"Far, far are ye from that which ye desire."

© Chuck Egerton 2025

O WEED THAT SPRINGETH OUT OF DUST!

Wherefore have not these soiled hands of thine touched first thine own garment, and why with thine heart defiled with desire and passion dost thou seek to commune with Me and to enter My sacred realm? Far, far are ye from that which ye desire.

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, #68 Persian)
www.bahai.org/r/737972628

"Strive that your deeds may be cleansed from the dust of self and hypocrisy and find favor at the court of glory ..."

 

© Chuck Egerton 2025

O CHILDREN OF ADAM!

Holy words and pure and goodly deeds ascend unto the heaven of celestial glory. Strive that your deeds may be cleansed from the dust of self and hypocrisy and find favor at the court of glory; for ere long the assayers of mankind shall, in the holy presence of the Adored One, accept naught but absolute virtue and deeds of stainless purity. This is the daystar of wisdom and of divine mystery that hath shone above the horizon of the divine will. Blessed are they that turn thereunto.

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, #69 Persian)
www.bahai.org/r/810818726

"Shouldst thou attain this station, thou wouldst be freed from destruction and death, from toil and sin."

 

photo by TRina Ridvan

O SON OF WORLDLINESS!

Pleasant is the realm of being, wert thou to attain thereto; glorious is the domain of eternity, shouldst thou pass beyond the world of mortality; sweet is the holy ecstasy if thou drinkest of the mystic chalice from the hands of the celestial Youth. Shouldst thou attain this station, thou wouldst be freed from destruction and death, from toil and sin.

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, #70 Persian)
www.bahai.org/r/400714616

"Call ye to mind that covenant ye have entered into with Me upon Mount Párán ..."

 

O MY FRIENDS!

Call ye to mind that covenant ye have entered into with Me upon Mount Párán, situate within the hallowed precincts of Zamán. I have taken to witness the concourse on high and the dwellers in the city of eternity, yet now none do I find faithful unto the covenant. Of a certainty pride and rebellion have effaced it from the hearts, in such wise that no trace thereof remaineth. Yet knowing this, I waited and disclosed it not.

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, #71 Persian)
www.bahai.org/r/750932930

"Wherefore come forth from the sheath of self and desire ..."

 

O MY SERVANT! 

Thou art even as a finely tempered sword concealed in the darkness of its sheath and its value hidden from the artificer’s knowledge. Wherefore come forth from the sheath of self and desire that thy worth may be made resplendent and manifest unto all the world.

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, # 72 Persian)
www.bahai.org/r/261142065

" ... let not the defilement of the world eclipse thy splendor."

 

photo by Trina Ridvan

O MY FRIEND!

Thou art the daystar of the heavens of My holiness, let not the defilement of the world eclipse thy splendor. Rend asunder the veil of heedlessness, that from behind the clouds thou mayest emerge resplendent and array all things with the apparel of life.

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, #73 Persian)

www.bahai.org/r/369559272

"By My beauty! All will I gather beneath the one-colored covering of the dust ..."

 

photo by Trina Ridvan

O CHILDREN OF VAINGLORY!

For a fleeting sovereignty ye have abandoned My imperishable dominion, and have adorned yourselves with the gay livery of the world and made of it your boast. By My beauty! All will I gather beneath the one-colored covering of the dust and efface all these diverse colors save them that choose My own, and that is purging from every color.

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, #74 Persian)
www.bahai.org/r/077330259