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O THOU who art spreading the fragrances of God! Verily, thy letter was received and I was informed of thy chanting the Verses of God in the spiritual assemblies, of thy excellent speech and eloquent address in the illumined gatherings. I ask God to confirm thee by the Breaths of the Holy Spirit, so that explanations may flow from thy tongue like unto the flowing of the river and the meetings may be shaken by thy stating the proofs of the appearance of the Kingdom of God and the diffusion of the fragrances of God in this wonderful, glorious and excellent century.
O handmaiden of God! Verily, God has confirmed thee in spreading the fragrances of God in those climes. Be a pillar of fire and a cloud of light and a blessed tree in the vineyard of God, the Precious, the Forgiving.
As to trials (tests in the path of God), verily, they are necessary. Hast thou not heard and read how there appeared trials from God in the day of Jesus, and thereafter, and how the whirlwind of tests became severe? Even the glorious Peter was not rescued from the flame of trials, and wavered. Then he repented and mourned the mourning of a bereaved one and his lamentations reached unto the Celestial Concourse. Is it, then, possible to be saved from the trials of God? No, verily. There is a great wisdom therein, of which no one is aware save the wise and knowing.
Were it not for tests genuine gold could not be distinguished from the counterfeit. Were it not for tests the courageous could not be known from the coward. Were it not for tests the people of faithfulness could not be known from those of selfishness. Were it not for tests the intellects and faculties of the scholars in the great colleges would not be developed. Were it not for tests the sparkling gems could not be known from worthless pebbles. Were it not for tests the fisherman could not be distinguished from Annanias and Caiaphas who were amid glory (worldly dignity). Were it not for tests the face of Mary, the Magdalene, would not glisten with the light of firmness and certainty unto all horizons. These are some of the mysteries of tests which we have unfolded unto thee that thou mayest become cognizant of the mysteries of God in every cycle. Verily, I pray God to illumine the faces as pure gold in the fire of tests.
As the servants and the handmaidens of the Merciful stand firmly and persevere, the good seed will soon grow in the field and bear the fruit of blessing. Then will spirituality and fragrance prevail and joy and rejoicing come from the Heavenly Sphere, sorrows and toil shall be forgotten and eternal peace and rest appear.
Regarding the two wings of the soul, these mean wings of ascent. One is the wing of knowledge, the other of faith, for these are the means of the ascent of the human soul to the lofty station of divine perfection.
--PHOTO--
Mrs. Isabella D. Brittingham was one of the first Bahá'ís in America. She attended, in 1898, the first class which presented, in New York City, "The dawning light of the divine Revelation." And soon, like the pioneers who had just heard the Glad Tidings in Chicago, she was carrying "its sacred torch for and wide throughout the continent of America." For twenty-five years she was one of the foremost teachers of the Covenant of Peace.
| VOL. 14 | MARCH, 1924 | NO. 12 |
'Abdu'l-Bahá's significant Tablet, revealed during the last years of His life on earth, January 28, 1920.
O YE lovers of truth! O ye servants of mankind!
As the sweet fragrance of your thoughts and high intentions has breathed upon me, I feel that my soul is irresistibly prompted to communicate with you.
Ponder in your heart how grievous is the turmoil in which the world is plunged; how the nations on earth are besmeared with human blood, nay, their very soil is turned into clotted gore. The flame of war has caused so wild a conflagration that the world in its early days, in its middle ages, or in modern times has never witnessed its like. The millstones of war have ground and crushed many a human head, nay, even more severe has been the lot of these victims. Flourishing countries have been made desolate, cities have been laid level with the ground, and smiling villages have been turned into ruin. Fathers have lost their sons, and sons turned fatherless. Mothers have shed tears of blood in mourning for their youths, little children have been made orphans, and women left wanderers and homeless. In a word, humanity, in all its phases, has been debased. Loud is the cry and wailing of orphans, and bitter the lamentations of mothers which are echoed by the skies.
The prime cause for all these happenings is racial, national, religious, and political prejudice, and the root of all this prejudice lies in outworn and deep-seated traditions, be they religious, racial, national, or political. So long as these traditions remain, the foundation of the human edifice is insecure, and mankind itself is exposed to continuous peril.
Now in this radiant age, when the essence of all beings has been made manifest, and the hidden secret of all created things been revealed, when the morning light of truth has broken and turned the darkness of the world into light, is it meet and seemly that such a frightful carnage which brings irretrievable ruin upon the world should be made possible? By God! that cannot be.
Christ summoned all the peoples of the world to reconciliation and peace. He commanded Peter to return his sword unto its scabbard. Such was His wish and counsel, and yet they that bear His name have unsheathed the sword! How great the difference between their deeds and the explicit text of the Gospel!
Sixty years ago Bahá'u'lláh, even as the sun, shined in the firmament of Persia, and proclaimed that the world is wrapt in darkness and this darkness is fraught with disastrous results, and will lead to fearful strife. In his prison-city of Acre, He apostrophized in unmistakable terms the Emperor of Germany, declaring that a terrible war shall take place, and Berlin will break forth in lamentation and wailing. In like manner,
whilst the wronged prisoner of the Sultan of Turkey in the citadel of Acre, He clearly and emphatically wrote him that Constantinople will fall prey to grave disorder, in such wise that the women and children will raise their moaning cry. In brief, He addressed epistles to all the chief rulers and sovereigns of the world, and all that He foretold has been fulfilled. From His pen of glory flowed teachings for the prevention of war, and these have been scattered far and wide.
His first teaching is the search after truth. Blind imitation, He declared, killeth the spirit of man, whereas the investigation of truth frees the world from the darkness of prejudice.
His second teaching is the oneness of mankind. All men are but one fold, and God, the loving Shepherd. He bestoweth upon them His most great mercy and considers them all as one. "Thou shalt find no difference amongst the creatures of God." They are all His servants and all seek His bounty.
His third teaching is that religion is the most mighty stronghold. It should be conducive to unity, rather than be the cause of enmity and hate. Should it lead to enmity and hate better not to have it at all. For religion is even as medicine, which if it should aggravate the disease, its abandonment would be preferred.
Likewise, religious, racial, national, and political prejudice, all are subversive of the foundation of human society, all lead to bloodshed, all heap ruin upon mankind. So long as these remain, the dread of war will continue. The sole remedy is universal peace. And this is achieved only by the establishment of a supreme Tribunal, representative of all governments and peoples. All national and international problems should be referred to this Tribunal, and whatsoever be the decision that should be enforced. Were a government or people to dissent, the world as a whole should rise against it.
And among His teachings is the equality in rights of men and women, and so on, with many other similar teachings that have been revealed by His pen.
At present, it has been made evident and manifest that these principles are the very life of the world, and the embodiment of its true spirit. And now, ye, who are the servants of mankind should exert yourselves, heart and soul, to free the world from the darkness of materialism and human prejudice, that it may be illumined with the light of the City of God.
Praise be to Him, ye are acquainted with the various schools, institutions and principles of the world; today nothing short of these divine teachings can assure peace and tranquillity to mankind. But for these teachings this darkness shall never vanish, these chronic diseases shall never be healed; nay, they shall grow fiercer from day to day. The Balkans will remain restless and its condition will be aggravated. The vanquished will not keep still, but will seize every means to kindle anew the flame of war. Modern universal movements will do their utmost to carry out their purpose and intentions. The Movement of the Left will acquire great importance, and its influence will spread.
Wherefore, endeavor, that with an illumined heart, a heavenly spirit and a divine strength, and aided by His grace, ye may bestow God's bountiful gift upon the world—the gift of comfort and tranquillity for all mankind.
The first message of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to his friends throughout the world.
HE IS THE ALL-GLORIOUS
THE world's great Light, once resplendent upon all mankind, has set to shine everlastingly from the Abhá Horizon, His Kingdom of fadeless glory, shedding splendour upon His loved ones from on high and breathing into their hearts and souls the breath of eternal life.
Ponder in your hearts that which He hath foretold in His Tablet of the "Divine Vision" that hath been spread
throughout the world. Therein He saith: "Thereupon she wailed and exclaimed 'May the world and all that is therein be a ransom for Thy woes. O Sovereign of heaven and earth! Wherefore hast Thou left Thyself in the hands of the dwellers of this prison-city of Acre? Hasten Thou to other realms, to Thy retreats above, unknown as yet to the mortal glance of the children of the world.' We smiled and spake not. Reflect upon these most exalted words, and comprehend the purpose of this hidden and sacred mystery."
O ye beloved of the Lord! Beware, beware lest hesitate and waver. Let not fear fall upon you, neither be troubled nor dismayed. Take ye good heed lest this calamitous day slacken the flames of your ardour, and quench your tender hopes. Today is the day for steadfastness and constancy. Blessed are they that stand firm and immovable as the rock and brave the storm and stress of this tempestuous hour. They, verily, shall be the recipients of God's grace, verily, shall receive His divine assistance, and shall be the truly victorious. They shall shine amidst mankind with a radiance which the dwellers of the Pavilion of Glory laud and magnify. To them is proclaimed this celestial call, revealed in His most holy Book: "O My people! Be not perplexed should the star of My presence disappear, and the ocean of My utterance be stilled. In My presence among you there was the wisdom of God, and in My absence from you there is yet another, inscrutable to all but the One, the All-Knowing. Verily, We behold you from Our realm of effulgent glory, and will graciously aid whomsoever striveth for the triumph of Our Cause with the hosts of the celestial Concourse and a company of Our chosen angels."
The Sun of Truth, that most great Light, has set upon the horizon of the world to rise with deathless splendour over the Realm of the Limitless. In His most holy Book He calleth the firm and steadfast of His friends: "O peoples of the world! Should the radiance of My beauty be veiled, and the temple of My body be hidden, feel not perturbed, nay, arise and bestir yourselves, that My Cause may triumph, and My Word be heard by all mankind."
O PHOENIX of that immortal flame kindled in the sacred Tree!
Bahá'u'lláh (may my life, my soul, my spirit be offered up as a sacrifice unto His lowly servants) hath, during His last days on earth, given the most emphatic promise that, through the outpourings of the grace of God and the aid and assistance vouchsafed from His Kingdom on high, souls will arise and holy beings appear who, as stars, would adorn the firmament of divine Guidance; illumine the dayspring of lovingkindness and bounty; manifest the signs of the unity of God; shine with the light of sanctity and purity; receive their full measure of divine inspiration; raise high the sacred torch of faith; stand firm as the rock and immovable as the mountain; and grow to become luminaries in the heavens of His Revelation, mighty channels of His grace, means for the bestowal of God's bountiful care, heralds calling forth the name of the one true God, and establishers of the world's supreme foundation.
These shall labour ceaselessly, by day and by night, shall heed neither trials nor woe, shall suffer not respite in their efforts, shall seek no repose, shall disregard all ease and comfort, and, detached and unsullied, shall consecrate every fleeting moment of their life to the diffusion of the divine fragrance and the exaltation of God's holy Word. Their faces will radiate heavenly gladness, and their hearts be filled with joy. Their souls will be inspired, and their foundation stand secure. They shall scatter in the world, and travel throughout all regions. They shall raise their voice in every assembly, and adorn and revive every gathering. They shall speak in every tongue, and interpret every hidden meaning.
They shall reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom, and manifest unto every one the signs of God. They shall burn brightly even as a candle in the heart of every assembly, and beam forth as a star upon every horizon. The gentle breeze wafted from the garden of their hearts shall perfume and revive the souls of men, and the revelations of their minds, even as showers, reinvigorate the peoples and nations of the world.
I am waiting, eagerly waiting for these holy ones to appear; and yet, how long will they delay their coming? My prayer and ardent supplication, at eventide and at dawn, is that these shining stars may soon shed their radiance upon the world, that their sacred countenances may be unveiled to mortal eyes, that the hosts of divine assistance may achieve their victory, and the billows of grace, rising from His oceans above, may flow upon all mankind. Pray ye also and supplicate unto Him that through the bountiful aid of the Ancient Beauty these souls may be unveiled to the eyes of the world.
The glory of God rest upon thee, and upon him whose face is illumined with that everlasting light that shineth from His Kingdom of Glory.
One of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's earliest Tablets.
* * *
The beloved of the Lord throughout America, Upon them rest the glory of God, the All-Glorious.
O YE beloved of God! O ye children of His Kingdom!
Verily, verily, the new heaven and the new earth are come. The holy City, new Jerusalem, hath come down from on high in the form of a maid of heaven, veiled, beauteous, and unique and prepared for reunion with her lovers on earth. The angelic company of the Celestial Concourse has joined in a call that hath rung throughout the universe, all loudly and mightily acclaiming: "Hail, O City of God! Abide Thou, and make Thy habitation with the pure, virtuous and holy servants of Thine; for they are Thy people and Thou art their Lord."
He hath wiped away their tears, kindled their light, rejoiced their hearts and enraptured their souls. Death shall no more overtake them neither shall sorrow, crying and tribulation afflict them. The Lord, God Omnipotent hath been enthroned in His Kingdom and hath made all things new. This is the truth and what truth greater than the Revelation of St. John the divine? He is Alpha and Omega. He is the One that will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life and bestow upon the sick the remedy of true salvation. He whom such grace aideth is verily he that receiveth the most glorious heritage from the prophets of God and His holy ones. The Lord will be his God, and he His clearly-beloved son.
Rejoice, then, O ye beloved of the Lord and His chosen ones, and ye the children of God and His people, raise your voice and laud and magnify the Lord, the Most High; for His light hath beamed forth, His signs have appeared and the billows of His rising ocean have scattered on every shore many a precious pearl.
(signed) 'Abdu'l-Bahá 'Abbás.
One of the very first general messages of our beloved 'Abdu'l-Bahá to His friends in America, dated 5th of Safer 1314 A. H. (1896 A. D.)
* * *
O thou handmaid of the Lord!
Thou hast, in the end of thy letter, prayed the Lord thy God to deliver me from the hand of the enemy and shield me from his harm. O handmaid of God! Shouldst thou wish to pray for 'Abdu'l-Bahá turn thou, lowly and suppliant, to God's Kingdom on high and implore Him and say: "O God, my God! Add Thou to the tribulation which 'Abdu'l-Bahá sustaineth for Thy sake, refill his cup of woes and sufferings, and rain upon him showers of tests and trials. Adorn his temple with chains and fetters, make him to fall a captive for Thy love, cause his blood to be shed in Thy Name, and bestow upon him the great gift of crucifixion
in Thy path; till, drunk with the joy and desire of self-sacrifice, he may wing his flight unto the Abode of Mercy, under the shadow of Thy most glorious Kingdom."
Such should be thy ardent prayer for 'Abdu'l-Bahá for this is his highest aim, his most cherished desire, and the wondrous favour he seeketh continually by day and by night.
Upon thee be greeting and praise.
(signed) 'Abdu'l-Bahá 'Abbás.
O living flame of heavenly love!
Thine heart hath been so fired with the love of God that from ten thousand leagues afar its warmth and radiance may be felt and seen. The fire lit by mortal hand imparts light and warmth to but a little space, whereas that sacred flame which the hand of God hath kindled, though burning in the East, will set the West, and give warmth to both the North and the South; nay, it shall rise from this world to glow with the hottest flame in the realms on high, flooding with light the Kingdom of eternal glory.
Happy art thou, to have obtained so heavenly a gift; blessed art thou to be favoured with His divine bestowals.
The glory of God rest upon thee and upon them that hold fast unto His Will and holy Covenant.
Words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
SHAMSI-JEHAN KHANUM, whose name means "Sun of the World," was a granddaughter of Sháh Fath Ali and a relative of the then Sháh. She was interested in religion and had made a pilgrimage to Mecca. Because of this pilgrimage she was called Hájí Khánum. She heard that Qurratu'l-'Ayn wrote beautiful poems, and as she herself occasionally wrote poetry she longed to see the poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn.
One day she and her maids went out, under pretense of taking a walk. They came to the garden of the Kalantar* and entering it Hájí Khánum gradually approached the house in whose top story Qurratu'l-'Ayn was imprisoned. The Princess later wrote a book of poetry—it is in her own handwriting and in my possession—in which she describes her experience. When she reached the building she turned to God and said, "O God, if this Cause is true, make Qurratu'l-'Ayn come forward and let me see her."
"As soon as I had thus prayed," she
*The Mayor, or Governor. See Life of Qurratu'l-'Ayn, Star of the West, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 138-143.
writes, "the window of the top story suddenly opened and Qurratu'l-'Ayn, like a brilliant sun, looked out and called to me, 'What dost thou want, O Princess?'
"I was so astonished that I stared at her, solemnly, and then began to cry. She smiled and laughed at me and when I saw this I was deeply affected. It seemed to me strange that I, a Princess and quite free, should be walking into this garden and crying, while she, a prisoner in that little room, was laughing.
"I said to her, 'O Lady, I would like to know why you are imprisoned?'
"She replied, 'Because I have spoken the truth. Why did the descendants of Muhammad fall into captivity? Because they, also, spoke the truth.'
"I asked her, 'Where is the truth?'
"She said, 'The center of truth appeared in the world and they killed him.'
"I asked her, 'Is it the one they killed in Tabríz?"
"'Yes,' she answered. 'He was our Promised One, your Promised One and mine, and they martyred him.'
"Then I asked, 'Who were those people who were in the Fortress of Tabarsi?'
"She said, 'They, also, were his disciples.'"
The Princess now writes, "At this point in our conversation the guards suddenly heard me and came rushing into the garden; but before I was aware of their approach Qurratu'l-'Ayn called to me, 'O Princess, go, lest you fall into trouble!' and she shut the window and withdrew. Then the servants of the Kalantar came up to me and said, 'What are you doing here, Lady?'
"Vexed with them, I replied, 'I came here for a walk.'
"Although they knew what was my object yet, out of respect, they merely replied, 'Very well. Now that you have finished your walk, kindly leave the place.'
"For several days after this I wept and cried, and I longed to see once more this lady, the prisoner, until at last God heard my prayer and again I saw Qurratu'l-'Ayn, at the wedding of the son of the Kalantar."
While Qurratu'l-'Ayn was a prisoner in the house of the Kalantar one of his sons married a young girl. The night of the wedding, when all the Princesses and the ladies of the Royal Household were assembled in the Kalantar's home, one of these royal ladies said, "It would be interesting to see that Bahá'í lady who is a prisoner here." All the ladies joined in her wish, and asked for Qurratul-'Ayn. Finally they sent a message to the Kalantar beseeching him and saying that it would be a real joy, and a wedding present if he would let them see the prisoner.
They sent for Qurratu'l-'Ayn and brought her from her prison room to the wedding feast. One of the Princesses described her thus: "When I saw her my heart was filled with happiness. When Qurratu'l-'Ayn entered the room, she was so beautiful and so dignified, and when she spoke it was with such power that we in the room gradually turned to her and came and listened to her, and forgot all about the wedding." She spoke with great enthusiasm—and now she related her sorrows, in stories, and the ladies began to weep, and again she told them stories that made them laugh, and as she walked up and down the room she chanted her poems in so wonderful a way that everyone was astonished. No one of the ladies wished to hear or to see any more of the wedding festivities; nay rather, they listened to her almost the entire evening. And as a result of that night's experience many of those ladies, of whom the Princess, Hájí Khánum, was one, became firm followers of the Cause.
From this night all the ladies of the Kalantar's household were greatly attached to Qurratu'l-'Ayn. They asked the Kalantar's permission to have her live in the house with them, rather than in the little room in the garden. So she was brought to the house and was closely associated with the ladies there. One of the maids in the house of the Kalantar tells that Qurratu'l-'Ayn, the prisoner, radiated such love, greatness, power and majesty to everyone there that all, both ladies and maids, became so devoted to her that they would have given their lives for her.
SOME years later, the Princess, Hájí Khánum, heard that one of the sons of Mi'rzá Buzurg, Minister of Persia and the father of Bahá'u'lláh, had become the leader of the Bábí Movement, but she did not know which of the sons this was. She questioned a friend who, misinformed herself, told her that Mi'rzá Yahyá Azal was the one.
For ten years the Princess waited, constantly expecting this son of Mi'rzá Buzurg to take the place of the Báb and very eager to see him. At last she started forth on a pilgrimage to Karbala and on the way arrived in Baghdád. Here she made inquiries for Mi'rzá Yahyá Azal and was shown his home.
She sent a friend with an invitation to
him, saying, "I wish to talk with you for about an hour."
When Mi'rzá Yahyá heard the name of the Princess he was frightened and said, "This Lady is of the Royal Family and will cause us trouble. Do not inform her and do not let her come here to me."
When this was repeated to the Princess she was astonished, and said, "If this man is the right one, the true one, then how is it that he does not know of my longing and love for the Cause?"
Again she sent a message to him, saying, "If you are afraid that I will betray you then send some one to burn the tip of my tongue or to cut my tongue so that I will not be able to speak. I want only to see you for a little while as you are from God."
This answer made Mi'rzá Yahyá still more afraid, and he said, "Do not let her come here at all."
The Princess became angry at this answer and she decided to return to Persia and to re-convert to their old beliefs those whom she had taught.
Suddenly, one of the servants of Bahá'u'lláh came to her, and said, "Do not be depressed and sad. The light, the truth is somewhere else. The one whom you seek is the brother of Azal, and he has sent me here to invite you to come and see him tomorrow."
The Princess now became very happy, and she spent the whole night in prayer, weeping and waiting for the day. She reasoned with herself, saying, "Suppose, tomorrow, I go, and am not able to ask the questions which distress me! I had better write them down."
So she wrote all her questions on a piece of paper which she put under her pillow, in order to be ready to ask them the next day.
Early in the morning the servant of Bahá'u'lláh came to her, and said, "Bahá'u'lláh invites you to come, and to bring your questions with you."
She was amazed, and she thought, "Who has told Bahá'u'lláh that I have questions!"
Constantly she said to herself, "This one is the true one, and not Azal."
In an entirely new frame of mind, she went to the home of Bahá'u'lláh, taking her questions with her. When she arrived Bahá'u'lláh was walking up and down inside the house. The moment she saw him, the Blessed One, she fell upon her knees.
Bahá'u'lláh came forward and raised her up, encouraging her, and saying "Do not be troubled; all is well." Then she wept for joy, and unhesitatingly she accepted his Reality, saying, even, "Thou art God."
He answered, "No, God forbid. God is far beyond being in a body."
She said, "If you are not God then who told you that I am depressed and that I was going back to Persia and that I have questions to ask."
He said, "Nay, I am not God, but God told me of these things."
Before she looked at her questions, he began to answer those very questions which she had written down.
This story was recorded by the Princess herself, in her own hand-writing, and the book is in my possession.
After a time, she left, but Bahá'u'lláh promised her that she should see him again. She hoped to meet Bahá'u'lláh in Adrianople, but was unable to do so. At last, after ten years, she saw him in Acre. She sold all her property in order to secure the money for the journey, and married a man quite outside her own social station, that she might be able to go to Acre to see Bahá'u'lláh.
In the East, if a Princess marries a merchant it is considered an extraordinary thing, for she forfeits her rank. But this Princess was so devoted to the Cause that she married Hájí Sodiq Kashani, a Bahá'í, and out of her own funds she paid their traveling expenses to Acre.
IF the real problem at issue were the difference in degree which exists between the consciousness of the material psychologist, or the believer in material psychology, and the man who has undergone spiritual experience, the argument would stick fast on the shoals of practical impossibility. But this is not the problem at issue. However it may appear, spiritual experience is not a personal, untransferable gift, like talent or temperament. The chief point to be examined is less that the "spiritual" mind differs from the "material" mind in degree than that, wherever on the stream of reality the latter happens to be located, it faces the other way. The material mind faces downstream. This is the source of their disagreement, that the scientific attitude has its back to the religious attitude. The scientific attitude is concerned with a reality not only downstream to spiritual attainment, but downstream to its own being. Its point of view upon the human drama is the point of view of the lower natural order. The properties of its spectacles it attributes to its eye.
For the basis of science is the conviction that conscious states derive as effects from physiological conditions. This conviction is one capable of proof. The proof itself is unquestionably sound to those establishing it. The proof consists of fact as well as theory, of demonstration as well as hypothesis. The proof cannot rationally be denied, but actually, however, it can be overstepped. For physiological conditions, while they do determine states of consciousness, and do so in human conduct as rigorously as the procedure of mathematics, are causal only for the minds facing downstream. The law holds, but it is not the only law. For minds facing upstream—even from the bottom of the stream itself—another law, apparently contradictory, operates. For the consciousness which has learned to seek its reality upstream, in the spiritual order, that which was cause becomes effect, and that which was effect becomes cause. Consciousness dilates, aware of itself as knower rather than mere repository of knowledge, as steadfast love rather than capricious lover; regards its previous state as death compared to life, as seed compared with flower; and stepping as it were from the moonlight of reflected being into the sunlight of being direct and essential, perceives the tyranny of nature replaced by the intimate regard of one all-sustaining Friend. This is the difference, then, between the two attitudes we call spiritual and material: that the spiritualized mind faces the sun of life, the materialized mind its own projected shadow.
Much confusion exists as the result of the terms "inner" life and "outer" life, which serve less to distinguish the upstream from the downstream of consciousness than to oppose inactivity to activity of conduct. The mind turned upon itself for nourishment too frequently asks for bread and receives a stone. The mind's sustenance is actually not what it contains, in the way of acquired ideas or even personal talents, but what it receives, in the way that a spring receives fresh water or a flower receives light. The well-stored mind, especially the mind with a talent, undoubtedly has, in comparison, a semblance of independent "inner" life, but this independence is by comparison merely, as by comparison the camel is able to go without food. The real life of man is not thought but recognition of God. The first step toward real life is not to acquire more ideas, but to effect a different attitude. In other
words, the first step is to turn consciousness about from a downstream perception to a perception upstream. This involves the mind as the mirror of reality, not as the storehouse of impressions. Memory and imagination are not concerned; what is concerned is insight, the dove sent forth from the ark of consciousness to find a point of dry land.
Here lies the preliminary difficulty which diverts many modern minds from spiritual attainment to psychic development—that in and by itself the intelligence is not a boat which can readily be turned about, but rather like the breath by which the mirror is obscured. The capacity of minds to take on new ideas and discard old ones is not like the ship's freedom of movement about the sea, but the passenger's freedom about the ship. It does not avoid the consequences of wreck, if toward wreck the vessel is directed. All the customary faculties, memory, will, reason, which in the material mind are concerned with the lesser interest, and exist in terms of the lesser interest, must be detached from that object and made to function for a different end. That change in the character of consciousness which transmutes material into spiritual being depends upon an awareness of self not as passenger in the ship, but as the ship itself.
Spiritual development, consequently, is a matter of humility, that humility which follows the loss of the sense of independence self-contained. The true nature of humility is not hateful self-abasement, but the perception of an object of devotion which creates a joy so profound that self is forgot. An example of real humility is the youth possessing elements of greatness in art. At this stage, the mind is downstream to attainment, but pointed upstream to attainment in others because this attitude serves the instinctive best interests of the awakening mind. It receives impressions from the masterpieces of art in the only way that impressions retain their dynamic quality, by giving them entrance into the mind as from above, in terms of the same qualities by virtue of which the masterpieces were originally created. It reverences that aspect of other minds which it reverences in itself. Genius is far nearer the attitude of humility than is mediocrity. It is the capacity for humility which sets one upon the way of power. That capacity is never a matter of the physical will, whose instinct is to dominate, but of the spiritual will, whose nature is to be inspired. In the spiritual world, the virtues arrange themselves in a scale the reverse of the physical virtues. Possession and domination follow last; the foremost are obedience and response.
But obedience and response bring strength only to the mind which has found levels of being higher than its own. To respond to new impulses within self, originated by self, merely substitutes one incapacity for another. Darkness can not drive itself away, it flees only from light. Efforts to achieve religion through a mere understanding of new ideas may change the image in the mirror; it will not remove the blur. One confronts the fact here that religion has nearly everywhere been reduced to the lower terms of knowledge or conduct, so that society closes round the inquiring mind a darkness like its own. All things of all lives can be explained in terms of material intelligence, for every experience entering the material intelligence, either at first or second hand, takes on the shadow of the closed room. The problem as to whether spiritual reality actually exists is not like the question as to whether a certain picture hangs in a locked room, which depends upon the picture, but the question is whether the picture contains the quality of beauty, which depends also upon the inquiring eye.
THE book of Job is the eternal drama of the search for God, for spiritual reality, on the part of a consciousness surrounded by materialism. The name of religion is constantly employed, and
the authority of religion freely acknowledged, but the miracle of the spiritual life cannot be performed. Job himself was one with his environment until cast outside its resources by extremity of misfortune and pain. Even when feeling himself outside, he turns again and again to it for consolation. Job's friends typify the various ideas held about the spiritual life by complacently darkened minds. One and all, these are but material attitudes disguised under the terminology of faith. One and all, they represent mind in its relation to the downstream of experience—their content is derived from the usages of society, and all they actually know of the eagle is the empty net. The God of Job's friends is nature adapted to the social organism. But the walls of Job's mind have been broken through as by the weight of a falling tree. He has learned the limit of darkness for the first time through the power of light. Little by little his being adapts itself to the direct rays of the sun, until his intelligence formulates the astonishment of the sprouted seed. He stands outside himself as the sprout stands outside the seed; all his senses respond to their vital power of expansion through a new cycle of growth. From being one who had derived all his happiness from possession, he becomes one who brings to possession a greater joy. From being dependent on things, he learns to render the material world to his new vision as means to an end. He learns that spiritual reality is not the mirage of social prosperity, but social prosperity is its mirage. He learns that the way to God is not that narrow, crowded gate which typifies social competition, but the freedom of every sail to receive the wind once the sail has been unfurled. The path of the spirit brings many agonies, but these have to do with unfurling the sails; never do they mean that the wind has fallen to a dead calm.
In his endeavor to reach upstream to that self we make remote under the cloudy title "soul," Job left behind every element of thought and emotion, every faculty and attribute, and breasted the current only by becoming one selfless detachment from desire. His consciousness passed as it were through the narrow door of death, where the back carries no burden and the hands no gift. His lost lands and his lost loves merely objectify his loss of the habitual factors of self; his physical agony in the same way represents supreme mental confusion, the quivering patches of shadow and light. But on the further side of that door, when the process came to fulfillment, to Job was rendered back his memory and will, his desires and thoughts and emotions, his recognitions and relationships—all the possessions of self by which being is maintained. But their moment of annihilation in "death" had severed their attachment to the physical centers of life; and their return was as the agencies of spirit. Immortality ascended into his life as sap to the bud in spring. Without physical death, he entered heaven from the earth of his own nature. The heaven he entered was not merely that easier environment which allows "soul" to exist as summer allows existence to the butterfly; it was itself established through the power of his own new perception. Soul does not come by wishing for heaven—heaven comes with the attainment of soul. All the emphasis religion brings to bear on life, in material societies, is vain and sterile by reason of our submission to the mere continuity of time. We remain on the surface of self as the fly upon water. We recognize the supreme transformations of death, but we attribute them to the physical death shared by the serpent and the weed. We develop the strength of giants for the downstream of things, but for their upstream reality we remain as children in the womb. The defensive armor we have cast from our bodies we still retain for our minds. We avoid the Armageddon of self by keeping within that darkened cave where the sun of truth enters not.
There are three stages in spiritual development; the first is that in which consciousness is like the passengers in a ship, borne they know not where; in the second stage, consciousness becomes as it were the ship itself; but in the third stage it seems like the very sea. To the ship, storms are ominous, fatal—to the sea they are passages of its eternal music, evidences of its greatness, renewers of its power. From this condition the soul looks out upon the world neither as conqueror nor slave, but as an actor in the drama of God.
The reason that a spiritual leader like Gandhi seems to be recognized by the world more readily than is the spiritual Servant, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, comes from the fact that Gandhi's influence operates directly in the field of politics, which everybody understands and most people consider supremely important, while 'Abdu'l-Bahá's influence operates directly upon the unseen world of the soul, which alas few people give the first or in fact any vital place in the scheme of life. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was and is invisible to all save those who are truly humble: to them he is more visible than the sun. In the steadfastness of this supreme conviction the friends of 'Abdu'l-Bahá may gaze serenely out upon the epic happenings of the day, beholding Job relived in the struggles and agonies of humanity itself; pain multiplied everywhere as never before, until through darkness as of annihilation, men become aware of the sound of the Voice of God.
IN my youth my environment was not of the best and being around boys of hard character I guess I determined to be as tough as any, which I very easily did, though inwardly I always had a feeling to be above it all. Still I always felt that I should do in Rome as the Romans do. So I violated any law I saw fit, man's or God's. Strange as it seems to me at times, it was through coming into contact with these laws that I received the opportunity to be guided into this most wonderful Revelation.
My dear mother had done everything in her power to make me a good boy. I have but the deepest love for her and my heart has often been sad when thinking how she must have worried for my safety as well as for my future well-being. Through it all and in a most wonderful way, with a god-like patience, she hoped and prayed that her boy would find the road which leadeth to righteousness and happiness. But environment proved a great barrier to her aspirations and every day in every way I became tougher and tougher. Fighting was a real pleasure, as welcome as a meal, and breaking a grocer's window to steal his fruit or what-not was, as I thought, a great joke.
It happened that one night the "gang" was strolling along, just doing nothing in particular (looking for trouble I guess), when one of the gang said, "Oh look at the swell bunch of bananas." "Gee, I wisht I had some," another said. "Do you?" said I. About this time I heard a dog barking inside the store, and looking in, I saw a large bulldog. That seemed to aggravate me and, to show my contempt for the watch-dog, I guess, I broke the window, took the bananas, passed them around and we merrily strolled up the street and I suppose would have sung the song, "Yes, we have bananas," if it had been out at that time.
Making the Jews feel that they were back in Russia was lots of fun. I can't begin to tell you how we enjoyed persecuting them, stealing their wine, breaking their windows, in fact doing everything but setting fire to their homes. I
plainly remember that it cost me sixteen dollars to pay for broken windows, to keep out of jail.
The great evil that did so much to make us hard, was the saloon with its attendant evils. My! how tough I have seen young fellows become under the influence of liquor. I could tell you many things of a lawless nature, but I write of these few to show what the power of Bahá'u'lláh can do in this day.
I was a fugitive for four years, having walked out of jail while awaiting trial. Then—a young fellow was being arrested and I, of course, tried to take him away from the policeman. While this was going on a couple of detectives happened along and in my haste to get away from them I leaped over a thirty-foot wall, breaking my leg, to escape the bullets whizzing around about—and wound up in the "garden at the feet of the Beloved" as Bahá'u'lláh has so beautifully written it in the Seven Valleys.
At this time I was defended by our departed, but illustrious Bahá'í brother, Albert Hall, to whom I owe many thanks and my everlasting good will for helping to free me from the prison of men and of self. It was he who brought me from out the dark prison house; it was he who told me, hour after hour, about the great love of 'Abdu'l-Bahá for all his children and that he was here to help us show that love for our fellowmen. Honestly, I often wondered then what Mr. Hall meant when he talked so much about love, God's love, Bahá'u'lláh's love, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's love, love for the Covenant, love for us, from us to God, to His Prophets, etc. I was bewildered. Still, I returned, to become more bewildered, so I thought; and I wondered why. It was, as I now know, the power of the Holy Spirit drawing one, who wished to be drawn.
Thus the Word of God gave me a new birth, made me a living soul, a revivified spirit. I am positive that nothing else upon earth could have changed my character as mine has been changed. I am indeed a new being, changed by the power of the Holy Spirit as manifested through the breaths of God's Chosen Ones in this day. I have been resurrected and made alive in the Kingdom of El Abhá.
Again through the attraction of the Holy Spirit I was urged, so it seemed to me, to go to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He was at Green Acre, Maine, at this time, and when I heard the rumor that he might go back to his home (Palestine) and not come west, I immediately determined to go and see him. I wasn't going to miss meeting 'Abdu'l-Bahá after waiting so long to see him.
So I left home, going to Cleveland, where I attended a convention of printers for a few days. But I became so restless I could not stay for adjournment. How often I have thought about that trip of mine from Cleveland to Green Acre! The night before leaving Cleveland I had a dream that I was 'Abdu'l-Bahá's guest, that I sat at a long table, and many others were there, too, and of how he walked up and down telling stories, emphasizing with his hand. This, later, was fulfilled and he looked just as I saw him in Cleveland.
As my finances were low I of necessity must hobo my way to Green Acre. The Nickel Plate Railway was my choice, for conveyance to Buffalo, New York. From Buffalo I again rode the rods to Boston, a long ride from around midnight until nine next morning. The Boston and Maine Railway was the last link between 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the outside world so it seemed to me, and when I crawled off from the top of one of its passenger trains at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, I was exceedingly happy. A boat ride, a street car ride, and there I was, at the gate of Paradise. My heart beating double time, I stepped onto the soil of that to-be-famous center, tired, dirty, and wondering, but happy.
I had a letter of introduction from Mr. Hall to Mr. Lunt, and in searching for
him I met Mrs. Edward Kinney, who, dear soul, was kind enough to offer me a bed. She awakened me next morning about six o'clock, saying I'd have to hurry if I wished to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
Arriving at the hotel I found quite a number of people there, on the same mission, to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Being one of the last arrivals, I was looking around, to make myself comfortable, when someone exclaimed, "Here he comes, now." Ahmad Sohrab did the introducing and interpreting. When Ahmad introduced me to him, to my astonishment he looked at me and only said, "Ugh! Ugh!" not offering to shake hands with me. Corning as I had, and feeling as I did, I was very much embarrassed. After greeting several others and when about to go to his room, he suddenly turned to me and said in a voice (at least I thought so), "Sit down," and pointed to a chair—which I didn't care to do, as elderly ladies were standing. But what was I to do! I meekly obeyed, feeling rebellious over what had happened. Such a welcome, after making that trip! My mind sure was in a whirl.
The first man to receive an interview with 'Abdu'l-Bahá was a doctor; he had written a book on love. It seemed but a minute until Ahmad came down and said, "'Abdu'l-Bahá wishes to see Mr. Mortensen." Why, I nearly wilted. I wasn't ready. I hadn't expected to be called until the very last thing. I had to go, and it was with a strange feeling in my heart and wondering, wondering what would happen next. He welcomed me with a smile and a warm hand-clasp, telling me to be seated, he sitting before me. His first words were, "Welcome! Welcome! You are very welcome,"—then, "Are you happy?"—which was repeated three times. I thought, why do you ask me that so many times? Of course I am happy; didn't I tell you so the first time?
Then, "Where did you come from?"
Answer: "From Minneapolis."
Question: "Do you know Mr. Hall?"
Answer: "Yes. He told me about the Cause."
Question: "Did you have a pleasant journey?"
Of all the questions I wished to avoid this was the one! I dropped my gaze to the floor—and again he put the question. I lifted my eyes to his and his were as two black, sparkling jewels, which seemed to look into my very depths. I knew he knew and I must tell, and as I answered I wondered what Ahmad thought—if I was a little unbalanced.
I answered: "I did not come as people generally do, who come to see you."
Question: "How did you come?"
Answer: "Riding under and on top of the railway trains."
Question: "Explain how."
Now as I looked into the eyes of 'Abdu'l-Bahá I saw they had changed and a wondrous light seemed to pour out. It was the light of love and I felt relieved and very much happier. I explained to him how I rode on the trains, after which he kissed both my cheeks, gave me much fruit, and kissed the dirty hat I wore, which had become soiled on my trip to see him.
When he was ready to leave Green Acre I stood nearby to say goodbye, and to my astonishment he ordered me to get into the automobile with him. After a week with him at Malden, Massachusetts, I left for home with never-to-be forgotten memories of a wonderful event—the meeting of God's Covenant, The Branch of that Pre-Existent Root; that wonderful Moon that shall shine as the Sun, as the light of seven days and to whom all shall bow and praise His Holy Name.
A few weeks later I again had that wonderful privilege to be near the Covenant for a few moments.
These events are engraved upon the tablet of my heart and I love every moment of them. The words of Bahá'u'lláh are my food, my drink and my life. I have no other aim than to be of service in his pathway and to be obedient to his Covenant.
This is the Power of his Spirit, his love and his mercy to me.
The Future of the Indian Race
THE article, "Mexican Renaissance," by Ernest Gruening, in the February number of the Century, will prove of great interest to Bahá'ís. This article treats not only of the rapid spread of education and culture among the native populations of Mexico, but presents also a new and most favorable view of the capacity of the whole American Indian race, and a vision of the civilization which these people may yet evolve.
'Abdu'l-Bahá on several occasions spoke most favorably of the potentiality of the Indian race, and of what it may, yes and will, achieve if it turns to Bahá'u'lláh and accepts and lives his message for the unity and progress of mankind.
Already one can see signs, if we are to believe Mr. Gruening, of a great renaissance of Indian culture under the present favorable government of Mexico. Here is a race that has been submerged and oppressed for four centuries—a highly evolved race which extends from the Rio Grande to Argentine, not to mention the less evolved branches of the race to the north and south of these lines.
"The civilization which the Spanish found in Mexico," the article goes on to say, "had organized governments, built great stone cities, created art that ranks with the foremost work of all times, had achieved accuracy in measuring the movements of the celestial bodies beyond that of European astronomers of the time. The essential superiority of the invaders lay in their possession of fire-arms. Their only really notable contributions to civilizations they overthrew were the use of iron, and of pack and draft animals. For the rest, their impositions were but substitutions."
Such a view as this is encouraging. It shows a true humility and a disposition to give due credit to other races than our own. It is a wholesome thing for the white race, which suffers from exaggerated egotism, to realize that but a few centuries ago other races had as high a civilization as our own, and in some cases, a higher one; that most of the arts of life which make us comfortable today came to us through the Arabs; and that China, in the estimation of such great philosophers and thinkers as Bertrand Russell and John Dewey, has attained a culture of universal happiness surpassing our own hectic and uneven culture.
This article underrates, I think, the cruelty of the Aztec civilization. Cruel as the Spaniards were, the race they conquered was still more cruel and relentless. The author is of the opinion that in time the Aztec race would have evolved out of its cruelty. But how? It is but the pure teachings of Christ, and the endeavor, however poor and feeble, of Western civilization to put into practice his precepts of sympathy and mercy and to emulate his life of loving service which have raised the white race to its high place in the world culture.
The Aztecs were conquered and oppressed, their very civilization taken away and the Spanish civilization forced upon them. Does it not seem that the hand of God is in this? During these four centuries of suffering and oppression they have paid the penance for their sins and have received in spite of themselves some of the essences of Christianity. Now they are ready to evolve into a new and splendid civilization, drawing its roots from the past but blossoming under the light and warmth of the New Day.
Mr. Gruening is inspired by the rapid progress they have already made under the sympathetic and favoring régime of the "Mexican Renaissance," he calls it—and he has visions of it reaching southward and awakening a new culture among the millions of Indians of South America.
"Above all else Mexico realizes that her great need is education, and under the energetic direction of Vasconcelos a splendid beginning of a gigantic task has been made. The story of what Mexico has done in the last two years in education is a study by itself and a most stimulating one.
"In Mexico City today, under Best-Mangard there are 50,000 school children daily producing works of art which defy credence. In, color, in composition, in rhythm, in harmony of life and tone, they display a genius which more graphically than any other single fact reveals the entire story—the story of Mexico, the racial epic of the tapping of the well-springs of buried time."
We have seen Japan reborn, creating a civilization which is on a par with the best. We anticipate a great awakening and development of the Chinese race into a culture fit to cope with twentieth-century problems. All of Asia, in fact, is stirring.
And now, here at our own door, a race which we thought had lived its history, a race without a language, without apparently a culture, is rising to a renaissance; is striving to create something of value for the world civilization; to play its part in the New World Symphony. Bahá'ís can see further than others, perhaps, the wonderful possibilities of this Indian renaissance, for they know the future holds marvelous things in store for every race.
Stanwood Cobb.
A Universal Language
IN the Wellesley Alumnae Quarterly Professor Ruckmick, professor of psychology, writes an illuminating article upon the growing consciousness of the need of a universal auxiliary language. This need is felt by some of the "highest scientific and industrial bodies in the world, especially by the International Research Council," and by Chambers of Commerce for international communication of scientific ideas and the conduct of international business. It is significant that today Esperanto "is being taught in secondary schools of 320 towns of 17 different countries, and in evening schools of about 1,200 towns."
Fifty years ago Bahá'u'lláh in his Book of Aqdas, the heavenly charter for the future civilization, wrote: "O ye representatives of the Parliament of Nations! Choose one tongue from among the languages, so that the inhabitants of the earth may converse therein; likewise communicate it to writing. Verily, God manifests to you that which is beneficial and He is independent of all of you. Verily, He is the Bounteous, the Knower, the Giver. This one language is the cause of unity, if you could realize it, the greatest means of concord and civilization, if you comprehend it."
Education for Peace
ANOTHER prize, of $25,000, has been in America for the best world-wide program of education to further the peace of the world. This contest is open to the people of all countries. The donor was inspired to make this offer by the world conference on education which met last July in San Francisco. He believes that truth is universal, that education is the greatest power in the world today, and if we could teach in all the schools of all countries the universal truth which is common to all nations it would be a supreme factor in establishing world peace.
If the five million teachers of the two hundred and fifty million children of the world were to unite in teaching that truth which transcends limited patriotisms and religious prejudices they could in a generation establish universal peace. How true it is that if they should cease glorifying war in the textbooks of history and should teach instead the truth of the oneness of mankind they could write upon the white pages of the children's minds those divine principles which when applied will outlaw war completely.
"The spirit of this illumined era is the body of the teachings of His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh. For these lay the foundation of the oneness of the world of humanity and promulgate universal brotherhood. They are founded upon the unity of science and religion and upon the investigation of truth. They uphold the principle that religion must be the cause of amity, union and harmony among men. They establish the equality of both sexes and propound economic principles, i. e., the welfare of every individual. They diffuse universal education that every soul may as much as possible have a share of knowledge and abrogate and nullify religious, racial, political and economic prejudices. These teachings which are disseminated throughout the Epistles and Tablets are the cause of the illumination and the life of the world of humanity. Whoever promulgates them will, verily, be assisted by the Kingdom of God."
"We pray and beseech at the divine Kingdom and beg for the world of humanity rest and composure. For universal peace will not be brought about through human power and will not shine in full splendor unless this weighty and important matter be realized through the Word of God and made to shine forth through the influence of the Kingdom of God."
"Every lamp will finally be extinguished except the lamp of the Kingdom which day unto day grows brighter. Every call will in the end become weak except the call to the Kingdom of God which day unto day grows louder. Every road will in the end become crooked except the road of the Kingdom which day unto day becomes straighter. Unquestionably the heavenly melody cannot be measured by the melody of earth and the artificial lamps cannot be compared to the heavenly Sun. Therefore one must strive for whatsoever is eternal and everlasting in order day by day to become more illumined, day by day to grow stronger and day by day to find new life."*
The Preservation of Divine Guidance
WHEN the divine Manifestation of God leaves the world how will the purity of his teachings and the unity of his Cause be preserved?
Because this question has not been explicitly answered in any of the religions of the past, there have arisen innumerable sects, due to misinterpretations of the teachings and to the ambitions of self-seeking leaders.
In the supreme plan which Bahá'u'lláh has revealed for the establishment of religious unity in this Latter Day, the divine word promises that God will in the future raise up a glorious succession of "temples of unity" who will preserve the purity of his teachings and the unity of His Cause. These "temples of unity" will be descended from the temple of the Manifestation, "to speak in the Kingdom of creation of their Lord, The Supreme, The All-Glorious, and be of those who obtain light by the light of their Lord. . . . Verily we have ordained this Temple (the body of the Manifestation) the beginning of the existence of the new creation, that each one may become convinced that I am indeed able to do what I wish, by merely saying, 'Be,' and it is. By the shadow of each letter of the letters of this Temple, We will send forth people whose number is not known to any save God, the Protector, the Self-Existent; and from it (the Temple) God shall create certain people who will not be veiled by the illusions of those who acted wrongfully against God, and they will drink, at all times, the pure water of life: Verily are not they of those who are successful? . . . in their faces the brightness of the Merciful is manifested, and from their hearts the mention of My Hidden and Mighty Name is heard. . . . God hath preferred them to all creation, but indeed the people do not know. They move around the Command of God just as the shadow moveth around the sun . . .
*These quotations are from Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá written after the Great War.
by the movement of these people all things will move, and by their quiescence all things will rest. . . . through them the earth was stationed, and the clouds gave out rain, and the table of Knowledge descended from the Heaven of Bounty—were ye of those who understand. These people are the keepers of the Command of God on earth, protecting its beauty against the dust of surmise and suspicion."†
In past history, also, we have had a succession of guardians of the Covenant. For instance, Abraham revealed the Covenant of his day; his descendants, Isaac, Jacob and the gracious Joseph guarded the covenant. The Hebrew prophets, Elijah, Amos, Isaiah and the rest came in succession, with the voice of authority, to guard the commands of God. God said to Jeremiah that through him (Jeremiah) was determined the station of the nations. Through Jeremiah He poured the life of the world. He made Jeremiah the spiritual heart of humanity.‡ Yet his countrymen put Jeremiah in prison and did not recognize his divine station for nearly a hundred years—until his prophecies of the return from the Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem were fulfilled.§ So it is through religious history; the people do not recognize their Guardian, they do not know where the divine voice is speaking, and so they crucify the Prophet whom God sends to save them.
In this radiant day of unity God is sending His Guardians in the family of His Manifestations, in lineal descent, that all may know them and be blessed and protected by them. In this day, as Isaiah prophesied, "Thy teachers" shall not "be hidden any more but thine eyes shall see thy teachers."¶ 'Abdu'l-Bahá took a covenant with his disciples in his last Will and Testament that all shall follow and obey the guidance of God as
†From Suratu'l-Haykal, pp. 13, 14; Baha'i Scriptures, p. 212
‡Jeremiah 1:7ff. Also Abul Fazl, Star of the West, Vol 10, p. 115.
§See the celebrated prophecy of the return after 70 years, Jer. 25:10, 11; 29:10.
¶Is. 30:20. See also Is. 30:26; 60:20.
it speaks through the Guardians of his Cause, and the Universal Spiritual Assembly of which they shall be the lifelong head, for both are "under the unerring guidance of His Holiness the Exalted One."
So a new firmness in the Covenant becomes manifest since the ascension of the Master. Those who love and follow the dayspring of Divine Guidance as it speaks through the pure and selfless spirit and pen of the Guardian of the Cause revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá—they are of those who are successful.
The Temple of the Most Great Peace
WHEN religions are united then will real unity and peace appear in the world. The Bahá'í Temple of America, open to all sects and peoples and religions, and now being built by the shore of Lake Michigan, is a glorious symbol of the oneness of the religions of God and the oneness of mankind. It stands at the northern gate of Chicago, one of the largest cities of the world, and often a hundred thousand people pass its site in a single day.
To complete, quickly, "this sublime Edifice raised in its majestic splendour in the very heart of the continent" will be, as Shoghi Effendi has recently written, a visible evidence of the vitality and victorious power of the Bahá'í teachings, which are now spreading in all parts of the world. "This finest and most concrete embodiment of the lofty conceptions of Bahá'u'lláh" will herald to this great continent the perfection and the universal appeal of the Bahá'í Revelation.
Dr. Esslemont's brilliant presentation of the Bahá'í Teachings, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, has been most widely and favorably reviewed by the daily and weekly press of Great Britain and India. The many extensive and appreciative reviews of this splendid book reveal the readiness of our day for the Divine Teachings.
The Spiritual Assembly, Haifa, Palestine,
November 24–December 13, 1923.
THE indelible marks which the event of the departure of the beloved Master have deeply imprinted upon our hearts stand notably prominent during the month of November of each year. The kind Father realizing how closely we were attached to that wonderful personality graciously blessed us with a Trust, the beloved Guardian of the Cause, who is ever ready to encourage us in the fulfillment of our multifarious duties.
A new spirit has been infused into our activities, due to the return of beloved Shoghi Effendi to the Holy Land, on Tuesday morning, two days after the Armistice Day. Praise be to God, he is feeling vigorous and full of life. No pen can adequately describe how happy and full of joy we are to have him again in our midst.
In the 14th circular letter from Tihrán the National Spiritual Assembly express their extreme joy over the good news of the health of the Guardian of the Cause and gladly announce that the different spiritual assemblies in all parts of Persia are fully alive to the best interests of the Divine Cause. A special circular letter regarding the economic conditions in Germany and the suffering of the friends there has been sent to all the different provinces in Persia with the hope that spiritual or material help may be forthcoming. The news of the progress of the Cause in Australia has wonderfully encouraged the teaching in Persia, as it shows the heavenly influence of the Divine Teachings throughout the world. The more we experience the more do we realize the significance of the words of His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh and the Master. These are treasures which, if rightly understood, will give the firm believer a key for the solution of any problem which may arise in social organization. It is through this power that many illiterate friends in Persia are able to overcome the arguments of any religious leader.
From Baku comes the word that they have now seven Bahá'í teachers, Mrs. Thabet included, who are busy day and night. The letter concludes with the good news that the prospects of the Cause in Caucasus are very bright.
The 3rd circular letter from Hamadán brings us further good news about the energetic activities of the friends there. The Hamadán Spiritual Assembly has taken steps whereby every member of the community is enabled to know all that comes to pass, be it in that city or in other parts of the world. Beside the general, circular letters which are sent out to different cities, a more detailed letter is circulated in the city and the various villages of Hamadán; this keeps the friends informed of all that occurs in the world. This is termed the internal letter and copies may be had by other assemblies on demand. The letter goes on to say that the different committees are fully occupied with the spreading of the Message. New assemblies have been formed in Kurdistan as a result of the journeys of one of the friends a few months ago, and many new souls have drunk of the cup of faith and assurance.
The handmaids of God in Hamadán have succeeded in establishing a Women's Industry Institute where sewing and lace work are taught.
A sound mind requires a sound body. With this principle in view the young men have started a physical training club for the purpose of developing constitutions worthy to be called temples from which the best Bahá'í qualities may be reflected.
The circular from Káshán, number 244, states that the Spiritual Assembly there has received circular letters from twenty centers in different parts of the
--PHOTO--
The Feast given to Miss Agnes Alexander, Sept. 9, 1921, in Seoul, Korea. Miss Alexander is the illumined pioneer who first brought the Glad Tidings to Korea.
world. The following is a short extract therefrom: "As is customary, there are five regular committee meetings weekly and all are fulfilling their functions, fully and successfully. Sunday meetings are held for the benefit of men, women, boys and girls. The School for Girls and the School for Boys are progressing. A group of young men in Arán, a village near Káshán, has recently come into the Cause and through their efforts a place has been bought to be used as a Bahá'í center in that village. A teacher from Tihrán is carrying on a teaching campaign
--PHOTO-- Buddhist College Students who attended the Bahá'í address given by Miss Agnes Alexander in Seoul, Korea, Oct. 18, 1923, during her second visit to Korea.
in Káshán and its vicinity and regular meetings are held daily.
Our sister, Miss Agnes Alexander, in her letter of October 4th, gives a short account of the great catastrophe in Japan. She writes: "The calamity was so great it is difficult to imagine. In one place in Tokyo 32,000 persons were suffocated. They had sought protection in an open place but the terrible fire surrounded them and they were all suffocated together. The homeless people of Tokyo, alone, numbered nearly 2,000,000. Two-thirds of the city was burned by the flames caused by the earthquake, but praise be to God, His servants were protected."
The wonderful account of the activities of the Seattle Bahá'í Assembly was a source of joy to the beloved Guardian of the Cause, the members of the Family and to all the friends in the Holy Land. It is being translated into Persian for communication to the Bahá'í Assemblies in the Orient. These reports of the Bahá'í Assemblies show that whosoever arises to serve the Cause, invisible hosts will strengthen him along the path of service. How pleased we are to know that there is scarcely anyone in the Assembly without something special to do, each one feeling some responsibility and that he or she is necessary to the good of the Assembly.
Our last Nineteen Day Feast had a charm of its own as it was the first one after the return of Shoghi Effendi to Haifa. As a sign of gratitude for this blessing the host proposed that more contributions be sent to our brothers and sisters in Germany. As a result of this proposal the sum of about forty Egyptian pounds was contributed and will be forwarded to the friends in Germany.
One of the friends, Ali Effendi of Jaffa, invited all the friends of Haifa and Acre to a reception on Mount Carmel. In the meeting he humbly stepped forward and addressed beloved Shoghi Effendi and stated that he believed that all such general gatherings should yield some material result and that as he had heard that the Guardian of the Cause wishes that some contributions be sent to the suffering ones in Japan he contributed ten Egyptian pounds. Other friends present took part in the subscription as well as members of the Family. A sum of forty-five Egyptian pounds was contributed and will be sent to Japan forthwith.
The circular letter from the Qazvin Spiritual Assembly, dated October 29th, states that the Corresponding Committee has just entered upon the second year of its activity and this their letter is the first of the series to be circulated during the coming year. The letter further states that the Spiritual Assembly is in communication with forty-eight centers and rejoices at the news they are receiving of the progress of the Cause in various parts of the world.
From 'Ishqábád we learn that there are so many people interested in the Cause that there are too few teachers to meet the situation. The prospects of the Cause in Russian Turkistán as well as in all parts of Caucasus are promising and as far as possible teachers are being sent to many cities where people are interested.
The Mashhad Spiritual Assembly is highly pleased to receive Bahá'í news from centers in different parts of the world. They are in communication with centers.
After the arrival of our brother, Partavi-Zadih, at Baku, a Bahá'í Young Men's Teaching Association was formed and he is very busy teaching these young men that they may become useful servants of the Cause. The crying need for more teachers may we hope be somewhat answered by the formation of this spiritual association. May the Spirit of 'Abdu'l-Bahá bless them.
We have just received a beautiful letter from the Bahá'í Spiritual Assembly at Rafsinjan, Persia. It bespeaks the true devotion and fervor of these dear souls and how much they are attached to the Cause, having no aim but its growth and development.
The circular letter from Kashan brings us the news that the friends in that town are all in good health and look forward to the day when Persian affairs will improve and a wide field prepared for the American friends to come to this land that thus the union of the East and the West may be outwardly realized.
It is interesting to note that in most of the circular letters which we receive special thanks are rendered to the Kenosha Spiritual Assembly for their readiness to inform other centers of their activities. Kenosha is known in certain parts of Persia where Paris and London are unknown. This is due to the pure love and sincerity of the firm and steadfast believers of the Beloved.
It gives us great pleasure to learn that the Cause is advancing in Germany, Austria and Sweden. In compliance with the sacred Will of the Master 'Abdu'l-Bahá, those who find themselves in possession of the gem of Divine Guidance must arise, Paul-like, traveling far and wide, that the receptive souls may have their share. The world is ready to receive the Message; blessed are those who are instrumental in bringing about this communication.
The letter from the Bahá'í Spiritual Assembly in London, dated November 25th, brought us unbounded joy as it was full of glad tidings and good news of the progress of the Cause in the United Kingdom. We thank God for the success of our brother, Dr. Esslemont, in his noble effort to bring people nearer to the truth and we shall always pray at the Divine Threshold that he may be victorious in all his activities.
The letter from the Pasadena Assembly reminded us of the words of the Master when he was in California, that in this day teaching the Cause will attract invisible assistance and therefore this is the time for giving forth the Divine Word. We plainly see from this letter that the Pasadena Assembly, though small in numbers are preparing themselves to bring the words of the Master to realization. The Bahá'í Fellowship group will surely be strengthened by the Lord. It gives us great pleasure to learn that the Pasadena friends are united, and this very unity will draw people nearer to the Cause.
The second issue of the monthly Bahá'í Journal of Burma is at hand. The appearance of this magazine gives us joy and we feel sure that "The Dawn" will lead many souls to the Sun of the Divine Manifestation, as it is supported by able writers and sincere souls. Friends everywhere should render every assistance possible in order that it may be established upon a solid foundation.
(Signed) Mi'rzá Badi Bushrùi, Sec'y.
Alexandria, Egypt.
November–January.
A DISTINGUISHED Bahá'í teacher and philosopher, the honorable Mi'rzá A. H. Awara, arrived in Cairo a few months ago and is quite busy publishing his book, a history of the Cause from 1818, and richly illustrated. It is undoubtedly an excellent treatise and will be of great benefit to us all. We have sent him an invitation to come for a few days to our Assembly and he has very kindly promised to come to this city as soon as the printing of his book is accomplished.
We have the pleasure to tell you that a new Bahá'í center has recently been established in a village in Southern Egypt. Through the teaching of two or three Bahá'ís many of the dwellers in the little huts and mud cabins of the Fellaheen (peasants) of that district accepted the Glad Tidings and their numbers increased wonderfully from day to day. In consequence, a Spiritual Assembly was organized, and also a Bahá'í school established for girls and boys, together with a Bahá'í Library. In their last letter to our Assembly they write that they are planning to issue a monthly Bahá'í publication in Arabic. What they have accomplished is astonishing indeed.
Their story is most interesting. At first they were opposed by some adversaries,
who attempted to put an end to their work, and even the local sheriff, with his group of guardsmen, tried to extinguish the movement. The opposers also tried to imprison the new believers and to close down the school. The friends never wavered, but kept working and met all the persecution with hearts dilated with love and hope. The sheriff and his men were amazed, for the friends met their harsh treatment with calm and smiling spirits. Seeing this, the sheriff withdrew all his objections and left them free to carry on their work. Then many of the villagers began to inquire concerning the Cause. May God assist them and bless their souls.
There are now about five new Bahá'í Assemblies in Egypt, recently established. All are well organized and are doing good work.
We hope that during this coming year our efforts may be doubled so that the banner of Yá-Bahá'u'l-Abhá may be unfurled in every home.
We have received many letters from different Assemblies, both in the East and the West, in Arabic, Persian and English and we have been most glad to communicate with them all.
It has been a great joy to us to read their messages, which fill us with enthusiasm,
(Signed) Abdul Rahman Rushdy.
In Memoriam
MRS. ISABELLA D. BRITTINGHAM, the beloved teacher of many souls, passed away quietly the night of January 28, 1924, at the home of Mrs. Mary Revell, in Philadelphia. Her father was an Episcopalian minister. Her great-grandfather, Mr. John Morton, signed the Declaration of Independence. To Mrs. Brittingham came a greater bounty for she was one of the first in America to recognize and proclaim the great new Light of Divine Guidance which has arisen in the East to bring freedom and peace to humanity. She was a pioneer in teaching the Glad Tidings in California and other parts of America. In 1886 she was married to Mr. James D. Brittingham. She was always a great student of the Bible and through the Bahá'í interpretation it became to her a new book of celestial beauty and divine authority. She wrote in the earlier days of her teaching a presentation of the wondrous present day fulfillment of Bible prophecies of which 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote: "Blessed art thou that thou hast compiled in the name of thy Lord, the Clement, a treatise comprising evident proofs regarding the appearance of the Kingdom of God in this sublime age." Among her last services to the Cause of unity were her addresses broadcasted from Philadelphia over the radio.
In 'Abdu'l-Bahá's last Tablet to her he wrote that all the persons whom she taught were firm in the Covenant, for "her purpose in teaching a soul was to make that soul firm in the Covenant."
Of Mrs. Brittingham's wondrous, last journey, to the City of the Eternal Covenant, Miss Jessie Revell writes: "Her life was devoted to selfless service, up to the very end, and in addition to her vast local field of activity in teaching she had many spiritual children in all parts whom she taught by continued correspondence. On the night of her departure she dictated eleven letters to me for Bahá'í friends. All day up to the time of her flight she was most happy and spoke of how beautiful it would be to go home, but said she would be happy with whatever was 'Abdu'l-Bahá's wish for her. Those who have known Mrs. Brittingham also know her wonderful smile. But the night she went home her smile was one that did not belong to this earth."
'Abdu'l-Bahá said to her friends, Mrs. Goodall and Mrs. Cooper of San Francisco, in 1903: "Give Mrs. Brittingham my best love and greetings and tell her that her services which she renders to this Cause are always before my eyes. They are written in the Book of the Kingdom, in the Heavenly Books, and will never be forgotten; and before long
they will be written in the pages of the world in glorified writing, which shall be read by all people."
Three Kinds of Martyrdom
MARTYRDOM has many explanations of which the first is to stand bravely and meet death unflinchingly in the path of God, as those wonderful souls have recently done in Persia, without wavering for an instant in constancy nor for a single moment denying their faith.
The second is to little by little detach one's heart entirely from this world, laying aside, deliberately, all vanities, worldly seductions, and devoting oneself to the vineyard of God in whatever capacity he is fitted to serve, letting every action, word and deed become a telling monument, a fitting praise and an everlasting glory for His Holy Name.
The third consists of doing the hardest and most difficult things with such willingness and self-sacrifice that all behold it as your pleasure. To seek and accept poverty with the same smile that you seek and receive fortune. To make the sad and sorrowful your associates, instead of frequenting the society of the careless and gay. To dress in such a simple, plain manner that your appearance becomes a comfort to the poor and an example to the rich. To yield to the decree of God and to be rejoiced at the most violent calamities, even when the suffering is beyond endurance. And he who can fulfill these last conditions becomes a martyr indeed. Then your good deeds will be your jewels and your purity of spirit will be your riches.—From a letter by Monevar Khánum, the daughter of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, to a friend in Paris.
THERE is today, in all the world religions, a conflict between the fundamentalists and the modernists. The fundamentalist clings to the word of God, in the sacred scriptures, as the one source of divine authority. The modernist rejoices in the discoveries of modern science and modern thought.
The Bahá'í presents the word of reconciliation. He says that fundamentally both sides are right. The fundamentalists are right when they declare that the word of God is the only solution for the moral, social and international problems which threaten to undermine civilization; only the voice, the guidance of God can save our world from the impending disaster; only the voice of God and the divine law can guide our individual lives in their mental, moral and spiritual decisions. Where there is no vision of the divine will, of the infallible word of God, the people perish. The law of Moses, of Muhammad, of the Spirit, Christ has sustained and preserved and cherished all that is best in the civilization of the Western half of the world, as the word of Buddha and Confucius and the other prophets has sustained the East.
But the Bahá'í teaching recognizes the truth in both science and religion and shows that reconciliation lies in the spiritual interpretation of the scriptures—of many of the miracles, of the story of creation, of the prophecies of a new heaven and a new earth: these have a spiritual meaning. The new heaven is the new religious teaching; a new sun shining, new stars gleaming, a new bounty descending. The new earth is a new humanity brought to birth by the sunlight of the new heaven, guided by the stars of its shining ordinances. The New Jerusalem is the new teaching, the new laws of God, revealed in the Latter Day for the guidance and uniting of the nations. The great mistake is to interpret the Holy Scriptures too literally. They are in large part divinely beautiful poetry. And so is it with the great fundamentalist
teaching concerning the coming of the Promised One.
The following references will bring out, in a series of studies, the Bahá'í reconciliation of these two contemporary movements, especially as they are seen today in Christianity and Judaism.
1. The Glory of Modern Science: How it is Laying the Foundation of the City of God.
(a) The Divine Origin of True Science: Addresses of 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Columbia University and Leland Stanford Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 26-30; STAR OF THE WEST, Vol. 3, No. 3, p. 16; No. 8, p. 8; No. 12, p. 10.
(b) The Coming Union of Science and Religion: Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, pp 170-182; Paris Talks, Part II; Bahá'í Scriptures, Par. 424ff.
2. Scientific Interpretation of Miracles.
(a) The Danger of a too Material Interpretation of Science and Scripture: STAR OF THE WEST, Vol. 14, No. 4, p. 100ff; Vol. 4. p. 105; Some Answered Questions, ch. 1, 2, 16, 17, 21.
(b) The Scientific and Spiritual Interpretation of Bible Miracles: Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, ch. 7; Some Ans. Ques., ch. 22-24.
3. The True Fundamentalist Clings to the Word of God in all Sacred Scriptures: Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, ch. 9.
(a) The Meaning of the Word of God: St. John, ch. 1; Bahá'í Revelation, opening pages, pp. 77-83; Divine Philosophy, ch. 5; Promulgation, etc., see Index, under, Word of God; Ighan, pp. 140-142; Some Ans. Ques., ch. 36-39; Bahá'í Scriptures, p. 209ff, 240ff.
(b) How It Solves all Our Problems: Bahá'í Rev., pp. 8-15, 135-181; Bahá'í Scrip. p. 436ff.
(c) How It is a Collective Center to Unite the Nations and Religions: Unveiling of Divine Plan, pp. 49ff; STAR OF THE WEST, Vol. 3, No. 10; p. 24ff; Promulgation etc., pp. 157-161.
4. True Modernists and Fundamentalists both look for a New Revelation of the Word of God Applied to the Conditions of Today. Promulgation, etc., pp. 138-144; STAR, Vol. 13, p. 99ff.
(a) The True Meaning of the Coming of the Promised One: Some Ans. Ques., chs. 10-13, 26, 33; Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, ch. 13; Ighan, ch. 1; Unity Triumphant; Books on Prophecy by Mrs. Brittingham, Mr. Dealy, and others; Bahá'í Scrip., ch. 1, p. 247.
(b) The Millennium of Peace: How It Will be Established: Bahá'í Rev., pp. 16-46; Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, ch. 10, 14; Some Ans. Ques., ch. 9, 14; Compilation on Peace, pp. 114ff.
(c) The Divine Fundamentals of the Radiant Century Before Us—A Study of the Basic Universal Principles: First inside cover of this issue: Paris Talks, Part II; Bahá'í-Scrip., pp. 273-283; STAR, Vol. 4, pp. 4-6, pp. 253-258; Vol. 13, passim; Peace Tablet to The Hague, STAR, Vol. 11, p. 123ff, p. 288ff.
INDEX TO VOLUME 14[Page 378]
| 'Abdul-Bahá, Words of— | PAGE |
| Communication and Divine Inspiration | 209 |
| Divine Contentment | 168 |
| From the Tablets of | 225 |
| From the Last Will and Testament of 'Abdul-Bahá | 233 |
| Prayer—The Ladder to Heaven | 164 |
| Proof of God's Existence | 101 |
| Soul Stirring Words of 'Abdul-Bahá | 87 |
| Studies in Immortality | 8 |
| New Revelations of the Unseen World | 35 |
| The Relation of Soul, Mind and Body | 8 |
| Tablet to Dr. Forel | 101 |
| The Spiritual Physician—A Tablet | 263 |
| The Spiritual Teacher | 60 |
| The Wondrous Light of the Cause | 18 |
| The Light of the City of God | 355 |
| Two Kinds of Education | 42 |
| Words of 'Abdul-Bahá | 97, 129, 347 |
| Articles | |
| 'Abdul-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Jináb-i-Fádil | 180 |
| Annual Bahá'í Convention. Louis G. Gregory | 67 |
| A Note on Morality. Horace Holley | 169 |
| A Portrait of 'Abdul-Bahá. Nellie S. French | 117 |
| PAGE | |
| Arabian Civilization. Adapted from Jináb-i-Fádil | 235 |
| Bahá'í Assemblies. Horace Holley | 45 |
| Bahá'í Dispensation, The. Elizabeth Herrick | 50 |
| Bahá'í Education. Stanwood Cobb | 3 |
| Can Religion and Science Agree? Louis G. Gregory | 204 |
| Heralds of the New Day. Jináb-i-Avárih | 269 |
| Indian Style of Architecture. Charles Mason Remey | 308 |
| Mount Carmel—The Vineyard of God | 148 |
| Panacea for World Peace. Rajaram Vinayak Gogate, M. A. | 239 |
| Ships that Pass in the Night. Stanwood Cobb | 305 |
| The Angel in the Garrison. Horace Holley | 334 |
| The Angel in the Garrison. Horace Holley | 362 |
| The Call to the Oneness of Mankind. Adapted from Jináb-i-Avárih | 136 |
| The Educational Conference. Frances Fales | 83 |
| The Eternal Witness. Compiled by Horace Holley | 109 |
| The Future of the Cause. Mírzá Badi Bushrui | 150 |
| The Glory of Deeds. Badi, Varga, Ruolláh, Jináb-i-Fádil | 173 |
| The Life of the Báb. Jináb-i-Fádil | 193 |
| The Life of Bahá'u'lláh. Jináb-i-Fádil | 291, 325 |
INDEX TO VOLUME 14[Page 379]
| PAGE | |
| The Need of the Bahá'í Movement in Europe. Stanwood Cobb | 203 |
| The New Covenant. Albert Vail | 227 |
| The Oneness of the Human World. Louis G. Gregory | 298 |
| The Search for Truth. Louis G. Gregory | 161 |
| The Story of the Princess. Jináb-i-Avárih | 359 |
| Through Pride Will Man Be Reduced to the Lowest Rank. Stanwood Cobb | 259 |
| With the Bahá'ís in Germany. Stanwood Cobb | 243 |
| Wonderful Life of Qurratu'l-'Ayn. Jináb-i-Fádil | 139 |
| When a Soul Meets the Master. Fred Mortensen | 365 |
| Ascension of the Master | |
| Anniversary of the Ascension of the Master | 264 |
| The Passing of the Master. B. Pullen Burry | 264 |
| The Shrine of the Master. Charles Mason Remey | 265 |
| Bahá'u'lláh—Words of | |
| A Prophecy | 347 |
| A Tablet | 149, 323 |
| From the Hidden Words | 225, 289, 321 |
| From the Kitabu'l-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book | 112 |
| Prayer—The Ladder to Heaven | 164 |
| Tablet to 'Abdu'l-Bahá | 151 |
| The Federation of the World | 297 |
| Words of Bahá'u'lláh | 321 |
| Words and Prayers | 257 |
| Words of Wisdom | 99 |
| Biographical, Autobiographical, Historical | |
| How the Message Came to Najaf. Jináb-i-Fádil | 12 |
| Forerunners of the Báb, the Báb as a Child, the Story of the Princess. Adapted from Jináb-i-Avárih | 269, 359 |
| Lives of the Báb, Baha'u'lláh, Qurratu'l-'Ayn, Badi, Varga, Ruollah. Adapted from Jináb-i-Fádil | 193, 291, 325, 139, 173 |
| Conventions | |
| Annual Convention in U. S. A. | 24, 59 |
| Annual Convention in India | 57 |
| Cablegrams and Letters | |
| Apostles of the Master—Two Letters from the Wife of 'Abdu'l-Bahá | 266 |
| Cablegram from Shoghi Effendi | 275 |
| Cablegram from Shoghi Effendi to Convention | 70 |
| Cablegram from N. K. Vakil | 310 |
| Cablegram of Invitation to Jináb-i-Fádil | 26 |
| Letters from Haifa and many Assemblies, see News and Notes. | |
| Letters from Shoghi Effendi, see Shoghi Effendi. | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| How to Study the Bahá'í Teachings | 60, 124, 255, 278, 377 |
| Education through Radio | 305 |
| PAGE | |
| Hollywood and the Spirit of the Age. Nellie S. French | 343 |
| The Scientific Religion. Kate Kempner | 338 |
| News and Notes—Bahá'í World News | |
| News, Notes and Letters | 20, 56, 89, 120, 152, 182, 213, 246, 276, 311, 344 |
| New Books | |
| 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York | 123 |
| Bahá'í Scriptures. Compiled by Horace Holley | 251 |
| Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era. Dr. J. E. Esslemont | 93, 250 |
| Book of Prayers and Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Translated by Shoghi Effendi | 250 |
| Compilation on Education | 93 |
| Hidden Words. Translated by Shoghi Effendi | 277 |
| Unity Triumphant. Elizabeth Herrick | 251 |
| Lessons in Religion | 277 |
| Myths and Legends of China. Agnes B. Alexander | 251 |
| Poems | |
| Life's Miracle. Beatrice Owens Ashton | 202 |
| The Mystery of God. Horace Holley | 235 |
| Shoghi Effendi, Letters of, Translations of | |
| A Letter to New Zealand | 153 |
| A Prophecy of Bahá'u'lláh | 347 |
| Excerpts from The Kitabu'l-Aqdas—The Most Holy Book | 112 |
| Hidden Words—New Translation of | 277 |
| Letters From Shoghi Effendi | 48, 56, 65, 122, 155, 184, 309 |
| Letters to Bahá'í Friends in England | 21, 22 |
| Letter to the STAR OF THE WEST | 17 |
| Selections from the New Translation of The Hidden Words | 225, 289, 321 |
| Shoghi Effendi, the Peerless Translator | 250 |
| Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh to 'Abdu'l-Bahá | 151 |
| The Great Service to the Kingdom—From General Epistle of Shoghi Effendi | 84 |
| Tablet to Dr. Forel | 101 |
| Translations by Shoghi Effendi—Summary: | |
| Prayers by 'Abdu'l-Bahá | 1, 33, 47, 52, 82 |
| Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá | 18, 20, 87, 101, 245, 347, 353 |
| Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh | 151, 321, 323 |
| Spirit of the Century and Signs of the Times (Editorials) | |
| A Suggestion for Study Classes | 60 |
| Education Through the Radio | 305 |
| Preparation for Spiritual Teaching | 124, 255, 278 |
| Spirit of the Century and Signs of the Times | 53, 88, 114, 145, 178, 240, 274, 302, 339 |
| The Anniversary of the Ascension of the Master | 264 |
| The Divine Remedy | 304 |
| The Heavenly Artists | 177 |
| The Problem of Law Enforcement | 146 |
| What is New in the Bahá'í Teachings | 272 |
صفحه 1 - 5
و در مابین تمامت آنچه از قلمش صادر شده کتابش بنام الهام بهاء الله است یکی از اوّلین هبات نوشتجات امریّه بود و حضرت عبدالبهاء در یکی از الواحش تمجیدی شایان از آن فرموده و مأمور داشتند که کتابی دیگر نیز نوشته و هر دو را نشر دهد هر که وی را در شش ماه اخیر حیاتش ملاقات کرده گواهی داد که هر چند در روی زمین بود ولی گویا در ملکوت پرواز می نمود تقریبا دوهفته قبل از صعودش حکایت کرد که حضرت عبدالبهاء را در رؤیا زیارت کرد باو فرمودند که خدمتش را برای یک مدّت اندکی مداوت دهد در 24 جنوری آثار مرض مهاجمه سخت نمود ولی المی نداشت در همان اوقاتی که متدرّجا بعالم دیگر رهسپار میشد خدمات امریّه خود را نیز توالی میداد در شب آخر حیاتش یازده مکتوب نگاشت که آخرین آن فقط چند دقیقه قبل از صعودش بخاتمه رسید صعودش در 28 جنوری سنه 1924 در فیلادلفیا واقع جنازه اش را باحترام تمام برداشتند جمع کثیری از دوستان بلد و بعضی از اطراف حاضر و بتلاوت مناجات و نغمات روحانیّه مخصوصا همان نفوسی که خود برای روز برداشتن جنازه خود چندی قبل از وفات خود معیّن کرده بود میسرودند و جماعت کثیری از نفوس مطلعّ از امر و دوستانش حاضر از سفید و سیاه و کلیمیان و مسیحیان بودند که جنازه اش را بدوش کشیدند و چون چندی قبل از صعودش از جهت حسن خدماتش در مرکز رادیوی فیلادلفیا پذیرفته شد که نطقهای متعدّده در خصوص امر و تربیت ادا کردند و ندای امر و آوازه لیاقت خود را در افکار هزار ها نفوس ثابت و استوار نموده بود لذا در روز صعودشمرکز رادیو خبر آن فاجعه را بهمه جا اخبار و اعلان نمود و عظمت حسب و نسب و مقام روحانیش را پر قیمت شمرد رحمة الله علیها
وفات پرزیدانت ویلسون
مستر ویلسون رئیس جمهور اسبق ایالات متحّده که مشهور آفاق است از این جهان فانی درگذشت بذر افکار عمومیّه ئیکه این شخص نامی امریکا در ایّام حرب عمومی در عقول نوع بشر و همه جهان و بالخص در امریکا گماشت یک نام نیک ابدی برای او تهیّه نمود پرزیدانت ویلسون صلح عالم میخواست و دول را به تقلیل قوای حربیّه و تشکیل مجمع بین المللی و محکمۀ عمومی دعوت میکرد و مختصر آنکه یک دنیای در تحت آسایش را در نظر داشت و با همۀ قوای خود در آن کوشید چه نطقهای کثیره که در سفرهایش در شهور متوالیه برای تأیید این مقاصد ادا نمود و افکار عمومی را برای آن حاضر ساخت و میتوان گفت که در نتیجۀ سعی و زحمات و افکار در نجاح و فلاح دوران مریض و بستری گشت و حقیقة ویرا نیز یک حکمتی از تعالیم مقدّسه امر مبارک توان خواند اینک این عالم را وداع گفت و ذکر خیر خدمات و زحماتش در دفتر تاریخ عالم مثبوت خواهد ماند .
ایّم کنونشن نزدیک است
مجمع عمومی شورای سنوی بهائیان امریکا مقرّر گشت که در واشنگتون خواهد شد واشنگتون
صفحه 2 - 5
مرکز افکار مکفی و مقام متفکرین و بزرگان امریکا است و شکی نیست که این کنفرانس بزرگترین کنونشنهای بهائی هم از حیث جمعیّت مبعوثین و مجتمعین و ناطقین و هم از حیث مقاصد و مشورتها است و تأثیری بزرگ خواهد داشت و حضرت عبدالبهاء تأسیس کنونشن نژادی را ابتدا در واشنگتون امر فرمودند لذا دوستان من الحال در تهیّۀ مقدمات کنونشن کار میکنند و امید موفقیّت بزرگ دارند .
الاشراق
مجلۀ الاشراق منطبعۀ رنگون برما که به سه لسان فارسی و برماوی و انگلیسی و ماهیانه منتشر میگردد فی الحقیقه مانند ستارۀ درخشانی است که در عالم خدمات امریّه اشراق نمود از تمام قلب مزید موفقیّت کارکنان آن و بالاخص وجود محترم آنها سیّد مصطفی رومی مسئلت میگردد
از رباعیات نه نه 99 نبیل زرندی
مانند ورق صاف شو از بود و نبود . تا باز ربایدت سرانگشت وجود . با کمک کرم نماید اندر تو رقم . اسرار وجود و دانش غیب و شهود . اوّل ببر از باء بها جوشن کن . و از ماء بها ظلمت دل روشن کن . پس از الفش تو استقامت آموز . آنگه چه بهار ارض را گلشن کن . منگر بزمین که پر ز کژدم بینی . منگر به سما که برز انجم بینی . چون شمس محبّت بها کرد طلوع . در قلزم نور خویش را گم بینی . از ذکر بها جهان پر از غلغله بین سویش درو دشت را تو در هر وله بین . از تابش خورشید جمال ابهی . هر ذرّه بصد شمس لقا حامله بین . ای اهل بها ز حق صفائی بطلب . از کنز کرم درّ وفائی بطلب . باشد ببها شرافت هر چیزی . الحاح کن از بها بهائی بطلب . هر دل که ز سنگ مهر کاشان سازد . (4) مهر کرمش لعل بدخشان سازد . چون جام فلک سینه ز غم صافی دار . تا اوش پر از گوهر رخشان سازد . هر بنده که خود ز سر بلندان سازد . مولاش اسیر بند و زندان سازد . چون خاک بپایش سر تسلیم بنه . تا اوت پر از لاله خندان سازد . حرفی که نه قوت دل بود گوش مکن . وز سینه سراج ذکر خوامش مکن . محبوب تو هرگزت فراموش نکرد . وافی شود هرگزش فراموش مکن . بسیار تو را عدواست بی دوست مباش . بر هر چه نه وثق خواهش او است مباش . در هرکاری دوست تو را می بیند . مشغول بکاری که نه نیکو است مباش . ذرّات جهان همه گزاران تو اند . ناظر بثوامات و گناهان تو اند . از خوب تو خون شد دل ز بدت غمگینند . غمشان مرسان که خیر خواهان تو اند .
صفحه 1 - 4
در اینصورت چه استنبدادی دارد که حضرت بهاء الله نیز همان روش را با مسیحیّت بجای آورد که حضرت مسیح با موسویّت یعنی جوهردیانت مسیح را گرفته و منع از جهالات و ظلمات و تقالید ممنوعه بشری نموده و چنان توسعه و تعمیم داد که قابل آن شد که کلّ اقوام عالم در ظلّ آن قرار گیرند زیرا که جوهر همه ادیان یکی است و اختلافات در تقالید است و چون به تقالید نظر نشود همه متحدّ گردند آن محصّل دارالفنون چون بلباس رسمی قسیس مینگریست و از طرفی دیگر اینکه خالی از تعصّب و کلام و برهان معارضه ناپذیرش را ملاحظه میکرد متفرق حیرت بود و نگارنده در فکر قوّه غیبیّه که در این عصر اعظم چگونه برای تنویر افکار عالم بشری از مجاری غیبیّه خود تأیید مینماید و این نکته دقیقه بر متفرسین در عالم آفاق و انفس در کمال وضوح و شهود است .
انّا لله و انّا الیه راجعون . عکس حضرت امة الله المؤمنه التیّ قد ادرکت لقاء ربّها مسیس ایزابیلا برتینگهام در صفحّ اوّل قسمت انگلیسی این شمارۀ نجم باختر چاپ شده .
مشاهیر بهائیان غرب
مسس ایزابلا برتینگهام در 21 فبروری 1852 در نورستن پنسیلوانیا ایالات متحّدۀ امریکا متولدّ والدش قسیس کلیسیای اپیکپل بود جدّ اعلایش یکی از امضا کنندگان استقلال ایالات متحّده و عمّۀ مادرش زوجۀ ابراهیم لینکلن رئیس جمهور مشهور امریکا بود ند مشارالیها فطرتا در حدّت ذکاء و شدّت قوای فکریّه نصیبی وافر داشت و در ایّام صغر و جوانی همّت بر تحصیل و تکمیل علوم عصریّه گماشت و تربیت عالی گرفت و سپس تمامت ایّام حیات جوانیش در محیط عقلی ادبی و فلسفۀ دینیّه مصروف گشت و در مدرسۀ دینی کلیسیای مذکور بتدریس میپرداخت و نامش در شماراسامی
صفحه 2 - 4
مطلعین و معلمین کتاب مقدّس تورات و انجیل مثبوت در 10 نوامبر 1886 بجای « دکتر بریلیتنگ هام » که هنوز در یک ادارۀ بزرگ راه آهن مقامی دارد شوهر کرد اولاد جسمانی نداشت ولی اولاد روحانیش بسیارند در سنه 1818 در نیویورک در اوّلین صف بیست و یک نفری که در آنجا تبلیغ امر شدند قبول امر نمود و او نخستین آن جمع بود که در آن صف تصدیق امر نمودند و با قلب طاهر و استعداد فوق العاده اش مقصد اصلی امر اعظم را دریافت و بطور تحقیق توان گفت که در گلشن حقیقت و ملکوت اسرار الهی راه یافت و از آنگاه تقریبا در تمام دقایق حیاتش در خدمت امر بود دو بار به زیارت حضرت عبدالبهاء در عکا مشرّف گشت ابتدا در سنه 1901 دیگر در سنه 1909 و رسالۀ پرقیمتی که در زیارتش نوشته و حکایات روح پروری که بیان داشته امید است که در آتیه طبع و نشر گردد تاریخ خدمات امریّه اش همقدم با تاریخ ترقیّات امریّه در امریکا است در هر حال موفقّ بهدایت الهیّه و پیمودن طریق صواب گردید و به راهنمائی بیخبران و تثبیت اقدام دوستان و شرح و توضیح بیانات رحمانیّه و اعطا و کأس معارف روحانیّه مألوف در هر شهری که سفر میکردند بذر محبّت الهیّه را در قلوب غرس مینمود بیانی شیرین و شخصیّتی موقرّ و متین و جانی مطمئن و فکری بس عمیق در امر و حکمتی چنانچه لازم و در خور و قدمی ثابت و راسخ داشت از مطالعۀ الواح متعدّده اش از حضرت عبدالبهاء معلوم میشود که چگونه تعلیمات و درسهای خصوصی باو میفرمودندو کلید معرفت حقیقیّه باو عنایت میفرمودند و چقدر تعلقّ قلبی به ثبوت و روحانیّت و خلوص و خدمات او داشتند و امر میفرمودند که در مقام و تعلیمات امر توضیحات بدهد چه که خصوصا از بشارات و اشارات کتاب مقدّس تورات و انجیل اطلاع وافی داشت و مقام امر را چون اسرار عمیق الهی بیان مینمود لذا بلسان و قلم بر آن قیام کرد چه نفوس کثیره ئی بر آن قیام کرد و چه نفوس کثیره ئی را مهتدی و محکم و ثابت ساخت و ناملایمات و صدماتی تحمّل نمود چنانچه حضرت عبدالبهاء در بعضی الواح وی را تسلیت داده بیان فرمودند که در هر دوری این وقوعات در ادیان واقع میشد نفوسی را که مهتدی ساخت الی الابد مقام محبّت و خدمات او را محفوظ خواهد داشت حضرت عبدالبهاء وی را منادی میثاق خواند و او قدرت عجیبی در بیان عظمت مقام عهد و میثاق داشت و فی الحقیقه تراب اقدام مبارک بود اندکی قبل از صعود مبارک لوحی بافتخار او نازل و میفرمایند هر که او را تبلیغ کرد همه ثابت اند زیرا که مقصدش از تبلیغ آن بود که ثابت و راسخ نماید در عرض بیست و پنج سال که مشغول بخدمات امریّه بود هرگاه نطقهائی که در مجامع ادا نمود جمع شود کتابی حجیم گردد ولی بعضی از مقالات مخصوص که شاید بعد ها انتشار یابد برین تفصیل است مقاله در توضیح مقام عهد مقاله در توضیح اسم اعظم مقاله در اهمیّت حقیقیّه بعضی رموز کتاب مقدّس مقاله در دلائل جلوۀ الهیّه در حضرت بهاء الله از بشارات مسیح اینها معدودی از مقالات کثیره ئی است که نوشته
صفحه 1 - 3
و رعایت مضایقه و دریغ ندارد .
اصل عدل این نیز یکی از نتائج بارزۀ از محبّت و قوای متولدّۀ از دوستی است قلوب مملوّ از محبّت از ظلم و جور تبرّی و تفرّی گیرند و دست تعدّی بحقوقی نیالایند احساسی را نیازارند و در غیاب و حضور پاس خاطر همنوعان خود را دارند هتک احترام احدی ننمایند و بر احدی حسد نبرند و مانع آسایش نفسی نگردند و عدل در حقّ بدن و روح شخص خود نموده و در امور زندگانی و حیات جسمانی و روحانی خود باعتدال رفتار کنند و در حقّ عائله و اقرباء خود و همشهریان و هم مملکت و بالأخره همنوعان خود در همه عالم بعدل معامله نمایند و همانا این اصل عدل است که اساس صحّت و اعتدال مزاج جسمانی و روحانی و شالودۀ حیات مقدّس میباشد اصل اتحّاد که اقصی مقاصد و اعلی منویّات الهیّه است یعنی اتحّاد من علی الارض در قوانین عمومیّه زندگانی و حقوق حیاتی و اجتماعی و زندگانی در تحت قانون معتدله واحده و تأسیس مدنیّت عمومیّه انسانیّه و تحکیم روابط مابین قطعات ارض و ملل و اقوام ساکنه آن بنائی است که بر بنیان اصول سابقه قرار گیرد زیرا که چون محبّت و صلح و عفو و عدل و سائر شئون و فروع معنویۀ آن در قلوب عالم انسانی ریشه دوانیده و استقرار جوید شکّی نیست که این بناء شامخ اتحّاد و اتّفاق عموم من علی الارض بر آن بنیان قرار یابد انبیاء مقدّسه و شموس تربیت الهیّه که مؤسّسین و مروّجین این اتحّاد بودند این بناء را بر آن اساس قرار دادند و ابتدا شروه به تأسیس آن مبانی نمودند تا چون روزی آید که آن ارکان مستقرّ و آن مبانی مستحکم گردد آنوقت این بناء رفیع بر آن ارکان بآسانی تأسیس یابد و نفوس نوع بشر مانند فرشتگان در این ایران مینونشان بیارایند .
در این دور قوّۀ غیبیّه از ماوراء عالم ظاهر امر خود را کمک میکند
نفوسی که با ابصار جسمانیّه و مدارک عقلیّه بوضعیّت کنونی عالم نگاه میکنند از شدّت ظلمات هالکه اوهام و تقالید و تعصّبات و اختلافات و افکار تسلطّ ریاست و سائر مفاسد دیگری که افق عالم انسانی را تیره نموده و بحالت یأس میشوند و از بهبودی و صحّت اوضاع و طلوع نورانیّت صلح و اتّفاق و اتحّاد نومید میگردند چه که در عالم اسباب و ظاهر محلّ امید و ملجائی را نمی یابند ولی متفرّسان و متعّمقان در وضعیّت جریان و ترقیّات فکریّه انسانیّه را که با دوربینهای روحانی و عقول منورّه حرکت و نهضت عجیبی که در قلب عالم ارواح است مینگرند بخوبی می بینند که یک نور نیّتی از باطن عالم روح طالع و متدرّجا از افق انسانی
صفحه 2 - 3
بلند میشود و نزدیک است آنوقتی که عالم را روشن نماید و این آتش خرمن سوز اوهام و سیل جارف تعصّبات در محیط عالم انسانی از هر مملکت و ملتی و در هر بوم و کشوری مشتعل و سرازیر میشود و آن ریح صرصر تأیید غیبیّه که از مکمن نا مشهود میوزد نزدیک است که آن آتش ها را بیکدیگر متصلّ و مرتبط سازد تا چنان شعلۀ تقلید سوزی بر کشد که خار و خاشاک اوهام را سپری سازد و آن صیقل معنوی چنان قوّت گیرد و مرایاء قلوب انسانی را مصّفا نماید که اثری از تعصّبات و تنگی افکار باقی نماند و آن نور الهی چنان بدرخشد که لشکر ظلمت و نادانی را بکلیّ درهم شکند و چون بدقتّ ملاحظه شود دیده میشود که در عالم نفس حتیّ در نفوسی که بظاهر متوقفّ مشاهده میشوند ذرّات نورانیّتی که دست قدرت ودیعه گذاشته در حرکت اند و بسوی مرکز نور و مشرق ظهور در نهضت و مصداق و تری الجبال تحسبها جامدة و هی ثمر مرالسحاب مشهود و عیان است نگارنده را در خاطراست که چندی قبل که در مملکت کانادا مسافرت میشد شبی بدستیاری یکی از دوستان که از نویسندگان و شعرای شهیر مملکت است مجلس طلاب بین المللی دارالفنون منعقد بوده و در میان آنهمه علما و دانشمندان که هریک از مرز و بومی بودند بعضی شرقی و برخی غربی جمعی سیاه و گروهی سفید و از نژادهای متنوّعه بودند صحبت در خصوص انوار و آثار عظیمۀ این عصر ذوالاقتدار در میان و پس از اختتام بنای سئوال و جواب برقرار و دامنه آن تا نیمه شب بدارازا کشید یکی از محصلین هلندی که در دائرة مسیحیّت سخت ایستاده و میخواست پای خود را فراتر بگذارد و مسیحیّت را آخرین جلوۀ معنویّه و مابه الاکتفاء ترقیّات بشریّه می پنداشت قدری در سلیقۀ خود اظهار اصرار می نمود در میان جمع مستمعین قسیسی با لباس رسمی کنیسه ئی خود حاضر و از آغاز تا انجام سراپا گوش بود و لب نمیگشود و چنان تصوّر میرفت که ظاهر عنوان باطن و لباس ظاهر دلیل بر مایه اعتقاد و فکر باطنش باشد چون آن اصرار و ابرام محصّل هلندی را مشاهده کرد بلا اختیار در نهایت ملایمت و محّبت اجازه طلبید که در جواب او سخنی گوید و چون با اظهار اشتیاق پذیرفته شد ناگهان انجیل مقدّس را از بغل در آورده این کلام مسیح مقدّس را قرائت نمود که من برای در هم شکستن تورات نیامدم بلکه برای اکمال آن آمدم پس از آن جوان پرسید که آیا مسیح تقالید و احکام فرعیّۀ موقوتۀ تورات را نشکست و از بیاناتش عدم اهمیّت آن درجات بروحیه استفاده نمیشود جوان در پاسخ گفت که صحیح است قسیس گفت پس آنچه را که در هم نشکست و ابطال نکرد بلکه اکمال نمود همانا جوهر و تعالیم اصلیّه و روحیه و اخلاقیّه تورات که آنراچنان از محدودیّت تقلیدیّه بیرون آورده و توسعه داد که قابل آن شد که اقوام غیر اسرائیل نیز از قبیل رومان و یونان و اقوام سائره شرقی و غربی بپذیرند آیا این نیست حقیقت اکمال جوان محصّل هلندی گفت چنین است قسیس گفت .
صفحه 1 - 2
و دمی زهر شرنگ خوی و انتقام همانا شراره ایست از شعلۀ آتشی که از حجیم عداوت و غضب بیرون جهد و صفت خونخواهی ولو بهمروازعین و حاجب واگیثار نالایق و واجب باشد همان میوۀ تلخ سخره است که از مادیۀ حیوانی سر بیرون کشد مرد خداو پیرو انوار مقدّسه اش همانا تصوّر انتقام ننماید بلکه احساس آنرا ندارد بارانی است که بر ارض طیّبه و و جرزه هر دو میبارد و آفتابی است که بر گلخن و گلشن هر دو میتابد این است آن صراط رقیق که معبر ورود بجهان انوار است و وسیلۀ وصول بفیوضات حضرت کردگار و چون نفسی بافکاری برخورد که لطمه بافکارش میزند و نفوس را مشاهده نماید که در شهود و غیاب قلبش را میخواهند و نمک بر زخم قلبش میپاشند و بر هتک آبرویش میکوشند و در اعدامش میخروشند در چنین احوال ملالت نیارد و بخیال انتقام نپردازد و آب صافی محبّتش باین گرد و غبار ها کدورت نیابد و در حالش تغییری حاصل نیاید چنین نفسی محلّ جلوۀ انوار محبّت است و مظهر صفت رحمت حضرت احدیّت آنکه این صفت الهی در او مکین و طبیعی است و منزّه از روی و ریا و مقدّس از هر غرض و اندیشۀ مادّی و معنوی او را توان گفت که شخصی است آسمانی و قبّه ئی از نورانیّت رحمانی زیرا که حضرت احدیّت مخزن عفو است و رحمت و مصدر گذشت است و مغفرت تابش شمس محبّتش را سحاب جهالت جاهلان محجوب نسازد و ریزش باران رزاقیّت و افضالش را ناشناسی و ناسپاسی بیخبران و عاصیان مانع نگردد حکایت است که یکی از بزرگان قدیّسین سلف را که در میهمان نوازی گوی سبقت از صفوف مقرّبین ربوده بود و بندرت میشد که در خوان کرمش ضعیفی حاضر نبود نوبتی میهمان نرسید ازینرو محزون و افسرده گشت لکن پس از جدّ و جهد و خیر و اسباب سازیهای قدیر مرد کهن سالی میهمان بر او وارد لذا بس مسرور و شکسته شد و شکر الهی بجای آورد و قدوم ضعیف را مغتنم شمرده و با وی بکمال شفقت و رأفت به تناول طعام و شراب پرداخت ولی پس از لمحه ئی که بمصاحبت و مفارضت مشغول بودند معلوم گردید که شیخ میهمان از پرستندگان اوثان است و خدای یکتای آسمان را نمی شناسد و بمکالمه و مصاحبه نیز در او اقبالی پدیدار نه سرانجام میزبان مقدّس که در بندگی و پرستندگی خدای غفور بنهایت غیور بود چندان متأثرّ شد
صفحه 2 - 2
که آن سالخورده بینوای پریش را از خانه خویش اخراج نمود امحه ئی نگذشت که ندای جانفزای معنوی بگوش هوشش رسید و آغاز خطاب عتاب باو فرمود که ای عبد صالح آیا تو این عبد طالح را آفریده بودی یا اینکه ما او را بدست قدرت و محبّت خود خلق نمودیم و آیا تو را انکار داشت یا از شناسائی ما ادبار کرد چگونه است که که با همه ناشناسی و ناسپایش در تمام حیاتش در سابۀ فضل و غنوده و بتشریف بخش و بخشایش مخلع بود ولی تو ساعتی نتوانستی با او بپایان آری و او را نیازاری مختصر این است که عفو و صفح و سماح و غفران را توان گفت که لذیذ ترین میوۀ محبّت است و مشهور ترین نتیجۀ روحانیّت و مابه الامتیاز بزرگ مابین مدّعیان دیانت و تا هنگامیکه شیمۀ عفو در پیروان آئین های آسمانی قدر و مقامی داشت روح دیانت در نمود قوّت بود و چون بعناوین مختلفه این شیوۀ الهیّه از میان رفت و به بهانه های مختلفه بنای انتقام و معارضه در داخل و خارج برقرار گشت آن روح آسمانی بمقرّ خود راجع گردید و بسیر عمیقانه در تواریخ ادیان این نکته دقیقه واضح و آشکار کرد تا عصر و غفران ثابت و محققّ دیانت حقیقیّه موجود و تا دیانت موجود عفو و صفح متحققّ و مشهود .
اصل معاونت و معاضدت و مساوات و مواسات
این نیز نتیجۀ عملیۀ محبّت است زیرا محبّت احساسی است معنوی که جز بآثار بارزه آن محسوس و مشهود نگردد و آن همانا بخشش و بخشایش و مجیری و دستگیری و همراهی و خیرخواهی و گره گشائی و دلجوئی بنی نوع میباشد اگر نفسی مصدر این اعمال و منشاء این افعال باشد بدون آنکه خود را به محبّت و دوستی بستاید همه دانند که او گنجینۀ این گنج الهی است و بالعکس هرگاه این صفات و آثار در او نباشد و فقط بالفاظ آراسته و رسومی پیراسته باشد و خود را بنام محبّت و دوستی معرّفی نماید دانیان و بینایان ویرا لفظی خالی از معنی و کالبدی عاری از جان و قوی و طبلی میان تهی با آراستگی ظاهر و فربهی شناسند محبّت است که مقتضی است که چون نفسی را در بحر اخوان مستغرق بیند وقت خود را وقف و قوای خود را حصر در آن نماید که او را از آن عرفات نجات دهد محبّت است که مقتضی است که چون انسانی را اسیر قید و بندی بیند و گرفتار ظلم و تعدّی مشاهده نماید بلا اختیار مجبور بآن باشد که در رهائی او بکوشد و آرامی نجوید محبّت است که ممتنع شود که چون شخصی را در ادارۀ مضطر مشاهده کند و یا طفلی را به پرستاری در تربیت محتاج بیند و مساعدت تواند وی راحت نجوید و قرار نگیرد و از مواسات
نجم باختر
جلد 14 . شماره 12. مارچ 1924
مجله اخلاقی تربیتی روحانی عمومی است و ماهی یک بار طبع و توزیع میشود .
صفحه 1 – 1
بیان مبارک حضرت عبدالبهاء یوم عید نوروز در مقام اعلی
روز عید نوروز است اعیاد ما خیلی عظیم است در میان جمیع نظیری ندارد همین طور ایّام ماتم ما هم خیلی شدید است لکن چون ما در یوم مبارک در این عالم بودیم عید را در ایّام مبارک میگرفتیم دیگر بعد از صعود مبارک حالت عید نداریم زیرا بخاطر میآوریم در چنین روزی در ساحت اقدس مشرّف بودیم چون این بخاطر میآید حالت سرور نمیگذارد و الا عید را خیلی مکمّل میگرفتیم صبح بر می خواستیم در نهایت سرور در این ایّم خیلی با فرح بودیم ایّام اعیاد بقدر امکان خیلی منظمّ و مرتبّ بود گل و ریاحین و شیرینی عید ما روزی است که بعون و عنایت الهی از برای ماها اسباب شهادت فراهم آید آن سرور ابدی است و آن عید سرمدی است اگر چنین چیزی فراهم بیاید و اسباب بلا از هر جهت جمع گردد و در سبیل الهی در مشقتّ افتیم و در حبس و زجر باشیم آن روز روز بشارت و فرح و سرور وا است آن روز روز عروسی ما است که ما را روی صّلابه بکشند دیگر سروری و فرحی عظیم از این نمیشود فی الحقیقه باید این ایّام اعیاد که ایّام نعطیل است و نفوس مسرور اند و ایّام الفت و محبّت است و یوم اجتماع است یک نتیجه ئی داشته باشد یک مذاکرات و مشورتهائی در امورات مفیده شود تا نتائج ابدی بخشد مثلا یک شورای عمومی شود برای تبلیغ یک شورای عمومیّه برای امور خیریّه و مسائل نافعه خلاصه یک نتیجه ئی داشته باشد بی نتیجه نماند تا از این فرح و سرور و انجذاب و اشتعال و اشتعال و انشراح آثاری ظاهر گردد و دیگر اینکه باید اغنیاء در این ایّام خیلی مراعات فقرا را بنمایند تا آنکه عموم مسرور باشند نه اینکه سرور و فرح حصر در اغنیاء باشد فقرا و اغنیا باید هم حال باشند یک نوع عیش و عشرت نمایند .
نوروز اسعدالله ایّامکم
سال هشتادم بهائی شروع بطلوع نمود و چهر پر مهر درخشان خود را آشکار میسازد مبارک و فرخنده روزی است این روز پیروز باستانی که پس از انقضاء هزاران سال از عمرش هنوز زیبا است و تازه و با نشاطی بی اندازه بلکه سر جوانی و کامرانی دارد چه تلفات تاریخی دیده و چه انقلابات بزرگ ادبی و ملکی را مشاهده کرده و اینک با تجربیّات کهن سالگی دوره نشاط
صفحه 2 - 1
و انبساط جدیدی را آغاز مینماید عیدی که بنایش بر اساس علمی و طبیعی گذارده شده و نشئه و شادمانیش مطابق با روش و قانون خلفت میباشد و از اینرو تغییر و زوال در آن راه ندارد و تا فصول اربعه در جریان خلقت موجود و حرکت سنوی زمین حول آفتاب عالمتاب مشهود و نقطۀ اعتدال ربیعی ثابت و تجدّد عالم آفرینش در بهار پر آثار محسوس این روز خجسته عید است و سعید و یوم نشاط عمومی عالم انسانی بلکه عید خلقی همه کائنات محیطه ما است در این کور تازه و دور نو که همه آثار علمی و مدنی تازه و تازه تر میشود نوروز نیز نامی پاینده و طالعی فرخنده و شأنی زیبنده یافت و بمرتبه ئی رسید که عموم ملل و اقوام بشر آنرا شناخته و پاس جلال و احترام آنرا مرعی میدارند اینک هشتادمین بار است که در این عصر نوراء جهان آراء در صفحه گیتی خودآرائی نموده و در هر سالی بر منوال و احوالی ظهور و جلوه ئی کرد و دفتری تازه در حیات عالم انسانی باز نمود و درس نو باطفال بشری آموخت در این سال فرخنده مآل با قلبی مملو از امید و جنان و ارکانی پر از قوّه اطمینان و فعّالیّت چنان منتظر و آرزومندیم که فدائیان بهبودی عالم بشری فعّالیّتی شدید تر از پیشتر بعرصۀ بروز و شهود آورند و بنقطه اصلیّه مقصود یعنی وحدت عالم انسانی در ظلّ محبّت الهیّه و صلح اکبر قدمی چند نزدیکتر شوند و این روز بر عموم افراد نوع بشر در هر قطری از اقطار دنیا و هر مملکتی که هستند مبارک و مبارکتر گردد .
بقیّه از شمارۀ قبل . اصول عملی دیانت . اصل عفو
عفو و سماح نیز همانا شاخۀ برومند شجرۀ محبّت است و نه آن فقط بلکه شاخه است که آثار لذیذه دوستی را زان توان چید رائحۀ معطّرۀ الفت و یگانگی را بوسیلۀ آن توان استشمام نمود بلکه فی الحقیقه میزان مستقیم و محک قویم محبّت است و محک قویم محبّت است چه که امتیاز مرد خدا از شخص هوی با ین است که آن حقیقت عفو و سماح است و این جوهر انتقام و کفاح همانا دلی که در آن بخشایش و گذشت نیست محبّتش سرسری است عمقی ندارد و بر دوستیش اعتماد نشاید و چون ناملائمی احساس نماید و لو بصرف تحیّل باشد کدر شود و بانتقام گراید شخصی که به نورانیّت عفو و صفح منوّر نگشته روزی در صلح است و روز دیگر در جنگ و آنی شهد و شیرین است
