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THE LORD of mankind has caused His holy divine Manifestations to come into the world. He has revealed His heavenly books in order to establish spiritual brotherhood, and through the power of the Holy Spirit has made it practicable for perfect fraternity to be realized among mankind. And when through the breaths of the Holy Spirit this perfect fraternity and agreement are established amongst men, this brotherhood and love being spiritual in character, this loving kindness being heavenly, these constraining bonds being divine, a unity appears which is indissoluble, unchanging and never subject to transformation. It is ever the same and will forever remain the same . . . . Without this influence and animus it is impossible. We may be able to realize some degrees of fraternity through other motives but these are limited associations and subject to change. When human brotherhood is founded upon the Holy Spirit, it is eternal, changeless, unlimited.
--PHOTO--
One view of the original house occupied by the Báb at the time he declared his mission to mankind.
| VOL. 17 | MAY, 1926 | No. 2 |
points are necessary, for these blessed and glorious souls are the foremost teachers and educators of mankind, and all human souls are developed through them by the bounty of the Holy Spirit of God.”
WHAT IS the greatest task in the world, the undertaking of which invites ignominy, persecution, perhaps martyrdom; and the full achievement of which takes not years but centuries, nay, millenniums? It is the task of instituting a reform in religion; or even more gigantic, of founding a new religion. The task of all reformers is heavy. Men do not like to be reformed. But the task of religious reformers calls for superhuman power, because the reform they ask for is that of the very soul of man. And all the evil in man, all his spiritual indolence, all his pleasure-seeking habits, cry out in alarm at the thought of radical reform.
To the work of the founder of a new religion is added one more obstacle, almost insuperable—the necessity of inducing in his fellowmen the acceptance of his claim to be acting under the special guidance of God and to be revealing truths not of human concept but of Divine communication. But unless this claim is made and accepted, there can be no stamp of authenticity and hence no authoritative influence. For the difference between religion and philosophy is that one is God’s thoughts for us, while the other is merely man’s ratiocinations. Religion is not one of the outgrowths of human intelligence, one of the products of civilization, but the result of a message from the All-Powerful, the Director of earth’s destinies—a Message sent to enlighten mankind and to bring to the world the highest civilization of which it is capable.
BUT WHO will be the bearer of the Message? Who will venture to stand up before his fellowmen and claim in all seriousness to have for them a Message from the Invisible? And who will venture upon an errand, as dangerous as that of bearing ill news or criticism to tyrant, namely, the errand of bearing to the secular and spiritual authorities a condemnation of their ways; an invitation, an exhoratation even, to change to other ways and manners more desired of God?
All the evil in evil men rises into cruel anger at the public condemnation of their sins; all the jealousy in men crystallizes into bitter and satiric hatred at the claim of spiritual greatness and leadership on the part of one who, like themselves, Walks about on human feet, eats, drinks, grows weary, sleeps, and lives apparently the common lot of man.
Could God’s Messengers be but arch-angels winging their radiant way to earth in the blinding splendnor of a palpably loftier-than-human
existence, and bearing with them insignia of power which could command immediate respect from awestruck and powerless humanity, then would the founding of a new religion be a task as ineffective for those upon whom it was thus thrust, as it would be magnificently thrilling for those superior beings to whom delegated.
NO, RELIGIONS do not and can not come to man in such a way! Man is not to be dazzled, swept off his feet, coerced, as it were, into spirituality. Rather the germ, the potency of spirituality in him is to be nurtured by the tenderest and gentlest of humble devotion, sunned into life by the warmth of selfless love, and watered with the blood of martyrdom. This is what those undertake who feel impelled to announce themselves as called by God to spiritually educate and train mankind. They know beforehand the depths to which they must stoop in order to lift mankind out of the morass of his sinfulness. Only a superhuman courage and a patience of that infinite quality which carnal man knows not can suffice.
Can we conceive what went on in the soul of Muhammad Ali, the divine youth of Persia, when he felt himself called upon to preach to Persia reform of the Islamic faith, and to announce the coming of a great Messenger who would bring a Revelation from Divinity for the establishment of a new and fairer world-civilization? Grieved at the evils which he saw in the Islamic church; bitterly disappointed, when in the great spiritual enthusiasm of youth he made the pilgrimage to Karbila, the sacred center and sanctuary of Shiite Islam, only to find there, as elsewhere, hypocrisy, self-seeking, worldliness—he returned to Shiraz kindled with the high resolve to preach reform.
THIS INSPIRED youth, the Báb, this blazing soul, swept like a conflagration through all Persia. The greatest scholars and divines were by him put to swift defeat and humiliation in open debate, until none would meet him publicly. The leaders and the populace divided into two groups—those who were great-souled enough to follow him, and those who now began to hate him with vitriolic hatred. The story of his great spiritual achievements, of his rapidly growing following, of his imprisonment, and of his final execution at Tabriz in 1852 is known to all the world.
A similar destiny of persecution, though fortunately without the denouement of martyrdom, awaited Bahá’u’lláh, the one whom the Báb had foretold as the Messenger to follow him, of whose Message he, the Báb, was but the announcer. Bahá’u’lláh, when he stepped forth, first publicly accepting and promoting the religion of the Báb, and then as the Messenger of universal peace, universal religion, and the universal brotherhood of man—saw forfeited his ancestral estates, most ample in size and value; and had his human station reduced from that of a nobleman of leading and powerful family to that of life-prisoner on a level with the lowest criminal.
CARLYLE was one of the first to pointlout the sincerity and actual spiritual inspiration of the founders of great religious movements. In his “Heroes and Hero-worship” he completely demolished the theory that these prophets, who sacrifice all that life holds for most men, are impostors. The reality of the Message which they bring, he claims, can be tested by the sustained success and value of the religion which they found. A following can be gathered and briefly held for any claim, but the followers of false claims soon
disperse; while the followers of reality increase rapidly and in sustained ratio, carrying the doctrines of their dying Leader on to a world success of centuries in duration.
Thus it may be accepted as a logical axiom, that the stamp of sincerity of any claimant to a Divine Message is his willingness to accept ignominy, deprivation, persecution, martyrdom; and that the stamp of authenticity of such a claim is the degree to which this claim later succeeds in registering itself upon the consciousness of mankind.
Certainly the lives of the Báb, of Bahá’u’lláh, of ’Abdu’l-Bahá demonstrate their sincerity; for they willingly gave up those prizes which for most men constitute the aim and value of earthly existence—security, ease of livelihood, social position, success in the world’s esteem. All these things Bahá’u’lláh already possessed in the highest degree; and all of them he renounced and forfeited when he announced himself to be the Messenger of God.
WHY DOES humanity pour out its greatest hatred and punishments upon those who brings a “message of great joy” to earth? Is it thus arranged, in order that the lives of these Messengers shall contain no element of earthly grandeur, no cause for suspicion, for envy?
From a career which might have led him to be prime-minister to a life lived ever under duress, at times plunged into those revolting conditions characteristic of Old World dungeons—there can be no suspicion of self-seeking here! Surely it was for the sake of his Message that Bahá’u’lláh lived, not for his own sake!
As to the authenticity: Is it yet too early to form judgment? What evidence there is, thirty-four years after his death, argues powerfully in favor of the Reality of this Message. Permeating every quarter of the globe, numbering its adherents among every race and religion; uniting in the closest love and unity Jews and Christians, Muhammadans, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, men whom hatred and racial and religious prejudice had separated; forming one ardent brotherhood for the sake of the world’s advancement into that great world civilization proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh—that ideal condition of humanity which Christ called the Kingdom of Heaven on earth—the Message of Bahá’u’lláh has already attained a world position which challenges the attention of the student of religions.
Thus eliminating all subjective appeal of the Bahá’í Message—its logical and comprehensive platform for world reform, its urge to spiritual living, its inspirative power, and confining our judgment wholly to the objective proofs now clearly manifest, one may find just grounds for feeling that here is a movement destined to grow, to reach out in ever widening circles, until it draws within the ample circumference of its appeal all of war-weary, hatred-sick humanity.
IT IS DIFFICULT to make clear to the mind of present-day man the great truth that God can be known, can be approached, only through His Manifestations. We live in an ego-centric age. Man disdains to believe that the universe itself is not within his power of grasp. He rejects the medium of the Christ. He would enter the fold, not through the destined Door. This attempt is a failure from the start. For there is no approach to God save through His Manifestations.
Thus we see the Manifestations of God are the great educators and trainers of mankind. They come that man may have life and have it more abundantly.
ALL THE PROPHETS OF GOD were scorned and persecuted. Consider His Holiness Moses. The people called him a murderer. They said, “You killed a man and fled from punishment and retribution. Is it possible, after your former deeds, that you could become a prophet?”
Many similar experiences are recorded concerning the holy divine messengers. How bitter and severe was the persecution to which they were subjected! Consider how they endeavored to efface and belittle His Holiness Christ. They placed upon his head a crown of thorns and paraded him through the streets and bazaars in mockery, crying, “Peace be upon thee, thou king of the Jews.” In brief, the persecutions which His Holiness Christ suffered during the time of his manifestation are mentioned in the books of the old cycle, Jewish, Roman or Greek. No praises were bestowed upon him. The only recognition and acceptance offered him was from his believers and followers. Peter, for instance, was one who praised him, and the other disciples of His Holiness spoke in his behalf. Numerous books were written against him. In the history of the church you will find record of the hatred and antagonism manifested by the Roman, Greek and Egyptian philosophers attributing calumnies and ascribing imperfection to him. (Pro. of U. P., p. 430.)
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH was a prisoner for twenty-five years. During all this time he was subjected to the indignities and revilement of the people. He was persecuted, mocked and put in chains. In Persia his properties were pillaged and his possessions confiscated. First, banishment from Persia to Baghdad; then to Constantinople; then to Adrianople; finally from Roumelia to the prison fortress of Aqá. During his lifetime he was intensely active. His energy was unlimited. Scarcely one night passed in restful sleep. He bore these ordeals, suffered these calamities and difficulties in order that a manifestation of selflessness and service might become apparent in the world of humanity; that the “Most Great Peace” should become a reality; that human souls might appear as the angels of heaven; that heavenly miracles would be wrought among men; that human faith should be strengthened and perfected; that the precious, priceless bestowal of God—the human mind—might be developed to its fullest capacity in the temple of the body; and man become the reflection and likeness of God, even as it hath been revealed in the Bible: “We shall create man in our own image.” . . . Bahá’u’lláh bore all these ordeals and calamities in order that our hearts might become enkindled and radiant, our spirits be glorified, our faults become virtues, our ignorance transformed into knowledge; in order that we might attain the real fruits of humanity and acquire heavenly graces; although pilgrims upon earth we might travel the road of the heavenly kingdom; although needy and poor, we might receive the treasures of life eternal. For this has he borne these difficulties and sorrows. (B. S., page 289.)
BAHÁ’ULLÁH endured ordeals and hardships sixty years. There was no persecution, vicissitude or suffering he did not experience at the hand of his enemies and oppressors. All the days of his life were passed in difficulty and tribulations; at one time in prison, another in exile, sometimes in chains. He willingly endured these difficulties for the unity of mankind, praying that the world of humanity might realize the radiance of God, the oneness of humankind become a reality, strife and warfare cease and peace and tranquillity be realized by all. In prison he hoisted the banner of human solidarity, proclaiming Universal Peace, writing to the kings and rulers of nations summoning them to international unity and counselling arbitration. His life was a vortex of persecution and difficulty, yet catastrophes, extreme ordeals and vicissitudes did not hinder the accomplishment of his work and mission. Nay, on the contrary his power became greater and greater, his efficiency and influence spread and increased until his glorious light shone throughout the Orient, love and unity were established and the differing religions found a center of contact and reconciliation. (Pro. of U. P., p. 137.)
CONSIDER to what extent the love of God makes itself manifest. Among the signs of his love which appear in the world are the dawning-points of His Manifestations. What an infinite degree of love is reflected by the divine Manifestations toward mankind! For the sake of guiding the people they have willingly forfeited their lives to resuscitate human hearts. They have accepted the cross. To enable human souls to attain the supreme degree of advancement, they have suffered during their limited years extreme ordeals and difficulties. If His Holiness Jesus Christ had not possessed love for the world of humanity, surely he would not have welcomed the cross. He was crucified for the love of mankind. Consider the infinite degree of that love. Without love for humanity, John the Baptist would not have offered his life. It has been likewise with all the prophets and holy souls. If His Holiness the Báb had not manifested love for mankind, surely he would not have offered his life for a thousand bullets. If His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh had not been aflame with love for humanity he would not have willingly accepted forty years’ imprisonment. (Pro. of U. P., p. 250.)
DO THE Manifestations differ in degree? These supreme holy souls are Godlike in their attributes. The garments in which they appear are different, but the attributes are the same. In their real intrinsic power they show forth the Perfection of God. The Reality of God in them never varies; only the garment in which the Primal Reality is clothed is different according to the time and place of their Appearance and Declaration to the world. One day it is the garment of Abraham, then Moses, then Jesus, then Bahá’u’lláh. Knowledge of this Oneness is true enlightenment. Some see the garment only and worship the personality; some see the Reality and worship “in spirit and in truth.” Some of the Hebrews admired the embroidered beauty of the garment of Abraham, but were blind to the Real Light which shone upon the darkness of the world through him. Moses was denied; Jesus was denied, crucified; all have been denied and persecuted for this reason. Men see the garment and are blind to the Reality; worship the personality and do not know the Truth, the Light Itself. Some worship the Tree of Life, but do not eat of the blessed fruit of the Tree. Therefore differences
and disagreements arise in religious belief. . . . Find the Light itself and there will be no difference of opinion or belief as to the personality or degrees of the Manifestations of God. (Ten Days in the Light of Aqá, p. 31.)
WHAT IS the mission of the prophet and what is the object of a divine law? There is no doubt that the purpose of a divine law is the education of the human race, the training of humanity. All mankind may be considered as pupils or children who are in need of a divine educator, a real teacher. The essential requirement and qualification of prophethood is the training and guidance of the people.
My purpose and intention is to remove from the hearts of men the religious enmity and hatred which have fettered them and to bring all religions into agreement and unity. Inasmuch as this hatred and enmity, this bigotry and intolerance are outcomes of misunderstandings, the reality of religious unity will appear when these misunderstandings are dispelled. For the foundation of the divine religions is one foundation. This is the oneness of revelation or teaching; but alas! we have turned away from that foundation, holding tenaciously to various dogmatic forms and blind imitation of ancestral beliefs. This is the real cause of enmity, hatred and bloodshed in the world; the reason of alienation and estrangement among mankind. (Pro. of U. P., pp. 402, 406.)
THE WORD OF GOD is revealed according to the degree of spiritual sight, no matter who the messenger may be. . . . People do not receive the Manifestation of God because they are veiled by their imaginations. Imagination is one of our greatest powers and a most difficult one to rule. Imagination is the father of superstitition. . . . Through lmagination men receive a distorted view of a former Manifestation and are prevented from recognizing and accepting the Truth and Reality of the present one. They are veiled from the Light and Glory of God by imagination. These veils prevent the true Light from entering the soul. Therefore men follow the false light of their imaginations and cling to error instead of truth. Thus the Egyptians were veiled from the Light of God in Moses. The Jews were veiled from the Glory of Jesus simply because they did not know Moses rightly and so were blinded to the one he promised would come after him. Today Jews, Muhammadans and Christians, not seeing the former Manifestation with true vision, are veiled from the Glory of God in Bahá’u’lláh. (Ten Days in the Light of Aqá, pp. 28-30.)
ONE OF the greatest veils is literal interpretation of the prophecies. . . . Again, many refuse the Manifestation in His Day because they do not want to walk the hard road of devotion and servitude, but prefer the easy road of hereditary belief.
Misconception of the Word of God and its meanings is another great veil which imagination throws over the soul and by which the Light is lost. Also people inherit their belief from parents and ancestors and follow it blindly, too negligent to know and see for themselves. Negligence and apathy are heavy “veils of glory.” (Ten Days in the Light of Aqá, p. 30.)
EACH DIVINE revelation is divided into two parts. The first part is essential and belongs to the eternal world. It is the exposition of divine truths and essential principles. It is the expression of the love of God. This is one in all the religions, unchangeable and immutable. The second
part is not eternal; it deals with practical life, transactions and business, and changes according to the evolution of man and the requirements of the time of each prophet. For example, during the Mosiac period the hand of a person was cut off in punishment of a small theft; there was a law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but as these laws were not expedient in the time of Christ, they were abrogated. Likewise divorce had become so universal that there remained no fixed laws of marriage; therefore His Holiness Christ forbade divorce.
According to the exigencies of the time His Holiness Moses revealed ten laws for capital punishment. It was impossible at that time to protect the community and to preserve social security without these severe measures, for the children of Israel lived in the wilderness of Tah, where there were no established courts of justice and no penitentiaries. But this code of conduct was not needed in the time of Christ. The history of the second part of religion is unimportant, because it relates to the customs of this life only; but the foundation of the religion of God is one, and His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has renewed that foundation. (Divine Philosophy, p. 146.)
“LEAVE these mountains, these hills to the world of nature, and they will remain a jungle, and you will not find any fruitful tree among them. But a true gardener changes this forest and jungle into a garden, training its trees into fruitful ones and causing numerous kinds of flowers and myrtles to grow therein. In the same way these holy Manifestations of God are the ideal gardeners. The world of existence is but a jungle of confusion. The state of nature is confusion such as that of a jungle, producing fruitless, useless trees. As the holy Manifestations of God are the ideal gardeners, they therefore train these human trees and cause them to become fruitful and bestow upon them freshness and verdancy in order that they may grow day by day and produce every kind of pure fruit, and thus become the cause of adorning the world of being and continue flourishing and in the utmost purity.
Consequently we can not say that the divine bounty has ceased, that the glory of the Divinity is exhausted, or the Sun of Truth has sunk down into eternal sunset—into that sunset which is not followed by a dawn, into that darkness which is not followed by light, into that death which is not followed by life, into that error which is not followed by truth! Is it conceivable that the Sun of Truth should sink into an eternal sunset? No; the sun was created in order that it may shed light upon the world and train all existing things. How can that Sun set forever? For this would mean the cessation of divine bounty, and the divine bounty is ceaseless, it is continuous. Its Sun is ever shining; its cloud is ever producing rain; its breezes are ever blowing; its bounties are all-comprehending; its gift is ever perfect. Consequently We must always anticipate and always be hopeful and pray unto God to send to us His holy Manifestation in the most perfect might, with divine penetrative power with the Divine Word, so that these Divine Manifestations may be distinguished above all other beings in all respect, in every phase; in the same way as the sun is distinguished above the stars.” (B. S., pp. 298, 299.)
FOR any appreciation, much less a proper understanding of the remarkable life of the Báb, the real significance of his mission, the purport of his extensive writings and the far-reaching influence of his teachings, nothing is more necessary than a survey, however brief, of the social and spiritual conditions of Persia in the middle of the last century.
The central government in Tihran, enjoying a somewhat nominal sway over the various Persian provinces, was an absolute monarchy and corrupt to the very extreme. By an act of favoritism and graft a man would gain the most important office in the land only to be hurled down again and replaced by one who gave a higher bid. The economic conditions were equally precarious; the country lived under a feudal system similar to the Middle Ages in Europe. Society was governed by a low standard of morality. Religion, which has throughout the history of the East, much more than in the West, been the most important factor of civilization, and which has ever inspired the imaginative mind of the Easterner with everything that was pure and sublime, had for the most part lost its spirit and degenerated into a matter of forms and social rites. It still held sway over the illiterate and ignorant masses, which comprised the extreme majority of the people, and in the hands of the self-seeking and corrupt clergy proved a force by which they could challenge even the mightiest power in the land. The true religion of Islam no more existed, but had been overlaid with an admixture of extraneous doctrines, and the clergy amongst themselves had been divided into various schools of thought bearing hardly any resemblance to the tenets of the mother-faith. In the words of an eminent European writer, “Islam survives as the badge of a conservative institution for the protection of the vested interests of the ruling classes, as a war-cry for enlisting in their service the passions of popular superstititions, and also as a customary common denominator of heterogeneous schools of thought that accept its inherited forms and ceremonies, just as many Europeans continue to conform to the traditional practices of a Christian church long after they have rejected its dogmas, or ceased to be influenced by its spirit. The result has been, on the one hand, a lapse into mere sensualism, and, on the other, a tendency towards extreme asceticism.”
It was at this time that the Báb appeared. Not only to combat and condemn irreliigion and indifferentism, not only to cast aside the veil that hid the corruption of government and church, but to open up a new vista of spiritual life and to prepare the people for the appearance of a “great Person still behind the veil of glory.” He had come, he said, to wipe out fanaticism, to pull down the ponderous edifice of dogmas and rituals that the church had raised only to cover up the ignorance and illiteracy which had killed that spirit of thought and art that was once the pride of the world. It was the dawn of a New Day and with it must come hope and vigor. He exhorted the people to cleanse their hearts and minds of age long superstitions, prepare themselves for the coming of the day. The doings and machinations of the clergy, their explanations
of the verses of the Koran were wrong and corrupt, and in brief all these things must vanish before the piercing, burning light of the new Sun of Truth dawning upon the world.
Nothing is more remarkable, nothing more surprising than that this youth of twenty-five, even in the short period of his ministrations, gathered around him vast multitudes, filled them with zeal and enthusiasm, and out of the abundance of his heart sent them to preach the new gospel. And the ghastly deaths that each of his disciples was sure to meet dampened not the fire of their spirit, but rallied to his standards increasing numbers every day. Nor were his recruits mere underlings and malcontents. The leaders of thought, the most eminent of the clergy, governors, soldiers from the army and also the common man on the street, sat humbly at his feet and drank deep from the ever-flowing fountain of spiritual knowledge and truth that flowed from the tongue and pen of the Youth of Shiráz. The King of Persia, hearing of this young divine, dispatched an eminent high-priest to investigate the matter. But the old erudite theologian was so enraptured by the young prophet that he fell at his feet and asked to be accepted as a humble adherent. He did not return to the King, but went out to preach the new Faith and ultimately suffered martyrdom with joy. A distinguished man, old in years and experience, hearing one day of the Báb and his teachings, casually in his business store, did not take even time to let his family know, but traveled at once over hills and dales for hundreds of miles just to meet the Prophet his soul had foretold. Mothers watched their husbands and children executed and cut to pieces even with scissors, rulers chose the scaffold to their seats of might, and one man with burning wicks in his flesh sat up and asked the curious mob to make way for his royal “cortege.”
That the Báb’s writings in the six eventful years of his life, most of which were spent in prison, comprise easily over twenty volumes, is to many very surprising. And his works extend over a wide range of religious subjects from simple prayers to religious treatises and commentaries. In the “Bayan,” which was his great book and which his martyrdom left unfinished, are to be found the main tenets and principles of the new faith. It was there that he explained the symbolic meaning of heaven and purgatory to which the ignorant Muhammadans clung rigidly, and the religious cycles which have given a new significance to human history. Most of his writings were written for the people in Persia, and as he said he had come to destroy the old bonds of superstition and to prepare the people for the one whom he called “He whom God shall make manifest.”
Before this growing tide that swept Persia from one end to another, the government and the clergy stood not with alarm but agony. Every conceivable measure, the most barbarous butchery the world has ever seen, helped only to fan the more the growing fire of the early adherents of the faith. The Báb was sent from one town to another and in every case most of the officials turned Bábis. He was sent to prison and the jailers fell at his feet; Christians were chosen to escort him and they joined his faith. In the northernmost castle of Persia they confined him and the old Kurd in charge of the prison believed in him.
In the public meetings where the clergy tried to refute his ideas and prove the futility of his claim, he came out victorious; and the insults and bastinadoes he suffered belittled him not to the hundreds that every
day lay down their lives for his sake.
Finally the last and only measure that the clergy could conceive of combatting and killing the growing faith was to execute the young Prophet of Shiráz. This they carried out in Tabriz when they shot him, together with one of his earnest disciples. In a miraculous manner the first volley shot by a battalion of soldiers left him totally unhurt and the soldiers found him in a little room in the barracks writing a line of poetry on the wall. It was to a second volley by another battalion—the first battalion refused to shoot again—that he finally succumbed. The Báb was dead, but not Bábism. The divine spirit he had infused into the hearts and minds of his zealous and earnest adherents was not only destined to leave a profound and deep-felt influence upon the life and thought of the people of Persia, but to pass beyond the frontiers of its mother-country and to inspire the people of many lands with that deep understanding of God and religion which lies at the bottom of all sound progress. It was left for Bahá’u’lláh, whose appearance the Báb had foretold, to carry the standard he had so valiantly raised from one country to another, and to sound the call of unity and brotherhood throughout all the nations of the world.
of God as seen in His Prophets. In whatever country or at whatever time they appear, they are the focus of the creational day—for as the sun in the material heaven develops the material beings so do these Spiritual Suns develop the world of minds and souls.
Let us turn toward the Spiritual Sun and acquire a light which will render the world luminous, so that we may be freed from matter and acquire celestial qualities, that this limited life may merge into the eternal. When a man thus adorns himself, he will progress every day with new vigor; his soul will become more and more sensitized and the laws and morals of the world will be reconstructed with divine conviction. Then man will make real discoveries, penetrate the mysteries and so reflect them that he will become the image of God.
CONSIDER the former days; how people, both high and low, were awaiting the manifestations of Oneness in the holy temples, so that they were at all times and moments in anticipation and expectancy, praying and supplicating that perchance the breeze of the Divine Mercy might blow and the beauty of the Promised One step from the Pavilion of the Invisible into the Court of Appearance. But when the clouds of generosity lifted and the doors of favor opened and the Sun of the Invisible appeared from the Horizon of Power, they denied Him and avoided His Meeting, which was identical with the meeting of God. These details are recorded in the Heavenly Books.
Now reflect a moment as to the cause of this rejection by the people, after their seeking and anxiety. They even denied and opposed in such manner that tongue and pen fail and are unable to explain. Not one of these Manifestations of Holiness and Dawning-places of Singleness has appeared without being subjected to the contradictions, denials and antagonism of the people.
NOW reflect a little upon these things, and as to the cause of such differences: that when a true Manifestation appeared in the world from the Horizon of the Placeless, such corruption, confusion, oppression and revolution would arise in all parts of the world. All the Prophets, during their appearance, announced to the people the coming of another Prophet and recorded a sign for the subsequent Manifestation, as stated in the Books. Why, then, notwithstanding the search and expectation of the people for the Holy Manifestation and the mention of signs in the Books, should such things occur in the world as oppressing, antagonizing and persecuting the Prophets and Chosen Ones during every age and cycle? As it is written, “Whenever a Messenger cometh unto you with that which your souls desire not, ye proudly reject him; accusing some of imposture and slaying others.” (K. S. 2.)
YOU ASK me why I believe in the Bahá’í Revelation?”
There was a kindly light in the old gentleman’s eyes as he glanced quizzically into mine.
“You ask me so casually to tell you so much!”
His voice was low and pleasing, vibrant with feeling and power. His expression was one of peace; his bearing spoke of poise; his presence was magnetic. He was radiantly acquiescent yet dynamically effective. He looked back upon a life of service and into a future of untold joys, for he had found what he so earnestly sought and what others have sought all down the ages and what we are seeking, today, with the zeal attendant to an enlightened and scientific age.
“A bit of history, first,“ he began. “I was reared in an orthodox Christian family and religion was more or less a matter of course, largely an affair of the Sabbath. I did not think much about it until I entered the academic and scientific atmosphere of university life. There, misgiving shook my complacency and stirred me out of a passive attitude. I became actively interested in religious and philosophic questions and reached the brink of doubt and despair in a new and strange intellectual world. Later, the pendulum swung to the other extreme and I delved into the newer philosophies, or rather the old ones with new trappings. I searched the numerous ‘isms,’ groping, seeking, and finally yearning as I began to appreciate the value of the thing I sought. I found traces of it here and there, but not a complete fulfillment in the degree of unity which I realized must exist, somewhere in some teaching.
“There was nothing for me to do but to try to adopt a code of my own, taking one part-truth here and another there and formulating them into a personal religious philosophy which I could endeavor to use every day and every hour of my life, for I felt that is what I must have. In the midst of this absorbing task, I found ‘the spirit of the age’ expressed and exemplified completely in such a soul-satisfying way that it filled every need, answered every yearning, although my poor, finite intelligence is incapable of grasping but a small portion of the truth and beauty of the teaching.
“I believe in the Bahá’í Revelation,” he continued now with a touch of reverence, “because it has a dynamic power and magnetic force which attracts and illumines the being, enabling one to recognize truth, which is, has been and always will be, the same. That there is an essential unity about fundamental truth which permits of no division, and but one interpretation, will be acknowledged by all those who have thought deeply about it.
“Any teaching which admonishes seekers to investigate for themselves devoid of prejudice and the influence of tradition, must appeal to a thinking person. ‘Here, seek for yourself, and find.’ Not—‘this is the truth as it has been interpreted for you; accept it as such without question or mental reservation.’ The invitation intrigued my interest, as it must everyone’s, and every breath I draw is one of thanksgiving that it was given me to seek, earnestly and sincerely. It is hard to approach any question with an open mind. Our
mental processes are so dependent upon our own past experiences and those of others that independent thought is rare—but I tried. I promised myself that I would study the Bahá’í Revelation and believe nothing whatsoever that my reason could not accept. I would reason coldly, unemotionally.
“As one phase of truth after another was borne in upon me, I sensed something unique and satisfying. I seemed to be moving, to be progressing, and new vistas opened before my astonished eyes. Old complexities faded into insignificance. I achieved ‘an abounding sense of life.’ My thinking processes seemed to be clearer. I forgot all about being coldly analytical and lost myself in the beauty and completeness of priceless new considerations or old and basic ones renewed. Really, I had ‘come to scoff’ and ‘remained to pray.’
“No barriers being erected at the gateway and no credentials being demanded, I investigated freely with an ever increasing respect and admiration. As a scientific student I was intensely gratified to find that there was really no antagonism between science and religion and never had been, that they are as two wings by which man ‘soars into the atmosphere of Oneness.’ Any teaching that admonished me to investigate unreservedly and stated that ‘What the reason can not accept is not the truth,’ I felt, was indeed a religion for this scientific day. For the first time in my life, I knew, I could pursue a scientific career and still retain a cherished relationship toward God.
“I learned, as I had already come to believe, that religion in its ultimate analysis has nothing to do with creed and dogma, but that it is ‘an attitude toward God,’ which we can carry with us into our every-day lives. I never could understand why one religious sect could feel that they alone were right and that all others were wrong. History portrays vividly the great influence different prophets have had on millions of people at different times and in various places. Surely, such influences can not be ignored. There must have been some great power behind them for these influences were uniformly good and uplifting, however corrupted they may have since become through the efforts of man himself.
“What more reasonable explanation than that the foundations of all great religions is one? That all the greater prophets taught the same fundamental truths, as indeed they did. Study will verify this. That they were as one sun arising from different horizons and being viewed from different angles–rays of the same one sun? Always the light was in accordance with the capacity of the people and the condition of the times.
“If that were so, and I could not help accepting it thankfully for it relieved me of having to look with suspicion upon a large majority of the inhabitants of the world, then all men were as brothers in a common brotherhood before one God; ‘leaves of one tree;’ ‘drops of one sea.’ I found I was not called upon to love every one personally, but I sensed a universal love which leveled for all time the barriers of racial, religious and political prejudice and misunderstanding–even as the scientific developments in transportation and communication are annihilating time and space.
“I began to breathe more easily. There was a ‘way out,’ after all, for every one. Life is not a hopeless and complex muddle. I believe with Tennyson that ‘through the ages one increasing purpose runs.’ There is no need to align oneself with some sect and become antagonistic and at swords points with all others. What
a waste of effort and energy! What an economic waste, too! But here was a universal teaching, an inclusive movement in which any one and every one could unite. It recognized truth wherever it was to be found. ‘A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom. A star has the same brilliance whether it shines from the East or from the West.’
“I began to see visions of the tremendous power of concerted action as opposed to the many sectarian activities which conflict with each other. ‘This is a new cycle of human power. All the horizons of the world are luminous and the world will become as a garden and a paradise. It is the hour of unity of the sons of men and of the drawing together of all races and all classes.’ I saw that some of the present-day movements had grasped some truth, but made the mistake of assuming that their particular ray of light was the only one and ignored the complete resplendence of the Sun, which shines through all ages and on all peoples.
“It is quite natural and logical to see that religion must be the cause of unity and concord and not of strife and dissension—for real religion is universal in its fullest sense. ‘The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and the fundamental oneness of religion.’
“What a satisfaction it was to relax from all my spiritual worries and mental contortions into the peaceful realization that love is the universal solvent for all our ills. My spiritual perception quickened and I could sense more of the magnetic power and dynamic urge of the teaching which removed all superstitition, prejudice and limitations of thought. ‘This Cause has become world-wide. In a short space of time it has permeated throughout all regions, for it has a magnetic power which attracts all intelligent men and women towards this center. If a person becomes informed of the reality of this Cause, he will believe in it, for these teachings are the spirit of this age. The Bahá’í Movement imparts life. It is the cause of love and amity amonngst mankind. It establishes communication between various nations and religions. It removes all antagonism. The Bahá’í Movement bestows upon man a new spirit, a new light, and a new motion. It enlarges the sphere of thought. It illumines the horizon of the intellect. It expands the arena of comprehension. This is the ultimate goal of life. This is the fruit of existence. This is the brilliant pearl of cosmic consciousness. This is the shining star of spiritual destiny.’
“Truly, it is a spiritual springtime with all its invigorating influences.
“How logical that the equality of men and women should be promulgated, a movement which in the West has progressed rapidly, but what a release this meant for the women of the East!
“I found that, while the teaching possessed untold spiritual significances in keeping with its universality, there were intensely practical considerations: universal peace, solution of the economic problem, guidance for our physical well-being, universal education, a universal language, and an international tribunal.
“No phase of life is left without guidance, spiritual and material, which is in keeping with the times and to be had for the taking. It was comforting to find, for instance, that spiritual healing of disease in no way conflicts with scientific methods, although all healing, ultimately, is from God. Both methods are to be practiced supplementing each other.
“For the first time in any religious philosophy or teaching I found that our daily tasks, whatever they may be, if honest, when performed in the spirit of service, are highest forms
of worship. Thus is labor glorified! Thus is prayer made dynamic and intimate for every one. The contact is continuous and stimulating—‘a very present help in trouble.’
“Why do I believe in the Bahá’í Revelation? Well, because I have to. I am compelled to accept its teachings because I recognize in them—universal truth. The teaching satisfies every spiritual yearning, and every intellectual inquiry—it is complete, the circle which encompasses all and gives scope for the expression of every praiseworthy human impulse.
“The Bahá'í Revelation is not a new religion, but rather ‘religion renewed’ in conformity with this enlightened age, religion applied universally, irrespective of time, place or condition. It is a common bond in which all may cooperate toward the advancement of civilization to the end that God be glorified in a degree hitherto not attained.
“One gives up nothing fundamental in accepting the teachings, but gains immeasurably. Old familiar phases of truth attain deeper significances, and new ones delight the soul. All schools of thought ‘find their highest aims in this Cause.’
“‘The Revelation is the spirit of the age—it is the essence of all the highest ideals of this century.’ It is protected against becoming dogmatic by the universality of its precepts. It is safeguarded against sectarianism by the fact that its many recorded writings are subject to but one interpretation.
“I believe in the Bahá’í Revelation because of the purity and holiness of the lives of its three great figures: the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá. Their lives and works are matters of recorded history. Their influence on mankind is sufficient proof of the divine validity of their utterances.
“Then, too, it is all so reasonable, logical, practical and satisfying that one is ever inspired to deeper and deeper study of its vast stores of knowledge. It answers every question, satisfies every longing, and illumines the whole being. It fills life with joy and promises untold blessings for the future. It does not require the acceptance of unreasonable things and does not force one to be continually defending it against some other sect, for it is all inclusive.
“‘Happy is he who penetrates the mysteries, and who takes his share from the world of light.’”
remains firm and inwardly becomes confirmed in the love of God and takes refuge under His banner.”
“A teacher is like unto a gardener. Just as a gardener sows the seeds and watches over their sprouting, looks after their growth and development, so also a teacher must watch over the education of the children and inculcate in their young lives the highest ideals of truth and justice.”
TWENTY years ago there were no schools for girls in Tihrán. Daughters of affluent parents were occasionally taught by tutors, but as a rule a woman was supposed to have no acquaintance with the learning that came from books. With the slow development of progressive ideas this situation has been markedly changed, and Tihrán now contains both public and private schools for girls.
The Girls’ Tarbiyat School, sponsored and financed by the Bahá’ís of Tihrán, was the second school for girls opened in the city. During the nine years of Miss Lillian Kappes’ work as director, the school came successfully through many difficulties, and is now one of the largest and best of the girls’ schools. Three years ago a reactionary Minister of Education said to the principal of another school: “The Tarbiyat School is the best school for girls in Tihrán. Alas that they are Bahá’ís!”
In spite of the handicap of a limited curriculum, the importance of the Tarbiyat School in the lives of her pupils can scarcely be overestimated. We will consider first some of the direct contributions made by the subjects in the course of study.
The main work of the primary grades in Persia, as in America, is to teach the pupils to read the native tongue. Persian script seems very strange and difficult to one who has read only English characters, but it is perhaps as easy for a Persian girl to learn to read it as for an American child to master English reading. In Persian there are practically no silent letters, and each letter has only one sound. It is true that each letter has three forms, but there is a considerable similarity among them, and the children seem to have no serious difficulty in learning them.
As soon as the mechanics of reading have been acquired the child has the whole field of Persia’s great literature at her command. Beginning readers are overweighted with very moral stories about extremely good and dreadfully bad little boys, no readers yet having been published for the use of girls. They also contain such philosophical discourses as that which explains how we know that God exists. But the later books contain many fables, stories and poems from Persian literature. The school girls will read and memorize many extracts from Firdusi’s Shah Nameh, the Book of the Kings, which has been called the greatest of all Eastern national epics. She will study selections from the didactic poems of Sa’di, such as the Gulistan, the Garden of Roses. She will become thoroughly acquainted with many another poet—Nizami, and Jelal-ud-din Rumi, and others. She will learn some of the beautiful lyrics of the poet of Shiráz, Hafiz. For no Persian girl may consider herself educated unless she can quote many, many pages of poetry.
Not only does learning to read permit the girl to become familiar with classical literature, but she is also able to read current newspapers and magazines. Persian newspapers are
small, poorly illustrated and highly censored, but they do give some detailed news of Persian happenings, with occasional items about foreign events.
There are now one or more magazines for women printed in Persian, and the articles in them are such as to widen the girls’ horizon. She learns about the activities of women in countries where they have made more progress than in Persia. She reads accounts of places and people whose differing customs arouse her interest and curiosity. In the Tarbiyat School these magazines are used as reading material in the upper classes. Thus the girl’s outlook gradually broadens beyond the limits of her own home and garden to at last include a glimpse of Europe and America.
In her sixth year of school the Persian girl begins the study of Arabic, and if she continues till she graduates from the secondary school she studies this language for five years. This contributes to her knowledge of Persian, since so large a percentage of Persian words are of Arabic origin. It also helps her to some comprehension of the Qur’án, which she has already been compelled to learn by rote, in true parrot fashion, during her third, fourth and fifth school years. The orthodox Muhammadan girl knows it as a most important religious duty to be able to quote the prophetic suras. The Bahá’í girl desires to understand the Qur’án because she realizes how useful it will later be to her in presenting Bahá’í principles to her Muhammadan friends.
French is taught two days a week during the three years of the secondary course because it is required by the government curriculum. There is a marked emphasis on grammar, and the pupils do not acquire a practical proficiency in either reading or speaking. Most of the Bahá’í girls have little real incentive to master French, and all the school attempts to do in this subject is to make it possible for the pupils to pass the government examination at the end of the secondary school. From the standpoint of use in life outside of the school, the time spent on French seems almost wasted.
Whenever there is any one in the school who is capable of teaching it, English lessons are given four days a week from the fifth year on through the seventh, the last year of the elementary school. In the upper school the time has to be cut down to two days because of the introduction of French. The Bahá’í girls are eager to learn English because they wish to correspond with American and English Bahá’ís, and to read such magazines as the Star of the West. When they can study systematically for three years they gain a fair speaking knowledge of the language. Bahá’í parents wish their children to become proficient in English, and it is most unfortunate that, according to my last news from Tihrán, no classes in English are now being given. The teachers in the school regret this, but none of them feels that she knows the language well enough to teach it. Since there are very few good Persian text-books for the studies of the secondary school, it is very desirable that the pupils learn English well enough to be able to use books in that language. English is not in the state course of study, and therefore must be put in at times saved from other subjects.
One of the most important contributions the school makes to the lives of the girls has to do with physical activity and health. Lessons in hygiene are on the programs of all elementary
grades; and while, from an American point of view, the books leave much to be desired, the information they give is far beyond that possessed by the average Persian woman. Lessons in formal gymnastics are often given in the lower grades, and the children enjoy them as few American pupils would. The custom of giving the commands in English has grown up in the school, and this serves as a practical and simple introduction to the later study of that language.
The playground games also add much to the girls’ lives. When Miss Kappes first entered the school, the girls spent their recess periods in sitting quietly in the garden. Now they play tag, bounce balls, jump rope, etc. The teachers used to be a bit disturbed for fear the children would play too hard, and occasionally a mother would send a complaining message that when her daughter was at home “she wanted to jump rope all the time!” In spite of such rare objections, the present healthy activitity of the girls is a great improvement over conventional sedentary habits.
Lessons in arithmetic and in Persian bookkeeping have as much or as little value outside of school as most of our own arithmetic teaching. Text-books in history are very unsatisfactory. They tend to emphasis on rote memory, and the views of early Persian history they present are based on legend rather than on modern scientific knowledge. The world history given in the secondary school is very valuable in helping the girls to realize something of the great movements of history.
A fair percentage of the time of the school days is given to science. In the elementary school this includes hygiene, general science and geography. The course in general science is moderately good; it consists in the main of simple facts about plants and animals. The geography is very formal, with undue emphasis on maps and place location. However, like world history, it does help free the girls from mental provincialism. The school has been trying to collect from American sources good pictures to help make real the life of the countries studied in geography. In the secondary course there are classes in chemistry, physics, botany and zoology. The textbooks are poor and it is possible to give very little laboratory work. Thanks to a gift of money from an American Bahá’í, it was possible to buy some simple apparatus for experiments in physics, and a small store of chemicals. We were also able to purchase a few large charts for use in classes in zoology and botany. It was hoped that this material would help to make the higher courses in science of more value.
Sewing is taught two hours a week to girls in the three upper classes. They are eager to learn about such things as color combinations and American fashions. The teachers in the school usually dress with sense and good taste, and thus give the pupils good examples to follow in their sewing.
The subjects in the course of study are thus seen to vary greatly in the amount they may contribute to the girls’ lives after they leave school, but it is obvious that the total gain is great to women whose interests would otherwise be bounded by the immediately personal needs of food, clothing, and the care of children.
Another important contribution of the school has already been suggested, namely, general sociability and friendliness with other girls and women. A Persian woman may not go to plays and moving-pictures. There is seldom a lecture for her to
attend. If she visits the mosque or goes shopping in the bazaar she must be heavily veiled. Her only social occasions are teas, weddings and funerals. The social life of a Persian girl who does not attend school is necessarily limited to the time when she accompanies her mother on rare outings. But at school the girl has many playmates. At recess and noon there is much talk with her friends, as well as jolly games. She has pleasant chats with her neighbors as she walks to and from school with them. In the class-room she finds a friendly young teacher and hears many interesting things discussed. It thus happens that most girls who have begun to go to school would much dislike to have to stop attending.
When the bell for opening school rings in the morning the girls gather by classes in the garden or in the great hall of the school building. Before they go to their rooms a prayer is chanted and announcements are made. This brief morning assembly is probably valuable in giving each pupil some sense of her part in the big group that forms the Tarbiyat School.
The school also serves Persian women in the ideals and habits of conduct which it tries to inculcate. All the teachers are Bahá’ís in the fullest sense of the word. Constantly and quietly they emphasize right standards of conduct. They try to train their pupils into habits of truthfulness, honesty, kindness and tolerance.
The Tarbiyat School serves not only its pupils, but also its teachers. To become a teacher in the school means that a girl gains a strong impulse to continue her own education and progress. In order to get new ideas to present to her children she does extra reading and studying. Some of the teachers take private lessons in English in order to be able to use English books. They confer with one another, and thus add to their knowledge by active exchange of ideas and experiences. Most of the teachers are members of the Young Women’s Society for Progress, and there they continue some of their studies. One of the programs that especially interested that group was a study of the life of Columbus and the discovery of America. Twenty years ago no one would have dreamed of a Persian girl spending hours in writing a paper on such a subject. The teachers must also be examples of excellent Bahá’í conduct, and the realization of this is undoubtedly a stimulus to spiritual growth. In all Persia there is probably no other group of young women more intelligent and progressive than the fifteen or twenty teachers of the Girls’ Tarbiyat School.
One of the greatest services of this school to Persian women is the monthly conferences for women which it gives during all but the two or three coldest months of winter. Miss Kappes had hopes of founding such a series of meetings, but this desire had not come to fruition at the time of her death. The plan was finally undertaken through the efforts of Miss Ghodsia Ashraf and the teachers in the school. When I reached Persia in the fall of 1922 the conferences were an established part of the school program, and during that year they were attended by audiences of three and four hundred women.
The program of each conference was planned by the teachers. They selected some central idea they wished to present to the women, and then planned songs, speeches and dialogues that would express this idea in an interesting as well as an instructive manner. Each teacher was expected to appear on the program
at some time during the year. Groups of the pupils participated in each conference, and an especial attempt was made to give the girls in the upper school an opportunity to present talks or dialogues.
The school was fortunate in the possession of a great hall two stories high, in the center of the building. This room, with the balconies overlooking it, would seat several hundred women. At one side wide double doors opened onto the garden, and the speakers’ raised platform was placed in this doorway. Thus our small stage was provided with a beautiful background of pool and trees and flowers.
On special occasions, such as the conference at Nawrúz, the Persian New Year, the hall was lavishly decorated by teachers and pupils. Each doorway was hung with Persian flags, and pictures and maps were draped with yards of beautiful vines. The balcony railings were wound with arbor vitæ, and the crossed flags of Persia and America were fixed in its center. One day Vafaieh Khanoum, who is now serving so efficiently as director of the school, looked at the American flag and said: “See what love the Americans have for Persia! Miss Kappes worked for us for so many years. And see all these things Americans have sent for the school—flags, pictures and books. That is the way for two countries to become friends!”
One of the most interesting programs I heard given at a school conference centered about the idea of a universal auxiliary language. One of the older girls presented a well organized paper explaining why such a language would be useful. A group of girls gave in dramatic form the story of the four men who desired to buy grapes, but could not succeed in doing so because each spoke a different language; in this version, it was French, English, Turkish and Persian. In order further to show how diversity of language interferes with comprehension, a French class sang a song in French, and another group gave “My country, ’tis of thee” in English. The program concluded with songs in Arabic and Persian.
Another valuable conference presented to the mothers a series of talks about the studies of the secondary course, explaining the values to be obtained from each subject. A third program discussed woman’s life in the home: how she may wisely administer her household, how she may dress attractively without extravagance, etc. On this day three girls gave an amusing dialogue, representing three types of women: one who had no interests except in new dresses and tea-parties, a second who had no interest in the lighter things of life, and a third who tried to live at the “golden mean.”
The smaller children often added to the program by dramatizing a fable or story that illustrated some phase of the topic for the day. One of the most attractive endings to a program was a gymnastic exhibit by children of the first grade. They were all dressed in white dresses which had been made by their teacher and some of the older girls. With much enthusiasm they followed their teacher’s commands for the exercises. When the exhibit closed with a march about the garden in which each girl carried a Persian flag, the applause was prolonged until the wee ones, radiantly happy, had to do it all over again.
The women who attend these conferences must be heavily veiled when they go through the streets. But in the sunlight of the school hall their chuddars fall back, showing their friendly, interested faces, as well as their “best dresses” of silk or velvet, donned for such an important occasion.
Many of the women can not read or write. Others have been pupils in the school, and now come to hear their own children take part in songs and recitations. Sometimes a principal of another school comes to see what Tarbiyat School conferences are like. One very welcome guest was the charming and intelligent girl who was our favorite among the government school inspectors. After the conclusion of the program, the audience usually broke up into small groups, and the ladies lingered in the garden to talk for an hour or more. It is perhaps little wonder that during the winter months, when the assembly hall can not be heated, the teachers are besieged with the question, “When are you going to have another conference? It is so long since we have had one!”
The work of the teachers of the Girls’ Tarbiyat School is little known outside of Tihrán. There are possibly many Bahá’ís in that city even who have little idea of the work these young women are doing. But in the future, when a history of modern education in Persia is written, there will need to be golden pages of appreciation for the unselfish and intelligent service of the teachers of the Tarbiyat School, who now in these pioneering days serve the women of Persia.
and assured, educated and refined Bahá’ís, well grounded in the science of pedagogy and familiar with child psychology; thus they may train the children with the fragrances of God. In the scheme of human life the teacher and his wystem of teaching plays the most important role, carrying with it the heaviest responsibilities and most subtle influence.”
When Bahá’u’lláh, over fifty years ago, gave to the world the message of universal religion, the remarkable meeting of representatives of Christian religions with a Buddhist traveling missionary would not have been possible, because the world had not then grown to such a spirit of religious tolerance. The spirit of religious cooperation shown in the gathering here described is striking evidence that the world is being rapidly prepared for the universal religion.—Editor.
”AT a recent meeting and luncheon of the Pan-Pacific Union in Honolulu,” writes Miss Agnes Alexander, Bahá’í resident teacher, “there was a very representative audience of over three hundred, composed of persons from all races and creeds.” This notable gathering was in honor of Chief Abbot Sonyu Otani, supreme head of the Shinshu sect, which is the greatest and most progressive denomination of Buddhism in Japan. The spirit of oneness so fundamental a teaching in the Bahá’í Cause is reaching all receptive hearts the world over, and it is very gratifying to see how the note of universalism and harmonious cooperation was apparent in all the speeches at this luncheon.
In introducing the speakers, Judge Dole said in part: “The Pan-Pacific Union has been working for a union of nations in the Pacific Ocean, and we are looking forward to a religious organization all over the world, beginning in the Pacific. People are getting acquainted with each other, and as soon as all organizations and all peoples know each other, then wars will cease. Differences in religious organizations are going to disappear, because when people come together they find what is worth while in the different organizations, and the non-essential things disappear and the worthwhile things remain. Chief Abbot Otani has been around the world studying these things. His own mind is being helped by seeing the work that is going on in the rest of the countries, and we feel that he is going to help in this progress of the union of the various religions.”
Rev. Philip Swartz, pastor of Central Union Church, the first speaker, said in his remarks: “All the religious forces of the world today ought to unite to combat the forces of materialism and strive for the ascendancy of the great ideal—that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of the Eternal. I think all the world may learn from the religion which Abbot Otani represents the art of contemplative, imaginative meditation. Those of us in the West are so burdened with the activities of daily proceedings that we refuse to take time to square ourselves with eternal principles.”
The next speaker, Rev. Dixon, pastor of the Filipino church, in brief, said: “The thing that is fundamental in the religion of Jesus Christ is the thing of kindness, of mercy, of sacrifice, of tenderness and all that is contained in his conversations with Nicodemus, with the woman of Samaria; all these things which are big and worth while are the things which the Buddhists and the Christians agree upon. Take this parable of the Good Samaritan. What does it teach? It is the spirit of kindness, regardless of organization to which the man may happen to belong. The parable of the ten virgins—what does it teach? Readiness, progress, evolution. These are
--PHOTO--
Group of speakers and others attending the luncheon given by the Pan-Pacific Union in Honolulu, January 25, 1926, in honor of Chief Abbot Otani. The men seated from left to right are: President Eugene Neff of the Latter Day Saints Mission; Consul General Aoki; Judge Sanford B. Dole; the Abbot, and Dr. Phillip Allen Swartz, pastor Central Union Church.
the things which are fundamental in the religion of Jesus Christ.”
Dr. Dixon was followed by the pastor of the Latter-Day Saints Church, Rev. Eugene Neff, who in concluding his remarks said: “While the Christian religion has been spoken of as the ultimate aim, we are waiting for that day when He whose right it is to proclaim himself as bringing peace on earth will unite all peoples and who will be Christ of Christs and Lord of Lords.”
Mr. Kurokawa, assistant to the director of the Pan-Pacific Union, then spoke, saying in part: “If we are to seek for international harmony we must guard ourselves from the faults of narrow dogmatism and pay due respect to the convictions of others. The Pan-Pacific Union is a movement of all associations on a basis of non-sectarianism. As such, regardless of the creed or belief, we are endeavoring to render our humble services for the advancement of peace, prosperity and happiness of the people of the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean. . . . To rally the constructive effort of the younger generations of the Pacific and to advance the cause of peace and friendship, we are establishing a Junior Pan-Pacific Union among the younger generation. If we are to come to a proper international understanding and cooperation, we must not minimize the important place that religious, ethical and cultural principles occupy in the mind of Pacific peoples. For this reason, it is our desire to call for as a section of our Pan-Pacific Ethical Conference in 1929, a section on religious
and ethical culture; not so much for propaganda of a particular creed or belief, but solely for the purpose of seeking for some spiritual common ground among the races of the Pacific upon which we shall be able to erect a foundation for a new era.”
A Buddhist, Rev. Fukuoka, followed, and said in part: “We hear a great deal about the cooperation of religious leaders uniting for the service of humanity. I used to believe that it was no longer in the stage of theory, but that it was really in the stage of practice. When I say cooperation, I do not mean the submersion of one creed to another, but cooperation on a parallel basis, and we should be able to find a common message for every country and be able to work together for the service of all countries.”
Consul General for Japan, Mr. Aoiki, was the next speaker and said among other things: “Chief Abbot is one of the greatest spiritual leaders of present-day Japan. We welcome him as a spiritual leader of the Orient and we welcome his message of truth, but in a larger sense let us welcome him as one of the champions of the Oriental civilization which aspires to spiritual harmony among the East and the West. I believe that the Christian civilization of the West and the Buddhist civilization of the Orient are bound to lead in the future, and advance hand in hand for the peace and harmony of mankind. From this point of view, it is essential that there should be true understanding of the spiritual essence underlying the two different types of civilizations, and I do not doubt but that our distinguished guest here will contribute to a realization of the great ideals of spiritual harmony of the East and West, which is not only one of the chief objects of the Pan-Pacific Union, but also one of the greatest aspirations of the enlightened people throughout the world.”
The last speaker was the guest of honor, Chief Abbot Otani:
“As civilization advances there arise differences among the peoples, but the real work of religion is to smooth these differences and take the best that make for peace and harmony. I firmly believe that the progress of the world lies not in one nation considering itself perfect and thinking it is the only nation to make progress and advance, but in all the various civilizations understanding each other perfectly and working hand in hand.
“There are many religions in the world and each has its own characteristics and strong points. Unless each religion understands the other, perfect harmony and agreement can not be expected. For the western nations to understand the East, they must understand the spiritual life of the East. This holds true for the East, too. If the nations of the East wish to understand the western civilization and religion, they must perfectly understand the western ideals. As civilization advances, it is true that various civilizations come in contact with each other and mingle harmoniously and perfectly. In order to have perfect civilization, I believe all civilizations have to understand each other and have sympathy for one another and understanding. As the waters of the Pacific are connected with various rivers of the different countries, so do the thoughts of the world intermingle, and unless they advance hand in hand, we can not expect the perfect happiness which we are striving for. From this point of view, I appreciate the Work of the Pan-Pacific Union, and hope sincerely that its work in the future will accomplish its own aim and will bear its fine fruits.
“I believe that it is necessary for all religions to contribute their individual
strong points to the works of the Pan-Pacific Union. Buddhism has as its teaching one theory called, in English, “self-denying.” As you see the Japanese in these islands, they are very industrious and they are full of the spirit of self-sacrifice. These ideals come from the teachings of Buddha. In Buddhism, righteousness is obtained by self-denying. This principle is deeply emphasized by the teachings of Buddhism. I firmly believe that if we advance hand in hand, we can in the future make a great contribution to the welfare of humanity.”
- The ships of the yesteryears are fled,
- And are wrapt in shadows wan—
- But the ship of tomorrow in gold and red,
- May she bring to you with her great wings spread
- The glow of the coming dawn.
- And reaching port, may you find in her hold,
- A cargo which none may mar—
- Nor pearls, nor diamonds, nor silver, nor gold,
- But the myrhh and amber of dreams untold—
- More bright than the morning star.
- May such be the cargo to you she brings,
- As she crosses the far-flung bars—
- Nor emerald strands, nor opal rings,
- But the song the Heart of the Universe sings—
- And that nightingales sing to the stars.
- And the name of our ship is, Nor Mine—Nor Thine
- It’s painted upon her bow—
- ’Tis here ye may sup of the ancient wine
- Of mystic oneness, from the cup divine—
- Where ye of them that know.
--PHOTO--
The following article describing the first Bahá’í religious edifice that has been constructed is written by an architect who has traveled much among the Bahá'ís of Persia and the Orient. He has himself given much attention to religious architecture, and has made a series of designs for Bahá’í Temples based on the religious architecture of Persia, India and Arabia. The architectural features of this Temple necessarily appeal to him.—Editor.
’ISHQABAD,* one of the chief cities of Russian Turkistan, is just north of the Elburz mountains, which separate the desert plain of western Turkistan on the north from Persia on the south. The city lies on a plain a short distance from the mountains, which here are rugged and rocky. The town is quite modern in aspect, being laid off with gardens and broad streets meeting at right angles. Rows of trees along the sidewalks remind one of a western city, while the low buildings, the walled gardens, and the waterways which flank the streets and are fed with the water of streams from the nearby mountains, are strikingly oriental in character.
This city was but a huddle of mud huts when Bahá’u’lláh first directed some of his followers to settle there during the days of the most severe Bahá’í persecutions in Persia.
There in ’Ishqábád these friends found a refuge of peace and tranquillity where the Russian government protected them and allowed them the free exercise of their faith. Thus this city became in reality as well as in name the “City of Love.”
The Bahá’ís of Ishqábád form a strong element in the life of the place and are highly thought of and protected by the government. The Bahá’í Cause was first brought to the public notice in ’Ishqábád by a martyrdom
*'Ishqábád means “City of Love.”
some thirty-five or forty years ago. It was the case of a learned man of some prominence, who met his death through receiving many wounds at the hands of two assassins. These two individuals had been instigated by five Moslems, who took this measure to try to stop the spread of the Cause in that city. The Russian authorities took the matter in hand and condemned to death all of the seven men. The Bahá’ís then petitioned the Governor to spare their lives. Since he did not have authority to do this, a petition to the same effect was sent to the Czar, who granted it; and thus the prisoners were sent in chains to the mines of Siberia. Here is but another instance of the growth of the Cause through persecution, for from that time on the government not only allowed the Bahá’ís to carry on their worship, but it protected them and showed them special favors.
During all of the governmental changes in Russia the Bahá’ís have continued in safety there, since it is understood that they are obedient servants of the government and harbor no sedition against the law of the land.
At about the close of the last century some of the friends in the Orient arose, fired with spiritual fervor, to build the first Bahá’í religious edifice to be erected in the history of the Cause, known as the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar.
Following the guidance of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, ’Ishqabad was the place chosen for the site, and Aqu Seyed Taqi Afnan, one of the most tried and venerable of the friends of the Cause, was appointed to direct this vast undertaking.
’Abdu’l-Bahá himself established the style and the general lines upon which the temple was built–namely, that it should be built upon the plan of a regular nine-sided polygon surrounded by loggias and in the midst of a garden at the intersection of nine avenues, with its principal entrance facing the direction of the Holy Land—the composition of the building being similar to that of some of the great temples of Persia and India.
The services of an engineer and architect were secured, the Bahá’ís throughout the Orient arose with fervor to give of their means toward the building, and within a very few years the imposing structure was completed.
The Mashriqu’l-Adhkar is situated in the heart of the city. Its high dome stands out above the trees and house-tops, being visible for miles to travelers as they approach the town. It is in the center of a garden bounded by four streets. In the four corners of this enclosure are four buildings. One is the Bahá’í school; one is the traveler's house, where pilgrims and wayfarers are lodged; one is for the keepers; and the fourth is to be used as a hospital. Nine radial avenues approach the temple from the several parts of the grounds, one of which, the chief approach to the building, leads from the main gateway of the grounds to the principal portal of the temple.
In plan the building is composed of three sections; namely, the central rotunda, the aisle or ambulatory, which surrounds it, and the loggia, which surrounds the entire building. It is built on the plan of a regular polygon of nine sides. One side is occupied by the monumental main entrance, flanked by minarets–a high-arched portico extending two stories in height, recalling in arrangement the architecture of the world-famous Taj-Mahal at Agra in India, the delight of world travelers, many of whom pronounce it to be the most beautiful temple in the world. This, the principal doorway, opens toward the direction of the Holy Land. The entire building is surrounded by two series of loggias—one upper and one lower—which open out upon the garden, giving a very beautiful architectural effect, in harmony with the luxuriant semi-tropical vegetation which fills the garden.
The interior is elaborately decorated in plaster relief work. The writer is under the impression that eventually it is the intention to treat the interior in colors and gold, but when he visited ’Ishqábád in 1901 it was still in the simple white stucco. The exterior is also done in stucco, which in that climate resists quite well the action of the elements. The walls, which are of brick, are massively built, while the floors and dome are of concrete and iron. The whole structure impresses one by its mass and strength.
The rearing of this temple in the East has been a great source of inspiration to the Bahá’í people the world around. Who can estimate the effect that is produced by this building? It is the cause of great strength and unity among the Bahá’ís of the world, being the House of Unity open to all peoples. It is a haven of rest to many a soul and a beacon to guide those who seek the Kingdom of God.
have taught it, but it is a living and growing thing, not lifeless and unchanging. In the teaching of Moses We see the bud; in that of Christ the flower; in that of Bahá’u’lláh the fruit. The flower does not destroy the bud, nor does the fruit destroy the flower. It destroys not, but fulfils. The bud scales must fall in order that the flower may bloom, and the petals must fall that the fruit may grow and ripen. Were the bud-scales and the petals wrong or useless, then, that they had to be discarded? Nay, both in their time were right and necessary; without them there could have been no fruit. So it is with the various prophetic teachings; their externals change from age to age, but each revelation is the fulfillment of its predecessors; they are not separate nor incongruous, but different stages in the life history of One Religion, which has in turn been revealed as seed, as bud and as flower, and now enters on the stage of fruition.
GOD is the One Infallible Authority, and the Prophets are infallible because their message is the Message of God given to the world through them. That message remains valid until it is superseded by a later message given by the same or another prophet.
God is the great Physician who alone can rightly diagnose the world’s sickness and prescribe the appropriate remedy. The remedy prescribed in one age is no longer suitable in a later age, when the condition of the patient is different. To cling to the old remedy when the physician has ordered new treatment is not to show faith in the physician, but infidelity. It may a shock to the Jew to be told that some of the remedies for the world’s sickness which Moses ordered over three thousand years ago are now out of date and unsuitable; the Christian may be equally shocked when told that Muhammad had anything necessary or valuable to add to what Jesus prescribed; and so also the Muslin, when asked to admit that the Báb or Bahá’u’lláh had authority to alter the commands of Muhammad; but according to the Bahá’í view, true devotion to God implies reverence to all His prophets, and implicit obedience to His latest commands as given by the prophet for our own age. Only by such devotion can true Unity be attained.
In “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era.”
To understand and be understood, there must be an international medium. I recall an incident which occurred in Baghdád. There were two friends who knew not each other’s language. One fell ill; the other visited him; but not being able to express his sympathy in words, resorted to gestures, as if to say, “How do you feel?” With another sign the sick replied, “I shall soon be dead.” And his visitor, believing the gesture to indicate that he was getting better, said, “God be praised!”
From such illustrations you will admit that the greatest thing in the world is to be able to make yourself understood by your friends and to understand them; and that there is no greater handicap in the world than not to be able to communicate your thoughts to others. But with an auxiliary language all these difficulties disappear.
Now, praise be to God, that language has been created—Esperanto. This is one of the special gifts of this luminous century, one of the most remarkable achievements of this great age.
His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh many years ago wrote a book called “The Most Holy Book,” one of the fundamental principles of which is the necessity of creating an international language, and he explains the great good and advantage that will result from its use; think how the international language will facilitate intercommunication among all the nations of the earth. With the establishment of this international language, the world of mankind will become another world and extraordinary will be the progress.
It is our hope, then, that the language, Esperanto, will soon spread throughout the whole world, in order that all people may be able to live together in the spirit of friendship and love.
Star of the West, Vol. 4, p. 35.
Por kompreni kaj esti komprenata, devas esti internacia komunikilo. Mi ekmemoras fariĝon, kiu okazis en Bagdado. Estis du amikoj, kiuj ne sciis unu la lingvon de la alia. Unu malsaniĝis, la alia vizitis lin, sed, ĉar li ne povis esprimi sian simpation per vortoj, prenis la rimedon de gestoj, kvazaŭ dirante, “Kiel vi fartas?” Per alia gesto la malsanulo respondis, “Mi estos baldaŭ mortinta.” Kaj lia vizitanto, kredante ke la gesto signifas ke li saniĝas, diris, “Dio estu laŭdata!”
De tiaj ilustraĵoj vi konfesos ke la plej granda afero en la, mondo estas povi vin komprenigi de viaj amikoj kaj kompreni ilin; kaj ke estas nenia pli granda kontraŭaĵo en la mondo ol ne povi komuniki viajn pensojn al aliaj personoj. Sed per helpanta lingvo, ĉiuj tiuj-ĉi konfuzoj malaperas.
Nun, gloro estu al Dio, tiu lingvo estas kreita—Esperanto. Tio estas unu el la specialaj donacoj de tiu brila centjaro, unu el la plej mirindaj atingaĵoj de tiu granda epoko.
Lia Sankta Moŝto, Bahá’u’lláh, antaŭ multaj jaroj, skribis libron nomatan “La Plej Sankta Libro,” kies unu el la fundamentaj principoj estas la bezono krei internacian lingvon, kaj li klarigas la grandan bonecon kaj profiton kiuj rezultos per ĝia uzado. . . . pensu kiel la lingvo internacia faciligi interkomunikadon inter ĉiuj nacioj de la mondo. Per la establado de tiu lingvo internacia, la mondo homara iĝos alia mondo, kaj neordinara estos la progresado.
Estas do nia espero, ke la lingvo, Esperanto, baldaŭ disvastiĝos tra la tuta mondo, por ke ĉiuj homoj povos kunvivi en la spirito de amikeco kaj amo.
Stelo de la Okcidento, Vol. 4, p. 35
