THROUGH INDIA AND BURMA
An American Traveler Visits Bahá’í Communities of the Far East
BY
FLORENCE EVELYN SCHOPFLOCHER
(From Star of the West)
BOLPUR brings Green Acre* most vividly before my eyes, for here is a similar ideal setting in India’s fertile state of Bengal. At the school of Tagore one witnesses community life in all its stages of development from rug-weaving and many other industries to the finer arts such as music, singing, drawing and painting, and the most appreciated outdoor sports, such as competitions in rope-skipping, dancing, exercises and other games. Spiritual education is not neglected. Yet the poet Tagore puts forth no special creed or teaching other than weekly discourses by himself, and prayers every day at the “House of Prayer.” This philosopher and poet is looked upon here as an idealist who is giving expression to the nobler aspects of life through the drama and fine arts.
Most of his time is spent writing plays and music for the two hundred pupils from distant villages and cities who are boarding here. The Agricultural Department covers chicken raising and introducing the better breeds brought from the West into the surrounding villages; the cultivation of land and gardening. The greatest wish of Rabandrinath Tagore is to draw the graduates of universities who now crowd the cities back to village life. The young Indian principal of the school took his degree at the State Agricultural College of Massachusetts and additional degrees in England. All teachers are well qualified and come from many different countries in Europe. One woman teacher of drawing and painting is from Austria; another teacher is from Holland; one English professor; and two Christian Indian professors.
*Green Acre is a Bahá’í summer colony in Eliot, Maine.
The Full Moon Festival, which ushers in the first day of Spring in India, has about the same significance as our May-day dancing around the May-pole, celebrated “slightly” differently, for here the Hindu throws colored powder and squirts bright colored water with a kind of water-gun used for the purpose. All join in the holiday spirit, including the teachers, and throw the vivid reds and yellows right square in one’s face and smear it over the body and cloths. By the time evening comes, the people resemble walking flames. Even the hair gets rainbow hued.
Before leaving “the school of the poet” I was asked to give a lecture to the older students and teachers. Everyone to whom I had already spoken seemed to appreciate the principles and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, but as I have already mentioned they do not specialize here in any religious teaching.
My journey through the south and heart of India was most fruitful, and the leading men and rulers of many different States are now studying the Bahá’í teachings. One of the foremost ministers of the Great Nizam of Hyderabad had heard of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and weeks before my arrival he was impatiently waiting for books.
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An official attached to one of India’s greatest princes gave me every assistance in meeting those I most wished to know. When I told him the nature of my work, he exclaimed, “I too am a believer in Bahá’u’lláh, but I have never had the courage to openly admit it as it would mean absolute ruin overnight if it was discovered that I had embraced a new Revelation.”
Another of India’s princes received me with a most inquiring stare. Rather abruptly and in a most unusual manner, he said, “There is something different about you than anyone I have yet known. It is magnetism, but not personal magnetism, rather more of a spiritual quality. What is it you have come to tell me?” Now when one visits these Indian rulers who are so extremely polite, it is not customary to state one’s mission at once, but I came straight to the point and said, “If there is anything spiritual about me it is because I love Bahá’u’lláh the Revealer of the New Revelation.” He replied, “I might have known it. I also believe Bahá’u’lláh has brought a message to the world, but until now I have not looked seriously into His Teachings.”
The beautiful hill stations are the ideal place to teach, for prominent men and women from all parts of India spend the hot months of the plains below up in these hill stations: Professors of the universities, Maharajas and their entourage, and others. Never has a country been nearer to accepting the divine teachings than India is today, and the opportunities for service are without limit.
Mr. Hashmat’u’lláh Koreshí, secretary of the National Bahá’í Spiritual Assembly of India, is a man of marvelous character and great culture. It would be impossible to record in detail the story of the remarkable assistance I received from the hands of this very brilliant spiritual worker in the vineyard of the new creative Word. From eight o'clock in the morning until evening this distinguished and enthusiastic brother invited to visit me at my hotel the most prominent of Calcutta’s thinkers of both sexes, or arranged luncheons, teas and dinners daily. In turn I visited many homes, and carried the Message of Unity into every available place. Many of these very fine families were deeply moved by the narrative of the early life of our beloved Teachers.
A Western Bahá’í believer can always have a sympathetic audience, for since he loves all religionists, his method of approach is constructive and harmonious. There are many so-called dead creeds today in the daily life of the Indian. One can scarcely credit the doings and misunderstandings between the different outstanding religious fanatics. One thing is clear, however, and that is that there are many noble souls and deep thinkers in India who are far above and beyond the illusions of the past.
The cultured Indian is one of the finest types of manhood in the world. My visit to the home of Sir C. P. Bose, the great world-renowned scientist, was a revelation in itself. I walked through the gardens of his home and actually saw the heart-beats of trees as we passed. Marvelous instruments placed near the trees register upon delicate machines the pulse of the tree, and the effect was instantly noticed by a long dash when anything unusual happened such as a person passing suddenly or when some anesthetic was administered. A tree can become intoxicated with certain drugs, and the heartbeat took queer staggers and long swaying movements on the parchment by the needle of these delicate inventions of Sir C. P. Bose, of Calcutta. This was a very eventful afternoon.
Lady Bose is one of the outstanding women in India today. Her untiring efforts along educational and all other lines for the emancipation of her oppressed sisters, classifies her as a great leader in the Feminist Movement. Her “Industrial School for Widows and Married Women” in Bengal is the first institution of its kind to be established in India, and thus her dream of educating the neglected[Page 147]
little widows who are bereft of human companionship, has been fulfilled. How refreshing it was to note the immediate and sustained interest of this woman of remarkable character in the great teaching of Bahá’u’lláh, that “material and spiritual education should go hand in hand.”
The Prime Minister of the Maharaja of Mysore was more than kind to me during my visit in the south of India, where I visited the leaders and rulers of several States. The Maharaja of Mysore is one of the greatest of India's princes. He received Bahá’í books with appreciation and extended an invitation to return. When I left the palace I called upon a professor at the college and learned to my surprise that he had once been on the verge of accepting Bahá’u’lláh as the Manifestation of God to the world today, but owing to reports from Persia that the Bahá’í Revelation had entirely died out of the world of existence he had given up the idea of further study. He then inquired as to whether a friend whom he had met twenty years ago in New York was still interested in the Movement, as he had thought it was a fad with this lady.
Promptly I related to him briefly a few stories of the progress of the Bahá’í Cause, its succession of spiritual victories, its world-wide scope. Particularly did I emphasize the superb loyalty of its devotees, their cheerful perseverance and patient struggling to see the New Day of God established on this earth as prophesied by the Divine Messengers. Was I not thinking of the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá regarding the “steady progress and universal dimensions of the Cause,” for He hath said, “On account of being a Divine Movement it grew and developed with irresistible spiritual power until in this day wherever you travel east or west and in whatever country you journey you will meet Bahá’í Assemblies and institutions.”
My friend’s immediate response showed a depth of feeling as he requested me to send him the same kind of book I had given the Maharaja, declaring his loyalty to Bahá’u’lláh in future and his desire to help spread the glad-tidings among his countrymen. Last week I received a most joyous letter from this recently morbid man, thanking me in the name of Bahá’u’lláh for the photograph in the little ivory frame of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, saying he kept it before him always, and each day was begun through the inspiration of that wonderful face.
The seeds of the patient work of Mrs. J. Stannard, a Bahá’í teacher, who so faithfully carried on the teaching work in Calcutta, are now bearing fruit. One prominent man, who for months had been suffering from depression and apathy, came suddenly to life after I once again related the story of the progress of the Cause, how it had spread without any propaganda, but entirely through the dynamic spiritual power of the Cause itself, and the efforts of its devoted followers. This man who had been ill and unable to walk even about his own home, arose at the conclusion of our conference (which lasted two hours when I had planned it for thirty minutes) and walked to the stairway with us (two distinguished Bahá’ís had accompanied me). Also before we left a series of Bahá’í meetings were arranged to be held in his spacious attractive home. Thus doth the power of the Spirit of God manifest in hearts suddenly awakened to its all-embracing potency.
And now for a few words about the Bahá’í villages of Burma. Mrs. Inez Greeven (formerly Mrs. Inez Cook of New York) visited the village of Kunjangoon, known as the “Village of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá” because all the inhabitants are Bahá’ís, and wrote an interesting account of this visit [see page 141]. I have already told of my experiences there. But a new village is in the process of evolution[Page 148]
and boasts about twenty young men who decided to openly declare their faith in Bahá’u’lláh regardless of consequences. Muḥammad Eunoos, a blessed old believer, had been expelled by the mulla and told not to return. But when Muḥammad Eunoos learned of my arrival in Mandalay he accompanied me to this village of Kyigon, Burma. We had to ride some miles in an ox-cart, sitting cross-legged on straw matting. News had already reached the village of the visit of a Western believer, so when we arrived the following day the whole place had been polished and not one stroke of work was done that day. The entire population turned out to hear about the new Teachings. I sat up among trees in the most attractive bamboo house built high on stilts, while the audience jostled each other for a place to sit.
The meeting continued through the entire day. During the hot afternoon a mullá arrived and inquired, “What is she talking about up there?” Fortunately the chief official of the village was a Buddhist and very friendly. He had called on us early in the morning and offered a cordial greeting. He told the mullá that the lady was talking about God and that if he remained he would have to be courteous and only ask civil questions after the meeting like the others. He was quite disturbed, but when they said, “The lady is a great friend of the Governor of Burma, Sir Harcourt Butler,” he soon took himself elsewhere and we went on in peace.
Later in the day three young men came forward in the utmost simplicity and knelt at my feet and said, “We accept Bahá’u’lláh as the Prophet of God today.” Others became believers also. It was very touching to see their dear old teacher Muḥammad Eunoos take each by the hand and kiss them on each cheek, and then like an initiation ceremony, kiss each on the forehead, with the look of love in his dear old face. This great teacher once built a Mosque when he was a follower of the Islámic faith, and had it confiscated, together with every bit of property he ever had, when he became a believer in the new Manifestation, Bahá’u’lláh. Now he is happy in his poverty, and in his freedom to uphold the Divine Standards of today.
In conclusion perhaps it will be of interest to Bahá’ís to know that I am writing this article while en-route to visit the Prince who was so splendidly sympathetic to Mrs. Lua Getsinger, Bahá’í teacher and lecturer, when she visited India several years ago. It was not at all surprising to learn that they always refer to Mrs. Getsinger in these parts as “St. Lua.”
Picture me here in this queer village, a way-station, as it were, for those who go on hunting expeditions after tigers! The village is really locked up at night and all passes closed to tigers, but I am told that tigers are always lurking near these barriers and sometimes find an entry. Here I wait for the next eleven hours until the arrival of the main line train which will carry me on to Jhalrapatan, where the Maharaja of Jhalawar has his State.
A tiny lamp flickers over my shoulder from an improvised mantelpiece and two coolie boys alternate in pulling the punka over my head that I may breathe sufficiently to get through the night, for I am experiencing the “boiling heat” of April days and nights in India. The babble of native curiosity is without and many unseen eyes are gazing upon this unusual activity. An Indian night with its native perfume pervades the place and even in desert waste of insecure footing there is a remarkable atmosphere of genuine reality. Possibly this is the reason for my preference for the East and its associations rather than the West with its civilization. Outside of my door is the Muḥammadan upon his tiny prayer-rug in respectful reverence to Muḥammad; the Hindu also near-by looking hopeful that his meditation is being heard by the long-departed Krishna.
Hope and happiness reign supreme in my heart during my unexpected stay in
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this, the most primitive and strange place I have thus far visited, hardly on the fringe, even, of human society. At five o’clock in the morning I shall entrain for Jhalrapatan, where an automobile will be waiting to take me thirty miles more on the journey to the Palace of His Highness the Prince, who will once again hear of the Revealed Word of God to man through Bahá’u’lláh and of how that creative Word has taken effect in the hearts of thousands upon thousands the world-over who believe that “the Religion and the law of God has descended from the heaven of the will of the Possessor of Eternity for the purpose alone of harmonizing and bringing into unity the peoples of the world.”
