Chapter 12

67: The cheque for the amount of two hundred ...

(195) The cheque for the amount of two hundred pounds that you had sent as your contribution to the Temple Fund has been received and duly forwarded to Chicago. Behold what a pervasive power this evidence of co-operation and support, this spirit of selfless consecration is bound to release in the realm of the heart and spirit. Consider to what extent the world of human virtues will be enriched and adorned by this munificent act, and how glorious the light that this manifestation of unity and solidarity is likely to shed upon all regions. Indeed, this mighty endeavour has been accomplished despite the adverse economic situation in Persia, where the evidences of hardship, privation and depression are clearly apparent. But since the object of this noble enterprise and praiseworthy effort is to enhance the glory of the Cause of God, therefore it will unfailingly attract divine blessings and bounty.

68: It is clear and evident that the body of ...

(196) It is clear and evident that the body of mankind in this day stands in dire need of such members and organs as are capable, useful and active, so that their movements and activities, their bearing and behaviour, their tender feelings, lofty sentiments and noble intentions may at all times reflect heavenly virtues and perfections and become the expressions of divine attributes and saintly characteristics, thus breathing a new life and spirit into all the dwellers of the world and causing the inner ties and spiritual relationships to be fostered and fortified in all fields of human endeavour.

69: We beseech God--exalted be His glory--to ...

(197) We beseech God--exalted be His glory--to grant awareness and insight to the men of wisdom as well as to those who hold in their grasp the reins of power in Persia, that they may be able to distinguish the right way from the crooked and devious path and may clearly discern the well-wisher from the ill-wisher with a true and genuine sense of discrimination.

As regards the amelioration of your own affairs, let us entrust the whole matter to the Blessed Beauty. He is the best Benefactor, unsurpassed in His bounty.

70: Your letter of 12th October 1922 is just ...

(198) Your letter of 12th October 1922 is just received and refreshed in our memory the many beautiful days that you spent here when the Beloved Lord, 'Abdu'l-Baha, was still on this earth. Those are days that many events of history could never efface from the hearts, nay rather the further we go in the scale of life the deeper become the impressions thereof within the meshes of our inner life.

I read your letter with full attention and in the course of the reading the words of the Master were ringing in my ear; words that have descended like showers on all souls and hearts that could understand. Now is the time when we should forget everything and concentrate our thoughts upon the advancement of the Cause of God and strive day and night that the principles and teachings of His Holiness Baha'u'llah and the words of the Master may find full expression in the hearts of the true friends.

When I think over the history of the Cause and the many difficulties that all its promoters have undergone I unhesitatingly am convinced that the sincere friends who have watched the events will not lose a moment but will with all their hearts and souls sacrifice everything of worth in order to realize that for which the Divine plan has been working.

Have all your thoughts directed to the Master and heed not what you hear from here or there. We hope that soon beloved Shoghi Effendi will come back to Haifa and things will resume their natural course. What we need today is complete unity amongst the friends and this will attract the Divine assistance from the Abha Kingdom.

All the members of the Holy family remember you and pray for you at the Holy Shrines. We hope to hear much good news from you; this will be the Cause of the Master's happiness as He always wished to hear from you good news. Convey my Abha greetings to all the brothers and sisters there.

71: All praise to the beloved Abha Beauty, ...

(199) All praise to the beloved Abha Beauty, that those nightingales of the gardens of knowledge, those doves of the fragrant bowers of certitude, are singing the holy verses on the boughs of grace and bounty, celebrating the praise and glory of the Lord of the worlds, chanting His holy words, carolling to Him hymns of love, and extolling and lauding His blessed name.

God be thanked, the spirits rejoice, the hearts are full of fervour, the souls are held spellbound by that shining Face. The Blessed Beauty's sea of bounty is rolling up great waves; He is casting the rays of His grace over the world and all its peoples; the clouds of His liberal bestowals are showering down, the sun of His generosity is shining bright.

In its every aspect, this noblest of Dispensations and greatest of eras is something set apart, for it is most exalted, most glorious, and distinguished from the past. In no wise is it to be compared with the ages gone before. So plainly, in this mighty day, have the mysteries been laid bare, that to the perceptive and the initiated and those who have attained the knowledge of divine secrets, they appear as tangible realities. In this new Day the stars of allusions and hints have fallen, for the Sun of explicit texts has risen, and the Moon of expositions and interpretations has shone above all horizons.

As expressly stated in the Holy Text, a specific Centre has been give us. With His own pen has 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Centre of the Covenant, selected and appointed Shoghi Effendi, the Chosen Branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, the interpreter of the Book of God, so that the highway of divine guidance has been clearly marked out and lighted up for all the ages to come. This bounty is one of the distinguishing features of this mightiest of Dispensations, a special grace allotted to this age.

It is my hope that we all shall arise, thus to prove our gratitude for all these rich bestowals and gifts, and serve the Cause of God and spread the holy Teachings and speedily carry out the instructions of 'Abdu'l-Baha--so that day by day the limits of the Faith will be extended, and the seekers will find their goal, and the lovers reach the beauty of the Beloved, and the thirsty come to crystal waters, and spiritual joys embrace mankind, and every heart be gladdened.

72: Your kind and loving letter written with an ...

(200) Your kind and loving letter written with an unbounded love and a sincere devotion for our beloved 'Abdu'l-Baha and His Cause has been duly received. It spoke of that painful story where earthly cares and physical illnesses have prevented blessed souls, so overflowing with love, to shine in this dark and dismal world. Nevertheless, dear sister, rest assured and never be sorrowful. It is in one of the foremost Tablets of Baha'u'llah that He says: 'Verily God hath made adversity as a morning dew upon His green pasture, and a wick for His lamp which lighteth earth and heaven.' Meaning thereby that physical illnesses and misfortunes certainly make a person nearer and nearer to his Lord. Why then should we sorrow over earthly hindrances when we have done what we possibly could, and when we are sure that this, our little service, will certainly be acceptable in His Sight?

I was very glad to know that even with all these hindrances you could give the Message to certain souls and I eagerly hope that they in turn will acquire the love with which you taught them and will never stop giving this Glad Tidings to every soul they meet.

73: Praise be to God that through the gracious ...

(201) Praise be to God that through the gracious assistance of the Abha Kingdom those devoted friends have been enabled to achieve that which befits the glory of the Cause of God and the protection of the community of the followers of Baha'u'llah. This is none other than to foster unity and fellowship under all conditions, to strengthen the bonds of harmony and concord in all things, and to avoid political matters. It is particularly important to refrain from making unfavourable remarks or statements concerning the friends and the loved ones of God, inasmuch as any expression of grievance, of complaint or backbiting is incompatible with the requirements of unity and harmony and would dampen the spirit of love, fellowship and nobility. Therefore it is incumbent upon the members of the exalted Spiritual Assembly to exercise the utmost care with firm determination and not to allow the doors of complaint and grievance to be opened, or permit any of the friends to indulge in censure and backbiting. Whoever sets himself to do so, even though he be the very embodiment of the Holy Spirit, should realize that such behaviour would create disruption among the people of Baha and would cause the standard of sedition to be raised.

In these days when the peoples of the world are thirsting for the teachings of the Abha Beauty--teachings that provide the incomparable, life-giving waters of immortality--when we Baha'is have pledged ourselves to proffer these living waters to all mankind and are known to be prepared to endure every suffering and tribulation, how pitiful it would be if, despite all this, we were to neglect our binding obligations and responsibilities and to occupy ourselves with disagreeable discussions that provoke irritation and distress and to turn our attention to matters that lead to ill-feeling, to despondency and unhappiness and reduce the penetrating influence of the Word of God.

74: Your letter was received and its contents ...

(202) Your letter was received and its contents were perused. The scrolls you had enclosed were clearly understood. They are of no consequence whatsoever, nor are they worthy of any attention. The letter you have written in reply, although brief, is adequate and conclusive. What you have written, even as the tablet of your heart, is illumined with the light of constancy and steadfastness, and indicates your firmness and determination in upholding His Covenant. In truth this is the essential thing.

Following the ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha--may our lives be offered up for His holy Dust--the Covenant-breakers, using every means in their power, busied themselves in spreading false reports. No calumny, no slander did they spare. Likewise, after the ascension of the Ancient Beauty, the Most Great Name--may the life of all created things be sacrificed for His holy dust--the people of doubt and hesitation seized upon every means and arose to destroy the edifice of the Cause, to profane the honour of the Lord and to violate His Covenant. Yet, during all this time and under all conditions these bereaved and oppressed ones, with faces set towards His luminous Threshold, held fast to the cord of patience and resignation, engaged themselves in offering fervent prayers and supplications and committed all their affairs to the care of the Blessed Beauty. For in truth He is the Refuge of the oppressed and the unfailing Comforter of the anguished, whereas the Centre of Sedition and his following have gathered no fruit from their rebellious acts save despondency and utter loss.

75: It was sometime ago that I received your ...

(203) It was sometime ago that I received your kind and encouraging letter through your honourable secretary. And although in a joyless world, the love and unity of the friends in Yonkers imparted the utmost joy to this bereaved family. Great indeed as was my desire to reciprocate those kind sentiments so beautifully expressed in your letter, it is truly unfortunate that I should have delayed the answer so long.

For the last few weeks we have all been happy over Shoghi Effendi's safe arrival and we really miss all our beloved brethren and sisters in this little town of Haifa. Last night's sad and solemn occasion was passed in prayer and meditation. The loved ones of that dear Master had all gathered from the countries near by to join His family in commemorating the anniversary of His passing. In a night of utter silence with the rich moonlight flooding the precincts of His Shrine, the humble devotees of 'Abdu'l-Baha had gathered in a little group just near His Tomb; and in prayerful supplications they outpoured with their tears the woe of their hearts refilling them again with faith in His loving-kindness and high hopes for the future.

On such an occasion, dear friends, what better can we do than to realize one and all that our dear Master has for ever gone from our midst, and yet with the surest faith in His tender Spirit we should arise with one accord, aided and guided by our beloved Guardian, to dedicate our lives to the Cause for which He was a living sacrifice. Deep and painful as that thought may be, it should fill our hearts with faith in the Lord. Then and only then can we lead His Cause into a glorious victory.

76: You quite well realize, I presume, that ...

(204) You quite well realize, I presume, that Shoghi Effendi has always cherished the fondest hopes for your services to the Cause of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and I am sure that your achievements will be great, shining brilliantly as a star. The field is world-wide and with but a noble spirit and faith in the Lord we can carry to every home this Message of peace and brotherhood.

77: The Pen of the divine Ordainer has so ...

(205) The Pen of the divine Ordainer has so decreed that this house of sorrows should be encompassed by unending calamity and pain. Even before the dark clouds of one disaster are scattered, the lowering storm of yet a new grief takes over, casting its darkness across the inner skies of the heart. Such has been the lot of this broken-hearted one and the other leaves of the Holy Tree, from earliest childhood until this hour; such has been the fruit we have plucked from the tree of our lives.

We can see before us the Holy Shrine where lies the blessed, riddled body of the Primal Point, and memory of the delicate and tender remains of other martyrs passes before our eyes. The remembrance of the Ancient Beauty's dungeon in Tihran, and that most noble Being's exile from city to city, culminating in the murk of the Akka prison, is engraved upon our minds. The calamities, the massive afflictions, endured by 'Abdu'l-Baha throughout His entire life, and His wailing at the break of dawn are recorded for all time upon the tablets of the soul, and those cries that rose out of His luminous heart will linger on in the mind's ear.

It is clear, too, how the most dire of all ordeals, the ascension of the divine Beauty, made the structure of our existence to topple down; how being deprived of Him consumed the very limbs of our bodies. And when our fiery tears brought on by this were not yet dried, and the heart's wound had not healed over, then the bearer of God's decree called us to yet another anguish, that dire calamity, that terrible disaster, the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Then were we, the sorrow-stricken, thrust again into the fires of separation, and the pitch darkness of deep mourning enshrouded this family.

Beloved friends of the Blessed Beauty: what could have been the purpose of those holy Beings in enduring such agonies? Why did those precious and luminous souls accept all that hardship and pain? Any just observer will acknowledge that They had no other end in view but to better the human race, and cleanse it from the imperfections of this contingent world, and see to its advancement, and endow all peoples with the wondrous virtues of humankind. Thanks be to God's bounties, the signs of such perfections, the lights of such bestowals, have become clearly manifest throughout the world. The tree of His Cause grows ever more massive, day by day, and heavier with fruit, and from moment to moment taller, and it shall cast its wondrous shade over all who seek its shelter.

The fruit of these boughs is plain to see: this Tree will bear sincere love and true friendship, traits of Heaven and qualities of God. This immortal Tree will yield kindness and humbleness, learning and wisdom, and the divine virtues.

The aim of those blessed Ones, then, those Temples of holiness, in enduring, over a whole century, all Their trials and tribulations, was to firmly establish a way of life whereby human character in general and that of God's loved ones in particular would be rectified. To such a degree must this come to pass that from their very breathing and walking, their rising up, sitting still, moving about, their every act--it can clearly be seen that they are different from those others who are neglectful of God and veiled away from Him: that they can be distinguished from the others as easily as you can tell the day-star from the dark.

Although through the mighty influence of the Word of God the inner self of each of the friends and of those who are steadfast in His perfect Covenant is held fast by the magnet of His love, and they are known in every land by this distinguishing characteristic and are everywhere illumined by this light--still the thing to remember is this: until the accidental events which arise from the world of the trivial and the personal are completely lost in the world of the universal, that is, in the bounties and attributes of the Merciful--that true and primal glory can never be revealed as it merits, nor ever show forth the beauty with which it is endowed. Let every steadfast soul ever bear in mind the anguish of those holy Beings and the trials They endured, and because of the wrongs They suffered, and the blood of the martyrs in His path, out of pity for what has befallen God's Cause and His Law, put the good of the Cause before any other good, and its honour before any other. Let him face every problem, whether minor or major, with goodwill and purity of motive. Let him not make of God's Law, created as it was to bring about unity and love, a means of discord. 'Abdu'l-Baha says: 'If religion be the cause of disunity, then irreligion is surely to be preferred.'

Today as well, the Chosen Branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, is at all times waiting expectantly--and indeed, it is the most cherished desire of his heart--to see this reality, this proof of serious effort, this feature that distinguishes the Baha'is from all others, clearly and unmistakably revealed in the life of every single Baha'i.

As is well known, at the time when the Day-Star of the Covenant did set, the Chosen Branch was absent from this luminous Spot, and when he received the terrifying news of that direst of ordeals, he was overcome by a grief such as no words can describe. Broken in health, his heart brimful of sorrows, he returned to this blessed place. At that time the unfaithful, with extreme perversity and at a high point of rebellion, were openly and secretly spreading their calumnies, and this behaviour of theirs added still more to the Guardian's burden of grief. He left, therefore, and spent some time in seclusion, carrying on the affairs of the Faith, seeing to its interests and its institutions, communing with God, and imploring His help.

The Lord be praised, because of the divine bounties, during his absence there were such evidences of staunchness and loyalty and high resolve and unity and love and fervour among all the friends, men and women alike, both of East and West, and in the Holy Land--that on the one hand the Centre of Sedition, and the arrogant and the malevolent, found themselves utterly defeated, their hopes of making a breach in the Faith bitterly disappointed, while on the other, the exemplary quality and sound condition of the believers, as referred to, was a comfort to the Guardian's heart. Thus he was able, happy now and in perfect health, to return to this Spot, and to carry out his sacred obligations.

By this time a great many matters of the utmost importance had accumulated, and letters were coming in continuously from individuals and communities, which for lack of time could not be dealt with individually. The Guardian therefore dispensed with replies to individuals and sent out general letters to the Spiritual Assemblies, in which in the clearest terms he set forth the obligations devolving upon all, and gave the friends his instructions. These basic spiritual guidelines were received by the believers with great delight and the utmost joy; they immediately put them into practice, and thus the preliminary steps were taken, and in every area progress was being made to an ever-increasing degree.

Now, however, as the letters continually streamed in, the contents of one or two of them showed that among some of the believers a certain ill-feeling had arisen, and further, that some did not, as they should, respect and duly defer to their Spiritual Assembly. It is obvious what an effect this kind of news, whether implied or clearly stated, had on the Guardian's heart, and what an unfavourable reaction it produced. The result was that for the second time his health failed, and then, at the importunity of this evanescent soul and the urgent entreaties of the Holy Household and the repeated appeals of those in close association with him--he went away last summer.

This proved of the greatest benefit to him, and his health was completely restored. And then, one following the next, there came in good reports from Spiritual Assemblies everywhere, and other gatherings and groups, and also individuals, and this brought him great joy; so much so that following that summer's journey, out of his intense love for the believers, he began to correspond even with individuals; and continually, in the various meetings, he would express his satisfaction with and praise of all the servants of the Blessed Beauty's Threshold and the loyal friends of 'Abdu'l-Baha.

Alas, however, once again in some communities, he noted from certain letters an absence of spirituality and good-fellowship among some of the friends, and a lack of respect among some for their Assemblies. Once more, as a result of this, his heart was filled with sorrow and once again he decided on departure. This lowly maidservant and the other members of the Household and all the Holy Leaves did all we could to blot away this grief from his radiant spirit. When in his presence, we would bring up all the good news that by the grace of God continued to pour in, and to speak of the staunchness, the loyalty, the love, the sacrifices of the believers both of East and West. We begged him to reconsider his decision--but to no avail.

He told us: 'My heart is sensitive. Just as I feel the ill-feeling that exists between individuals, and am injured by it, so too do I treasure the excellent qualities of the believers; indeed, I hold these dearer than words can tell. After that most dread ordeal, the one and only solace of my heart was the loyalty, the staunchness, the love of the friends for the Blessed Beauty and for 'Abdu'l-Baha. Nothing can ever detract from the value of such excellent qualities, and I am deeply grateful to all the friends, men and women alike, for this. And yet, this love of theirs, with all its fervour, can never, by itself, bring the Ark of the Faith to the longed-for shore. It can never prove the claims of the people of Baha to the people of the world. To safeguard the religion of God and reinforce its power, the friends must make use of effective means: their love must be so great that they worship one another, and shut any mutual ill-feeling out of their hearts.