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THE city of San Francisco was adorned with the lights of the beauty of Abha during the week of April 19-25. The brilliant points of manifestation were the First International Bahai Congress and the Convention of the Bahai Temple Unity. While the city with bands and parades was celebrating the ninth anniversary of the fire and earthquake, and the wonderful recovery that had been made, the Bahais were engaged in kindling a conflagration of love that, God willing, will encircle the whole world.
As Abdul-Baha was leaving America, after having been here nine months, he said to some of the assembled friends, "In two years the results of my visit will become apparent." The brilliant gatherings held in San Francisco were a clear and evident proof of the fulfillment of that prophetic utterance, for the firmness, unity and love of the faithful souls made possible these powerful illumined meetings. Verily this was a bounty from God.
Each day the light of love burned more brilliantly and the divine enthusiasm increased. Though outer communication was cut off with Abdul-Baha because of the war, the inner communication was evident and manifest, and reached its conscious height when in the convention all united in sending to Abdul-Baha a "spiritual Wireless" message, since we could not send the cable that each convention in the past had sent.
This convention was one of mighty accomplishment, because it joined the most wonderful spiritual inspirations with practical plans for moving forward. The souls were enthralled with the love of the divine Beloved and this was expressed in the ambition to begin at once, with the utmost activity, the work in the world that God has entrusted to us.
The consciousness that the great war, which is affecting the whole world, was in progress, made all realize the fact that the world in anguish is calling for the healing remedy; and that none can give this save the souls whose cups have been filled with the water of reality (life) from the fountain-head of revelation.
—Harlan F. Ober.
With this inspiring word of introduction by Mr. Ober, who has written at length concerning the convention work, we begin in this issue of the STAR OF THE WEST, the addresses delivered at the culminating event of the Congress, the official reception tendered by the Directorate of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition to the International Bahai Congress, in Festival Hall, on the Exposition grounds, Saturday, April 24, at 10 a. m.
—The Editors.
MEDALLION PRESENTED TO THE INTERNATIONAL BAHAI CONGRESS BY THE DIRECTORATE OF THE PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION
--PHOTO--
Front of Medallion Reverse of Medallion
"This humble bronze is symbolic of a broader measure, the token of that birthmark which divinity has predestined to herald not merely the birth and growth of a nation, but that universal manhood which a unified humanity alone can consummate . . . . It bears the Bahai message of unity, not that all men are equal, but that the crown of humanity rests upon the head of every man alike. In that birthmark there is nothing inferior, there is nothing superior."
STAR OF THE WEST
"We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; that all nations shall become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men shall be strengthened; that diversity of religion shall cease and differences of race be annulled. So it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come."—BAHA'O'LLAH.
Vol. VI Azamat 1, 71 (May 17, 1915) No. 4
Ceremonies at the Official Reception given to the
International Bahai Congress
by the Directorate of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
in Festival Hall, Exposition Grounds
Saturday, April 24, 1915, 10 a. m.
Representing the P. P. I. E. - - Director JOHN A. BRITTON
Chairman of the International Bahai Congress
Reception Committee : - - CHARLES MASON REMEY Washington, D. C.
THE CHAIRMAN: Director Britton, members of this committee, friends of the International Bahai Congress: We have assembled here this morning in response to the welcome extended to us by the president and directors of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Mr. John A. Britton of the Exposition directorate is here to receive us. I now present Director Britton.
DIRECTOR BRITTON : Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: One of the particularly pleasant things which we directors have to do at the present time, and have been doing for some time past, is the recognition of true worth wherever we find it to exist.
It may be accepted as a truism that those who are building foundations for the betterment of the human race, which are dealing with the social and economic problems that confront the people of the world today, are doing quite as much for the perpetuation of the betterment of mankind as do those who build their monuments of steel, of granite and of marble.
We, of the Exposition family, have been hard at work for the past three or four years, rearing here on these beautiful grounds the monuments which stand for the handiwork of man as representing the arts, the sciences and the crafts. We have builded these, not so much for their artistic and architectural beauty, as we have for the lasting effects they will produce upon the human race and, primarily, for the purpose of bringing before the peoples of the world, gathered from its four corners, the effect upon the masses in the educational benefits which will
arise from the buildings, from the exhibits within the buildings; and more particularly still, the benefits which will arise from the gathering together of people such as you, whose sole purpose and aim, as I read it, is the unification and solidarity of the people of the world, and to produce an effect far reaching, not for today, but for all time to come.
We, perhaps, here on the peaceful western shore of the United States, looking out into what you might call the vast eternity across the Pacific to the Orient, are mindful, and very mindful, of the horrible things that this day has brought upon us in the old world, where the civilizations builded for many centuries are being wiped away, where men are clutching at each others throats, and destroying the last vestiges of humanity and love of mankind, which should concern us all. And, to you who represent that great propaganda of peace—that peace which the Master of the world, whoever he may be, to all of us, has placed upon us as a necessary part of the true education, the true refinement and the true growth of the universe, to you, who have that solemn duty in hand, and who so seriously and full-mindedly and intelligently are seeking to impress it upon your fellow-men, we, of the Exposition family, extend welcome to you to our family, because we are striving in our feeble way, out here on this western rim, to be the proponents of all those things which go toward the uplifting of mankind, of the world, and its betterment.
We have lived and worked in vain, ladies and gentlemen, if the wonderful things that you will see before you today in this Exposition—our palaces, our wonderful illustrative sculptures, our wonderful exhibits—are to go for naught and as the mere passing of a dream of today. If our building of them shall not accomplish the helpfulness to mankind for which we have
hoped, then have we builded absolutely in vain.
But I have faith in the intelligence of the human race; I have that faith in the ultimate good to be achieved by work and effort, that what we have been doing and what you are striving to do, that the foundation laid, such as you have laid, will some day—it may be many years to come—produce that wonderful crop of men and women who will have but one ideal in life, and that is that the race which is to come after you shall be better than you are today because of your efforts to make it so.
And so, in that recognition which we desire to give to your universal efforts, I have the proud privilege and honor of presenting to you a symbol of that appreciation on behalf of the Panama-Pacific Exposition Company. And, let me say to you, in all honesty and candor of mind, that in the many times I have, in my official capacity, given, to those who have come here, recognition of our appreciation of their participation in our affairs, none has afforded me the extreme pleasure I am afforded today by the privilege of giving this to you, who represent so much to humanity.
THE CHAIRMAN: I feel, friends, that we have all been deeply touched and moved by the kind words of welcome extended to us by Director Britton, by the president and directorate of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and I am going to ask the president of the Congress, Dr. Frederick W. D'Evelyn, to respond to these generous words of welcome.
DR. D'EVELYN: Director Britton and friends: Were I to yield to the instinctive promptings of the moment, I would dismiss this meeting, that we might go to our respective dwelling places cherishing the words that Director Britton has spoken. That which comes from the heart goes to the heart, and I know I am only feebly putting into expression the sincere thoughts of
every one present today when I say that the words spoken by Director Britton strike a sympathetic chord in the heart of each one of us.
Director Britton, your words shall reecho over a greater arena than you can estimate. On behalf of the Bahais here assembled, and of those throughout the world, on behalf of that humanity which is looking upwards, we accept this token with deep appreciation and sincere gratitude.
I am sorry that I have not the ability to amplify the text that Director Britton has so aptly outlined for us; but the more frequently we visit this Exposition, just the more persistently and irresistibly will the thought be brought home that the dominant appeal which it makes is for a recognition of the intercommunion and the interdependence of the peoples of the world.
Today, these facts are crystallized with an urgency and a significance before which utterance itself seems dumb, and a tribute of silence is the only recognition which it appears desirable to offer. Thus interpreted, this simple ceremony carries with it a relationship to the oncoming future which the fretted limitations of the present seem reluctantly to concede.
Within a few days our western eyes will be permitted to gaze upon that honored relic, the Liberty Bell, whose sounding notes awoke the great dawn of the natal day of the nation.
Time has enshrined those memories with a wondrous heritage. No one nation, however, expresses the fullness of humanity.
This humble bronze is symbolic of a broader measure, the token of that birthmark which divinity has predestined to herald not merely the birth and growth of a nation, but that universal manhood which a unified humanity alone can consummate. Thus dedicated, this token shall start upon its mission. It will travel to the land of the cradle song, where shepherds watched their flocks by night. Carmel will learn of it; Nazareth will hear of it; and, as the messenger who bears it speeds onward, the rippling waves of the tideless sea shall sound in his ears, and his feet shall be moistened with the dews of Lebanon. It will halt in the Great Prison, and there, in its triumph, the forty years of servitude will become as a dream in the night. It will voyage to India; there the mysterious Parsee, the haughty Brahmin, the wondering Hindu, will become one, as it tells its story. To China, to Japan, to Africa, to the Isles of the Sea, far away to distant Ishkabad, it will be even as a star to the caravan; and to the broken brotherhood of Europe, to the Slav and the Teuton, the Moslem and the Allies, it will tell of a better and a brighter day, of a kindlier and a nobler kinship. And, sir, when at last its mission is complete, it will come back to rest beneath that dome where a unified humanity shall make mention of God; the Mashrak-el-Azkar.*
The bell, in its mission, sounded the liberty of the nation. This, in its fulness, tells of the freedom of the world. This may seem a measure too broad, an estimate too great, but it could not be otherwise, for it bears the Bahai message of unity, not that all men are equal, but that the crown of humanity rests upon the head of every man alike. In that birthmark there is nothing inferior, there is nothing superior. This is the reality of man, and that reality is the throne of the divine manifestation, and to every soul it is permitted to look within himself and see therein that reality, powerful, mighty, and supreme.
The Bahai message claims and teaches that such is man's right of self-appraisement. Further, to concede that appraisement to his fellow-man is to admit in both the possession of that common reality which confirms the divinity
* The Bahai Temple of Unity to be erected in Chicago.
STAR OF THE WEST
PUBLISHED NINETEEN TIMES A YEAR
By the BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, 515 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the post office at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Editorial Staff: ALBERT R. WINDUST — GERTRUDE BUIKEMA — DR. ZIA M. BAGDADI
Honorary Member: MIRZA AHMAD SOHRAB
Terms: $1.50 per year; 10 cents per copy.
Note—Until further notice, distribution in the Orient is through Agents.
Make Money Orders payable to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
To personal checks please add sufficient to cover the bank exchange.
Address all communications to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.
TABLET FROM ABDUL-BAHA.
HE IS GOD!
O thou Star of the West!
Be thou happy! Be thou happy! Shouldst thou continue to remain firm and eternal, ere long, thou shalt become the Star of the East and shalt spread in every country and clime. Thou art the first paper of the Bahais which is organized in the country of America. Although for the present thy subscribers are limited, thy form is small and thy voice weak, yet shouldst thou stand unshakable, become the object of the attention of the friends and the center of the generosity of the leaders of the faith who are firm in the Covenant, in the future thy subscribers will become hosts after hosts like unto the waves of the sea; thy volume will increase, thy arena will become vast and spacious and thy voice and fame will be raised and become world-wide—and at last thou shalt become the first paper of the world of humanity. Yet all these depend upon firmness, firmness, firmness!
(Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
Vol. VI
No. 4
of unity and the unity of divinity.
Seek not, accept not, any compromise for that attitude until there is established at once and forever that relationship which, by its realization, shall annul geographical boundaries, technical barriers, racial prejudices, tribal theology, and the many things which have been and are deterrents of unity and destructive of human solidarity.
This is the Bahai message in the concrete, and, in the oneness of unity, in the divinity of reality, this message shall make for the healing of the nations.
Director Britton, I know that you rejoice with us that we are permitted on this occasion, here in this city of the Golden Gate, to send forth this humble messenger, the token and the symbol of that unity which will be effective when the reality of man is recognized and accepted as the throne of the divine manifestation. This alone is the world's resource; its honor and its continuity depend upon it. Allah-o-Abha!
THE CHAIRMAN: Friends, Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford, whose pen and voice have ever proved strong advocates of the Cause so dear to our hearts, will now address us.
MRS. FORD: Mr. Chairman, Director Britton and friends: I cannot tell you what happiness it gives me to stand here in this wonderful moment, before all my friends, and try to accentuate a little the suggestion that has already been given in the wonderful words that have been spoken, as to why we are here, why we should be gathered in this beautiful spot, which today is the most beautiful spot in America, and I am not at all sure but that it is not the most beautiful spot in the world.
Let me tell you that I came to this Exposition from long wanderings on the other side of the water, where I had stood under the arches of the great cathedrals, and had studied the masterpieces and sculpture of the world, and I had said to myself, "Is there anything left to be done in the realm of architecture?"
I remembered that Abdul-Baha had said long ago, when he told us about the divine civilization that is to be created, "There will be a new art, a new architecture, fused of all the beauty of the world of the past, but
new." When I came here to these grounds, what did I find? The new architecture, fused of all the great architecture of the past, but a new architecture in which there is nothing as it was in the ancient time, because here you see, as you wander back and forth, how the Byzantine and the Moorish and the Romanesque have clasped hands with the old classic Greek and Roman of the past, and neither one could recognize itself in the result that has transmuted all, and created, on these wonderful fields along the shore of the Pacific, forms of beauty which must suggest to every observer the glories of the buildings of the future that we are to create.
Let me say to you: Have you not thought of this? Is not the very creation of this wonderful fair out of the heart of the city that only nine years ago was razed to the ground,—is it not the most marvelous demonstration of the great and new spiritual force that is in the world today, converting and transmuting and transforming all the physical forms of the universe? I know of no greater miracle than that this city, which was destroyed, should in nine years create the most beautiful spectacle of the entire world.
Now let us go back for a moment and remember what our vaunted progress of this modern world means. All the evolution of the past sixty or seventy years, perhaps, its beginning in the cause we represent here. We pride ourselves on our great new ideas, on our comprehension of brotherhood, on our governmental reform, on our insistence upon the equality of men and women. And we believe that these are western ideas. We look back to the East and say: "What have you done, sleeping in your dreams of the past? Why will you not learn from us? Take our energy and transform yourselves." Yet, long ago, in 1844, when there was no movement of brotherhood in the world, when there was no suggestion anywhere of the equality of men and women, before any one thought of the suffrage movement, a young Persian gentleman by the name of Ali Mohammed began to speak in the city of Shiraz—think of it!—in all the darkness of Mohammedan prejudice, to people who declared that there was only one true religion, that there had never been but one prophet of God, and that he was Mohammed. And what did Ali Mohammed say to these people? He said to them: "The world is one. We are at the dawn of a new day. In this day we are to recognize that there is but one religion; that all the religions of the world have sprung from the same source; that in this day we shall receive a divine revelation that will create a new civilization; that in this day we are to recognize that woman, who has been enslaved for centuries, is the equal of man; that the women must come out of their seclusion; that our oriental world, which has imprisoned women, has committed a crime; that the women of Shiraz and every other city of the world must walk the streets unveiled and be endowed with all the rights and privileges that the men enjoy." Think of it! Do you wonder that they persecuted him? Do you wonder that they could not understand him? When you follow his astonishing career and consider the Bab's preaching, when you remember his youth, you will say to yourself, "How could he dare do it?"
Ali Mohammed, the Bab, was but twenty-five years of age when he commenced his mission. In those days there was no wireless, no telegraphic system, there were no steam cars, and yet in the short six years of his ministry, his movement, his words, went from one end of Persia to the other, and before his execution the soil of Persia was drenched with the blood of people who had accepted his message of progress, and been martyred for the truth they professed.
While I am talking about progress and the equality of men and women I always want to remind people that the first martyr to the cause of equal rights died there in Persia years ago, because the greatest feminine disciple of the Bab was Kurat-ul-Ayn. This wonderful and lovely creature, one of the most distinguished women of Persia in her day, took off her veil, went about teaching publicly, and insisted upon the realization of the truth of the Bab's teaching in regard to the equality of women. After the Báb had been martyred, she still continued her urgent insistence upon the freeing of women, to such an extent that her words fired every heart, and the women of Persia began to rise and clamor for that liberty which they had been told was their right. Then some of the learned men of Persia went to Kurat-ul-Ayn and said: "We do not wish to martyr you because you are a follower of this absurd Bab; we do not wish to martyr you because you belong to this dangerous movement, for we love you; but we insist that you stop talking to the women about this question of equality. You are inciting all the women of Persia to revolt. If you will simply be silent on that part of your teaching, we will let you go."
Do you think she would be silent? Can't you imagine how she looked at those men who threatened her and said to them: "Do you suppose that for the sake of the little thing you call life, and that I know is not life, I would be silent upon this important question which is the foundation of the future civilization of the world, the true civilization?" So she went on just the same, speaking to both the men and the women who came to hear of the power and significance of this part of the Bab's teaching, that men and women are equal and must stand equal in the face of the world.
At last they came to take her secretly to execution, because they did not dare to take her publicly, on account of the numbers who loved her, into a garden in the suburbs of the city where they would be unobserved, and there they murdered her.
Some of you know the wonderful story of her martyrdom. The keeper of the garden had found a man, a young Turkish fellow, who was very brutal, whom he believed would do anything for twenty dollars. He gave him a gold piece and said: "You will find a woman in a room upstairs; you are to take this silk handkerchief and strangle her, and it must be done quietly." This man ascended the stairs, and when he entered the room Kurat-ul-Ayn was kneeling in prayer, for she well knew that her hour had come. She turned to him and said: "You are too noble a fellow to stain your soul with so black a crime for this little bit of money." He looked at her and could not touch her. He ran back to the man who had sent him, and threw the coin in his face, crying: "Find some one else to do your dirty work; that woman is divine; I cannot touch her." Then they sent another man, more brutal, and, because the victim said nothing this time in protest but yielded herself to his hand, he choked her with the silk handkerchief. Her body was thrown into a deserted well on the place, and covered quickly with stones, so that no one might discover the crime which had been committed. But today, because of the memory of Kurat-ul-Ayn, not only of the beauty of her face, but the loveliness of her soul and character, pilgrims walk many miles to her grave. They believe that when they stand by its side they are healed of all their ills; but especially, if their eyes have been blinded or afflicted, they believe that as they stand near the dust of that wonderful, clear-seeing woman, all the trouble disappears from them and they themselves see clearly once more.
But I must not linger over the beautiful story of this gifted woman. I must remind you of what followed quickly, followed the teaching of Baha'o'llah, who was the successor of the Báb and the great center of truth for the world for so many years, and who died in prison in 1892. He said: "This is the day of real brotherhood, the day when the shackles must fall away from the world, the day when real brotherhood must be established."
Do you remember what followed immediately? Do you think it was an accident, that in 1861 the Czar freed the serfs? That from 1861 to 1865 America was in the throes of the great Civil War, as a result of which slavery was banished forever from the shores of America? Do you think it was an accident that in 1860 began that long and tremendous struggle, as a result of which Italy stood freed? The one word that went from one end of Italy to the other, in those years of her trouble, was unity, that the unity of Italy must be established. And today the unity of Italy is established. There is no tyranny in Italy. For the first time in the long years since the Roman Empire, Italy has raised her head, and she has been glorified in the liberty which has been granted her. And today remember that Persia—tyrannized and tormented Persia—has her constitution; even Turkey, who perhaps will be wiped from the map of Europe presently, has her constitution; China, the last word of the oldest old regime, has become a republic!
When you realize the spirit working under the surface and manifesting itself in all the wonders of these great results, do you believe that for one moment the political chicanery of Yuan Shi Kai can keep China from the enjoyment of her liberty? Never!
Where is the secret of all these wonders? Friends, there is always a cause for such magnificent. results, and do we not find it right here in the marvelous teachings and the spiritual counsels of the Bahai Movement, as we call it, which, after listening to the words of the Báb and Baha'o'llah, today is listening to the words of Abdul-Baha? Subjectively the heart of humanity has been quickened by these expressions.
Do you remember one of the things said in America just recently by Abdul-Baha when he was here in San Francisco? He said: "Between 1860 and 1865 you did a wonderful thing; you knocked the shackles from chattel slavery; but today you must do a much more wonderful thing: you must destroy industrial slavery."
Does not that one word put us here in the center of this great Exposition, which is the very spirit of progress? I am reminded of Abdul-Baha's words every time I come on these grounds. You remember at the Scott Street entrance the great Fountain of Energy, symbolic of all the activities of the present day, and directly opposite, on the Marina, the Column of Progress, designed by Hermon MacNeil, the figure of the archer shooting across the Pacific to the shores of the Orient? What does Abdul-Baha say? "Today the Orient and the Occident must join hands, so that the Occident will give to the Orient its organizing spirit, its business spirit, its power of creating material civilization; and the Orient will give to the Occident in turn the spiritual power and riches that enable all these things to become facts." And so there is the archer shooting across the Pacific. What is it he symbolizes? Is it not the wonderful wireless that moves over the universe today, and that moves not only through the outer mechanism of the ether, but through the more marvelous inner mechanism of mind to mind, and heart to heart, that is uniting mankind today in spite of this war? Perhaps you remember one of Abdul-Baha's utterances in regard to the war. He said: "Such
great changes are to arise because of the divine civilization the world must found, that it seems almost impossible to break the old condition without a great war which will destroy the traditional usage. After that war will necessarily come the great reorganization and the Most Great Peace."
I wish you would walk, all of you, before you leave these lovely grounds, through that marvelous Court of the Colonnade before the Art Palace. You know Mr. Metcalf, the architect of the building, intended to erect a beautiful
--PHOTO-- "As you go past the dome to the other end of the colonnade, there begins to whisper in your hearts and ears all the great new voices of the coming dawn."
classic Greco-Roman structure, but when he began his work it seemed that some wonderful old Aztec ghost got hold of him, and in spite of himself he did not rear a Roman-Greek palace at all! He raised an edifice the like of which has never been seen before, and he put before it this delightful colonnade which has in it the spirit of all the cloisters of the past. You seem to find there the quiet converse of Plato's academy, Confucius' whispering, and the breath of Zoroaster's teaching. Then, as you walk through it, from one end to the other, you see the marvelous cloisters of Italy; you enter once more the heavenly enclosure of Monreale in Sicily; you recall the Moorish and Christian civilization of the eleventh and twelfth centuries which built such noble cathedrals. Ah! you hear, also, the irresistible words of St. Francis laughed out to the listening world, saying, as Abdul-Baha says today: "Be happy! Above all things be happy, and only thus be wise." As you walk on, pausing under the dome for that whispering of the muse, which is such
a presage of what the world is to do and what our continent is to make in the future, and as you go past the dome to the other end of the colonnade, there begins to whisper in your hearts and ears all the great new voices of the coming dawn, that love of man to man, and woman to woman, which is an eternal love, which is outside of the flesh, that love which is so sensitive that it will not tolerate the existence of pain in the world that may be relieved, that love which creates beauty because it is so happy and so glad to
(Continued on page thirty-eight)
