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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. IX Kalamat 1, 74 (July 13, 1918) No. 7
Bahai Methods of Education
A Compilation of the Words of Baha'o'llah and Abdul-Baha to assist Parents and Teachers in the Education of Children
COMPILED BY PAULINE A. HANNEN
It is worthy of note that, in the development of the Bahai Cause in the occident, this is the first compilation to be made and published on this important subject. We believe far-reaching results will follow a serious consideration of its every phase. Mrs. Hannen has rendered a great service not only in its compilation, but in establishing a Bahai Sunday School in Washington, D. C.—The Editors.
Laws of Baha'o'llah
TEACH your children what hath been revealed through the Supreme Pen. Instruct them in what hath descended from the heaven of greatness and power. Let them memorize the tablets of the Merciful and chant them with the most melodious voices in the galleries built in the Temple of the Mashrekol-azkar. The prayers of the Lord shall be chanted in a manner to attract the hearts and souls.
Blessed is he who listeneth unto the River of Life!
(Words of Baha'o'llah.)
We have formerly commanded, in the tablets, that the trustees of the House of Justice must select one tongue out of the present languages, or a new language, and likewise select one among the various writings and teach them to children in the schools of the world, so that the whole world may thereby be considered as one native land and one part.
(Tablet of Ishrakat, p. 36.)
It is decreed that every father must educate his sons and daughters in learning and in writing and also in that which hath been ordained in the tablet. He who neglects that which hath been commanded (in this matter), if he is rich, it is incumbent on the trustees (of the House of Justice) to recover from him the amount required for the education of the children; otherwise (i. e., if the parent is not capable) the matter shall devolve on the House of Justice. Verily, We have made it (the House of Justice) an asylum for the poor and needy.
He who educates his son, or any other children, it is as though he hath educated one of My children.
(Tablet of Ishrakat, p. 36.)
Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion, so that the "promise" and the "threat," recorded in the Books of God, may prevent them from the things forbidden and adorn them with the mantle of commandments; but this in such a measure that it may not injure the children by resulting in ignorance, etc. The trustees of the House of Justice must consult upon the ordinances as they are outwardly revealed in the Book, then enforce, of these, whatever prove agreeable to them. Verily, God will inspire them with that
which He willeth, and He is the Ruler, the Knower!
(Words of Paradise, p. 53.)
Men and woman must place a part of what they earn by trade, agriculture, or other business, in charge of a trustworthy person, to be spent in the education and instruction of the children. That deposit must be invested in the education of the children, under the advice of the trustees (or members) of the House of Justice.
(Tablet of the World, p. 29.)
Utterances of Abdul-Baha in Tablets and Talks
NEED OF EDUCATION, ITS IMPORTANCE
IT is most clear and manifest that national will never revolve around their proper axis until the whole people have received instruction and public thought has been directed to a single end.
The most important of all the matters in question and that with which it is most specially necessary to deal effectively is the promotion of education.
No freedom or salvation could be imagined in the case of any nation which had not progressed in this greatest and most important matter; just as the greatest cause of degradation and decadence of every nation is bigotry and ignorance.
If necessary, make this even compulsory, for not until the veins and tendons of the nations stir with life will any study and adoption of improvements be of any avail; because the nation is like unto the body, zeal and resolution are like unto the soul, and the soulless body cannot move.
(Star of the West, Vol. 7, No. 15, p. 141.)
BAHAI HISTORY WHICH EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOWV
The holy, divine Manifestations are unique and peerless. They are the archetypes of celestial and spiritual virtues in their own age and cycle. They stand on the summit of the mount of vision, and they foreshadow the perfections of evolving humanity. For example, during the dispensation of his holiness Moses—peace be upon him!—there was not a single human soul similar or like unto him. He surpassed all the holy souls who came after him, even the hosts of the Israelitish prophets.
In a similar manner all the people who lived during the cycle of his holiness Christ—may my life be a sacrifice to him!—were under his spiritual authority. They had no will of their own. He was the sun, and the others were the lamps. He was unique and peerless, the center and the focal point of the mighty forces. Everyone else was under his shadow. He was the orb and the others were the stars. He was also unique and peerless. Everyone caught the rays of light from him, and was enkindled through his fire. In a like manner, was the epoch of his holiness the Bab—May the life of aught beside be a ransom to him! He was matchless and without a peer. All the rivers received their strength from that great sea.
Finally during this cycle of the Blessed Perfection—may my life be a sacrifice to his believers!—all are beneath his shadow. He is the unique and peerless one till the next Manifestation. It is, however, not definite that it will be one thousand years; it may be 2,000, or 10,000, or 20,000 years; but it is definite that, for the coming one thousand years there will appear no Manifestation, for one thousand years there shall arise no sun. All the appearances will be beneath the shade of this Most Great Appearance; they will be as stars of
guidance. All of them shall gather around this fountain of life; all of them will become illumined by the rays of this sun; all of them will receive a share and a portion from this great sea; all of them will become vivified by this soul-imparting breeze and all of them will be under the downpour of this rain.
The aim is this: his holiness the Bab gave the glad-tidings concerning the appearance of the Manifestation of God, and his holiness the Blessed Perfection was the Promised One of all the nations and religions. The Báb was the morning star, the twilight heralding the glorious dawn of the sun of reality. Now all of us are under its shadow, and receive the refulgent bestowals from it. I am Abdul-Baha and no more. I am not pleased with whomsoever praises me with any other title. I am the Servant at the threshold of the Blessed Perfection, and I hope that this servitude of mine will become acceptable. Whosoever mentions any other name save this will not please me at all—Abdul-Baha, and no more. No person must praise me except by this name, Abdul-Baha.
The Blessed Perfection and the Bab are unique and peerless in this dispensation and until the next Manifestation. The belief, the opinion and the thoughts of all the believers must revolve around this common center. This oneness of belief must become fully realized, so that in the future there may arise no differences.
(Words of Abdul-Baha: From Diary of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, January 17, 1914.)
CONCERNING EDUCATION
The prophets also acknowledge this opinion that education hath a great effect upon the human race, but they declare that minds and comprehensions are originally different. And this matter is self-evident; it cannot be refuted. We see that certain children of the same age, nativity and race, nay, from the same household, under the tutorship of one teacher, differ in their minds and comprehensions. One advanceth rapidly, another is slow in catching the rays of culture, still another remaineth in the lowest degree of stupidity.
No matter how much the shell is educated (or polished) it can never become the radiant pearl. The black stone will not become the world-illuming gem. The calocynth* and the thorny cactus can never by training and development become the blessed tree. That is to say, training doth not change the human gem (i. e., human nature or entity), but it produceth a marvelous effect. By this effective power all that is registered latent of virtues and capacities in the human reality will be revealed.
Cultivation by the farmer maketh of the grain the harvest, and the effort of the gardener maketh of the seed a noble tree. The gentle teacher promoteth the children of the school to a lofty altitude and the bestowal of the trainer placeth the little child upon the throne of ether. Therefore it is demonstrated and proven that minds are different in the original entity or nature and that education commandeth a decided and great influence. Were there no educator all souls would remain savage and were it not for the teacher, the children would be ignorant creatures.
It is for this reason that, in this new cycle, education and training are recorded in the Book of God as obligatory and not voluntary. That is, it is enjoined upon father and mother, as a duty, to strive with all effort to train the daughter and the son, to nurse them from the breast of knowledge and to rear them in the bosom of sciences and arts. Should they neglect this matter they shall be held responsible and worthy of reproach in the presence of the stern Lord.
This is a sin unpardonable, for they
*Cucumis calocynthis.
STAR OF THE WEST
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Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the post office at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
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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. IX
No. 7
have made that poor babe a wanderer in the Sahara of ignorance, unfortunate and tormented to remain during a lifetime a captive of ignorance and pride, negligent and without discernment. Verily, if that babe depart from this world at the age of infancy, it is sweeter and better. In this sense, death is better than life, deprivation than salvation, non-existence lovelier than existence, the grave better than the palace, and the narrow, dingy tomb better than the spacious, regal home, for in the sight of mankind that child is abased and degraded and in the sight of God weak and defective. In gatherings it is ashamed and humiliated and in the arena of examination subdued and defeated by young and old. What a mistake is this! What an everlasting humiliation!
Therefore, the beloved of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful must train their children with life and heart and teach them in the school of virtue and perfection. They must not be lax in this matter; they must not be inefficient. Truly, if a babe did not live at all it were better than to let it grow up ignorant, for that innocent babe, in later life, would become afflicted with innumerable defects, responsible to and questioned by God, reproached and rejected by the people. What a sin this would be and what an omission!
The first duty of the beloved of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful is this: they must strive by all possible means to educate both sexes, male and female; girls as well as boys; there is no difference whatsoever between them. The ignorance of both is blameworthy, and negligence in both cases is reprovable. "Are they who know and they who do not know equal?" (Koran).
The command is decisive concerning both. In reality, the training and culture of daughters is more necessary than that of sons, for these girls will come to the station of motherhood and will mould the lives of the children. The first trainer of the child is the mother. The babe, like unto a green tender branch will grow according to the way it is trained. If it is rightly trained, it will grow rightly; if it is wrongly trained the growth will be deformed and thus it will remain until the end of life.
Hence it is firmly established that an untrained and uneducated daughter on becoming a mother will be the prime factor in the deprivation, ignorance, negligence and the lack of training of many children.
O ye beloved of God and ye maidservants of the Merciful! Teaching and learning, according to the decisive texts of the Blessed Beauty (Baha'o'llah), is a duty. Whosoever is indifferent therein depriveth himself of the great bounty.
Beware! Beware! that ye fail not in this matter. Endeavor with heart, with life to train your children, especially the daughters. No excuse is acceptable in this matter.
Thus may eternal glory and everlasting supremacy like unto the mid-day sun shine forth in the assemblage of the people of Bahá and the heart of Abdul-Baha become happy and thankful.
(Words of Abdul-Baha: Book of Tablets, Vol. III, page 577.)
EDUCATION OF WOMEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT OF MEN
In this day there are certain women among the Bahais who far surpass men. They are wise, perfected, well informed, very progressive, most intelligent and the glory of men. They are far more courageous than men. When they speak in meetings the men listen to them with great respect. Furthermore, the education of women is much more important than the education of men, for these daughters will be mothers, and mothers rear the children. The first teachers of children are mothers. Therefore, they must be in a state of utmost perfection in order to be able to educate the sons. There are many provisions by Baha'o'llah in regard to this.
Therefore, Baha'o'llah promulgated oneness of education, that is the need of one curriculum for both men and women. Daughters and sons must follow the same form of study and the same education. Having one course of education promotes unity among mankind. When all mankind shall receive the same education and the equality of men and women be realized the foundations of warfare will be utterly destroyed.
(Star of the West, Vol. 5, No. 7, p. 101.)
THE TIE BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE
As to thy question concerning the husband and wife, the tie between them, and the children given to them by God, know thou, verily, the husband is one who has sincerely turned unto God, is awakened by the call of the Beauty of El-Baha and chants the verses of oneness in the great assemblies. The wife is a being who wishes to be overflowing with and seeks after the attributes of God and His names; and the tie between them is no other than the Word of God. Verily, it (the Word of God) causes the multitudes to assemble together, and the remote ones to be united. Thus the husband and wife are brought into affinity, are united and harmonized, even as though they were one person. Through their mutual union, companionship and love great results are produced in the world, both material and spiritual. The spiritual result is the appearance of divine bounties. The material result is the children who are born in the cradle of the love of God, who are nurtured by the breast of the knowledge of God, are brought up in the bosom of the gift of God and are fostered in the lap of the training of God. Such children are those of whom it was said by Christ: "Verily, they are the children of the Kingdom."
Consequently, O thou maid-servant of God, reach the maid-servants of the Merciful One, and tell them from the tongue of Abdul-Baha: O maid-servants of the Merciful! It is incumbent upon you to train the children from their earliest babyhood! It is incumbent upon you to beautify their morals! It is incumbent upon you to attend to them under all aspects and circumstances! Inasmuch
as God—glorified and exalted is He!—hath ordained mothers as the primary trainers of children and infants; this is a great and important affair and a high and exalted position, and it is not allowable to slacken therein at all.
If thou walkest in this right path thou wilt become a real mother to the children, both spiritually and materially.
(Tablet to Mrs. H. H.)
As to thy question: "If the husband prevents his wife from entering into the Light, or the wife prevents the husband from entering into the Kingdom of God." In reality neither one of them prevents the other from entering into the Kingdom of God, unless when the husband has a great attachment to the wife, or the wife to the husband. When either one of the two adores the other instead of God, then each will prevent the other from entering into the Kingdom of God.
(Tablet.)
ADVICE TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS
As to thy question concerning the training of children: It is incumbent upon thee to nurture them from the breast of the love of God, to urge them towards spiritual matters, to turn unto God and to acquire good manners, best characteristics and praiseworthy virtues and qualities in the world of humanity, and to study sciences with the utmost diligence, so that they may become spiritual, heavenly and attracted to the fragrances of sanctity from their childhood and be reared in a religious, spiritual and heavenly training. Verily, I beg of God to confirm them therein.
(Tablets of Abdul-Baha: Vol. 1, p. 87.)
I ask God to help thy children to gain knowledge, to attain virtues and morals, which are the refinements of the reality of man; and to strengthen thee to remain firm.
(Tablets of Abdul-Baha: Vol. 1, p. 67.)
If a child is left to its own natural proclivities, without education, it will embody all human defects. Education makes of man a man. Religion is divine education. There are two pathways which have been pointed out by the heavenly educators. The first is divine guidance and reliance upon the Manifestations of God. The other is the road of materialism and reliance upon the senses. These roads lead in opposite directions. The first leads to the world of the Kingdom; the other ends in the world of human vices and is contrary to the cause of divine guidance, For example, consider a babe at the mother's breast, observe its natural aggressiveness, its instinctive antagonism. It claws and bites the mother, even attacks the fountain of life itself. A barbarous and savage country is a country which has been deprived of education, where men are utter materialists like animals. Such a nation embodies all human defects and vices. They even kill and eat one another. Divine education is the sum total of all development. It is the safeguard of humanity. The world of nature is a world of defects and incompleteness. The world of the Kingdom is reached by the highway of religion and is the heaven of all divine virtues.
(Star of the West, Vol. 4, No. 6, p. 105.)
Some one asked if such a solitary place (a summer resort in the mountains) was good for children if with companions of their age. Abdul-Baha answered, "It is very good for children. It is good for their eyes, thoughts,
minds, etc. But sometimes it is necessary for them to be with other well brought up children. Consider—when a child becomes two years old it likes to associate with other children. Consider the birds how they gather and fly together. Do you remember when you were a child how pleased you were with the children who were of your age and how happy you were?"
(Star of the West, Vol. 7, No. 9, p. 77.)
All children should be educated, but if parents cannot educate both the boys and the girls, then it would be better to educate the girls, for they will be the mothers of the coming generation. This is a radical idea for the East, where I come from, but it is already taking effect there, for the Bahai women of Persia are being educated along with the men.
Is it not a fact that the females of many species of animals are stronger and more powerful than the males? The chief cause of the mental and physical inequalities of the sexes is due to custom and training, which for ages past have molded women into the ideal of the weaker vessel.
The world in the past has been ruled by force and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the scales are already shifting, force is losing its weight, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendency. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more properly balanced.
(Star of the West, Vol. 3, No. 3, p. 4.)
The fathers, and especially the mothers, must always think how they can best educate their children; not how to fondle and embrace them and thus spoil them. By every means at their disposal they must inculcate in their growing bodies, souls, minds and spirits the principles of sincerity, love, trustfulness, obedience, true democracy and kindness toward all the races; thus hereafter the world civilization may flow in one mighty current and the children of the next generation may make secure the foundations of human solidarity and good-will. From the tenderest childhood the children must be taught by their mothers the love of God and the love of humanity; not the love of the humanity of Asia, or the humanity of Europe, or the humanity of America, but the humanity of humankind. There are some mothers who have a strange, inexplicable love for their children. One may call it the inversion of love, or as we call it in Persia "bearish love." This kind of love does more injury to the child than good. When I was in Acca, during the life of Baha'o'llah, I intrusted the son of one of the believers to a German carpenter. After a month, his mother went to Baha'o'llah and lamented and bemoaned, "I want my son, because he is unhappy with this carpenter, who curses his religion."
Baha'o'llah told her to "go to Agha (the Master) and whatever he says, act accordingly."
She came to me, and after she had told her side of the story I told her: "The Germans never curse anyone. They are not accustomed to it."
She went away, and after another month she came again to Baha'o'llah with another complaint that this carpenter had forced her son to carry on his back a load of wheat. Again I told her that if he had done so it was for discipline. I quieted her, but she was murmuring inwardly. A few months rolled by, and she returned with another set of complaints, frankly confessing
that she did not want her son to be away from her, that he was the apple of her eye. Realizing how selfish her love was for her son I told her at last that I would not take him away; that he must stay with the carpenter for eight years until his apprenticeship was over. Well, she yielded to the inexorable situation. After eight years of study he left his master, and his mother was very proud of him, everywhere praising his industry because his work was demanded on every hand. In short, the mothers must not think of themselves but of the progress of their children because upon the children of today—whether boys or girls—depends the molding of the civilization of tomorrow.
(Diary of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Sept. 2, 1913.)
Regarding the education of those two daughters D . . . . and M . . . . If thou givest true Bahai education to those two young trees in the garden of Abha know thou of a certainty that the highest glory, prosperity and success will become ready and prepared for them. This is the cause of everlasting honor.
(Excerpt from tablet to Miss J. M., Sept. 13, 1913.)
Let thy brother be trained according to the highest moral standard. In the tenderest years of their youth the pure hearts of boys and girls must be illumined with the light of the love of God. Then when they grow up most astonishing results will be produced because the map of their whole lives will be drawn with the hand of the spiritual educator. A Bahai child must be trained according to the moral precepts of Baha'o'llah, he must be taught daily of the love of God; the history of the Movement must be read to him, the love of humanity must be inculcated into every fiber of his being and the universal principles be explained to him in as easy a manner as can be devised. Then the power of great faith will take possession of his heart. But if these supreme precautions are not taken in the earliest stages of the child's growth, it will be most difficult to curb later on his growing manifest appetites. For then he will live according to the requirements of the world of nature and uncontrolled self. Once the lower and sensual habits of nature take hold of him it will be very hard to reform him by any human agencies: Hence children must be brought under the control of the love of God and under spiritual influence from their earliest youth. The lower appetites of nature are like kings over man; one must defeat their forces; otherwise he will be defeated by them.
(Star of the West, Vol. 7, No. 15, p. 142.)
DUTY TOWARDS ORPHANS
O thou happy and blessed one! In this holy Cause the question of the education and the maintenance of the orphans has the utmost importance. Towards the orphans the utmost consideration must be shown. They must be taught and instructed; especially the teachings of his holiness Baha'o'llah must be given freely to every orphan according to the means at hand. I beg of God that to the orphaned children thou mayst become a kind father and mother, to quicken them with the fragrances of the Holy Spirit; thus they may attain to the age of maturity and each one may become the real servant of the world of humanity, nay rather they may become as bright candles in the assemblages of mankind.
(Star of the West, Vol. 7, No. 13, p. 122.)
(Continued on page 89)
