Baha’i Perspectives

john w March 21st, 2010

Bahá’ís believe that the purpose of life is to embark on a pleasurable journey of knowing God’s qualities through His Manifestations. As this continues they perceive God’s beauty and their love for God grows. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá affirms that:  

Bahá’u'lláh revealed His directions, teachings and laws, so that souls might know God…

Such knowledge of His teachings, however, is not an ends in itself, but a means to its translation into action; for therein lies its fruition, or else it is as a man who claims he is handsome, but is really otherwise. As Bahá’u’lláh says:

It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action.

Through this knowledge and action, the true meaning of the saying that man was created in God’s image becomes apparent. Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings exhort man to mirror forth the qualities and attributes of God such as justice, love, mercy, forgiveness and the like through their actions. In doing so, one becomes the spiritual reflection of the attributes of this spiritual image of God.

Therefore, because human beings inherently mirror the attributes of God, although to varying degrees, another way one can understand the attributes of God is through the mirror-like soul of a human being. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for example, reflected with utmost clarity the qualities of wisdom and knowledge through his writings and utterances, whilst also demonstrating love, kindness and tolerance through his behavior towards all he met. However, like the mirror, one soul can acquire defects which obscure the image within, such as racism, prejudice, selfishness and the like, and one must be careful not to attribute these defects to God Himself. Bahá’u’lláh explains, whilst quoting the Qur’an:

A pure heart is as a mirror; cleanse it with the burnish of love and severance from all save God, that the true sun may shine within it and the eternal morning dawn.

The most pure and clear reflection of the attributes of God is in the being of the Manifestation of God. Their lives, therefore, provide a most perfect knowledge into the attributes of God. Bahá’u’lláh says:

If it be your wish, O people, to know God and to discover the greatness of His might, look, then, upon Me with Mine own eyes, and not with the eyes of anyone besides Me.

So, let us consider the attributes of God that were manifested in the life of Bahá’u’lláh. His well-documented life demonstrates the virtues, qualities and attributes of God, even in the midst of the extreme persecution He suffered.

Like the birth of previous religions, Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings of love and unity were met with fierce opposition, this time from both a fanatical clergy in Iran and a corrupt Ottoman Empire; as a result He was exiled four times with His family and imprisoned for 40 years in dreadful conditions on account of the quick spread of His influence and the jealousy it provoked amongst a malicious clergy. For four months in 1852, Bahá’u’lláh and His companions were imprisoned in a dark, cold, underground dungeon known as the Síyáh-Chál, or ‘Black Pit’, in appalling circumstances. Many of Bahá’u’lláh’s companions were executed and the scars on His neck from the cumbersome 50kg chains stayed with Him until the end of His life some 40 years later. His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has recounted how, at the age of 9, he saw the heart-rending sight of his malnourished Father in tattered clothes with chains during His imprisonment.

Notwithstanding the persecution and slaughter of the thousands of early Bahá’ís and Bábís, Bahá’u’lláh showed the utmost love to all those He met, diffused teachings of love and harmony, promulgated the equality of men and woman at a time when this was unheard of, enunciated the principle of the harmony of science and religion, emphasized the necessity of independent investigation of truth and ceaselessly taught the oneness of humanity all throughout His harsh life.

Regarding His experiences He writes: 

The Ancient Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh] hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!

The process of knowing God is one of loving God and taking pleasure in His beauty by gaining a deeper knowledge of His attributes through the person of the Manifestation and, to a much lesser extent, through its reflection in other human beings. This process ultimately leads to the greater reflection of His qualities – love, justice, truth, compassion and so on — in the human heart, which is the crying need of an agitated and afflicted humanity.

Tags: God, Manifestations, purpose in life

• Baha'i Concepts
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john w March 17th, 2010

The Bahá’í Faith, as a religion, fundamentally reinterprets the fabric of reality in a way uncommon to contemporary religious views whilst retaining the terminology of old religions as it promotes the Source of Religion as one. Yet through generations of perversion the Essence of these religions becomes misconstrued and thus needs renewal through a new Revelation from God. The Bahá’í Faith is this renewal for this age. Perhaps the most fundamental of these reinterpretations is that of the reality of God. In brief, Bahá’ís believe that God is the Creator of all things and is therefore sanctified above the absolute comprehension and description of His Creation, including humanity, else this ’God’ becomes a product of a finite Creation. Because of this, He can be confined to neither a mere physical existence nor to the vain imaginations of the human condition. Also, the terms ‘He’ and ‘His’ used to refer to God do not imply that God conforms to a gender; rather the terms themselves are products of the limitations of language.

Everyone does something for a purpose or reason. You sleep because you’re tired; you eat because you’re hungry; and so on. Everyone can tell you why they do things, but it seems few can actually tell you why they are living, what their purpose in life is or what constitutes the reason for their existence. Some consider it, get depressed, and go back to auto-pilot mode, whilst others adopt a hedonistic attitude towards ephemeral pursuits.

What is the Bahá’í perspective on the purpose of life?

In the short obligatory prayer, written from the viewpoint of the individual by Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, the reason for creation and purpose in life is defined as follows:

I bear witness, O my God, that thou has created me to know thee and to worship thee…

The question of one’s purpose in life becomes that of “how can one know God?” In relation to this question there is a paradox which needs elucidation; although man was created to know God, His Essence is Unknowable:

From time immemorial He [God] hath been veiled in the ineffable sanctity of His exalted Self, and will everlastingly continue to be wrapt in the impenetrable mystery of His unknowable Essence.

Speaking on the subject of knowing God, Abdu’l-Bahá, the Son of Bahá’u’lláh and authoritative interpreter and expounder of the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, explains that “there are two kinds of knowledge: the knowledge of the essence of a thing and the knowledge of its qualities. The essence of a thing is known through its qualities; otherwise, it is unknown and hidden.”

He continues:

For example, the inner essence of the sun is unknown, but is understood by its qualities, which are heat and light. The inner essence of man is unknown and not evident, but by its qualities it is characterized and known. Thus everything is known by its qualities and not by its essence.

Therefore, the Bahá’í Faith teaches that one can only understand the qualities of God and not His inner Essence. One can obtain a finite, yet organic knowledge of God through an understanding of His qualities but will never be able to understand His inner Essence. As Bahá’í’s believe that God is infinite in His Essence, the process of knowing God continues throughout one’s existence. ‎

Knowing God, therefore, means the comprehension and the knowledge of His attributes, and not of His Reality. This knowledge of the attributes is also proportioned to the capacity and power of man; it is not absolute.

Bahá’u’lláh teaches us that the attributes of God are not physical qualities, but are spiritual qualities such as love, kindness, wisdom, truth, justice and forgiveness among others.

So the question then becomes, how can one know these attributes and qualities of God?

We are told by Abdu’l-Bahá that “for this Essence of the essences [referring to God], this Truth of truths, this Mystery of mysteries, there are reflections, auroras, appearances and resplendences in the world of existence.”

He goes on to explain that these “reflections” are the “Manifestations” of God. The term “Manifestation” is used in the Bahá’í Faith to denote Divine Prophets and Messengers of God, such as Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

Abdu’l-Bahá continues to explain that the Manifestations “are the true mirrors of the sanctified Essence of God. All the perfections, the bounties, the splendours which come from God are visible and evident in the Reality of the Holy Manifestations, like the sun which is resplendent in a clear polished mirror with all its perfections and bounties.”

In further elaboration of their functions He repudiates anthropomorphism and clarifies the connection between God and the Manifestations using this analogy of a mirror and the sun.

If it be said that the mirrors are the manifestations of the sun and the dawning-places of the rising star, this does not mean that the sun has descended from the height of its sanctity and become incorporated in the mirror, nor that the Unlimited Reality is limited to this place of appearance. God forbid! This is the belief of the adherents of anthropomorphism. No; all the praises, the descriptions and exaltations refer to the Holy Manifestations — that is to say, all the descriptions, the qualities, the names and the attributes which we mention return to the Divine Manifestations; but as no one has attained to the reality of the Essence of Divinity, so no one is able to describe, explain, praise or glorify it. Therefore, all that the human reality knows, discovers and understands of the names, the attributes and the perfections of God refer to these Holy Manifestations.

Crucial to understanding our purpose of knowing God is the Bahá’í belief that as one learns more about the spiritual reality of God, one becomes attracted to His spiritual beauty and one’s love for God grows. The process of knowing God becomes an immensely pleasurable one of a growing love for God and an appreciation of His beauty.

Bahá’u’lláh, in describing the creation of the human being, refers to the beauty of the Manifestation’s spiritual nature:

O SON OF MAN!
Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.

The above passage describes God’s Reality as beautiful. Dictionary.com’s definition for Beauty is quite insightful: Beauty – the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind.

Abdu’l-Bahá affirms that the source of love of God is the knowledge of God. In the book ‘Some Answered Questions’, in a chapter regarding the need to follow the teachings of the Manifestation, Abdu’l-Bahá says:

Second, comes the love of God, the light of which shines in the lamp of the hearts of those who know God; its brilliant rays illuminate the horizon and give life of the Kingdom.

In this way we know that Bahá’ís believe the purpose in life is to embark on an unending, immensely pleasurable journey to know God through the qualities reflected in His Manifestations; as we do this we behold God’s beauty and love Him.

Tags: God, Manifestations, purpose in life

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nava March 6th, 2010

Prayer is…a lot.  Prayer is a lot of things.  Things we will never comprehend or fully understand.  But some are clear.  Some are evident.  Some we must not be remiss in meditating about and making use of.

Prayer is communion with God.  Prayer is the channel through which we open our tender, fragile, delicate human hearts to our Lord.  Hearts which He has singled out as His throne — “All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory” (Bahá’u’lláh).  Hearts which in their delicateness and fragility often go astray.

We go through life hitching our wagons to stars that fall; whereupon we are miserable, and lasso the next ones.  Our leaves shrivel, our moons wane, the marbles we build our statues of are crumbled.  Only God is always strong, always there, always permanent.  Only God is worthy to be worked for.  And to achieve this detachment from everything except God we require prayer.

(Marzieh Gail, Dawn over Mount Hira)

We all struggle with our existence.  To understand ourselves and to understand one another.  Yet it seems that ‘finding ourselves’ is not something we can actually do on our own.  Shoghi Effendi explains that the more we search for ourselves the less likely we are to find ourselves; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains that the master key to self-discovery is self-forgetfulness.  But this task of forgetting ourselves is very difficult.  Especially living immersed in a social reality that begs to differ all the time.

We are exposed to music, television, films, books and popular thought that insist on the promotion of self as the key to happiness, that tell us “self-help” is “within our reach!” And then provide us with easy a+b=c formulas in self-help books and manuals to achieve just that.  But do they really work?  Probably not, or else why would keep buying the manuals?  We’re not satisfied yet.

Prayer and service, however…Prayer and service help us discover our true selves.  In prayer we ask God to help us be detached.  Not to fulfill our every whim and desire but to help us align our will to His.  His infinitely superior, infinitely wiser, infinitely more beneficial will.  And as we align our will to His, the mystery of “who am I?” and “why am I here?” begins to reveal itself.  The thing about this ‘mystery’ is that it does not ever seem to become permanently clear.

Many of us weave in and out of clarity, of acute awareness of who we are why we are here; or at the very least, of the discipline to fulfill our high purpose in this life.

Prayer, like any other habit, must be exercised daily or else it degenerates.  With increased use we become more adept at it, and with decreased use we become more likely to forget why we pray at all.  So we begin to lessen the habit and lessen the habit until it no longer forms part of our reality.  Then we begin to roam the self-help aisles in our mega-bookstores and indulge ourselves in thoughts and actions that centre around our own ‘happiness’ all the while neglecting the true fountain of joy in this life.  Nearness and servitude to God.  Nearness and servitude to His servants.

Each and every one of us, no matter how high or low our station in life, need to serve one another and care deeply about the welfare of each and all.  But maintaining this level of consciousness can be difficult without the assistance of prayer.   Additionally, prayer and meditation often make clear the ‘how’.  How do we assist one another?  How do we grow closer to God?

Then there is the sweetness of prayer.  The sweetness of surrender to One who is so far exalted above us and who loves us so truly, so completely—in a way that we can never really love ourselves or one another.  In His tablet to the Shah of Iran, Násiri’d-Din Sháh, Bahá’u’lláh explains to Him—a human being who caused so much pain and anguish, who was responsible for the torture and mass killings of thousands of early believers in Iran—to this person, Bahá’u’lláh says:

They that surround thee love thee for their own sakes, whereas this Youth loveth thee for thine own sake, and hath had no desire except to draw thee nigh unto the seat of grace, and to turn thee toward the right-hand of justice.

(Baha’u'llah)

But He also explains that in order for His love to reach us, we must love Him.  “Love me that I may love thee; if thou lovest Me not My love can in no wise reach thee.”

Prayer is an instrument we use to express our love for God and to deepen that love; to open ourselves to the grace and bounty that is continually flowing towards us.  Tyrant or saint; king or pauper.  One and all, He loves.

Marzieh Gail offers the following on the absurdity of asking why we must pray to God in order to grow near to Him:

And yet people inquire why they should pray, why God does not come to them — remarks as logical as sitting in a darkened room and wondering why all the sweep and glitter of the summer sunlight does not penetrate.

She also remarks that:

It is not surprising that a prayerless people are driven to drugs and stimulants and a hundred forms of useless activity. They have no antidote for life, and no effective means of achieving the ‘respite and nepenthe’ for which they long. It is not surprising that people cheat one another, desert one another, kill one another, because only universal prayer can make the world safe for us to live in.

Embedded in the act of prayer is also the feeling of ecstasy; the ecstasy of divine communion with the Source of our beings, with the Breath that animates our mortal frames.

Reveal then Thyself, O Lord, by Thy merciful utterance and the mystery of Thy divine being, that the holy ecstasy of prayer may fill our souls – a prayer that shall rise above words and letters and transcend the murmur of syllables and sounds – that all things may be merged into nothingness before the revelation of Thy splendor.

(Compilations, Baha’i Prayers)

Though there is much more that could be said on prayer, a final point that I feel must be included is that of cleansing our hearts.  Benjamin Franklin apparently kept a notebook with all his sins in it, but Confucius said, ‘I can do as my heart lusteth and never swerve from right’. The more we pray, the more we align our will to the Divine; the more we polish the rust from off our hearts and allow our desires to be such as will lead us to joy, to well-being — to God.

Tags: prayer

• Baha'i Concepts , General Interest , Inspiration
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