Sunday, August 8, 2010

"O DWELLERS OF MY PARADISE!"




"O DWELLERS OF MY PARADISE! With the hands of loving-kindness I have planted in the holy garden of paradise the young tree of your love and friendship, and have watered it with the goodly showers of My tender grace; now that the hour of its fruiting is come, strive that it may be protected, and be not consumed with the flame of desire and passion."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Persian No. 34

Saturday, August 7, 2010

" ... O bondslaves of desire!"



"O CHILDREN OF NEGLIGENCE! Set not your affections on mortal sovereignty and rejoice not therein. Ye are even as the unwary bird that with full confidence warbleth upon the bough; till of a sudden the fowler Death throws it upon the dust, and the melody, the form and the color are gone, leaving not a trace. Wherefore take heed, O bondslaves of desire!"

- Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Persian No.75

Friday, August 6, 2010

"approach Me not with lifeless hearts, defiled with worldly desires and cravings. "


"O MY FRIENDS! Have ye forgotten that true and radiant morn, when in those hallowed and blessed surroundings ye were all gathered in My presence beneath the shade of the tree of life, which is planted in the all-glorious paradise? Awe-struck ye listened as I gave utterance to these three most holy words: O friends! Prefer not your will to Mine, never desire that which I have not desired for you, and approach Me not with lifeless hearts, defiled with worldly desires and cravings. Would ye but sanctify your souls, ye would at this present hour recall that place and those surroundings, and the truth of My utterance should be made evident unto all of you."

- Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Persian No. 19

Thursday, August 5, 2010

" ... Let deeds, not words, be your adorning."



"O SON OF DUST! Verily I say unto thee: Of all men the most negligent is he that disputeth idly and seeketh to advance himself over his brother. Say, O brethren! Let deeds, not words, be your adorning."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, No. 5 Persian




© 2010 Chuck Egerton  (Edenton, NC)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

"Ye bow the knee before your vain imagining, and call it truth. Ye turn your eyes towards the thorn, and name it a flower."




"ALAS! ALAS! O LOVERS OF WORLDLY DESIRE! Even as the swiftness of lightning ye have passed by the Beloved One, and have set your hearts on satanic fancies. Ye bow the knee before your vain imagining, and call it truth. Ye turn your eyes towards the thorn, and name it a flower. Not a pure breath have ye breathed, nor hath the breeze of detachment been wafted from the meadows of your hearts. Ye have cast to the winds the loving counsels of the Beloved and have effaced them utterly from the tablet of your hearts, and even as the beasts of the field, ye move and have your being within the pastures of desire and passion."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, No. 45 Persian


Michaelangelo

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

" ... I have pledged Myself not to forgive any man’s injustice."


"O OPPRESSORS ON EARTH! Withdraw your hands from tyranny, for I have pledged Myself not to forgive any man’s injustice. This is My covenant which I have irrevocably decreed in the preserved tablet and sealed with My seal."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Persian No. 64

Monday, August 2, 2010

“Alif. Lám. Mím."


"In the beginning of His Book He saith: “Alif. Lám. Mím. No doubt is there about this Book: It is a guidance unto the God-fearing.” 2 In the disconnected letters of the Qur’án the mysteries of the divine Essence are enshrined, and within their shells the pearls of His Unity are treasured. For lack of space We do not dwell upon them at this moment. Outwardly they signify Muḥammad Himself, Whom God addresseth saying: “O Muḥammad, there is no doubt nor uncertainty about this Book which hath been sent down from the heaven of divine Unity. In it is guidance unto them that fear God.” Consider, how He hath appointed and decreed this self-same Book, the Qur’án, as a guidance unto all that are in heaven and on earth. He, the divine Being, and unknowable Essence, hath, Himself, testified that this Book is, beyond all doubt and uncertainty, the guide of all mankind until the Day of Resurrection. And now, We ask, is it fair for this people to view with doubt and misgiving this most weighty Testimony, the divine origin of which God hath proclaimed, and pronounced it to be the embodiment of truth? Is it fair for them to turn away from the thing which He hath appointed as the supreme Instrument of guidance for attainment unto the loftiest summits of knowledge, and to seek aught else but that Book? How can they allow men’s absurd and foolish sayings to sow the seeds of distrust in their minds? How can they any longer idly contend that a certain person hath spoken this or that way, or that a certain thing did not come to pass? Had there been anything conceivable besides the Book of God which could prove a more potent instrument and a surer guide to mankind, would He have failed to reveal it in that verse?"

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqán, pp. 202-205



2. Qur’án 2:1.