“Love is a veil betwixt the lover and the beloved.”

 

"This is the realm of pure awareness and utter self-effacement. Not even love can find a way to this plane, nor doth affection have a place therein. Wherefore is it said: “Love is a veil betwixt the lover and the beloved.” Here love becometh but an obstructing veil, and aught save the Friend but a curtain. Thus the wise Saná’í hath written: 

None may approach that well-belov’d
Who harboreth his own desire;
None may embrace that beauteous form
Who’s burdened with his own attire.

For this is the realm of God and is sanctified above every allusion of His creatures."

~Bahá'u'lláh

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/794820335

"My soul doth sense the fragrant breath - Of a well-beloved soul: The fragrance of that kindly friend - Who’s my heart’s desire and goal."

"And were it not contrary to the commandment of the Book, I would surely have bestowed a part of My possessions upon My would-be murderer, and given him to inherit Mine earthly goods, and rendered him a myriad thanks, and solaced Mine own eyes with the touch of his hand. But what can I do? Neither have I any wealth, nor hath the Lord of destiny so decreed. 

Methinks at this moment I perceive the musk-scented fragrance of the garment of Há’ from the Joseph of Bahá; verily He seemeth near at hand, though ye may think Him far away.¹²⁴

My soul doth sense the fragrant breath

Of a well-beloved soul:

The fragrance of that kindly friend

Who’s my heart’s desire and goal.

The duty of long years of love obey,

And tell the tale of blissful days gone by,

That land and sky may laugh aloud today,

And it may gladden mind and heart and eye."¹²⁵

~Bahá'u'lláh

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/331888757

124. An intimation of Bahá’u’lláh’s imminent Manifestation.
125. Rúmí.

“And he that feareth not God, God shall make him to fear all things; whereas all things fear him who feareth God.”

 

Eliot Porter

"In truth, the wayfarer who journeyeth unto God, who treadeth the snow-white Path and turneth towards the Crimson Pillar, will never reach his heavenly home unless his hands are empty of such worldly things as are cherished by men. “And he that feareth not God, God shall make him to fear all things; whereas all things fear him who feareth God.” 

Speak the Persian tongue, though the Arabian pleaseth more: Love indeed doth have a hundred other tongues in store.¹²³

How sweet in this connection is the following couplet:

Our hearts will be as open shells

Should He the pearls of grace bestow;

Our lives will ready targets be

Were He to hurl the darts of woe."

~Bahá'u'lláh

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/932934309

123. Rúmí

“Love is a distinction never conferred upon a heart possessed by fear and dread.”

 

Reza Mostmand "So High A Calling"

"Whoso comprehendeth this station will assuredly conceal it, and were he to reveal but the faintest trace thereof, they would assuredly hang him from the gallows. And yet, by God, were a true seeker to be found, I would divulge it to him; for He saith: “Love is a distinction never conferred upon a heart possessed by fear and dread.”¹²²

~Bahá'u'lláh

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/956516480

122. From a Ḥadíth.

"This is the seat of the mystery “He doeth what He willeth, and ordaineth what He pleaseth."

 

O'Keeffe

"If the mystic knowers be among them that have attained the beauty of the Beloved, this station is the throne of the inmost heart and the secret of divine guidance. This is the seat of the mystery “He doeth what He willeth, and ordaineth what He pleaseth.” Should all that are in heaven and on earth attempt to unravel this exalted allusion and subtle mystery, from now until the Day whereon the Trumpet shall sound, yet would they fail to comprehend even a letter thereof, for this is the station of God’s immutable decree and His foreordained mystery. Hence, when asked regarding this matter, He made reply: “It is a bottomless sea that none shall ever fathom.” And when the question was repeated, He answered: “It is the blackest of nights through which none can find his way.”¹²¹

~Bahá'u'lláh

(The Call of the Divine Beloved)
www.bahai.org/r/191856609

121. From a Ḥadíth.

"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