"Lay not upon your souls that which will weary them and weigh them down, but rather what will lighten and uplift them ..."

"Recite ye the verses of God every morn and eventide. Whoso faileth to recite them hath not been faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament, and whoso turneth away from these holy verses in this Day is of those who throughout eternity have turned away from God. Fear ye God, O My servants, one and all. Pride not yourselves on much reading of the verses or on a multitude of pious acts by night and day; for were a man to read a single verse with joy and radiance it would be better for him than to read with lassitude all the Holy Books of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Read ye the sacred verses in such measure that ye be not overcome by languor and despondency. Lay not upon your souls that which will weary them and weigh them down, but rather what will lighten and uplift them, so that they may soar on the wings of the Divine verses towards the Dawning-place of His manifest signs; this will draw you nearer to God, did ye but comprehend."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pp. 73-74

"REVEALED TO THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES"

"Every soul who travels through the cities, villages and hamlets of these States and is engaged in the diffusion of the fragrances of God, should peruse this commune every morning:

O my God! O my God! Thou seest me in my lowliness and weakness, occupied with the greatest undertaking, determined to raise Thy word among the masses and to spread Thy teachings among Thy peoples. How can I succeed unless Thou assist me with the breath of the Holy Spirit, help me to triumph by the hosts of Thy glorious kingdom, and shower upon me Thy confirmations, which alone can change a gnat into an eagle, a drop of water into rivers and seas, and an atom into lights and suns? O my Lord! Assist me with Thy triumphant and effective might, so that my tongue may utter Thy praises and attributes among all people and my soul overflow with the wine of Thy love and knowledge.

Thou art the Omnipotent and the Doer of whatsoever Thou willest."

—‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í Prayers: A Selection of Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 186

Central Piedmont Cluster Gathering Nov. 15 in Siler City

Central Piedmont Baha'i Cluster Meeting
November 15, 10 AM
Mina's Beana's
Siler City, NC

Agenda
* Prayers and readings: Chuck Egerton, 5 minutes
* Children's program by Diana
* Personal introductions by each community member: name, pin on map provided by Steven Collins
* Reading of House letters and consultation/possible questions
* Representative community member to give brief summary of activities in each community: Mark from Chatham (Devotional gatherings, children's classes soon to start, Book 4 completed, fireside, regular Feasts, www.meetup.com group)
* Open consultation on how we can each in our own way contribute to these community building activities by participating in the 5 Year Plan and it's core activities
* Consult of development of email listserve for our cluster: collect email addresses and names, decide on moderator for list
* Set goals for our cluster: next cluster meeting, cluster teaching activities, etc.

“Love is a light that never dwelleth in a heart possessed by fear.”

"If the mystic knowers be of those who have reached to the beauty of the Beloved One (Mahbúb), this station is the apex of consciousness and the secret of divine guidance. This is the center of the mystery: “He doth what He willeth, ordaineth what He pleaseth.” 1

Were all the denizens of earth and heaven to unravel this shining allusion, this darksome riddle, until the Day when the Trumpet soundeth, yet would they fail to comprehend even a letter thereof, for this is the station of God’s immutable decree, His foreordained mystery. Hence, when searchers inquired of this, He made reply, “This is a bottomless sea which none shall ever fathom.” 2 And they asked again, and He answered, “It is the blackest of nights through which none can find his way.”
Whoso knoweth this secret will assuredly hide it, and were he to reveal but its faintest trace they would nail him to the cross. Yet, by the Living God, were there any true seeker, I would divulge it to him; for they have said: “Love is a light that never dwelleth in a heart possessed by fear.”

Verily, the wayfarer who journeyeth unto God, unto the Crimson Pillar in the snow-white path, will never reach unto his heavenly goal unless he abandoneth all that men possess: “And if he feareth not God, God will make him to fear all things; whereas all things fear him who feareth God.” 3

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Seven Valleys And the Four Valleys, pp. 57-58 The Fourth Valley

1. Qur’án 2:254; 5:1, etc
2. Statement attributed to ‘Alí.
3. This quotation is in Arabic.

"Ready is He to answer whosoever calleth upon Him, and nigh is He unto such as commune with Him."

"I have seen, O Sháh, in the path of God what eye hath not seen nor ear heard… How numerous the tribulations which have rained, and will soon rain, upon Me! I advance with My face set towards Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Bounteous, whilst behind Me glideth the serpent. Mine eyes have rained down tears until My bed is drenched. I sorrow not for Myself, however. By God! Mine head yearneth for the spear out of love for its Lord. I never passed a tree, but Mine heart addressed it saying: ‘O would that thou wert cut down in My name, and My body crucified upon thee, in the path of My Lord!’… By God! Though weariness lay Me low, and hunger consume Me, and the bare rock be My bed, and My fellows the beasts of the field, I will not complain, but will endure patiently as those endued with constancy and firmness have endured patiently, through the power of God, the Eternal King and Creator of the nations, and will render thanks unto God under all conditions. We pray that, out of His bounty—exalted be He—He may release, through this imprisonment, the necks of men from chains and fetters, and cause them to turn, with sincere faces, towards His Face, Who is the Mighty, the Bounteous. Ready is He to answer whosoever calleth upon Him, and nigh is He unto such as commune with Him."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 59-60

Tablet to NÁṢIRI’D-DÍN SHÁH

Anniversary of the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh

"O LEADERS of religion! Weigh not the Book of God with such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is the unerring balance established amongst men. In this most perfect balance whatsoever the peoples and kindreds of the earth possess must be weighed, while the measure of its weight should be tested according to its own standard, did ye but know it.

The eye of My loving-kindness weepeth sore over you, inasmuch as ye have failed to recognize the One upon Whom ye have been calling in the daytime and in the night season, at even and at morn. Advance, O people, with snow-white faces and radiant hearts, unto the blest and crimson Spot, wherein the Sadratu’l-Muntahá 1 is calling: ‘Verily, there is none other God beside Me, the Omnipotent Protector, the Self-Subsisting!’

O ye leaders of religion! Who is the man amongst you that can rival Me in vision or insight? Where is he to be found that dareth to claim to be My equal in utterance or wisdom? No, by My Lord, the All-Merciful! All on the earth shall pass away; and this is the face of your Lord, the Almighty, the Well-Beloved."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 73

1. Literally “the furthermost Lote-Tree”, translated by Shoghi Effendi as “the Tree beyond which there is no passing”. This is used as a symbol in Islám, for example in the accounts of Muḥammad’s Night Journey, to mark the point in the heavens beyond which neither men nor angels can pass in their approach to God, and thus to delimit the bounds of divine knowledge as revealed to mankind. Hence it is often used in the Bahá’í Writings to designate the Manifestation of God Himself.

EVE OF THE BIRTH OF BAHA'U'LLAH - "Grant that Thine ancient gift, this drop of wisdom, Merge with Thy mighty sea."

"The denizens of this plane speak no words—but they gallop their chargers. They see but the inner reality of the Beloved. To them all words of sense are meaningless, and senseless words are full of meaning. They cannot tell one limb from another, one part from another. To them the mirage is the real river; to them going away is returning. Wherefore hath it been said:

The story of Thy beauty reached the hermit’s dell;
Crazed, he sought the Tavern where the wine they buy and sell.
The love of Thee hath leveled down the fort of patience,
The pain of Thee hath firmly barred the gate of hope as well. 4

In this realm, instruction is assuredly of no avail.

The lover’s teacher is the Loved One’s beauty,
His face their lesson and their only book.
Learning of wonderment, of longing love their duty,
Not on learned chapters and dull themes they look.
The chain that binds them is His musky hair,
The Cyclic Scheme, 5 to them, is but to Him a stair. 6

Here followeth a supplication to God, the Exalted, the Glorified:

O Lord! O Thou Whose bounty granteth wishes!
I stand before Thee, all save Thee forgetting.
Grant that the mote of knowledge in my spirit
Escape desire and the lowly clay;
Grant that Thine ancient gift, this drop of wisdom,
Merge with Thy mighty sea. 7

Thus do I say: There is no power or might save in God, the Protector, the Self-Subsistent." 8

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Seven Valleys And the Four Valleys, pp. 55-57 The Four Valleys - The Third Valley

4. Sa’dí.
5. The Cyclic Theory of Abú-‘Alí Síná (Avicenna—980–1037) as expressed by him in the quatrain:

Every semblance, every shape that perisheth today
In the treasure-house of Time is safely stored away.
When the world revolveth to its former place,
Out of the Invisible He draweth forth its face.
See also Some Answered Questions, p. 284.

6. The Mathnaví.
7. Ibid.
8. From Qur’án 18:37.