"The lovers’ teacher is the Loved One’s beauty, His face their lesson and their only book."

 

"In this station, both instruction and apprenticeship are assuredly of no avail: 

   The lovers’ 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 chains that bind them are His musky hair; 

   The Cyclic Scheme, to them, is but to Him a stair.¹¹⁹

Here followeth a supplication to God—blessed and glorified be He: 

   O Lord, O Thou Whose grace fulfilleth every need!

   To mention aught before Thee would be sin indeed.

   Allow this mote of knowledge hidden in my soul

   To free itself of lowly clay and reach its goal.

   And grant this drop of wisdom that

   Thou gavest me To be at last united with Thy mighty sea.¹²⁰

Thus do I say: There is no power nor strength except in God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting."

~Bahá'u'lláh

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/646035598

119 Rúmí. A reference to the Cyclic Theory of Avicenna (Abu-‘Alí Síná [980–1037]).
120 Rúmí

"They find all words of sense to be meaningless, and senseless words to be full of meaning."

 

"The dwellers of this abode know not the destination, yet they spur on their chargers. They see naught in the Beloved but His very Self. They find all words of sense to be meaningless, and senseless words to be full of meaning. They cannot distinguish head from foot or one limb from another. To them the mirage is water itself and departure is the mystery of return. 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 levelled down the fort of patience; 

The pain of Thee hath firmly barred the gate of hope as well." ¹¹⁸

~Baha'u'llah

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/940875560

118. Sa'dí

"Love shunneth this world and that world too; In him are lunacies seventy-and-two. The minstrel of love harpeth this lay: Servitude enslaveth, lordship doth betray."

 

"If the lovers be among them that abide within the precincts of the abode of the Lodestone of hearts, no soul may dwell on this kingly throne save the countenance of love. I am powerless to describe this station or to depict it in words. 

Love shunneth this world and that world too; In him are lunacies seventy-and-two. The minstrel of love harpeth this lay: Servitude enslaveth, lordship doth betray.¹¹⁶

This plane demandeth pure love and unalloyed affection. In describing these companions He saith: “They speak not till He hath spoken, and act according to His commandment.”¹¹⁷

In this station, neither the reign of the intellect is sufficient nor the rule of self. Thus one of the Prophets of God asked, “O my Lord, how shall I reach Thee?” And the answer came: “Leave thy self behind, and then approach Me.” 

In the estimation of such souls, to be seated amidst the sandals by the door is the same as to abide at the place of honour, and in the path of the Beloved the retreats of earthly beauty differ not from the field of a battle waged."

~Baha'u'llah

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)

www.bahai.org/r/741438210

116 Rúmí. 
117 Qur’án 21:27

“Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth.”

"This station is that of the true standard of knowledge and the final end of tests and trials. Nor is it needed, in this realm, to seek after knowledge, for He hath said concerning the guidance of wayfarers on this plane, “Fear ye God; God will teach you”,¹¹² and again, “Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth.”¹¹³

 Wherefore, one must make ready the receptacle and become worthy of the descent of heavenly bestowals, that the all-sufficing Cup-Bearer may give one to drink of the wine of bounty from the crystal chalice of mercy. “For this let the striving strive!”¹¹⁴ And now do I say, “Verily, we are God’s, and to Him shall we return.”¹¹⁵

~Bahá'u'lláh

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/259966900

112. Qur’án 2:282. 
113. From a Ḥadíth. 
114. Qur’án 83:26.
115.  Qur’án 2:156

"On this plane, the traveller meeteth with many a trial and reverse. Now is he lifted up to heaven, now is he cast into the depths."

 
"On this plane, the traveller meeteth with many a trial and reverse. Now is he lifted up to heaven, now is he cast into the depths. As it hath been said: “Now Thou drawest me to the throne of the realms above, again Thou scorchest me in the fire of hell.” The hidden mystery of this station is divulged in the following blessed verse from the Súrih of the Cave: “And thou mightest have seen the sun when it arose, pass on the right of their cave, and when it set, leave them on the left, while they were in its spacious chamber. This is one of the signs of God. Guided indeed is he whom God guideth; but for him whom He misleadeth, thou shalt by no means find a guardian and guide.”¹¹⁰

If a soul could grasp the allusions that lie hid in this single verse, it would suffice him. Such indeed are those whom He hath extolled as “men whom neither merchandise nor traffic beguile from the remembrance of God”.¹¹¹

~Bahá'u'lláh 

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/176338424

110. Qur’án 18:17.

111. Qur’án 24:37.

"As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well-nigh a century, has bitten into the fiber, and attacked the whole social structure of American society, it should be regarded as constituting the most vital and challenging issue confronting the Bahá’í community at the present stage of its evolution."

"As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well-nigh a century, has bitten into the fiber, and attacked the whole social structure of American society, it should be regarded as constituting the most vital and challenging issue confronting the Bahá’í community at the present stage of its evolution. The ceaseless exertions which this issue of paramount importance calls for, the sacrifices it must impose, the care and vigilance it demands, the moral courage and fortitude it requires, the tact and sympathy it necessitates, invest this problem, which the American believers are still far from having satisfactorily resolved, with an urgency and importance that cannot be overestimated. White and Negro, high and low, young and old, whether newly converted to the Faith or not, all who stand identified with it must participate in, and lend their assistance, each according to his or her capacity, experience, and opportunities, to the common task of fulfilling the instructions, realizing the hopes, and following the example, of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá. Whether colored or noncolored, neither race has the right, or can conscientiously claim, to be regarded as absolved from such an obligation, as having realized such hopes, or having faithfully followed such an example. A long and thorny road, beset with pitfalls, still remains untraveled, both by the white and the Negro exponents of the redeeming Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. On the distance they cover, and the manner in which they travel that road, must depend, to an extent which few among them can imagine, the operation of those intangible influences which are indispensable to the spiritual triumph of the American believers and the material success of their newly launched enterprise."

Shoghi Effendi 

(The Advent of Divine Justice) 1937
www.bahai.org/r/720204804

"Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly thankful.”

 

"It must be remembered, however, that the maintenance of such a high standard of moral conduct is not to be associated or confused with any form of asceticism, or of excessive and bigoted puritanism. The standard inculcated by Bahá’u’lláh seeks, under no circumstances, to deny anyone the legitimate right and privilege to derive the fullest advantage and benefit from the manifold joys, beauties, and pleasures with which the world has been so plentifully enriched by an All-Loving Creator. “Should a man,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself reassures us, “wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth, to wear its apparels, or partake of the benefits it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene between him and God, for God hath ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the earth, for such of His servants as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly thankful.”

Bahá'u'lláh cited by Shoghi Effendi

(The Advent of Divine Justice)
www.bahai.org/r/114138899