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WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER, 1948
Religion for Adults
David S. Ruhe
Education for a Peaceful Society
Horace Holley
Spirit-Winged, Poem
Maye Harvey Gift
A Tribute
Sir A. Ramaswami Mudaliar
Sri Krishna, His Message
and His Return
Pritam Singh
A Change of Perspective, Editorial
Victor de Araujo
What Modern Man Must Know
About Religion
A Compilation
With Our Readers
20¢
WORLD ORDER is published monthly in Wilmette, Ill., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Editor: Garreta Busey. Managing Editor: Eleanor S. Hutchens. Associate Editors: Victor de Araujo, Elsa Blakely, Robert Durr, Pearle Easterbrook, Gertrude Henning, Flora Emily Hottes, Mabel H. Paine.
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under the Act of March 3, 1879. Content copyrighted 1948 by
Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent
Office.
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XIV NOVEMBER, 1948 NUMBER 8
Religion for Adults
DAVID S. RUHE
WE HAVE all grown accustomed
to the idea of cycles
of development. We observe everywhere
the cyclic phenomena
of growth and aging. And it is
entirely logical that in the realm
of religious thought the concepts
of cycles of growth should now
be forcefully propounded. Nowhere
more cogently than in the
Bahá’í Faith are we of the twentieth
century told that we are
coming of age, that we have
walked the road of youth to
adolescence, and that we see the
horizons of maturity before us.
We are told that in religion a
centuries-broad fabric of evolving
ethics and morality is merging
into one great current of religious
fusion, of religious internationalism.
This broad current,
this religious internationalism, is
the Bahá’í World Faith. It is full-armored
for our day in history.
It is mature. It is the religion for
adults.
The utterances of Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet of the Bahá’í Faith, are firmly rooted in the great ultimate simplicities of man’s moral law. To reiterate this law of every religion in memorable fashion is itself the stamp of a great teacher. To couple moral law with the language and ideas of twentieth century internationalism is to make it consonant with our times. And then to limit this greatest of religions in time and scope is to add the honest badge of humility. And it adds also the new viewpoint of evolution in religion.
In essence the Bahá’í Faith
says: This is a great religion, fit
to be mentioned and ranked with
all great religions. It is modern,
but not final. It will change, as
life changes. It will be replaced,
as everything is in time replaced.
Its very name will change as all
names change. But the great basic
religious truths of man and
the prophets will go on and on,
as they have been going forward
since before recorded history. It
is our task to vitalize these truths,
[Page 254]
for today. Only the prophet for
today could utter the great statement
of evolution in religion, the
logical idea of progressive revelation.
It is a mature faith which
can admit its own mortality while
affirming the grandeur of its millennial
life. Our times must be
ready to deserve or to hear this
statement. And the doctrine of
the perennial religion asks for
mature men.
Surely Bahá’u’lláh will one day lead the company of those pioneers who have formulated the four great modern statements of change. In 1859 Charles Darwin published his science-shaking hypothesis of biologic evolution. In 1862 Bahá’u’lláh revealed His Book of Certitude, the root treatise of religious evolution. In 1867 Karl Marx introduced his statement of an evolving society. And in 1905 Albert Einstein put forth his theory of special relativity to reduce matter itself to change with indeterminancy. If man’s inner life is key to his outer, this the second and least known of the great evolutionary statements will not long be waiting for its due recognition as the greatest. For the world well accepts material, biologic and social evolution, even though it may disagree on details. Soon it will accept religious evolution as well.
The acceptance of change, in itself, is a very mature psychologic development in individuals. The personality which thrives in the face of change is assured, balanced, aware. The motivation of change is the highest stimulus of the fully-developed man. But it is a quicksand to the child, who demands a security on which to build his structure of self. It is a jelly to the juvenile who is wrapping his growing ego in provincialisms of time, place, and person. Only the evolved man knows the relative security of perennial innovation. Only the evolved man knows that all security is relative. Only the evolved man knows that innovation is security, because these changes are the facets of the God-reality of all things. God Himself, he knows, can be reached as the only security, through the spiritual exercise of prayer. And the idea and knowledge of God, if elemental, is also the most mature conviction of evolved man.
In the principles of its own
operation the Bahá’í Faith is
again blunt, and mature. For the
Faith splits no hairs about divine
authority on the one hand,
nor about man’s free will on
the other. It crisply states rights,
and has no qualms about stating
binding responsibilities, which
also and equally apply. It declares
[Page 255]
the need for fusion of
church and state without equivocation.
But the “church” is a
vastly different organism from
that we know; and it will fuse
with an enormously different
“state.” Neither are precisely in
accord with American concepts
of this hour. One might hazard
the guess that American ideas
will one day grow to them. The
Faith flatly negates the humanistic,
materialistic, political
pseudo-religions of our day. But
with equal definitiveness it inveighs
against the perils of unbridled
individualism. Democracy
must be achieved by means
of consultation, with tempered
majority rule. This Bahá’í forthrightness
is a strength. It requires
strong hands and tough
brains to manage such strength.
But strength comes through exercise.
And the exercise of the
Bahá’í Faith is provided by the
growing functions of the Administrative
Order, an organizational
pattern unique in religion.
The Teachings are frank. They
never cease to affirm the elemental
problem of man: that he must
constantly walk a knife-edge of
judgment, an edge between slavery
and freedom, between subjection
and anarchy. Like the parents
of any family who find endurance
the greatest demand
made upon them, the Bahá’í
Faith simply asks of each adherent
that he accept his total community
task, and that he live and
grow in stature with it.
The Bahá’í Faith is the first great modern religion inside the span of well-developed communication. It is completely and originally documented, not composed of recollections and traditions in a hundred translations. The Faith lies in the full light of day. There are no mysteries, no rites, no secrets only for the initiated . . . except the perennial personal experience of the true seeker after God-knowledge. All seekers have the privilege of full investigation for themselves. And for those who can read Arabic, a world of scholarship is open. Have no doubt of it, this is the teaching of light, the religion of enlightenment. It is no accident that the word Bahá’í can be translated as “follower of enlightenment.”
The world has expanded and
shrunk. Man himself has grown
in knowledge and stature, and
has diminished in his own eyes.
Individuals know more of themselves,
but are immersed in newer,
greater social organisms. In
the Bahá’í Faith the reaffirmation
of personal values is
stressed, but the emphasis is
rather upon the social justice
which holds together the aggregate
[Page 256]
bodies of men. Social responsibility
is adult and necessary
in a world of callow individualism.
In our era of internationalism
an ethic of social justice is
the crying need for all of us who
live amidst the fierce contentions
of national anarchies and national
ideologies.
For the first time in religion a definitive statement of internationalism has been made. Indeed the concept of interdependence among our social units is very modern, and mature. Sociologists are only now indicating the reality of social units in our society, are showing, very crudely it is true, that these units themselves have laws of behavior even as does the individual. Anyone who has seen a mob knows that it is not the sum of the men who compose it. The anatomy of a nation is not the sum of its states or its citizens. It is a new entity. The hour of the international world, the inclusive social unit has struck. Interdependence is the oil. Internationalism is the password. The world commonwealth is the structure. World law forms the girders and roof. World religion is the soul.
Doubtless democracy is the most highly developed method of human organization. The American Constitution-builders felt that republican government was the most worthy for man. Surely consultation within any group, with protected majority rule, is far above the simple patterns of kingly or oligarchic rule. Yet nothing is more difficult or more challenging than the honest consultation of men seeking the best way for all men rather than for themselves. The democracy of the Bahá’í communities is a constant training in action through consultation, in cooperation through group judgment. Further, delegation of community authority is only for brief periods, and is given to members distinguished for their high personal qualities, not for their type of formalized training. Those who have received such delegated authority are responsible to God, not to the membership. There is no priesthood, no deputation of honest personal responsibility to a few professionals of religion; this is itself full-grown and modern.
Bahá’í membership begins at
twenty-one, past physical adolescence
in physical adulthood, the
political age of maturity in some
lands. Acceptance into the Bahá’í
community is never one of abrupt
conversion, although a personal
decision may be sudden.
Acceptance occurs only after a
course of study of the complete
Bahá’í responsibilities, and only
[Page 257]
after the local assembly has assured
itself that knowledge has
superseded impulse.
The worship service expects a mature worshipper. In the House of Worship, the “Place of the Mention of God,” one will hear the Holy Word alone, the Word from the Bibles of the world. Here will be heard the purest music of the spirit. The lecturer or teacher, good, mediocre, or poor, has been relegated to the discussional meeting outside the halls of worship. In the services of worship one hears only God’s great symphonies of the flowing centuries. Perhaps it is true that one best emerges from his envelope of self in the gloom of the darkened chamber; but he illuminates his soul best in the shadowless glow of this, the greatest of religious teachings, in temples of light where praise of God by God’s great Teachers is alone entirely fitting.
The Bahá’í Faith is the religion for grownups. It is the religion of evolution. It is the religion of social justice and internationalism. It is the religion of democracy. It is the teaching of light, of full investigation, of full exposure, of complexity and simplicity. It takes a great man or a great religion to expose himself fully to the gaze of his neighbors, to live in a glass house in a perpetual daylight, to publish his family tree, to work naked in the sun, rain and snow. Yes, and it takes a religion for adults to expose itself with serene confidence to the critical darts of modern investigation. But this is the Bahá’í World Faith. See that you are adult too, and examine it as an adult of today with objectivity, with scientific detachment, with humility, with a sense of history, and with a sense of destiny!
Education for a Peaceful Society
HORACE HOLLEY
(Continued)
INTERNATIONALISM: THE END
OF AN ERA
WHEN changes take place in
the spiritual life of a people,
they produce effects not only
in the realm of personal conscience
or upon the definitions of
denominational faith—their results
flow forth throughout the
civilization. Society indeed, is
the outer surface of human action,
as religion is the inner surface.
The persons who are impressed
with certain values from
the religious teaching of their
childhood, strive to fulfill them
as adults in their civilization. The
nations of the world are not composed
of a separate race of human
beings called citizens or subjects;
all this mass of humanity
who serve as citizens or subjects
are at the same time members of
different racial groups and members
of different religious bodies.
Since religious training has for the most part been based upon pre-rational states of childhood, the vital assumptions of faith or theology continue from generation to generation without analysis or investigation. The child assumes that his religion sets him off in some mysterious but inevitable and justifiable manner from those people who belong to a different religion. This pre-rational experience becomes an imperative directing his activities in other fields, all the more effective because it works behind his conscious and rational thought. Religion has thus prepared the way for the spirit of exclusive nationalism, class competition and other self-centered types of social institution. The pre-rational experience of justifiable division matures in the irrational attitudes of partisan loyalty which set people off from one another in political and economic matters, eventuating in strife and ruin.
The modern nation represents
the most powerful and effective
social unity ever achieved. It has
coordinated the human qualities
and possibilities to an unprecedented
degree, liberating people
from servitude to nature and laying
the foundations of orderly
progress by reconciling the political
claims of the state with the
social and cultural needs of the
individual. But like every human
institution, the nation cannot become
an end unto itself. It cannot
draw arbitrary lines and decree
that human evolution must stop
short at this line or that. The nation
[Page 259]
cannot reduce all questions
of human relations to political
principle, and solve them by a
formal relationship to the state.
The movement of life is irresistible. When the modern nation had organized its area and completed the creation of the necessary institutions, it became mature and incurred obligation to establish useful relationships with other nations. The nation became more and more involved in activities and affairs outside its boundaries and beyond its jurisdiction. Internationalism has been the principle of civilization for more than a hundred years, but the nations could not realize themselves as means to an end, as instruments called upon, for the sake of humanity, to create a sovereignty of and for the entire world. This moral resolution has been lacking.
Denied fulfillment in world order, modern internationalism has organized the nations for their own destruction. The social organism made an end unto itself becomes self-consuming. First there has been an interval of spiritual blindness, a miscalculation of the essential nature of human life; then a denial of the obligation to join with other nations for the sake of peace, then a denunciation of some threatening foe, and, finally, a plunge into the maelstrom where every trend toward world unity is accelerated faster than the public intelligence can comprehend.
Power to make permanent and workable decisions has been temporarily lost. Our international relations rest upon formal agreements which have not yet become translated into world relationships and hence remain subject to abrupt dissolution if the strains of social dislocation go to the breaking-point. In this condition of crisis humanity stands, unable to return to the simpler societies of the past and unable to generate sufficient power for true unity in a world civilization. The races and peoples meet in a fateful encounter, each cherishing its separateness as a duty and a right. One may say that humanity does not yet exist, for men are not directed by a world consciousness nor impelled by a mutual faith.
“Today the world of humanity,”
the Bahá’í teachings stated
a generation ago, “is in need of
international unity and conciliation.
To establish these great fundamental
principles a propelling
power is needed. It is self-evident
that unity of the human
world and the Most Great Peace
cannot be accomplished through
material means. They cannot be
established through political
power, for the political interests
[Page 260]
of nations are various and the
policies of peoples are divergent
and conflicting. They cannot be
founded through racial or patriotic
power, for these are human
powers, selfish and weak. The
very nature of racial differences
and patriotic prejudices prevents
the realization of this unity and
agreement. Therefore it is evidenced
that the promotion of the
oneness of the kingdom of humanity,
which is the essence of the
teachings of all the Manifestations
of God, is impossible except
through the divine power and the
breaths of the Holy Spirit. Other
powers are too weak and are incapable
of accomplishing this.”
“Among the teachings . . . . is man’s freedom, that through the ideal Power he should be free and emancipated from the captivity of the world of nature; for as long as man is captive to nature he is a ferocious animal, as the struggle for existence is one of the exigencies of the world of nature. This matter of the struggle for existence is the fountainhead of all calamities and is the supreme affliction.”
. . . “Universal peace is a matter of great importance, but unity of conscience is essential, so that the foundation of this matter may become secure, its establishment firm and its edifice strong.”
In the Bahá’í writings, peace is revered because in essence it is a spiritual mystery in which humanity has been invited in our day, for the first time, to partake. Peace is a divine creation; a reconciliation of human and divine purpose. Peace appears first as a universal religion; as its influence gathers force and its principles spread then peace can permeate the body of society, redeeming its institutions and its activities and consecrating its aims.
“Universal peace,” these writings promise, “is assured . . . as a fundamental accomplishment of the religion of God; that peace shall prevail among nations, governments and peoples, among religions, races and all conditions of mankind. This is one of the special characteristics of the Word of God revealed in this Manifestation.”
SPIRITUAL EDUCATION—THE INSTRUMENT OF PEACE
The issues of human existence turn upon the axis of education. Education alone can overcome the inertia of our separateness, transmute our creative energies for the realization of world unity, free the mind from its servitude to the past, and reshape civilization to be the guardian of our spiritual and physical resources.
The true purposes of education
[Page 261]
are not fulfilled by the knowledge
conferred through civil education,
since this knowledge ends with the
purposes of the individual or the
needs of the state. They are not
fulfilled by sectarian education,
since sectarian knowledge excludes
the basic principle of the
continuity and progressiveness of
revelation.
The true purposes of education are not achieved by independent pursuit of knowledge undertaken through study of the classics, the great philosophies or even the religious systems of the past. Such education enhances the individual capacity and deepens the insight of a group. It opens the door to a world of superior minds and heroic accomplishment. But that world is the reflection of the light of truth upon past conditions and events. It is not the rising of the sun to illumine our own time, inspire a unified world movement, and regenerate withered souls.
Nor may we hope that psychology can develop the necessary transforming power for a dislocated society, a scientific substitute for the primitive offices of religion. The explorer in the world of the psyche sees the projection of his own shadow, finds the answer determined by his own question. He can prove mechanistic determinism or demonstrate the freedom and responsibility of the soul. The area within which he works is suitable for the development of personal healing. He can learn the habitual reactions of persons in a group or of groups in a society, but this knowledge is statistical until applied by a comprehensive organ of intelligence on a world scale.
“The human spirit which distinguishes man from the animal,” the Bahá’í teachings state, “is the rational soul; and these two names—the human spirit and the rational soul—designate one thing. This spirit, which in the terminology of the philosophers is the rational soul, embraces all beings, and as far as human ability permits discovers the realities of things and becomes cognizant of their peculiarities and effects, and of the qualities and properties of beings. But the human spirit, unless assisted by the spirit of faith, does not become acquainted with the divine secrets and the heavenly realities. It is like a mirror which, although clear, polished and brilliant, is still in need of light. Until a ray of the sun reflects upon it, it cannot discover the heavenly secrets.”
This significant comment is
also found: “With the love of God
all sciences are accepted and beloved,
but without it, are fruitless;
[Page 262]
nay, rather, the cause of insanity.
Every science is like unto a tree;
if the fruit of it is the love of God,
that is a blessed tree. Otherwise it
is dried wood and finally a food
for fire.”
A new and universal concept of education is found in the literature of the Bahá’í Faith.
“When we consider existence, we see that the mineral, vegetable, animal and human worlds are all in need of an educator.
“If the earth is not cultivated it becomes a jungle where useless weeds grow; but if a cultivator comes and tills the ground, it produces crops which nourish living creatures. It is evident, therefore, that the soil needs the cultivaion of the farmer. . . .
“The same is true with respect to animals: notice when the animal is trained it becomes domestic, and also that man, if he is left without training becomes bestial, and, moreover, if left under the rule of nature, becomes lower than an animal, whereas if he is educated he becomes an angel . . .
“Now reflect that it is education that brings the East and West under the authority of man; it is education that produces wonderful industries; it is education that spreads glorious sciences and arts; it is education that makes manifest new discoveries and laws. If there were no educator there would be no such things as comforts, civilization, facilities, or humanity. . . .
“But education is of three kinds: material, human, and spiritual. Material education is concerned with the progress and development of the body, through gaining its sustenance, its material comfort and ease. This education is common to animals and man.
“Human education signifies civilization and progress: that is to say, government, administration, charitable works, trades, arts and handicrafts, sciences, great inventions and discoveries of physical laws, which are the activities essential to man as distinguished from the animal.
“Divine education is that of the Kingdom of God: it consists in acquiring divine perfections, and this is true education; for in this estate man becomes the center of divine appearance, the manifestation of the words, ‘Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.’ This is the supreme goal of the world of humanity.
“Now we need an educator who will be at the same time a material, human and spiritual educator, and whose authority will be effective in all conditions. . . .
[Page 263]
“It is clear that human power is
not able to fill such a great office,
and that the reason alone could
not undertake the responsibility
of so great a mission. How can
one solitary person without help
and without support lay the foundations
of such a noble construction?
He must depend on the help
of the spiritual and divine power
to be able to undertake this mission.
One Holy Soul gives life to
the world of humanity, changes
the aspect of the terrestrial globe,
causes intelligence to progress,
vivifies souls, lays the foundation
of a new existence, establishes the
basis of a marvelous creation, organizes
the world, brings nations
and religions under the shadow of
one standard, delivers man from
the world of imperfections and
vices, and inspires him with the
desire and need of natural and acquired
perfections. Certainly
nothing short of a divine power
could accomplish so great a
work.”
Who is this educator? “The holy Manifestations of God, the divine prophets, are the first teachers of the human race. They are universal educators and the fundamental principles they have laid down are the causes and factors of the advancement of nations. Forms and imitations which creep in afterward are not conducive to that progress. On the contrary these are destroyers of the human foundations laid by the heavenly educators.”
“Religion is the outer expression of the divine reality. Therefore it must be living, vitalized, moving, and progressive. If it be without motion and non-progressive it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore the revelation of them must be progressive and continuous.”
THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD
The focal point of the Bahá’í teachings is clarification of man’s relationsmhip to God. As long as peoples differ, or are unaware, or accept a substitute for this relationship, we cannot distinguish between truth and error, or discriminate between principle and superstition. Until we apprehend human beings in the light of the creative purpose, it is impossible to know ourselves or others. Social truth is merely experiment and hypothesis unless it forms part of a spiritual reality.
The founders of revealed religions,
who have been termed
prophets, messengers, messiahs
and saviours, in the Bahá’í
teachings are designated Manifestations
of God. These beings,
walking on earth as men, stand in
[Page 264]
a higher order of creation and are
endowed with powers and attributes
human beings do not possess.
In the world of truth they
shine like the sun, and the rays
emanating from that sun are the
light and the life of the souls of
men.
The Manifestation is not God. The Infinite cannot be incarnated. God reveals His will through the Manifestation, and apart from what is thus manifested His will and reality remain forever unknown. The physical universe does not reveal the divine purpose for man.
“Every one of them,” the Bahá’í teachings state, “is the Way of God that connects this world with the realms above, and the standard of His truth unto every one in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. They are the Manifestations of God amidst men, the evidences of His truth, and the signs of His glory.”
What almighty power is exercised by a will manifested through a person who has been flouted, denied, imprisoned, tortured, and crucified? No human authority could survive such savage onslaughts as have greeted each messenger who has come from the heavenly realm to this lowest of worlds. The divine power operates in such a manner that men are free to accept and adore, or repudiate and condemn. The divine power compels that from age to age men must come to a decision, but the decision itself is free. By that decision, when the prophet has revealed the will of God, men separate into two organic companies: those who believe and those who deny.
The whole pattern and process of history rests upon the succession of dispensations by which man’s innate capacities are developed and by which the course of social evolution is sustained. The rise and fall of civilizations proceed as the effect of prior spiritual causation. An ancient civilization undergoes moral decadence; by division of its own people and attack from without, its power and authority are destroyed; and with that destruction collapses the culture and the religious system which had become parasites upon its material wealth. Concurrently, a new creative spirit reveals itself in the rise of a greater and better type of society from the ruins of the old.
The critical point in this process
is the heroic sacrifice offered
the prophet by those who see in
him the way to God, and His official
condemnation by the heads
of the prevailing religious system.
The condemnation, because
[Page 265]
men cannot judge God, recoils
back upon the religion and the
civilization itself. They have condemned
themselves. In the same
manner, the small and weak minority
who have seen the Face
of God in His Manifestation
grow from strength to strength.
The future is with them. In their
spiritual fellowship the seeds of
the new civilization are watered
and its first, tender growth safeguarded
by their heart’s blood.
Through the Manifestation of God the power of the Holy Spirit accomplishes the will of God. Nothing can withstand that power. Because its work is not instantaneous, a darkened age cannot perceive the awful process of cause and effect—the divine will as cause, and human history as effect—guiding human destiny from age to age.
But the Bahá’í teachings penetrate farther into the mystery when they affirm that in spirit and in aim the successive prophets are one being, one authority, one will. This teaching on the oneness of the Manifestations of God is the essential characteristic of a revelation which represents religion for the cycle of man’s maturity and the creation of world peace.
“There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requirements of the age in which they were revealed.”
Those who deny and condemn the prophet, therefore, are not defending the divine purpose from sinister betrayal by one who introduces new laws and principles; on the contrary, since the Manifestation in Himself is one, they condemn their own prophet when He returns to regenerate the world and advance the true Faith of God. Thus is the moral nature of human life, and man’s responsibility to God, sustained throughout the devious course of history. Faith is no mere belief, but a connection with the only power that confers immortality on the soul and saves humanity as a whole from complete self-destruction.
“A man who has not had a spiritual education,” the Bahá’í writings attest, “is a brute.” “We have decreed, people, that the highest and last end of all learning be the recognition of Him who is the Object of all knowledge; and yet behold how ye have allowed your learning to shut you out, as by a veil, from Him who is the Day-spring of this Light, through whom every hidden thing has been revealed.”
[Page 266]
The oneness of the Manifestations
has been thus established in
the Bahá’í writing: “In the Word
of God there is . . . unity, the oneness
of the Manifestations of
God, His Holiness Abraham,
Moses, Jesus Christ, Muḥammad,
the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. This is
a unity divine, heavenly, radiant,
merciful; the one reality appearing
in successive manifestations.
For instance, the sun is one and
the same but its points of dawning
are various. During the summer
session it rises from the
northern point of the ecliptic; in
winter it appears from the southern
point of rising. Although
these dawning-points are different,
the sun is the same sun which
has appeared from them all. The
significance is the reality of
prophethood which is symbolized
by the sun, and the holy Manifestations
are the dawning-places or
zodiacal points.”
The coming of the Manifestation in this age signalizes the termination of a long epoch in human history, the prophetic era in which mankind was gradually prepared for the promised day of universal peace. In Bahá’u’lláh the spirit of faith is renewed and given expression in teachings which affirm the organic unity of the whole human race. Nothing sacred and valid revealed in former dispensations is denied, but the spirit of faith has been endowed with a worldwide and universal meaning.
The Bahá’í teachings overcome prejudices of race, nation, and sect by inspiring sentiment of brotherhood. They create not only a pure well of feeling but constitute also a unified body of knowledge in which the power of reason can be fulfilled. They connect social truth with the truth of worship, and broaden the field of ethics to include right relationships of races as well as individual persons. They formulate law and principle which will bring order into international affairs.
“In this present age the world of humanity,” the teachings, anticipating the conditions of today, declared, before the first World War, “is afflicted with severe sicknesses and grave disorders which threaten death. Therefore His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has appeared. He is the real physician bringing divine remedy and healing to the world of man.”
“The first teaching of Bahá’u’lláh
is the investigation of
reality. Man must seek the reality
himself, forsaking imitations
and adherence to mere hereditary
forms. As the nations of the
world are following imitations in
lieu of truth and as imitations are
many and various, differences of
belief have been productive of
strife and warfare. So long as
these imitations remain the oneness
[Page 267]
of the world of humanity is
impossible. Therefore we must
investigate the reality in order
that by its light the clouds and
darkness may be dispelled. If
the nations of the world investigate
reality they will agree and
become united.”
“The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory, and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His divine Manifestation.” This knowledge offers to men the substance of the education needed for the establishment of a society worthy of the blessings of justice and peace.
Spirit-Winged
MAYE HARVEY GIFT
- How can I choose
- But turn unto my heart’s Desire;
- Pour out my inmost soul to Him,
- My gratitude, my failures,
- And my hopes?
- How can I choose
- But list enraptured to His voice
- (The sweetest music of the spheres)
- With inspiration and with guidance
- For my life?
- How can I choose
- But linger in communion rare,
- Until my will bows captive unto His?
- Then does my soul, rejoiced and spirit-winged,
- Return with ardour to His service
- Here today!
A Tribute
“It was in San Francisco in 1945 that I first had the privilege of meeting
the followers of the Bahá’í Faith and learning something of the teachings
of their great Prophet. I had spoken at the Plenary Session of the General
Assembly of the United Nations, and had pointed out that it was not the
independence of the nations, but their interdependence that had to be emphasized
and constantly kept in view. The distinctions of Race and Religion,
of colour and creed, are but superficial, the welfare of one part of the
world cannot be sustained if other areas are depressed. The War had illustrated
most forcibly the indivisibility of human happiness and human misery.
It had, in fact, taught us that there was only one undivided world and
that we are the children of one God.
“A little group of Bahá’ís who were at the conference and met me afterwards, congratulated me on having given expression on that world platform to some of the beliefs that they held dear. That is how I have become acquainted and soon deeply interested in the Bahá’í Faith. I have since had the privilege of meeting Bahá’ís in various centers of India, Europe and America. I have a very happy and lively recollection of my visit to Wilmette, Illinois, where I was taken round the ‘Temple of Light’—the Bahá’í Temple —a beautiful and inspiring structure, which in its very architecture, with its nine sides dedicated to the nine great religions of the world, emphasizes the universality of all religions.
“‘You are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch,’ says the Prophet. Again and again I have come across such sayings which have forcibly reminded me of the teachings of the Vedas. ‘Whenever virtue subsides and vice triumphs, then am I reborn to redeem mankind’, says the Divine in the Gita. The Bahá’í Faith remarkably speaks not of one Prophet for all time, but of a succession of Prophets as Divine Dispensation sees the need for them.
“In fact, the Bahá’í Faith gives us the great and precious message of unity in religion. The Bahá’ís do not form a sect by themselves. Rather, through the teachings of their Prophet, they try to illumine the eternal verities of every religion and to quicken the noble impulses of the true followers of every religion with the spirit of catholicity and fraternalism. How much the world needs such a spirit today . . . How far we are from that one far off divine event to which the whole creation is destined to move . . . the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.
“Perhaps the Bahá’í Faith is destined to be, and may prove, the greatest single force in achieving that Godly consecrated consummation . . .”
President, Economic & Social Council of
U.N.C. Leader, Indian Delegation to United
Nations Conference on Freedom of Information.
Prime Minister, Mysore State.
THE Bahá’í House of Worship
in Wilmette is the focal point, in
the Western Hemisphere, of the Faith of
Bahá’u’lláh. Built on the sacrifice of
Bahá’ís the world over, and of Bahá’ís
alone, it shows forth the certitude of peace
in a peace-hungry world. Thousands who
visit it every month, men and women from
all countries and of all faiths, go away
refreshed by its beauty and reassured by
the spirit of unity and human brotherhood
which it diffuses.
The serene outline of the great structure has been represented many times and is no doubt familiar to the readers of this magazine. The following pictures show us the rich variety of the details which blend together to make it up. So, in this Day, teaches the Bahá’í Faith, will the rich variety of human life be blended in an ordered whole.
Sri Krishna, His Message
and His Return
PRITAM SINGH
THE MESSAGE OF BHAGWAD GITA
THE marvelous Sanskrit poem, the Bhagwad Gita, occurs in the Sixth Chapter (Bhishma Purva) of the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In plain but dignified language it unfolds a philosophical system which is a combination of Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta. The question of its date remains unsettled but the weight of evidence tends to place its composition about 300 A.D. though it may have been written anterior to the Christian era, as Mr. Kasinath Telang argues.
It was revealed to Sri Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra where the armies of the Kaurvas and the Pandavas met to decide about the question of sovereignty. Sri Krishna is represented in the disguise of a charioteer and a dialogue takes place between him and prince Arjuna. Bhagwad Gita has eighteen Chapters in all and it seeks to co-ordinate the three-fold path of Gayan (Knowledge), Karma (Action) and Bhakti (Devotion).
As a matter of fact it is a synthesis of the various schools of thought that were current at the time in India. For example in Chapter III when Arjuna puts Krishna this question: “Tell me one thing and tell me certainly, by what road shall I find the better end?” Sri Krishna replies:— “There be two paths— one of action and the other of meditation.” He explains himself by saying that no man shall escape from acting by shunning action and none shall come by mere renouncement unto perfection. Again he says, “Do thine allotted task. Work is more excellent than idleness.” And finally he says that it is better that one do his own task as he may, even though he fail, than take tasks not his own, though they be good. “To die performing duty is no ill, but who seeks other roads shall wander still.” Of course we should act always in a spirit of dedication, says Sri Krishna.
Again in Chapter VII we read these inspired words of Sri Krishna. He says:
- “I make and unmake this Universe!
- Than one there is no other master, Prince!
- No other Maker! All these hang on me
- As hangs a row of pearls upon the string.
- I am the fresh taste of the Water; I [Page 274]
- The silver of the moon, the gold of the sun,
- The word of worship in the Vedas, the thrill
- That passes in the ether and the strength
- Of man’s shed seed. I am the good sweet smell
- Of the moistened earth, I am the fire’s red light,
- The vital air moving in all which moves,
- The holiness of hallowed souls, the root
- Undying, whence hath sprung whatever is,
- The wisdom of the wise, the intellect
- Of the informed, the greatness of the great,
- The splendour of the splendid.”[1]
According to Bhagwad Gita, God is transcendent as well as imminent, our soul or Atma is of the same essence as the Over Soul or Parmatma (God). That means that man has been made in the image of God.
In Chapter XII Arjuna’s question:
- “Lord! Of the men who serve Thee—true in heart—
- As God revealed; and of the men who serve
- Worshipping Thee Unrevealed, Unbodied, Far,
- Which take the better way of faith and life?”
is answered very beautifully by Sri Krishna as follows: He says:
- “Hard the travail is for such as bend their minds
- To reach the Unmanifest. That viewless path
- Shall scarce be trod by man bearing the flesh!
- But whereas any doeth all his deeds
- Renouncing self for Me, full of Me
- Fixed to serve only the Highest, night and day
- Musing on Me—him will I swiftly lift
- Forth from life’s ocean of distress and death
- Whose soul clings fast to Me. Cling thou to me!”
- —(Bhagwad Gita Chapter XII)
and again
“He (Lord) will accept lower service too, such as toil in works, even failures of a person who takes refuge in Him.” Such is the path of Bhakti or devotion as outlined in Bhagwad Gita. Sri Krishna concludes by saying:
- “Near to renunciation—very near Dwelleth Eternal Peace.”
In Chapter XVIII Arjuna again asks Sri Krishna the difference between Sannyas and Tyaga to which the reply is clear and plain.
“Sannyas is the foregoing of
all acts which spring out of desire.
Tyaga is, on the other hand,
renouncing the fruit of acts. For,
being in body, none may stand
wholly aloof from act; yet who
abstains from profit of his acts
is abstinent. A true act is an act
which is done as a matter of
duty. For example, worship, pennance,
alms are acts which are
[Page 275]
like purifying waters for the
soul.”
In the same Chapter we have very clearly explained the three qualities or three gunas (Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas), which, when applied to the threefold paths of Gayan, Karma, and Bhakti, give us true religion, which is made up of satwick, knowledge, or true knowledge, i.e. to see one changeless life in all the lives and, in the separate, one Inseparable; of satwick action—an action which, being enjoined, is wrought without attachment, passionlessly, for duty, not for love and hate, nor gain; and satwick devotion, which takes a person to the highest height of all and makes him one with Brahm.
Such, briefly speaking, is the sublime message of Bhagwad Gita which has come down to us in that wonderful epic, the Mahabharata.
THE SECOND COMING OF KRISHNA
The Mahabharata mentions four Yugas or Ages: Krita, which lasted for 4,000 years and of which the dawn was equal to four hundred years and evening also 400 years—that is to say 4,800 years in all. The next Age is known as Treta, which lasted for 3,000 years and of which the dawn was equal to 300 years and evening also 300 years—the total duration being 3,600 years. Then the world entered the Age known as Dwapar whose length was 2,000 years and whose dawn lasted for 200 years and whose evening’s duration was 200 years—the total of Dwapar Age being 2,400 years. The Manifestation of Krishna seems to have been in the Dwapar Age and with His passing away the last Age or Kaliyuga, also known as “the Dark Age,” began; and the duration of this age was to be one thousand years with a dawn extending over 100 years and an evening lasting for 100 years, thus making a total of 1,200 years. At the close of Kaliyuga it is written the Kalki Avtara is to appear, and that is the Millennium spoken of in the Hindu scriptures, or Satyayaga (golden age) as it is called—the Age of Peace and Prosperity.
It may be noted in passing
that the chief characteristics of
these four Yugas have also been
given by the author of Mahabharata.
“In the Krita age everything
was free from deceit and
guile, avarice and covetousness.
Virtue, like a bull among men,
was with four legs complete. In
the Treta, sin took away one of
the legs and virtue had then
three legs. In the Dwapar sin
and virtue are mixed half and
half. In the Kaliyuga (dark age)
[Page 276]
virtue being mixed with three
parts of sin is said to wait upon
men with only fourth part remaining.”
Vyas Rishi in Shrimad Bhagwad, while foretelling about future events which were to prevail in Kaliyuga, states:—
“In the coming years, Kali Yuga will become stronger and stronger, and religion, truth, chastity, mercy, pity, longevity, power and remembrance will all become less and less every day.
“In Kali Yuga money will become the sole test of birth, conduct and the good qualities of a man. Money alone will be the test of justice, for justice will be bought and sold.”
Again, in Vanaupurva of Mahabharata, we read:
“When that age would come every one would be in want. All the directions will be in a blaze; the stars and constellations will have no brilliancy . . . When this age will come fire will blaze up in all directions. Men in great affliction will rove over the various countries.”
THE MILLENNIUM
“When the terrible age would be over, then creatures will come into existence again, beginning with the Brahmans. Abundance, prosperity, wealth and peace will be everywhere. Impelled by Time, a Brahman named Kalki (Vishnuyasha[2]) will be born. He will possess great energy, intelligence and prowess. He will be born at a village called Shambhala[3], in a blessed Brahman family. He will be the imperial sovereign, ever victorious by the strength of his virtue. He will restore order and peace in this world overcrowded with creatures and contradictory in its laws. That effulgent and greatly intelligent Brahman will destroy all things. He will be the destroyer of all and the maker of a of a new Yuga. That twiceborn one, surrounded by the Brahmans, will exterminate all the low and despicable creatures wherever they will be found.”
The picture drawn of the Age known as Satyayuga (return of the Krita age) is as follows:
“That Kalki will rove over
the earth being adored by the
foremost of Brahmans. . . . Sin
will thus be completely destroyed
and virtue will flourish.
The Kings will virtuously govern
the earth. Men in general
[Page 277]
will begin to honor and practice
truth.” And so Sri Krishna said
long ago:
“O excellent man, at those times when virtue and morality decrease in the world and sin and immorality increase I create myself . . . . . For the preservation of virtue and morality I assume a human form and when the time comes I assume forms that are inconceivable.” (Mahabharata.)
“When the end of Kaliyuga comes I assume the fearful form of death and destroy all the three worlds with all their mobile and immobile creatures. I then cover the universe with three steps. I am the Soul of the World. I am the source of all happiness.” (Mahabharata).
- ↑ These passages have been taken from Edwin Arnold’s “Song Celestial,” a translation of Bhagwad Gita in English verse.
- ↑ Vishnuyasha means “the Glory of God.”
- ↑ According to Prof. Nicholas Roerich, “Shambhala is the Holy Place where the earthly world links with the highest states of consciousness. There are two Shambhalas, an earthly one which cannot be located, and an invisible one.”
The Revelation, of which Bahá’u’lláh is the source and center, abrogates none of the religions that have preceded it, nor does it attempt, in the slightest degree, to distort their features or to belittle their value. It disclaims any intention of dwarfing any of the Prophets of the past, or of whittling down the eternal verity of their teachings. It can, in no wise, conflict with the spirit that animates their claims, nor does it seek to undermine the basis of any man’s allegiance to their cause. Its declared, its primary purpose is to enable every adherent of these Faiths to obtain a fuller understanding of the religion with which he stands identified, and to acquire a clearer apprehension of its purpose. It is neither eclectic in the presentation of its truths, nor arrogant in the affirmation of its claims. Its teachings revolve around the fundamental principle that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is progressive, not final. Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be Divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind . . .
A Change of Perspective
Editorial
WHAT is most needed in the
world today is a change of
perspective. Men have not yet
found a way to work and live
peacefully together, and everywhere
there is fear of another
world war. Clashes of nations on
the level of power-politics are
strong evidence that man is far
from having rid himself of national
prejudices; clashes of economic
interests prove conclusively
that man has not solved his
economic problems. Nor is he
anywhere near having cured his
racial hatreds; and in religion he
finds it almost impossible to hold
one faith without opposing all
others.
Men are not moved by the idea of service to mankind. In government they develop mostly their own egos, their personal ambitions. When they reach the acme of power, they have the world in their hands and believe they are creators of their own sphere of dominance. They forget that they are also created beings. Their perspective lacks some humbleness, it ignores the idea of a Creator to whom they are responsible, and they believe they are responsible to no one but themselves, and they forget above all that in this day, as in all times, responsibility towards God is responsibility towards mankind. The individual is important, but mankind is yet more important. Otherwise world peace will never be.
Something new is therefore needed to aid men to live in peace with the members of their family, their community, their country, and other countries. A new outlook must be grasped that has to do with the individual as a responsible, mature member of a world society.
The only place man will find this new perspective is in religion. Through world religion he will attain world peace. Because only a changed individual, different from the modern man that sees in the universe no purpose and considers human life meaningless, will be able to build a changed, peaceful society. Only an individual that has regained the material-spiritual balance of his self, and rediscovered the spiritual basis of human nature, can rid himself of all the misconceptions, the misinformation, the misunderstandings that make it impossible for him to work and live in peace with his neighbor.
[Page 279]
He will go to the source of
all true religion, the teachings of
the Great Educators of mankind,
the prophets of God, and find the
corrections for his slanted perspective.
He will realize the oneness
of religion, as it has developed
through the ages, each prophet
bringing the same set of
spiritual truths—that are eternal
and fit mankind in any time,
in any civilization—and a new
set of social teachings that fit
men in a certain age, in a certain
stage of development.
Because of these social teachings, man has been able in the past to find this change of perspective in the words of Moses, of Zoroaster, of Christ, of Muḥammad. Today, he can find them in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. There he will discover not only a new kind of education that aims at building a peaceful world community, but also, and what is perhaps even more important, the spiritual power that is capable of imbuing him, as was the case with the followers of the former prophets, with the will to put into action those teachings.
In reeducating thus his perspective, man will focus his attention on the oneness of mankind, instead of the division of men in families, groups, races, nations and the like. Through the power of these Divine teachings, he will gradually but continually work towards eliminating all elements of disunity in human life, throw prejudices to burn in a crackling winter fire, and settle down to work constructively for a lasting world peace.
Cleanse from your hearts the love of worldly things, from your tongues every remembrance except His remembrance, from your entire being whatsoever may deter you from beholding His face, or may tempt you to follow the promptings of your evil and corrupt inclinations.
What Modern Man Must Know About Religion
A Compilation
II. THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION
Foreword
A VITAL part of the destructive element in present-day civilization lies in the incompatibility of what is regarded as knowledge and suitable for education.
For example, when the science of geology began to deal with the evolution of the earth, its reports were in direct conflict with the literal story told in the Bible. Even more does this apply to the different forms of knowledge applying to the nature of man. Here the physiologist, the psychologist, the anthropologist, the historian, the philosopher, the economist, the political scientist, and the orthodox religionist all deal separately with the subject, so that the student seeking the complete testimony would find himself in a morass of contradiction.
The Bahá’í Revelation has revolutionized the function and method of education by establishing a criterion of truth which applies to every field of knowledge. The scope of the Bahá’í teachings is not limited to the narrow area which in the past was designated “religion,” but deals with reality as a whole. That is, the Bahá’ís have been given a unified, organic and consistent body of truth. “The source of all learning is the knowledge of God.”
This does not mean that the Manifestation in this cycle has written the details of all the sciences, arts, and trades but that He has revealed the oneness of the realm of what man can know and experience. Nothing can ever again be accepted as “knowledge” or as “truth” which denies or evades anything revealed by the Manifestation or condemned by authorities or institutions the Manifestation declares to be infallible.
Among many observations to which this new status of truth might lead, one of the important is that human tyranny can never again claim justification of its effort to control society by reference to any science or any philosophy. When the Bahá’í teachings call men to be truthful, they offer us firm protection against the forces of destruction which emanate from the animal world.
The second observation is that
there is a divine purpose in man’s
power to know and to understand
reality: man can apprehend the
Manifestation. Those who fail to
recognize Him may no longer be
[Page 281]
considered learned, or intelligent,
or wise.
The following passages are the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. References to the books from which they are taken will be found at the end.
11. In nature there is the law of the survival of the fittest. Even if man be not educated, then according to the natural institutes this natural law will demand of man supremacy. The purpose and object of schools, colleges and universities is to educate man and thereby rescue and redeem him from the exigencies and defects of nature and awaken within him the capability of controlling and appropriating nature’s bounties.
If we should relegate this plot of ground to its natural state, allow it to return to its original condition, it would become a field of thorns and useless weeds, but by cultivation it will become fertile soil yielding a harvest. Deprived of cultivation the mountain slopes would be jungles and forests without fruitful trees. The gardens bring forth fruits and flowers in proportion to the care and tillage bestowed upon them by the gardener.
Therefore it is not intended that the world of humanity should be left to its natural state. It is in need of the education divinely provided for it. The holy, heavenly Manifestations of God have been the teachers. They are the divine gardeners who transform the jungles of human nature into fruitful orchards and make the thorny places blossom as the rose. It is evident then that the intended and special function of man is to rescue and redeem himself from the inherent defects of nature and become qualified with the ideal virtues of divinity. Shall he sacrifice these ideal virtues and destroy these possibilities of of advancement? God has endowed him with a power whereby he can even overcome the laws and phenomena of nature, wrest the sword from nature’s hand and use it against nature itself. Shall he then remain a captive, even failing to qualify under the natural law which commands the survival of the fittest? That is to say, shall he continue to live upon the level of the animal kingdom without distinction between them and himself in natural impulses and ferocious instincts?
There is no lower degree or greater debasement for man than this natal condition of animalism. The battlefield is the Acme of human degradation, the cause of the wrath of God, the destruction of the divine foundation of man.
12. Know that people belong
to two categories, that is to say,
[Page 282]
they constitute two parties. One
party deny the spirit, and say
that man also is a species of animal;
for they say, do we not see
that animals and men share the
same powers and senses? These
simple single elements which fill
space are endlessly combined,
and from each of these combinations
one of the beings is produced.
Among these beings is
the possessor of spirit, of the
powers and of the senses. The
more perfect the combination,
the nobler is the being. The combination
of the elements in the
body of man is more perfect than
the composition of any other being;
it is mingled in absolute
equilibrium, therefore it is more
noble and more perfect. “It is
not,” they say, “that he has a
special power and spirit which
the other animals lack: animals
possess sensitive bodies, but man
in some powers has more sensation
—although, in what concerns
the outer senses, such as hearing,
sight, taste, smell touch, and
even in some interior powers like
memory, the animal is more richly
endowed than man.” “The animal,
too,” they say, “has intelligence
and perception”: all that
they concede is that man’s intelligence
is greater.
This is what the philosophers of the present state; this is their saying, this is their supposition, and thus their imagination decrees. So with powerful arguments and proofs, they make the descent of man go back to the animal, and say that there was once a time when man was an animal; that then the species changed, and progressed little by little until it reached the present status of man.
But the theologians say: No, this is not so. Though man has powers and outer senses in common with the animal, yet an extraordinary power exists in him of which the animal is bereft. The sciences, arts, inventions, trades, and discoveries of realities, are the results of this spiritual power. This is a power which encompasses all things, comprehends their realities, discovers all the hidden mysteries of beings, and through this knowledge controls them: it even perceives things which do not exist outwardly; that is to say, intellectual realities which are not sensible, and which have no outward existence, because they are invisible; so it comprehends the mind, the spirit, the qualities, the characters, the love and sorrow of man, which are intellectual realities.
13. Nature is inert, man is
progressive. Nature has no consciousness,
man is endowed with
it. Nature is without volition and
acts perforce whereas man possesses
[Page 283]
a mighty will. Nature is
incapable of discovering mysteries
or realities whereas man
is especially fitted to do so. Nature
is not in touch with the
realm of God, man is attuned to
its evidences. Nature is uninformed
of God, man is conscious
of Him. Man acquires divine virtues,
nature is denied them. Man
can voluntarily discontinue vices,
nature has no power to modify
the influence of its instincts. Altogether
it is evident that man is
more noble and superior; that in
him there is an ideal power surpassing
nature. He has consciousness,
volition, memory, intelligent
power, divine attributes and
virtues of which nature is completely
deprived, bereft and
minus; therefore man is higher
and nobler by reason of the ideal
and heavenly force latent and
manifest in him.
How strange then it seems that man, notwithstanding his endowment with this ideal power, will descend to a level beneath him and declare himself no greater than that which is manifestly inferior to his real station. God has created such a conscious spirit within him that he is the most wonderful of all contingent beings. In ignoring these virtues he descends to the material plane, considers matter the ruler of existence and denies that which lies beyond. Is this virtue? In its fullest sense this is animalistic, for the animal realizes nothing more. In fact from this standpoint the animal is the greater philosopher because it is completely ignorant of the kingdom of God, possesses no spiritual susceptibilities and is uninformed of the heavenly world. In brief, this is a view of the pathway of nature.
The second pathway is that of religion, the road of the divine Kingdom. It involves the acquisition of praiseworthy attributes, heavenly illumination and righteous actions in the world of humanity. This pathway is conducive to the progress and uplift of the world. It is the source of human enlightenment, training and ethical improvement; the magnet which attracts the love of God because of the knowledge of God it bestows. This is the road of the holy Manifestations of God for they are in reality the foundation of the divine religion of oneness. There is no change or transformation in this pathway. It is the cause of human betterment, the acquisition of heavenly virtues and the illumination of mankind.
14. All the powers and attributes
of man are human and hereditary
in origin, outcomes of
nature’s processes, except intellect,
which is supernatural. . . .
Science is the first emanation
[Page 284]
from God toward man. All created
beings embody the potentiality
of material perfection, but the
power of intellectual investigation
and scientific acquisition is
a higher virtue specialized to
man alone. Other beings and organisms
are deprived of this potentiality
and attainment. God
has created or deposited this love
of reality in man. The development
and progress of a nation is
according to the measure and degree
of that nation’s scientific attainments.
Through this means,
its greatness is continually increased
and day by day the welfare
and prosperity of its people
are assured. . . .
How shall we utilize these gifts and expend these bounties? By directing our efforts toward the unification of the human race. We must use these powers in establishing the oneness of the world of humanity; appreciate these virtues by accomplishing the unity of the white and colored races; devote this divine intelligence to the perfecting of amity and accord among all branches of the human family, so that under the protection and providence of God, the East and West may hold each other’s hands and become as lovers. Then will mankind be as one nation, one race and kind; as waves of one ocean.
15. The everlasting bestowal of God vouchsafed to man is never subject to corruption. Inasmuch as He has endowed the phenomenal world with being, it is impossible for that world to become non-being, for it is the very genesis of God; it is the realm of origination; it is a creational and not a subjective world, and the bounty descending upon it is continuous and permanent. Therefore man, the highest creature of the phenomenal world, is endowed with that continuous bounty bestowed by divine generosity without cessation. For instance, the rays of the sun are continuous, the heat of the sun emanates from it without cessation; no discontinuance of it is conceivable. Even so the bestowal of God is descending upon the world of humanity, never ceasing, continuous, forever. If we say that the bestowal of existence ceases or falters it is equivalent to saying that the sun can exist with cessation of its effulgence. Is this possible? Therefore the effulgences of existence are ever-present and continuous.
The conception of annihilation
is a factor in human degradation,
a cause of human debasement
and lowliness, a source of human
fear and abjection. It has been
conducive to the dispersion and
weakening of human thought
whereas the realization of existence
[Page 285]
and continuity has upraised
man to sublimity of ideals,
established the foundations of
human progress and stimulated
the development of heavenly virtues;
therefore it behooves man
to abandon thoughts of non-existence
and death which are absolutely
imaginary and see himself
ever living, everlasting in the
divine purpose of his creation.
He must turn away from ideas
which degrade the human soul,
so that day by day and hour by
hour he may advance upward
and higher to spiritual perception
of the continuity of the human
reality. If he dwells upon
the thought of non-existence he
will become utterly incompetent;
with weakened will-power his
ambition for progress will be lessened
and the acquisition of human
virtues will cease.
Therefore you must thank God that He has bestowed upon you the blessing of life and existence in the human kingdom. Strive diligently to acquire virtues befitting your degree and station.
16. The attainment of any object is conditioned upon knowledge, volition and action.
Unless these three conditions are forthcoming there is no execution or accomplishment. In the erection of a house it is first necessary to know the ground and design the house suitable for it; second, to obtain the means or funds necessary for the construction; third, to actually build it.
Therefore a power is needed to carry out and execute what is known and admitted to be the remedy for human conditions: namely, the unification of mankind. Furthermore, it is evident that this can not be accomplished through material progress and means. The accomplishment of this unification can not be through racial power, for races are different and diverse in tendencies. It cannot be through patriotic power, for nationalities are unlike. Nor can it be effected through political power since the policies of governments and nations are various.
That is to say, any effort toward unification through these material means would benefit one and injure another because of unequal and individual interests. Some may believe this great remedy can be found in dogmatic insistence upon (religious) imitations and interpretations.
This would likewise be without foundation and result. Therefore it is evident that no means but an ideal means, a spiritual power, divine bestowals and the breaths of the Holy Spirit will heal this world sickness of war, dissension and discord.
[Page 286]
REFERENCES:
- 11. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 347.
- 12. Bahá’í World Faith, p. 303.
- 13. Ibid., p. 236.
- 14. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 46.
- 15. Ibid., p. 86.
- 16. Ibid., p. 152
The Goal of History
For thousands of years men have had the vision of a great day when “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,” when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of its Lord,” when there will be real brotherhood, the kingdom of God on earth. “Thy kingdom come” was once a realistic and confident cry. Now that it has lost, or is losing its practical meaning, the astonishing announcement comes from Bahá’u’lláh, “This is the Day.” He declares that the vision which we have preserved for so long is a true one, and the goal of history is now to be reached.
That goal is not an end in itself, but only the gateway to something higher than has been known before. That goal is world brotherhood, or World Order. And World Order is the outward sign of the coming of age of the human race. Just as the tree, when it reaches the fruit-bearing stage, has the longest and most useful part of its life before it, so man, now that he is approaching maturity, stands at the threshold of the longest and most splendid era of his existence.
This World Order will not be established by any magical or arbitrary act, but must be attained by the human race through a painful transition from youth to manhood. We are in that state of transition now.
The period is painful and unsettled because, like most young people approaching maturity, we cling to the passions and prejudices, the heedlessness and irresponsibility of youth, when all the forces of the soul are pressing on to achieve their full inheritance.
Our view of history, then, is of a natural process of growth, which aims at bringing man, the individual and the community, to maturity, so that the potentialities latent within him may be fully manifested. These potentialities are, individually “the image of God,” and socially “the Kingdom of God on earth.”
WITH OUR READERS
DAVID S. RUHE (our lead article,
“Religion for Adults”) received
his M.D. from Temple University, in
1941, and the following year was
commissioned in the Public Health
Service. He first worked briefly as a
malaria epidemiologist and malaria
control worker, and later did research
in anti-malarial drugs (with
the National Research Council and
National Institute of Health). At
the present time he is attempting to
make a career specialty of medical
education with emphasis on visual
education. His current assignment is
with the Communicable Disease Center,
in Atlanta.
Dr. Ruhe, who has been a Bahá’í since 1940, has applied his knowledge of visual education to Bahá’í work, among other things drafting scripts for sets of slides that illustrate the Bahá’í teachings and administration. His previous contribution to World Order, “The Bahá’í Basis for Human Relations”, appeared in May of last year.
* * *
We are very happy to publish the tribute to the Bahá’í Faith by Sir A. Ramaswami Mudaliar, which came to us through the National Spiritual Assembly. It is gratifying to know that the regenerating power of the Faith is being recognized by some of those who are guiding the destinies of the nations.
* * *
After twenty-two years of teaching work in various colleges and universities of India, Pritam Singh, author of “Sri Krishna, His Message and His Return,” retired in 1927 to dedicate himself to the teaching of the Bahá’í Faith. Prof. Singh was born in Sialkot City, where his father was a judge. He studied at Khalsa College, in Amritsar, took his B.A. at the Lahore Government College, and later took two M.A. degrees, one in History, at Punjab, and another in Economics, at Culcutta. He was at various times a member of the staffs of Aitchinson College, Mohindra College, Allahabad University (as reader in Economics), Mission College in Rawalpindi, and finally Commerce College at Cawnpore.
In 1927 he settled in Lahore.
While he was on the staff of the
Aitchinson College (1905-1908) he
met the distinguished Bahá’í teacher
Mírzá Maḥmúd Zarphani, and he was
won over to the Bahá’í Faith later in
1908 when he paid a visit to Bombay
and came into contact with Mírzá
Mehram. Ever since he retired
from his professorship he has traveled
almost all over India in the
company of many fine Bahá’í teachers.
He has also taught the Bahá’í
Faith independently in universities,
in colleges, and in religious organizations
such as the Theosophical Society
and Brahmo Samaj. For ten
years Prof. Singh was a member of
the National Bahá’í Assembly in
Lahore. At one time he edited the
“Bahá’í Weekly.” He has published
a few books and pamphlets in Urdu
[Page 288]
and English, and has translated into
Punjabi (Urdu Script) Dr. Esselmont’s
book, “Bahá’u’lláh and the
New Era.”
Prof. Singh is now a Bahá’í pioneer in Amritsar, in the Indian Union.
From Bombay, India, we received a letter from one of our readers who is a Zoroastrian by birth, but who has had an opportunity of studying, through a Bahá’í friend, most of the Bahá’í teachings. He says he is impressed by the high philosophy and the non-monopolizing attitude of the Bahá’í Faith. He tells how from personal experience he has found out that it is only when misery surrounds us that we become more sincere in our desire for illumination. In a poem—“Night’s Shadow”— written when suffering great pain, this reader says of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “those Masters taught us beauty and hope.”
* * *
Victor de Araujo, one of our new editors, comments in his editorial, “A Change of Perspective,” on the need for the development of new fundamental attitudes if we are to have peace.
* * *
We are happy to present a new poem by Maye Harvey Gift. Mrs. Gift has been a constant contributor of articles, book reviews, poems, and compilations. Her last piece, “Glimpsing Oneness” came out in our May issue.
* * *
In the second part of “Religious Education for a Peaceful Society,” Horace Holley continues his discussion of a fundamental problem of our time. The first part appeared last month.
* * *
Still on the subject of education, in addition to Mr. Holley’s article, we present part II of the compilation, “What Modern Man Must Know About Religion,” prepared by the Bahá’í Public Relations Committee. The selections this month deal with the “Purpose of Education.”
* * *
The pictures of the Bahá’í House of Worship were taken by Harlan C. Scheffler, a commercial artist in Chicago. Mr. Scheffler has for a long time been interested in photography and uses it both as an aid in his professional work and as a means of teaching the Bahá’í Faith. He has been a Bahá’í for many years, and is at present a member of the Evanston Bahá’í Assembly.
Bahá’í Literature
Books About the Faith
Distributed by Bahá’í Publishing Committee
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND THE NEW ERA
This work by the late J. E. Esslemont of Aberdeen, Scotland, has for more than twenty years been the most useful introductory book on the Bahá’í Revelation. Its successive chapters outline the history and teachings of the Faith, and show the significance of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the New Era. Many translations have appeared in languages other than English.
THE PROMISE OF ALL AGES
Dr. George Townshend of the Church of England has become known as one of the most scholarly and appealing authors working on Bahá’í material. This work has particular interest for seekers with Christian background. It develops the theme of Bahá’u’lláh as the “King of Glory” foretold by all the Prophets.
SECURITY FOR A FAILING WORLD
Prof. Stanwood Cobb, American educator, has successfully set himself to answer the question as to whether the intelligence of man is capable of creating a stable civilization—without a spiritual renaissance the present social order is doomed. It features the role of religion in the formation of civilization.
THIS EARTH ONE COUNTRY
The author, Emeric Sala of Montreal, is a business man with international experience. He approaches religion in terms of its new function as source of justice and describes clearly and forcefully the unique contribution being made by the Bahá’í Faith to the solution of the existing world problem.
THE RENEWAL OF CIVILIZATION
A new and very useful introductory work of less than one hundred pages. The author, David Hofman of London, England, is concerned with the questions oppressing men today: what the future holds, what purpose there is in life, what value in striving, what good in civilization. His book of nine chapters will interest any person who has the courage to seek the true answer to the issues of our time.
TRUTHS FOR A NEW DAY
promulgated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Throughout North America in 1912
These teachings were given by Bahá’u’lláh
over seventy years ago and are to be
found in His published
writings of that time.
The oneness of mankind.
Independent investigation of truth.
The foundation of all religions is one.
Religion must be the cause of unity.
Religion must be in accord with science and reason.
Equality between men and women.
Prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten.
Universal peace.
Universal education.
Spiritual solution of the economic problem.
A universal language.
An international tribunal.