Chapter 25

Verily, Thou art the Sustainer, the Helper, the Generous, the Bountiful, the Ever-Bestowing.

236: O THOU, MY GOD, WHO GUIDEST THE SEEKER TO THE ...

O Thou, my God, Who guidest the seeker to the pathway that leadeth aright, Who deliverest the lost and blinded soul out of the wastes of perdition, Thou Who bestowest upon the sincere great bounties and favours, Who guardest the frightened within Thine impregnable refuge, Who answerest, from Thine all-highest horizon, the cry of those who cry out unto Thee. Praised be Thou, O my Lord! Thou hast guided the distracted out of the death of unbelief, and hast brought those who draw nigh unto Thee to the journey's goal, and hast rejoiced the assured among Thy servants by granting them their most cherished desires, and hast, from Thy Kingdom of beauty, opened before the faces of those who yearn after Thee the gates of reunion, and hast rescued them from the fires of deprivation and loss--so that they hastened unto Thee and gained Thy presence, and arrived at Thy welcoming door, and received of gifts an abundant share.

O my Lord, they thirsted, Thou didst lift to their parched lips the waters of reunion. O Tender One, Bestowing One, Thou didst calm their pain with the balm of Thy bounty and grace, and didst heal their ailments with the sovereign medicine of Thy compassion. O Lord, make firm their feet on Thy straight path, make wide for them the needle's eye, and cause them, dressed in royal robes, to walk in glory for ever and ever.

Verily art Thou the Generous, the Ever-Giving, the Precious, the Most Bountiful. There is none other God but Thee, the Mighty, the Powerful, the Exalted, the Victorious.

O my spiritual loved ones! Praise be to God, ye have thrust the veils aside and recognized the compassionate Beloved, and have hastened away from this abode to the placeless realm. Ye have pitched your tents in the world of God, and to glorify Him, the Self-Subsistent, ye have raised sweet voices and sung songs that pierced the heart. Well done! A thousand times well done! For ye have beheld the Light made manifest, and in your reborn beings ye have raised the cry, 'Blessed be the Lord, the best of all creators!' Ye were but babes in the womb, then were ye sucklings, and from a precious breast ye drew the milk of knowledge, then came ye to your full growth, and won salvation. Now is the time for service, and for servitude unto the Lord. Release yourselves from all distracting thoughts, deliver the Message with an eloquent tongue, adorn your assemblages with praise of the Beloved, till bounty shall descend in overwhelming floods and dress the world in fresh greenery and blossoms. This streaming bounty is even the counsels, admonitions, instructions, and injunctions of Almighty God.

O ye my loved ones! The world is wrapped in the thick darkness of open revolt and swept by a whirlwind of hate. It is the fires of malevolence that have cast up their flames to the clouds of heaven, it is a blood-drenched flood that rolleth across the plains and down the hills, and no one on the face of the earth can find any peace. Therefore must the friends of God engender that tenderness which cometh from Heaven, and bestow love in the spirit upon all humankind. With every soul must they deal according to the Divine counsellings and admonitions; to all must they show forth kindness and good faith; to all must they wish well. They must sacrifice themselves for their friends, and wish good fortune to their foes. They must comfort the ill-natured, and treat their oppressors with loving-kindness. They must be as refreshing water to the thirsty, and to the sick, a swift remedy, a healing balm to those in pain and a solace to every burdened heart. They must be a guiding light to those who have gone astray, a sure leader for the lost. They must be seeing eyes to the blind, hearing ears to the deaf, and to the dead eternal life, and to the despondent joy forever.

Let them willingly subject themselves to every just king, and to every generous ruler be good citizens. Let them obey the government and not meddle in political affairs, but devote themselves to the betterment of character and behaviour, and fix their gaze upon the Light of the world.

237: WHOSO RECITETH THIS PRAYER WITH LOWLINESS AND ...

Whoso reciteth this prayer with lowliness and fervour will bring gladness and joy to the heart of this Servant; it will be even as meeting Him face to face.

He is the All-Glorious!

O God, my God! Lowly and tearful, I raise my suppliant hands to Thee and cover my face in the dust of that Threshold of Thine, exalted above the knowledge of the learned, and the praise of all that glorify Thee. Graciously look upon Thy servant, humble and lowly at Thy door, with the glances of the eye of Thy mercy, and immerse him in the Ocean of Thine eternal grace.

Lord! He is a poor and lowly servant of Thine, enthralled and imploring Thee, captive in Thy hand, praying fervently to Thee, trusting in Thee, in tears before Thy face, calling to Thee and beseeching Thee, saying:

O Lord, my God! Give me Thy grace to serve Thy loved ones, strengthen me in my servitude to Thee, illumine my brow with the light of adoration in Thy court of holiness, and of prayer to Thy Kingdom of grandeur. Help me to be selfless at the heavenly entrance of Thy gate, and aid me to be detached from all things within Thy holy precincts. Lord! Give me to drink from the chalice of selflessness; with its robe clothe me, and in its ocean immerse me. Make me as dust in the pathway of Thy loved ones, and grant that I may offer up my soul for the earth ennobled by the footsteps of Thy chosen ones in Thy path, O Lord of Glory in the Highest.

With this prayer doth Thy servant call Thee, at dawntide and in the night-season. Fulfil his heart's desire, O Lord! Illumine his heart, gladden his bosom, kindle his light, that he may serve Thy Cause and Thy servants.

Thou art the Bestower, the Pitiful, the Most Bountiful, the Gracious, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

FOOTNOTES

1 Qur'an 60:13.

2 Matthew 22:14.

3 Qur'an 57:21.

4 Qur'an 17:81.

5 Qur'an 15:72.

6 Qur'an 39:68; Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 133.

7 Qur'an 74:8.

8 Qur'an 39:68.

9 Qur'an 79:6.

10 Qur'an 22:2.

11 Qur'an 34:39.

12 Qur'an 29:19.

13 Qur'an 79:34.

14 Qur'an 6:91; 52:12.

15 Napoleon III

16 Believed to be the angel appointed to sound the trumpet on the Day of Resurrection to raise the dead at the bidding of the Lord.

17 Huququ'llah

18 Qur'an 6:103.

19 Qur'an 17:110.

20 John 14:11.

21 John 14:10.

22 Qur'an 6:91.

23 Written especially for Dr. Esslemont's immortal work Baha'u'llah and the New Era.

24 John 6:51, 58.

25 cf. John 15:26; 16:12-13.

26 Regarding this Tablet Shoghi Effendi's secretary wrote on his behalf, on 9 May 1938, '...this obviously refers to the Bab, as the text shows clearly, and is in no way a reference to Swedenborg.'

27 Jesus

28 Cities in China celebrated for their musk-producing animals.

29 The earthquake of 1906

30 Of a Spiritual Assembly

31 The Baha'is of Najaf-Abad

32 Muhammad

_ 33 Sh_ahnaz, the name given to the recipient of this Tablet, is also the name of a musical mode.

34 An article from Andrew Carnegie's book The Gospel of Wealth was published in England in the Pall Mall Budget and called The Gospel of Wealth, cf. Andrew Carnegie's Autobiography 255n.

35 Qur'an 36:36, and cf. 51:49.

36 Qur'an 25:55, 35:13, 55:19-25. See also Marriage Prayer revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha beginning 'He is God! O peerless Lord! In Thine almighty wisdom Thou hast enjoined marriage upon the peoples...'

37 See Some Answered Questions, pp. 328-9 for 'Abdu'l-Baha's comments on the arc of descent and ascent.

38 cf. Qur'an 37:60 (The Tree of Zaqqum)

39 cf. Qur'an 24:35.

40 Genesis 1:26.

41 A Baha'i children's class in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

42 Qur'an 25:50.

43 cf. John 3:5.

44 cf. Qur'an 39:57.

45 Possibly 'Abdu'l-Baha was referring to the Sikhs; the description appears to apply to them.

46 Matthew 17:1-19; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36.

47 John 6:38.

48 John 3:13.

49 The Bab, cf. Some Answered Questions, chap. XIII.

50 Germany

51 cf. Qur'an 3:35; 2:254.

52 cf. Qur'an 36:25.

53 The Pacific

54 Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25.

55 30 September 1912

56 at Bahji

57 Qur'an 24:39.

58 John the Baptist

59 Qur'an 36:29.

60 Qur'an 20:12. Also referred to as the 'Sacred Vale'

61 cf. Qur'an 4:80.

62 This letter was signed by four hundred and twenty-two believers in America, and sent on 4 July 1905.

63 John 18:11.

64 Qur'an 67:3.

65 Qur'an 24:35.

66 cf. Qur'an 28:29.

67 Qur'an 76:5.

68 Qur'an 26:31; 26:44; the reference is to Moses' rod, and the enchanters.

69 Qur'an 61:4.

70 The Bab

71 Qur'an 67:3.

72 Qur'an 2:69.

73 Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, LXXII.

74 Qur'an 76:5.

75 This is the first part of 'Abdu'l-Baha's reply to a letter addressed to Him by the Executive Committee of the Central Organization for a Durable Peace. The Tablet, described by Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By as of 'far reaching importance', and dated December 17, 1919, was despatched to the Committee at The Hague by the hands of a special delegation.