at the same time actively affirming the oneness of mankind and religion and the unifying administrative order, offers youth the best hope of weathering their current tests and difficulties.
India Augments its Great Spectacle of Mass Conversion[edit]
One of the distinguishing features in the continuing process of mass conversion in India is the holding of numerous conferences or congresses to proclaim the Message of Bahá’u’lláh to large numbers of people. On the village level these meetings are not conducted in halls or other structures, with the aid of a chairman, secretary and agenda, but in the setting of the Indian countryside, under the shade of a huge tropical tree or a tent. The only agenda is giving the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. However, the spirit which prevails is unique and wonderful.
One can see with his own eyes how the power of the Word of God and the name of Bahá’u’lláh as His Manifestation instantly change the hearts of the people. One sees how, their faces glowing with happiness and hope, they are suddenly carried away with such enthusiasm as to join in songs of praise of Bahá’u’lláh, and in prayers given them by the visiting teachers. To witness this is to experience, swiftly and massively, a fulfillment of Bahá’u’lláh’s promise of “new creation.”
Conferences Account for Majority of New Believers[edit]
At the end of 1961 at least eighteen such conferences had been held in eleven months. They are not always planned by the National Assembly or the teaching committees. Sometimes individuals who have just returned from one of them, and have accepted the Faith, gather the people from neighboring villages and then ask teachers to come and give them the Message. Sometimes the meetings are organized and conducted by believers who, a few days after enrolling in the Faith, start teaching it themselves. But in any event most of the thousands of people who have enrolled in the last year have accepted it, or first heard about it, in the simple outdoor conferences.
An Added Facility for Speeding Consolidation[edit]
The tremendous progress of the Cause made it necessary for the National Assembly to think of immediate consolidation. In response to a call, and with the aid and counsel of Hand of the Cause Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir, some of the friends purchased a nine-acre plot of land, with a building suitable for use as an institute, at Indore, Central India.
The institute was dedicated on November 12 in the presence of Hand of the Cause H. Collis Featherstone. Its purpose is to provide quarters where thirty-five to fifty new believers, invited from various places, can be gathered at one time for a ten-day teacher-training course.
A Great Conference at the New Institute[edit]
At the end of December 275 believers from seventy-one centers attended an especially significant conference at the new institute. Present were two Hands of the Cause: Jalál Kházeh, representing the Hands in the Holy Land, and Dr. Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir, who has been associated with India’s mass-teaching campaign since its inception.
Mr. Kházeh opened the conference with a talk establishing a strong link between the World Center and the new believers of India. This is expected to have far-reaching effects. The believers were overjoyed to learn that Mr. Kházeh intended to stay for three months and accompany teachers to remote places.
A particularly moving episode occurred when some of the new believers, after relating their experiences of a few days or weeks as Bahá’ís, publicly promised to teach the Faith to hundreds or thousands of their fellow villagers and tribesmen. The gathering, carried away on a wave of enthusiasm, responded not simply by a clapping of hands but by singing songs they had composed and by repeating the melodious “Alláh-u-Abhá,” which they had recently learned.
A half-day period was devoted to the children, who had been studying in recently established Bahá’í schools and showed great progress in acquiring an understanding of the Cause. Presiding at this session was the thirteen-year-old son of a tribal chieftain, who, with his father, had accepted the Faith only two weeks earlier.
Believers attending the dedication of the Bahá’í Teaching Institute at Indore, Central India. At center in second row is Hand of the Cause H. Collis Featherstone.
About 275 believers and contacts came to the great December conference at the Teaching Institute in Indore. At left is Hand of the Cause Jalál Kházeh.
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This young believer has, because of his outstanding intelligence, been awarded a government scholarship in
one of India’s best schools. He acted as chairman,
speaker and interpreter during the four-hour program.
Believers Prove Their Devotion[edit]
When Mr. Kházeh stressed the need for special funds to open schools and help teachers, the friends responded generously with both pledges and immediate contributions. Some of the girls, doubtless future teachers in the Bahá’í world, gave their only ornaments — their gold Bahá’í rings. One anonymous donor presented a gold watch in memory of the much loved Hand of the Cause, Martha Root, who visited India about thirty years ago. Following closing remarks by both Hands of the Cause, and an appeal for extensive teaching work immediately after the conference, fifty believers, old and new, arose to take the Cause to the villages and tribes.
The believers of India, conscious both of the bright horizon before them and of their manifold remaining responsibilities, bespeak the prayers of the Bahá’í world that they may prove themselves humble servants of Bahá’u’lláh and bring joy and happiness to the beloved Guardian.
International News Briefs[edit]
Among the 139 persons present at the Scandinavia-Finland summer school, held last summer at Ar Castle in southern Sweden, were Hand of the Cause Dr. Adelbert Mühlschlegel, Auxiliary Board member Mrs. Modesta Hvide, teachers, pioneers and other believers of six nationalities. The over-all theme was teaching the Faith and deepening the individual. The crescendo of enthusiasm during the progress of the school, termed the most phenomenal in Scandinavia’s Bahá’í history, intrigued non-Bahá’í vacationists at the magnificent castle to such a degree that a mammoth fireside was arranged. One hundred forty people attended, including fifty of the non-believers.
The printed announcement of an exhibition of the work of Bahá’í artist Gordon Laite, held last December in Kansas City, Missouri, included and identified a quotation from Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings which has served as an inspiration for Mr. Laite’s more recent paintings. In addition a number of the works on exhibit bore titles such as “City of Certitude,” “The Tree Beyond Which There Is No Passing” and “The Pearls of My Utterance.” The inscriptions included quotations from which the titles were taken or other words of explanation. On a placard the artist quoted influences that have guided him, giving first importance to the Faith. Supporting this was a display of literature and pictures of the World Center and Temples.
Recognition of a type still rather rare in the United States was given the Faith when the Ministerial Association of Quincy, Illinois, asked the Bahá’í community of that city, and those of nearby Ellington and Melrose townships, to take part in a five-minute daily “Prayer for Peace” radio program shared by various religious groups. The communities gladly accepted, and presented the Sunday programs throughout November and December.
For the fourth consecutive year the set of color slides entitled “Palestine, Land of Many Faiths” has been shown to the seventh-grade geography class at Takoma Park (Maryland) Junior High School. The slide set used is loaned by a Bahá’í couple in Silver Spring in connection with the study of Israel.
In December the believers of Sparks, Nevada, sponsored a week-end institute on The Covenant and Administration, serving as hosts to believers and non-believers from as far away as Alturas, California. Three of the believers were from the Reno-Sparks Indian colony. To insure maximum participation and consultation, the group was divided into three separate workshop classes meeting in Bahá’í homes. Multiple purpose of the institute was to introduce the contacts to the subjects under study, provide fellowship among the participating communities and benefit by the deepening which sustained and serious study offer. More institutes of the same type are planned.
For the anniversary of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the friends of Nashville, Tennessee, were asked to observe silence before, during and after the devotional program, which had been recorded on tape. This procedure helped to create a prayerful atmosphere and enabled the believers to focus their attention upon, and appreciate more fully, the readings used.
Miss Jessie Revell (second from left in second row), treasurer of the International Bahá’í Council, with believers and Maori people of Wellington during her memorable trip through New Zealand last September.
Spiritual Assembly of Burnside, Australia, incorporated July 4, 1961. Front row: Mrs. E. Maddern, Mrs. J. Morrow, Mrs. H. Thomas, Mrs. M. Robertson. Back row: H. R. Morrow, P. Almond, Mrs. M. Walker, E. Thomas, F. Langley.
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Newly enrolled believers of the Gallup, New Mexico, area. In the first picture, left to right: Edward Watasilo, first Zuni
Indian to be enrolled in the Faith, and Roger Peywa, also Zuni, with Gallup pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jones. Second
picture: Edward Watasilo (Zuni), William Willoya (Eskimo), Roger Peywa (Zuni). Third picture: recently enrolled Navajo
believers Mrs. Nellie Carl and daughter Miss Alice Seeley at the Gallup Bahá’í Center, where Mr. and Mrs. Jones reside.
BAHA'I IN THE NEWS[edit]
The October 22 rotogravure section of La Prensa of Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of South America’s most famous newspapers, carried an illustrated feature article headlined (in Spanish) “The Bahá’í Faith in the State of Israel.” Opening his account with a glowing and detailed description of the Shrine of the Báb, the Archives Building and the gardens, the author remarked that the guides’ injunction not to talk while in the Shrine was superfluous because of the immediate emotional and spiritual effect one experiences there. The story continued with outlines of the lives of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and concluded with a summary of the Faith’s principles, the independent investigation of truth and oneness of the Prophets receiving special attention.
Art Linkletter, radio and television personality known throughout the United States for his humorous children’s programs, gave recognition to the Faith in a special noncommercial Christmas telecast entitled “Christmas in the Holy Land.” Showing the Linkletter family at various points of religious interest, the travelogue-type program included views of and commentary on the Shrine of the Báb, the Archives Building—which Linkletter compared with the Parthenon—and the family in the “Persian” gardens. The commentary also referred to the spread of the Faith around the world.
On August 26 the Australian News magazine Nation published a full-page article headed “Bahá’ís on the Hill,” referring to the location of the new Sydney Temple. The story, sympathetic and factually correct, embodied a comprehensive account of the history and teachings of the Faith. The approach and consummation of the Temple dedication in mid-September called forth a wealth of other publicity in Sydney newspapers and on radio and television — some of the latter being
Over the Thanksgiving week end youth conferences were held in several localities, including Scottsdale, Arizona, with three
youth declarations; Fresno J.D., California, also with three declarations; Manhattan Beach, California, with eight declarations; Dexter, Michigan, with one declaration; and Salt Lake County, Utah. Left: The Scottsdale group at “Hole in the Rock,”
where the youth cooked breakfast and held a morning session. Right: The Fresno gathering.
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The lower portion of auditorium of the German Temple.
View of the Taunus hills from the site of the Temple.
carried on national as well as local programs. The
event was also recorded in newsreels for exhibition
throughout Australia and probably overseas.
One of the pieces of publicity attributable to the recent dedication of the Mother Temple of the Antipodes was a full-color page in the October 16 issue of the weekly Australian magazine Woman’s Day With Woman. Three large pictures of the Temple, including an interior view, are complemented by a comprehensive and sympathetic article entitled “Temple in the Bushland.” Included is the following wording which appears on a dignified, lettered sign outside the edifice: “Now that the world is a neighborhood, the building of this House of Worship has a special meaning. In an age that demands unity for survival, men no longer can afford the price of separation. The House of Worship is a symbol of hope to those men and women who want to live in a peaceful world.”
On January 7 the half-hour program “Chicago Portrait,” conducted by Norman Ross (Chicago Radio Station WLS), was devoted to a discussion of the Bahá’í House of Worship and the Bahá’í Faith. William B. Sears, Hugh E. Chance and Miss Edna True were asked excellent questions in which Mr. Ross expressed sincere and courteous interest. He himself closed the program by reading one of the prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the translation of which Mr. Ross properly credited to Shoghi Effendi.
Among the many fine illustrations in Exodus Revisited, a picture story of modern Israel, is a full-page view of the International Bahá’í Archives Building with the following caption: “Are we not but branches of the same tree? There are many ways to express the same idea. Those who follow the teachings of Bahá’í have their way.” The photographs for this absorbing book were taken by Dimitrios Harrisiadis; the text is by Leon Uris, author of Exodus. Doubleday and Company, Inc. are the publishers.
Second in a series of teaching conferences, held in
Uppsala, Sweden, on November 4 and 5 on the theme,
“The Unfoldment of the Divine Plan in Europe.” Believers from nine localities attended. Among the highlights were talks by Hans Odemyr and John Nielsen,
chairman and secretary of the National Assembly.
National Spiritual Assembly of Turkey, 1961-1962. Left
to right, front row: S. Doktoroglu (chairman), M. Inan
(vice-chairman), Dj. Ghuchani (secretary), M. Afnan.
Back row: H. Diriöz (recording secretary), Dr. N.
Özsuca, Dr. A. Burhani, I. Habib, and H. Manevi (treasurer).
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Attention Baha’i News Correspondents Everywhere!
Since BAHÁ’Í NEWS this year will be reporting more national conventions than ever before, space will be at a premium. Please make articles brief, confining them to points significant to the Bahá’í world as a whole. Send them promptly, so that they will still have news value when they appear. And, if at all possible send text and pictures in the same mail, so that both may be used in the same issue. (This procedure applies, in general, to all other articles submitted throughout the year.) —BAHÁ’Í NEWS EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
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Spiritual Assembly of Broward County, Florida, incorporated November 15, 1961. Left to right, front row: Pedre Garces, Mrs. Zella Svendsen, Mrs. Bernice Whelchel, George Whelchel (treasurer). Back row: Mrs. Violet E. Johnson, Mrs. Eleanor Sasso (secretary), Col. C. B. Cleveland (chairman), Mrs. Lenore P. Cleveland, Mrs. Elsa Isaacs (vice-chairman).
Believers who attended the New Mexico State Convention in Albuquerque included members of three races.
At the Western Washington state convention the youth
helped to arrange a handsome book display, assisted in
the selling and saw to it that one of their group was
in attendance at the booth throughout the day.
- FEASTS
- March 21 — Bahá (Splendor)
- April 9 — Jalál (Glory)
- DAYS OF FASTING
- March 2 to 21
- HOLY DAY
- March 21 — Naw-Rúz (Bahá’í New Year)
- U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY MEETINGS
- March 23-25
Visiting Hours
- Weekdays
- 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Auditorium only)
- Sundays and Holidays
- 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Entire building)
- Sundays
- 3:30 to 4:10 p.m.
- Sunday, March 18
- 4:15 p.m.
BAHÁ’Í NEWS is published for circulation among Bahá’ís only by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í World Community.
BAHÁ’Í NEWS is edited by an annually appointed Editorial Committee: Mr. and Mrs. P. R. Meinhard, Managing Editors; Mrs. Eunice Braun, International News Editor; Miss D. Thelma Jackson, National News Editor; Miss Charlotte M. Linfoot, National Spiritual Assembly Representative.
Material must be received by the twentieth of the second month preceding date of issue. Address: Bahá’í News Editorial Office, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.A.
Change of address should be reported directly to National Bahá’í Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.A.
