Bahá’í News/Issue 377/Text
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| No. 377 | BAHA’I YEAR 119 | AUGUST, 1962 |
Memories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá[edit]
(Continued from July issue)
IV
All that has been written up to this point is a sort of introduction to the recording of my memories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on the occasion of His visit to this country in 1912. The purpose of this introduction is to show what sort of a personage it was that on April 11, 1912, landed at the port of New York for an extended visit and lecture tour in this country.
Here was an Oriental in Oriental garb, a man Who had been prisoner most of His life, a character Whose life was for the most part lived on a spiritual plane so lofty as to be almost beyond our comprehension. How did this Servant of God meet, fit into and adjust to the objective, dynamic and materialistic life of America?
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, upon landing in New York and being surrounded by alert and inquisitive reporters, was perfectly at home. And why not? Is there any limit to the power of spirit? Was not ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s universal spirit as capable of dealing with the fast-vibrating technological Occident as it had been in dealing with the mystic and more spiritual Orient? We shall see, as this narrative continues, how He was “all things to all men”; protean in His universality; thoroughly at home in every environment.
This majestic figure — in tarboosh, turban and flowing robes — drew the newspaper men into His aura and immediately won their favor.
“What do you think of America?” He was asked.
“I like it. Americans are optimistic. If you ask them how they are they say ‘All right!’ If you ask them how things are going, they say, ‘All right!’ This cheerful attitude is good.”
And so ‘Abdu’l-Bahá won reporters’ hearts and continued to do so throughout His stay in America. He never seemed to them, or was described by them, as a strange or exotic personality. He always received favorable and constructive notices from the press.
For eight months ‘Abdu’l-Bahá traveled over the United States from coast to coast, giving addresses in churches, universities and lecture halls. Several of these addresses I was privileged to attend. As I look back on these occasions, I recall more vividly His platform presence than the contents of His addresses, which of course have all been published.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not, as a lecturer, stand still. His movements were very dynamic. He paced back and forth on the platform as He gave forth His spiritual utterances. I felt that the general atmosphere and the effect of His words were enhanced rather than diminished by the presence of a translator. For the techniques of translation gave ‘Abdu’l-Bahá a certain spiritual dignity, such as could not have been attained by a straight address in the language of His hearers.
The situation was as follows: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would make a statement of a length within the power of the translator to render; then He would stand and smile as the translation was given, or He would nod His head to affirm important points. In other words, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not stand passive during the period of translation. He constantly illumined this translation with the dynamic power of His own spiritual personality.
And when He spoke, the Persian words — so beautiful and strong — boomed forth almost as musically as in operatic recitatives. While He spoke He was in constant and majestic motion. To hear Him was an experience unequaled in any other kind of platform delivery. It was a work of art, as well as a spiritual service. First would come this spiritual flow of thought musically expressed in a foreign tongue. Then, as the translator set forth its meaning to us, we had the added pleasure of watching ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s response to the art of the translator. It was, all in all, a highly colorful and dramatic procedure.
The substance of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s talks, here and in London and Paris, have been published and are available for study. One can perceive in all of these addresses and discussions a peculiar adaptation to the Occidental mentality and way of thinking. They are, to sum it up in one word, supremely logical.
It was the Greeks who taught the world how to think in logical terms, and they thereby laid the foundations for all Western thought and science. From the Greeks we have learned how to begin at “A” in order to get to “Z” — or as in Greek, from “Alpha” to “Omega.”
The Orientals do not think in just this way. Their mentality has never submitted to the Greek discipline. Their minds are more mystical, more immediate in perception. They do not have to begin at “A” in order to comprehend the station of “Z.” Through spiritual sensitivity, through rapid intuitional processes, they can often gain an immediate awareness or comprehension of the ultimate — of the “Omega” itself.
All Oriental seers and prophets speak oracularly. One sentence, one paragraph will contain a wealth which a lifetime of thought cannot exhaust. Christ spoke this way. Bahá’u’lláh spoke this way.
But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for the sake of the Western world, adopted the Greek mode of presentation, carefully elaborating His theses and developing them from known and admissible premises. In no place is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ever obscure or recondite. If He wishes to present a great spiritual truth, He takes it up at an initial point where its truth will be acknowledged by all, and then develops it into a larger presentation such as can expand our very minds and souls.
And so, whatever else ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was and in the future will be realized to be, it is recognizable even today that He was God’s special gift to the Occident. He translated the oracular teachings of Bahá’u’lláh into a language and form easily comprehensible to the West. So that no one, having available these lucid pronouncements of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, can say that the
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Bahá’í Faith is hard to understand. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has
set forth its Teachings with all the lucidity of daylight and the warmth of sunlight.
Regarding the countless personal interviews which the Master gave to Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís alike, volumes could be written. I will tell here only of the interviews which I personally was privileged to have.
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in Boston, I seized this opportunity to take my father in to see Him, from our home in the suburb of Newton. Father at that time was a venerable Boston artist seventy-five years of age — an earnestly religious man, devout, spiritual and prayerful. He was sympathetic to my adherence to the Bahá’í Cause, but he had said, “Son, I am too old to change.” While I was in Constantinople, Father had at my request attended some of the Bahá’í meetings in Boston; and now he was glad to have this opportunity to visit with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
But what was my consternation to perceive that Father was taking the conversation into his own hands. It was an occurrence which I never shall forget. Father for some half-hour proceeded to lay down the law to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, or let us say, to enlighten Him on spiritual themes. Or to be more exact, let us say that Father took this opportunity to express to the loving, listening ear of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the spiritual philosophy which had guided him in life.
I sat there quite shocked. But I didn’t need to be. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá plainly was not shocked at this reversal of the customary role — He now to be the listener and His visitor the discourser. He sat there smiling, saying little, enveloping us with His love. And at the end Father came away feeling that he had had a wonderful interview. What a lesson in humility this was, that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá thus exemplified! There are so many times when we can help others best just by being good listeners.
The last interview I had in this country with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in Washington. Strange, that I do not recall what He said. My heart was too full to take any notes! I only can recall how He embraced me at the end, kissed me, and said three times: “Be on fire with the love of the Kingdom!”
What is this “love of the Kingdom”? That is what humanity must henceforward spend a few thousand years to discover and apply to life. Did ‘Abdu’l-Bahá mean the love for the Kingdom or the kind of love that prevails in the Higher Kingdom? Or did He mean both these loves?
Here in these nine words ‘Abdu’l-Bahá summed up the gist of all His teaching; which was that love applied by means of the Holy Spirit is the one thing that will solve all problems, both of man as an individual and as a collective society.
The most important interview I had with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in Paris in the spring of 1913. I was one of the staff of Porter Sargent’s Travel School for Boys. On my first visit He inquired about the school and asked me what I taught. I told Him that I taught English, Latin, algebra and geometry. He gazed intently at me with His luminous eyes and said, “Do you teach the spiritual things?”
This question embarrassed me. I did not know how to explain to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that the necessity of preparing the boys for college-entrance exams dominated the nature of the curriculum. So I simply answered: “No, there is not time for that.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá made no comment on this answer. But He did not need to. Out of my own mouth I had condemned myself and modern education. No time for spiritual things! That, of course, is just what is wrong with our modern materialistic “civilization.” It has no time to give for spiritual things.
But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s question and His silent response indicated that from His viewpoint spiritual things should come first. And why not? The material world, as the expression of man’s spirit, is subordinate to the spiritual world. Therefore education should begin with that which is primary and causal; and not with that which, as the creation of man, is secondary to his creative spirit and to the Creative Spirit of the cosmos.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá kindly invited me to bring Porter Sargent and the pupils to see Him. Mr. Sargent gladly accepted the invitation, and four of the boys did. The others had excuses, like those people in the Bible who were invited to the wedding feast but did not go. One boy had to buy a pair of shoes; another had planned to take afternoon tea at a restaurant where a gypsy orchestra furnished music, et cetera. How many of life’s important opportunities thus pass us by, through our own unperceptiveness or neglect!
I was deeply interested and concerned to see what impression ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would make on the owner of the school. Porter Sargent, ten years my senior, was a confirmed and positive atheist. He had been a biologist, and was suffering from that spiritual myopia which so often afflicts this type of scientist. But he was an idealist, a humanitarian, a man of great vision for humanity, and somewhat of a genius.
In one intimate discussion with me on the nature of existence, during a long hike we took together on the sunny island of Capri, he had outlined to me his concept of life and the universe.
“What do you think of it?” he asked me, with some eagerness. Perhaps this was the first occasion on which he had so fully expounded his philosophy of life.
“It is splendid!” I said. “But it only covers half of existence.”
“What is the other half?”
“Spirit.”
But this other half did not exist for Porter Sargent. Idealist that he was, creative-minded, somewhat of a poet — I felt sad that not one ray of spirit could penetrate the pride of his intellect.
So when this golden opportunity came of an interview with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, I had great hopes. Now, in this intimate meeting with the Master, I thought, Sargent will be forced to realize the existence of spirit. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s spiritual potency will at last penetrate his shell of skepticism.
And so, when we came out from the hotel after a half-hour conference with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá I eagerly asked, “Well, what do you think of Him?”
I have never forgotten my shattering disappointment at the answer: “He’s a dear, kind, tired old man.”
I was chagrined. But this experience taught me two spiritual lessons. The first was that skepticism must solve its own problems in its own way. The second truth, even more important, was that spirit never forces itself upon the individual. It must be invited.
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Theologians have frequently made the observation
that God could easily force us to reverence and stand
in awe of Him, if He wished. But He does not wish to
win man’s reverence and awe and love by any forceful
way. The initiative must come from man himself.
And so in the case of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, I noticed upon many occasions that He never expressed spiritual power for the purpose of dazzling people, or of winning them to a spiritual allegiance for which they were not inwardly prepared. The greater the receptivity of the individual, the greater was the revelation of spiritual potency which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá displayed to them.
Thus Juliet Thompson, who painted ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s portrait, has testified to the glorious revelations of Himself which her Subject at times made to her. In similar vein have testified the Kinneys, with whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent several days. And May Maxwell once told me that she had received, upon one sacred occasion in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, such a revelation of Him that she would never attempt to describe it.
But materially-minded people ‘Abdu’l-Bahá met upon their own plane, as He did Porter Sargent. And as I also saw Him do in Washington with the Turkish ambassador, on the occasion of Mrs. Parson’s reception. This being a social affair, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not play the part of the Master, but the part of a guest amenable to the situation. And anyone who had looked into the large reception room, as I did, and had seen ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sitting in a corner and exchanging funny stories with the ambassador, would have seen in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s facial expressions no trace of spiritual power. For He was not here primarily for spiritual purposes, but to play a social part.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá was indeed “all things to all men.” He was protean. If some were prepared only to see Him as the Old Man of the Sea, such He was to them. But if they were prepared to see Him as more than this, the degree of their receptivity was proportionately blessed.
In all my interviews with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá I had an extraordinary feeling of receiving truth from a higher plane than that of the mere intellect. Man’s intellect is an organ of discrimination, an instrument for analysis and attack. As we listen to other people more learned than ourselves we are pleased to get information, but we consciously reserve the right of judgment. Some of the things said to us we accept immediately; some with reservations; and some we inwardly oppose. No matter how wise, how learned the teacher, we reserve the right of our own judgment.
But with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá it was different. I accepted always His statements with humility and with total conviction; not because of any assumption of authority, but because I always felt in the depths of my soul that what He said was truth. It always rang true, so to speak. Let us say, as it was said of another great leader of men, that He spoke “with authority.”
In the course of His lectures here and abroad ‘Abdu’l-Bahá discoursed on many subjects. Where did He get His wide knowledge of things and of affairs? He had had but one year of schooling at the age of seven. He had been a prisoner all His life. He had few books, no scholarly library, no encyclopedias.
Yet at Schenectady, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was being shown around the General Electric Works by Steinmetz, this “wizard of electricity” was observed to be eagerly absorbing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s elucidation of electricity. The Rev. Moore, Unitarian clergyman who was present at the time, testified to me: “Steinmetz’s jaw seemed to drop open as he drank in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s talk.”
“ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, do You know everything?” Saffa Kinney is said to have asked.
“No, I do not know everything. But when I need to know something, it is pictured before Me.”
And so ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, on the occasion of His tour of the General Electric Works, knew more about electricity than did Steinmetz.
Shoghi Effendi has said that intuition is a power of the soul. It was this power that was always available to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and available in its totality. He has spoken many times of this “immediate knowledge”—this knowledge attained without the means of books or other humans, this strange intuitive power which to some degree is available to us all.
And often, in closing an interview after answering some abstruse question, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would say, “Time does not permit of further answer. But meditate on this, and truth will come to you.”
And so — although ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is no longer with us to answer our questions — the power of the Holy Spirit so strong in Him is still available to us, to guide, to fortify, to heal.
Delegates and visitors to the National Convention of France, gathered at the site of the future French Temple.
Iranian Believers Summarize Heavy Schedules of Teaching and Deepening[edit]
Early in 1962 the Iranian friends held pioneering conferences in ten areas: Fars, Qazvin, Burujard, Sangasar, Sari, Khuzestan, Khurasan, Abadeh, Babul and Yazd. Such provincial conferences are attended by representatives of spiritual assemblies, groups and the National Pioneering Committee, and by isolated believers.
Consultation and decisions revolve around pioneering activities and the multiplication of centers. Teaching problems and activities are discussed, progress reports made, and suggestions for improved methods offered.
Pictures of believers at two of these conferences are shown here; also those of students at two of Iran’s summer schools conducted in various areas according to a program prepared by the National Summer School Committee.
Of special interest was a summer school held at Narmak, near Tehran, under the supervision of Tehran’s education committee. Morning and evening classes, conducted by eleven teachers and lecturers, continued over a period of three months. Attendance at morning classes averaged seventy-five persons, and at evening sessions one hundred thirty.
Around the turn of the year two teachers made extensive tours to consult with the friends. Mrs. Mehrangiz Khosrovi visited eleven cities and towns, and Colonel Vahdat, Auxiliary Board member, covered forty-seven centers in the course of a fifteen-day trip. Both travelers discussed messages from the Hands with the friends, and stressed economy and giving in order to help meet the expenses of the final Crusade year and the Most Great Jubilee in 1963.
To stimulate teaching activities in Tehran, twenty-two conferences were held, about 150 believers being present at each. Meanwhile thirty-five other conferences were conducted for contacts and inquirers, and 600 seekers after truth attended. In addition 272 fireside meetings were held regularly on Sundays, in which more than 200 local believers took part. In a year’s time 900 people were contacted and forty declared themselves.
During the same period a special advanced study class in teaching was formed for the Tehran youth, enrollment being limited to students who had reached a specified level of knowledge of the Teachings. About sixty youth qualified for the class.
Every Friday about 280 children’s classes were conducted all over Tehran by experienced teachers, and attendance at these classes reached a total of approximately 3700.
Pictures: at top, left to right, pioneering conferences held, respectively, in Ahwaz and Yazd; below, summer schools conducted in Babul and Sari.
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First National Convention of the Bahá’ís of Finland, April 1962.
Two Nascent European National Communities Record their First Conventions[edit]
FINLAND—A long-awaited moment materialized in Helsinki on the morning of April 28 when prayers in nine languages, with a background of the music of Finland’s own Sibelius, ushered in the new national community’s first national convention.
Present at the opening were Hand of the Cause Dr. Adelbert Mühlschlegel, Josephine Kruka — representative of the outgoing Regional Assembly — the nine delegates, pioneers and visitors. Josephine Kruka, whom the Guardian had called the “mother of Finland,” opened the convention with a touching address on the vicissitudes of the Faith in this stalwart country since it was introduced twenty-four years ago at Shoghi Effendi’s expressed wish.
The reading of the messages of the Hands to the Bahá’í world and to the eleven European goal countries led to many significant comments by Dr. Mühlschlegel. These encompassed the position of the Bahá’í World Community as the mother of a future World Order based on unity and, more directly, the obligation of the Finnish believers to build ideal local communities in accordance with the Administrative Order. This sacred task was eagerly and devotedly assumed by the convention and by the new National Spiritual Assembly, elected on the second day of the convention. Also borne in mind were Finland’s two external goals, Lapland and Estonia.
Amid messages of assurance and encouragement from around the Bahá’í world, and announcements of generous gifts from beloved Amelia Collins and the Hands in the Holy Land, the delegates moved on confidently in their deliberations. When they were completed the new Finnish national community had resolutely girded itself for the final year of the Crusade, and for the other years to follow.
SWEDEN—The history-making First National Convention of Sweden was held in Stockholm at the beginning of the Riḍván period. Its participants included Hand of the Cause Dr. Adelbert Mühlschlegel and John Nielsen of the outgoing Regional Assembly, who gave the welcoming address.
Dr. Mühlschlegel stressed the greatness of the privilege bestowed upon those present to witness the erection of a new pillar to sustain the Universal House of Justice, and urged that the friends feel a part of the world-wide Bahá’í community. This sense of participation was strengthened, as time went on, by the loving messages received from around the globe.
The reading of the messages from the Hands in the Holy Land added a spirit of exultation and gratitude over the tremendous victories won throughout the world. The announcement of a donation from the Hands to inaugurate the National Fund of Sweden, and of a gift from the late beloved Amelia Collins, spurred renewed dedication among the believers to accomplish their utmost during the last Crusade year.
An extra note of inspiration was added by the presence of Edvard Olsson, who has been serving the Cause for many years in complete isolation and was unaware that there were other believers in Sweden. Discovered through newspaper publicity about his Bahá’í activities, and induced by Dr. Mühlschlegel to
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First National Convention of the Bahá’ís of Sweden, April 1962.
attend the convention, this devoted friend was overwhelmed to learn of the Faith’s world-wide progress.
During the Feast of Riḍván, at which the Riḍván Tablet was read in Swedish for the first time, those present were privileged to share attar of roses which the beloved Guardian had presented to the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Scandinavia and Finland, and which had been saved for this auspicious occasion in Sweden’s Bahá’í history.
After the election of the country’s first National Spiritual Assembly, the delegates presented many constructive recommendations, indicative of an earnest desire on the part of the new national community to serve in the propagation of the Faith. Their immediate efforts on the home front were given direction by Dr. Mühlschlegel’s wise definition of “consolidation”: universal unity, brought about through love, understanding, prayer and strict adherence to the Word of God.
First National Spiritual Assembly of Finland, elected
April 1962. Left to right, seated: Mavlys Tulvenhumo,
Gudrun Opategaard (treasurer), Josephine Kruka, Sirkka Salmi (secretary), Greta Jankko. Standing: Maija
Ravola (recording sec’y.), Mark Namdar (vice-chairman), Ghodrat Bidardel, K. H. Zalrhian (chairman).
First National Spiritual Assembly of Sweden, elected
April 1962. Left to right, seated: Lotus Nielsen, Elizabeth Bevan (recording secretary), Jean Bonn, Marianne Pickens. Standing: John Nielsen (secretary), Hans
Ademyr (chairman), Rouhollah Golmahammadi (treasurer), Hadi Afsahi (vice-chairman), Sven Mards.
Brazilian and South Pacific Conventions Lay Plans for Final Crusade Year[edit]
BRAZIL—The believers of Brazil carried out their Second Annual Convention in a spirit of jubilation over recent victories and confidence in the purposeful planning for the final year of the beloved Guardian’s spiritual Crusade. Goals of the past year had been won with the establishment of two new local assemblies, a forty per cent gain in enrollments and, most heart-warming of all, Brazil’s first triumphs in the mass-conversion phase of the Faith. In the southern part of the country an entire Indian village had accepted the Cause, and in the north three other tribes had opened their hearts to the pioneers.
From the first moments of the pre-convention school, when the host community of Campinas received the visitors, and its children gave demonstrations of the effectiveness of early instruction in the Faith, through the widely varied consultation of the convention, the atmosphere of solid accomplishment and continued determination prevailed.
But the highlight of the whole session was the stories of “those who had gone out, ‘even on foot’ and by the crudest conveyances, under a blazing sun, drinking water from mud holes, sleeping in hammocks under the stars, praying at every step of the way, and encountering and winning the hearts of our Indian friends. The illnesses of these friends are many, their ignorance is heart-disturbing and their needs are for everything, but their hearts are open and they listen with a demanding eagerness to the beautiful prayers and the Law of God offered them.”
One young teacher had already planned to spend her vacation among the Indian people and was trying to obtain a permanent teaching appointment in one of their villages. Two other young people had made plans to study medicine so that they might minister to the physical as well as the spiritual needs of the indigenous people.
With these inspiring examples before them, believers from the north to the south of vast Brazil were stirred with a unified impulse to make their own concrete plans, so that they might help to hasten the day when the great Indian people will in their turn, “shed light to all regions.”
SOUTH PACIFIC REGION—The annual convention of the believers in the far-flung area of the South Pacific was held at Suva in the Fiji Islands. Previous to its opening, public interest was stimulated by the arrival of Hand of the Cause Dr. R. Muhájir, whose visit was well covered by press and radio publicity. Furthermore,
Second National Convention of the Bahá’ís of Brazil, April 1962.
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Annual Convention of the Bahá’ís of the South Pacific, Riḍván 1962.
local meetings were held which aroused and
sustained enthusiasm.
Delegates and visitors came from the Fiji Islands, the Gilberts, Western and American Samoa, the Solomons, Tonga, New Hebrides and New Caledonia. Mrs. Elena Fernie, Auxiliary Board member, journeyed from Honolulu as a guest speaker.
A one-day teaching conference prior to the convention had mass conversion as its theme. With this subject still fresh in the minds of all those attending, the delegates thoroughly discussed the possibilities of arousing the “troops” in the various island territories. A definite plan, comprehensive and well thought out, was drawn up to cover the entire South Pacific region, and assignments to certain areas were given at once to specific teachers.
Continuing its business-like procedure, the convention carefully reviewed the Crusade goals. All of the island territories but the Marshalls had been settled, and there are now local assemblies in all remaining groups except the Loyalty Islands. All other specific goals had been achieved. In the field of language translations a good start has been made in Tongan, Gilbertese, Ellice, Fijian and Samoan; however, strong emphasis was placed on the need for further development of this vital aspect of teaching.
Completing their plans, the friends set up a schedule of inter-island teaching conferences for the rest of the year. Taking place at various times in the New Hebrides, Western Samoa, Fiji, Gilbert and Cook Islands, these meetings will doubtless win new laurels for the dauntless believers of this great Pacific region.
The South Pacific Convention during a session.
National Convention of the Dominican Republic, 1962.
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The site of the conference in Pine Springs, Arizona. At left
are some of the trees under which food was prepared and
served. In the background is Pine Springs Indian Community
House, the Navajo center where the afternoon and evening
programs were presented.
Part of the audience of more than 1000 people gathered outside the Community House for the afternoon program. Among
them were members of numerous American Indian tribes. In
addition the conference drew representatives of many other
races, countries and cultures around the world.
From left: Navajo Bahá’í Chester Kahn; Ghanian student
Emanuel Aukare; Joe Gomez, from Taos Pueblo in New
Mexico; John Hale (“My Grandfather”), wearing the lion-skin, eagle-feathered hat of the clan patriarch; unidentified
guest; Navajo Bahá’í Franklin Kahn, brother of Chester.
“Different Races Gathering with Prayer”[edit]
conference held on the great Navajo
Indian Reservation in Arizona
PICTURE IN YOUR MIND the humbleness of man
surrounded by the vast Navajo Indian Reservation
in all its magnificent glory.
The Indian patriarch known as “My Grandfather,” who wears the mountain-lion fur hat, symbol of strength and wisdom, and is the respected leader of the Pine Springs Community, exclaims, “Something has happened!” With tears in his eyes he continues: “The earth is true, the sun is true, the atmosphere is true, this gathering of brotherhood is true.” Not a dry eye is seen as this stately eighty-three-year-old gentleman embraces Hand of the Cause Zikru’lláh Khádem. Men and women alike weep unashamed, as these two men communicate through their hearts.
Millions of stars lighted the sky on the evening of Friday, June 1. Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís, peoples of many nations, had begun to gather from the world over to join in all the activities and to live the life of our beloved Faith.
The preparation of the sacred Navajo cake, to be shared by all present, had begun on this beautiful evening. The traditional cake was wrapped in corn husks and baked in a pit of hot stones in the earth. It was first blessed with traditional Navajo prayers by beautiful “Mother,” by the menfolk, the children and the guests who had begun to arrive — each one blessing the Mother Earth and the Father Sky. The fire for baking the cake was kept aglow through the night by willing Navajo hands.
After weeks of preparation and yearning for this oneness-of-mankind conference, the day had finally come. The Saturday noon meal, of traditional mutton stew, delicious Navajo fry bread, coffee, and the sacredly prepared Navajo cake, was served to over a thousand people. All who were there were enlightened and deeply touched by the wonder of the gathering, and of being served in the spirit of love by our non-Bahá’í Navajo friends.
A Program of Love and Unity[edit]
In an atmosphere of unity, love, humility and justice, the afternoon session began when Mr. Khádem chanted the opening prayer. The program, which lasted six hours, was like a picture of a beautiful Navajo woman, who, having prepared her dyes from roots, herbs and minerals, and colored her wool, weaves into her rug
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the pattern of the unity of man.
There were many prayers and talks, all of them telling of the day when there will be the blending together of humanity in the sea of oneness. We heard from the Navajo, the Hopi, the Ghanian, the Chinese, the Eskimo, the Cherokee, the Aleut, the Taos, the Hawaiian, the Samoan, the Mexican, the Sioux, the Washoe, the African and the American—red, brown, white, black and yellow brothers and sisters. All spoke of the power of love to bring to the world the unity of mankind, their words being translated into Navajo. Young and old alike gave expressions of peace, love, oneness of mankind, humility and justice for all. What a joy it was to know “Ye are all the fruits of one tree.”
At suppertime families joined families and bread was broken in the beautiful mingling of races. The children joined in games as the sun set, thrilling all with the beauty of the gold-and-blue sky. Then the evening program began.
There were Indian dances, friendship dances, fire dances, beautiful symbolic interpretive dances, short talks, including those by Tribal Council leaders (who were deeply impressed by this gathering)—everything inspired by the theme of the conference. The beauty of the words of Mr. Khádem stirred to tears more than a thousand souls as they listened to his message of God’s love for all mankind. A Navajo policeman was heard to say, “I have to write a report about this meeting, but I don’t know what to say. It’s unexplainable!” Then this witness of many gatherings on the reservation added, “I’ve never been to a meeting like this before.”
An Unforgettable Occasion[edit]
There are so many to whom go deepest thanks for the success of this gathering: to Mr. Khádem, whose radiance and loving words drew all toward him; to our four new Navajo Indian Bahá’ís—Annie, Chester, Mary Jane and Franklin Kahn—and Charlotte Nelson and Norma Gimlin, on whose shoulders rested the burden of the detailed planning and the execution of the plans; to the friends who gave the beautiful never-to-be-forgotten Saturday evening entertainment program; to the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly for its approval of the meeting; and to all who came from near and far to share in making it a heart-felt occasion. As a memento each person present was given a small card
At right: Hand of the Cause Zikru’lláh Khadem, who, as
principal speaker, touched the hearts of the great audience
through his loving spirit. At left and at microphone are two
tribal leaders who welcomed the friends to the reservation.
Over one hundred believers came from California.
Partaking of the Saturday noon meal of traditional Navajo
mutton stew, fry bread, coffee and the sacredly prepared
Navajo cake. Here, as throughout the conference, guests met
Bahá’ís of all kinds—city dweller, rancher, young, old, neophyte, veteran—and from every continent.
Two Indian guests in native garb—one a Choctaw and the
other a Chippewa—on the platform outside the community
house, where the programs were given. With them are Franklin and Chester Kahn, who served as master of ceremonies
and interpreter, respectively.
[Page 12]
William Willoya, Eskimo believer, flanked by Mr. Khádem
and the Kahn brothers. The background mural representing
the oneness of mankind was painted by the Kahns, who conceived the plan for the conference and, with clan members,
labored ardently in carrying it out.
Mrs. Marian Steffes, first Oneida believer, at the microphone.
As the programs of prayers, short talks and ceremonial
dances proceeded, a sky-blue silken banner bearing the Greatest Name fluttered overhead. A number of the beloved Indians
declared themselves during the conference.
on which was printed Bahá’u’lláh’s prayer, “Blessed
is the spot ...” and a pine tree.
To simply say that this conference—these “different races gathering with prayer”—was a success is far from adequate, as any words would be, because all felt the presence of the Great Spirit—a feeling which “transcends words and letters.”
Diversified Programs Mark U.S. Observances of Race Amity Day[edit]
The oneness of mankind was courageously advanced and the seeds of the Faith were bountifully sown on June 10 with Race Amity Day observances over the United States. The following brief accounts of some of the celebrations indicate the varied approaches employed to make them effective.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, held its observance at the Center under the provocative title, “Man One Family—Fact or Fallacy?” Echoing the theme was a display of books—both Bahá’í and purely scientific—supporting the positive side, and a recent negative work labeled as fallacious. The speaker was a sympathetic professor from Southern University. Publicity brought out only a small audience but to the believers’ joy one member of it, a fairly new contact, declared himself and was enrolled five days later.
DES MOINES, Iowa, arranged to have a four-member panel speak to the question, “What is my organization doing to promote good race relations?” The moderator and one speaker were Caucasians and the other three Negroes. The moderator and the Bahá’í speaker, Guion Taylor, were believers; the other three represented the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Human Rights Commission and the Des Moines Improvement Association. After the meeting almost half of the audience of thirty-five attended a fireside at which follow-up teaching plans were announced. A newspaper reporter who had attended the meeting wrote a fine article which pictured three of the panelists and credited the event to the Bahá’í community.
DULUTH, Minnesota, celebrated the day with a combined meeting and picnic in a public park. The local chapter president of the NAACP and Robert Cameron of the Duluth community were co-speakers. Of the total attendance of forty-nine people more than half were non-believers, among them three Negroes and one Indian. Many of the guests showed a lively interest in the Faith, a fact which led logically to the planning of a follow-up “get-acquainted” picnic and weekly study classes.
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin, also staged a picnic in a city park. Thirty-six persons, almost equally divided between adults and children, attended. Ten Negroes, one a believer, were included in the group.
GREENVILLE, South Carolina, drew 125 people to a picnic held in a lovely outdoor area provided by non-Bahá’í friends. Dr. William Tucker delivered a stirring talk under the title, “The Promised One Has come.” The atmosphere of fellowship was enhanced by the singing of members of a colored glee club from Barber College, and planned recreation helped to make the afternoon a happy occasion. A barbecued-chicken supper concluded the program. A subsequent “letter to the editor” of a large-circulation newspaper was one of the factors calling public attention to the event.
HOUSTON, Texas, used the nationally available “Fifty Years Ago” printed invitation to help build attendance at a World Fellowship Party held in a public assembly room. The program announced “songs and dances from Persia, Israel and India.” The party took place in the evening and concluded with refreshments.
[Page 13]
INGLEWOOD JUDICIAL DISTRICT, California, sponsored a Human Relations Conference featuring a prominent speaker from Los Angeles. The speaker also took
part in a panel discussion on “Human Rights and the
Bahá’í Faith.” Virgil Wilson, secretary of the local
assembly, was chairman of the meeting and Kanaus
Alá’í presided over the panel, which included believers
and non-believers, Negroes and Caucasians. Both races
were also represented in the audience. All were impressed with the warm spirit of the meeting and the
social hour which followed.
NORTHFIELD, Illinois, attracted thirty-five believers and guests to an interracial program which included a barbecue supper. Afterward the directress of an intercountry adoption program spoke on the placement of foreign children, mostly oriental, in American Caucasian homes. Discussion of the effect on child, parent and community pointed to this work as an immediate application of the principle of racial and religious unity and proved of great interest to all present.
PEORIA HEIGHTS, Illinois, held a public meeting promoted largely through home-made posters and bulletin-board notices. A quarter of the audience of forty-four were Negroes. And while the meeting chairman, Roy Botthorf, is white, the speaker, Juliette Whittaker of the Peoria group, is colored. This mingling of the races during the meeting and social period in a spirit of love and unity constituted a record in this racially difficult village.
PINELLAS COUNTY, Florida, held a meeting at a Bahá’í home. Particularly notable was the fact that both of the speakers, Olive Alexander of Miami and Paul Hatchett of Clearwater, are Negroes. Several of the audience were likewise colored. Good publicity before and after the meeting helped to register the event on the public mind.
ROYAL OAK, Michigan, struck a new note in planning its observance. The believers contacted two educators who had figured prominently in the successful integration of colored students from one community into an all-white school in another city, thus making a signal contribution to better race relations. Citations commending them were prepared and both men were invited to receive the awards as part of the public Race Amity program. The invitations were accepted and this enabled the friends to obtain valuable newspaper publicity, including pictures of the presentation and prominent display of the word Bahá’í. The audience at the meeting was the largest yet seen at a public function sponsored by the community.
VENTURA, California, had a small but successful meeting at which Mohabatu’llah Sobhani spoke on “Man One Family.” Two non-Bahá’í guests asked for an opportunity to learn more about the Faith—a request to which the believers responded with alacrity. A pot-luck dinner followed the meeting.
WILMETTE, Illinois, held an observance attended by about thirty people. The affair was largely social but made the meaning of the day clear to the guests. Most of the latter were Negroes, Koreans and Japanese. A bountiful buffet supper was followed by a color-slide show and commentary which introduced the Faith through scenes in Haifa, ‘Akká and Bahjí.
A social period followed the meeting held on Race
Amity Day in Peoria Heights, Illinois. Forty-four people, one-fourth of them Negroes, attended the observance in this racially difficult town.
These children were among the 125 attendants at a
Race Amity Day picnic in Greenville, S. C.
Members of a college glee club sang at the Race Amity
Day observance in Greenville, S. C.
[Page 14]
In the Bahá’í Gulistan (burial ground) the believers of
Djakarta, Indonesia, erected this marble monument in
memory of Dr. William Kenneth Christian, Knight of
Bahá’u’lláh and former member of the U.S. National
Assembly. The inscription includes the quotation: “O
God, my God! Attire mine head with the crown of justice and my temple with the ornament of equity,” and
the cabled message from the Hands of the Faith at the
time of Dr. Christian’s passing in May 1959.
North Dakota Believers Carry Out State-Wide Book Placement Project[edit]
Virtually completed is an extensive and exhaustive library project begun last year in North Dakota and sponsored by the Fargo community. The goal was to spread the healing Message of Bahá’u’lláh by placing Bahá’í books in every public library, college, university and major institution in the state, as well as in two colleges in neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota. Almost all of the believers in the state have been taking part in carrying out the plan.
Books have been placed with thirteen schools and seats of higher learning; also with the state hospital, library commission, historical society, penitentiary, training school for juveniles, schools for the blind and the feeble-minded, and the tuberculosis sanitarium.
In order to present most of the books in person, the believers planned vacation and other special trips to reach every corner of North Dakota. Armed with both books and smaller items of literature, they traversed about 5000 miles, saying prayers and the Greatest Name as they went. In addition to placing the books according to plan, they made numerous other contacts.
Among the latter were people on an Indian reservation and the directors of the school for the blind. Resulting from the second contact was a well-publicized event at which an instructor spoke of the work of the school and the Bahá’ís presented five books in Braille and a record.
In launching the plan, the Fargo Assembly wrote all librarians regarding the coming book presentations, offering also to provide other books in the future if they were desired. Complete card records of presentations were compiled. As project goals were completed, circles on a large, previously prepared state map were colored in and the map was exhibited at Feasts and area conferences.
As a supplementary project the believers while on their trips collected sample copies of newspapers for consideration in proclamation plans.
Short Course on Human Relations Conducted by Utah Believers[edit]
Following closely the theme of the oneness of mankind, the believers of Utah on June 17 held a successful short course on human relations at the Bertha Eccles Art Center in Ogden. John Conkling of Provo and Gordon Jackson of Sheridan (Wyoming) served as co-chairmen, guiding the meeting before an audience in which the black, brown, yellow, red and white races were all represented.
The program opened with a question-and-answer discussion on how to eliminate prejudices and improve race relations. In a following period two prominent Negro guest speakers presented their views on the condition and problems of Utah’s colored people.
The culmination of the program was reached in a period of consultation on how the Bahá’ís can work with the Negro and other minority groups to increase understanding and provide a basis for improved human relations, in order that the oneness of mankind may become a visible reality.
Hands Cable U.S. Assembly About Covenant Breaker[edit]
“Owing (to) vicious statements attacking (the) Revelation (of) Bahá’u’lláh (and the) actions (of the) beloved Guardian (we) have informed (the) National Spiritual Assembly (of) Brazil (that) Amanollah Shafa (is) expelled. All association (with him is) forbidden. Loving greetings.”
Haifa, Israel
May 29, 1962
Bahá’í community of Pondicherry, South India, a Crusade goal which now has a local assembly. In front row,
left and right of center, are two Knights of Bahá’u’lláh:
Mrs. S. Noorani and Mrs. S. Kirmani.
Strong Wave of Mass Conversion Rolls on in Republic of Panama[edit]
Heart-stirring news continues to come from two distinct areas in Panama. During the last three weeks of May approximately 700 new Kuna Indians in the San Blas Islands embraced the Faith. The first head chief in the islands entered the Cause with the entire population of his Island of Tusla, estimated at 500 people. Also, some hundred persons on the Island of Nalunega became believers, and six lesser chiefs declared themselves. The Faith has now been taken to eleven out of a total of some forty islands comprising the group.
Meanwhile, in the Guaymi area of Chiriquí Province, the pioneers penetrated into the mountains for four days and formed a new community at Hate Jebe, where the corregiador (mayor) and his entire family became believers. Some twenty-five souls followed their fellow Guaymi believers into the Faith.
With thrilling victories behind them, great new fields beckoning and missionary competition growing, the courageous believers swiftly laid plans to lead more of the beloved Panamanian Indians into the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.
U.S. National Assembly Announces New Distribution and Sales Department[edit]
The U.S. National Spiritual Assembly announces the formation of the Bahá’í Distribution and Sales Department, which will handle the distribution and sale of all teaching aids and materials except those customarily handled by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust. This will consolidate into one grouping all items formerly handled by the Audio-Visual, Radio, Public Information and Sales Committees, which have now been replaced by the new department. Robert Buckley will manage this facility.
As rapidly as they can be produced, new audio-visual and radio materials will be made available and a catalogue issued. In the meantime, orders should be placed
Delegates and visitors at National Convention of Uruguay. Second from left in first row is Hand of the Cause Dr. Hermann Grossmann.
First Norwegian Youth Winter School, held in the mountains at Tretten in Gudbrandsdalen April 15-23. Both believers and guests received a handsome mimeographed booklet covering Bahá’í subjects.
with the Bahá’í Distribution and Sales Department, 112
Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois.
International News Briefs[edit]
About 400 people were present and 300 pieces of literature were distributed at a notable Commonwealth Day meeting held at Timaru, New Zealand, on May 24. R. St. Barbe Baker gave an illustrated lecture on the great Sahara reclamation project as an example of means that can be adopted to ease mankind’s problems. This was followed by a stirring talk on the Bahá’í conception of a world commonwealth, given by Anthony Voykovic. To the surprise of the believers, not only the first talk but the second as well was fully endorsed by a Christian clergyman who took part in the program.
During May and June forty-five paintings by Mark Tobey were given an eight-week showing at the Duncan Phillips Gallery in Washington, D.C. Among favorable reviews in the metropolitan press was one that stated: “As early as 1918 he (Tobey) was attracted to the Persian religion, Bahá’í, which teaches the unification of all religions and a life of peace.” To further capitalize on the exhibition, the Washington community held a special meeting at which a local art instructor, speaking on the subject of “Mark Tobey, Contemporary Bahá’í Painter, and the World We Never See,” stressed the spiritual aspects of the artist’s work.
BAHA'I IN THE NEWS[edit]
A Portuguese book, Missão Na Asia (Mission in Asia), by Fernando Laidley, devotes some three pages to the Faith. Covering an automobile trip from Lisbon to Goa, India, the book speaks glowingly of the hospitality the author received at the hands of two Bahá’í families in Iran. Then follows a brief but accurate account of the Faith’s history and principles. Significantly
[Page 16]
Members of the community of Zamora, Bolivia, whose
local assembly was recently incorporated, with Habib
Sabet of Iran (at table). The town is near Lake Titicaca, highest navigable lake in the world.
Some members of the Bahá’í Club at the University of
California-Berkley serving at the Bahá’í booth during
the university’s annual Activities Fair. This was the
first year the believers were invited to have their own
display.
the reference concludes by stating that some
Portuguese have espoused the Cause and that Catholics
cannot but respect a Faith whose Teachings are so
noble and exalted.
A front-page article in the April issue of The Jewish Veteran, published in Washington, D.C., announced a pilgrimage to Israel planned by the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. and similar organizations from other countries. Scheduled for September 19 is a sightseeing tour of Haifa during which, said the article, the group “will stop at the famous Bahá’í Temple.”
On April 11 a well-known store advertised special Passover foods in the Miami (Florida) Herald. Included in a large illustration of “sweets from Israel” was a ribbon-bound box whose cover picture featured Haifa’s most beautiful landmark: the Shrine of the Báb.
The swift progress of the Faith in Thailand (the number of believers multiplied sevenfold last year) received an added stimulus when the June 3 issue of the Bangkok daily newspaper Phim Thai published a striking three-quarter-page article. Included were a large picture of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and a still bigger one showing the Shrine of the Báb and the Archives Building on Mt. Carmel. By way of periodic publicity and proclamation the friends broadcast a weekly half-hour evening program over the powerful Bangkok police radio station.
Calendar of Events[edit]
- FEASTS
- August 20—Asmá’ (Names)
- September 8—‘Izzat (Might)
- U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY MEETINGS
- August 31 — September 3
Baha’i House of Worship[edit]
- Weekdays
- 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Entire building)
- 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Auditorium only)
- Sundays and Holidays
- 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Entire building)
- 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Auditorium only)
- Sundays
- 3:30 to 4:10 p.m.
- Sunday, August 19
- 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 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.
