Transcript:Hasan Balyuzi/Speaking at the Bahá’í World Congress
| Transcript of: Speaking at the Bahá’í World Congress in London (1963) by |
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[0:00] Beloved friends. One day in Washington when the Master was driving to his third meeting of the day, very tired, His face lighted up with that divine radiance which was His and said, "O Bahá’u’lláh, what has thou done? O Bahá’u’lláh, May my life be sacrificed for thee. O Bahá’u’lláh, may my soul be offered up for thy sake. How full were thy days with trials and tribulations. How severe the ordeals thou didst endure. How solid the foundations thou has finally laid. And how glorious the banner thou didst hoist."
[1:17] Indeed dear friends, in our hearts these words of the beloved Master echo today. This is the day when heaven and Earth join in one chorus of universal jubilation. And this was promised to us by our beloved Guardian when we stood at the threshold of the holy year. The holy year which he himself, the sign of God on this Earth, had instituted. This is what he told us. The Lord of hosts the King of Kings has pledged unfailing aid to every crusader battling for his call. Invisible battalions are mustered. Rank upon rank, ready to pour forth reinforcements from on high. Bahá’u’lláh's army of light is standing on the threshold of the Holy Year. Let them as they enter it vow with one voice, one heart, one soul never to turn back in the entire course of the fateful decade ahead, until each and every one will have contributed his share in laying on a worldwide scale an unassailable administrative foundation for Bahá’u’lláh's, Christ's promised Kingdom on Earth. Swelling thereby the chorus of universal jubilation where in earth and heaven will join as prophesied by Daniel, echoed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, on that day with the fateful rejoice with exceeding gladness.
[4:09] And dear friends, on such a wonderful day, so bless, so immeasurably blessed are we two witnesses it. On this day we cannot but recall that dark day in November when, without any premonition, light went out of our world and you were plunged into darkness and our hearts drooped. But in that gloom which surrounded us dear friend there shone as bright as ever the being of our Guardians guidance. And we have achieved what we have achieved because we faithful kept within that we did not deviate one hairs breath to the right or to the left. What we have attained, where we have reached now, and what we are now, all this we owe to him, the sign of God on this Earth. But just as the beloved Master told us after the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh that the Son of Truth having rent asunder the veil of the human temple would be shining dazzlingly from its meridian. When our beloved guardian passed out of our sight, his guidance remained with us, his blessings surrounded us, and he led us to this wonderful, wonderful victory to this great day.
[6:50] Friends, I would like to go back over the last 120 years of the glorious history of our faith. And particularly dwell on a few incidents in the lives of the founders of our faith. Those moments when it seemed that all was lost, that their cause was doomed to extinction. And where are today, those people, who were sure that the cause of the Báb was finally extinguished? Who were certain that Bahá’u’lláh was doomed to oblivion? Where are the Násiri'd-Dín Sháh's, the Sultán Abdul-Azízs, the Louis Napoleon's of this world? And where is the faith of God?
[8:06] Do you recall that incident related in Nabil's narrative when the Báb in the castle of Máh-Kú was refused even a candle? Do you remember that incident when Bahá’u’lláh was being carried to Síyáh-Chál with bare head, bare feet, jeered at, shouted at, pelted at? And the day when they took him to his prison in ‘Akká when the whole population of the town had turned out to see the Persian God, as they called Him, being taken into the citadel to mock at Him, to jeer at Him? Do you recall that day when the commission of inquiry, having finished its work, people expected that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would be sent away to perish in the deserts of North Africa? In the dusk they saw him all alone pacing the courtyard of his house. And then all of a sudden, the ship which people expected would take ‘Abdu’l-Bahá away from the Holy Land to the land where he would perish, turn course on went away?
[10:28] Indeed, beloved friends there were many a time when to the eyes of men, the cause of God was a spent force. When the Báb was shot. They rejoiced. When Bahá’u’lláh was sent away four times, exiled, banished from his homeland, from Iraq, from the seat of the caliphate, from Adrianople. The day when He left His human temple. Those days when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's life was in dire peril. The day when he passed away. All these days the adversaries of the faith, its enemies, were confident that this Cause had reached the end of its road. And where are we today? As the Hand of the Cause Furútan just now told us, we have both actively and potentially conquered the planet in the name of Bahá’u’lláh.
[12:25] And on this day, beloved friends, one cannot but think of those wonderful souls who responded to the call and went out to conquer these territories. This great hall teems with them. They are the conquerors of the planet in the name of Bahá’u’lláh. And some of them just took their old bones to bury in a distant land, and to consecrate that land with their bones in the name of Bahá’u’lláh. At the very beginning of this mighty crusade our beloved Guardian wrote the entire body of the avowed supporters of Bahá’u’lláh's all conquering faith are now summoned to achieve in a single decade feats eclipsing in totality the achievements which in the course off the 11 preceding decades illuminated the annals of Bahá’í pioneering. And how faithfully these souls responded to this call of their beloved guardian. And on a day like this, one cannot but recall these words of the Blessed Perfection: "I will make the infidels to taste, with the hands of My power, retributions unknown of any one except Me, and will waft over the faithful those musk-scented breaths which I have nursed in the midmost heart of My throne." And one thinks also, of those who did not keep faith. Those who knew light, but called upon darkness to lead them. Those who in the words of Jesus Christ, sinned against the Holy Ghost and broke the covenant of God. Who stood high, but fell low. And remembering their plight, one recalls these words of the prophet Isaiah. How are thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the morning.
[16:00] Mighty victories have been achieved. The glorious crusade of our beloved guardian has reached its pinnacle of achievement. But greater crusades are yet to come, that is greater in scope, crusades which will consummate finally the beloved Master's divine plan in the course of future decades and centuries, taking the Bahá’í world to its golden age. But of all the plans that are to come, of all the crusades that are to be launched, no matter how vast in their scope, how significant, none can be more precious, more dear to the heart of every Bahá’í than the one which is now concluded. Because it was the crusade launched by our beloved Shoghi Effendi. [Applause]
[17:54] And I would like beloved friends to end with his words which ring true today, as they did when he wrote them, and shall ring true for centuries to come. He said: "I direct my impassioned appeal to obey, as befits His warriors, the summons of the Lord of Hosts, and prepare for that Day of Days when His victorious battalions will, to the accompaniment of hozannas from the invisible angels in the Abha Kingdom, celebrate the hour of final victory." No matter how long period that separates them from ultimate victory, however arduous the task, however formidable the exertions demanded of them, however dark the days which mankind, perplexed and sorely tried, must in its hour of travail traverse. However severe the test with which they who are to redeem its fortunes will be confronted. However afflictive the darts which their present enemies, as well as those whom Providence will through His mysterious dispensations raise up from within or from without, may raid upon them. However grievous the ordeal of temporary separation from the heart and nerve center of their faith, which future unforeseeable disturbances may impose upon them. I adjure them by the precious blood that flowed in such great profusion, by the lives of the unnumbered saints and heroes who were immolated by the supreme, the glorious sacrifice of the prophet herald of our Faith, by the tribulations which its found out himself willingly underwent so that his cause might live, His order might redeem a shattered world and its glory might suffuse the entire planet. I adjure them as this solemn hour draws nigh to resolve never to flinch, never to hesitate, never to relax until each and every objective in the plans to be proclaimed at a later date has been fully consummated. [Applause]
