O Brother :: Baha'i Perspectives

O Brother

iman May 26th, 2009

Recently, the following cute story was shared with me by a mother:

After the mother had explained to her 5-year-old son about the importance of preferring your “brother”, or thinking of others ahead of yourself, the 5-year-old brother chases his 8-year-old sister around the house repeatedly trying to force her to accept something which she doesn’t particularly want. When asked by his mother to explain his behaviour, he reminds her of what she had explained to him about preferring others ahead of himself…

Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. Verily, such a man is reckoned, by virtue of the Will of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, with the people of Baha who dwell in the Crimson Ark.

Baha’u'llah : Tablets of Baha’u'llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas

Drawing a parallel to this story, in today’s commercial world where personal gain seems to be driving force behind most individuals or organisations, one should be wary of being taken advantage of or over-exploited, whilst at the same time not disregarding the need to consciously heed the aforementioned quotation.

I feel that over-cautious cynicism and the expectation of “good” always being returned prevents us from wholeheartedly preferring our fellow man ahead of ourselves. What are ways in which we can overcome these hindrances?

Starting at the apex of the organisational pyramid, those in prominent positions — leaders of organisations or rulers of countries — could go a long way in dispelling cynicism if a sincere effort is made in upholding altruistic principles:

Concerning the prerequisites of the learned, He saith: “Whoso among the learned guardeth his self, defendeth his faith, opposeth his desires, and obeyeth his Lord’s command, it is incumbent upon the generality of the people to pattern themselves after him….”

Baha’u'llah : The Summons of the Lord of Hosts

At the level of the individual, the expectation of personal gain dims our potential to be genuinely sacrificial:

… a religious individual must disregard his personal desires and seek in whatever way he can wholeheartedly to serve the public interest; and it is impossible for a human being to turn aside from his own selfish advantages and sacrifice his own good for the good of the community except through true religious faith. For self-love is kneaded into the very clay of man, and it is not possible that, without any hope of a substantial reward, he should neglect his own present material

Abdu’l-Baha : The Secret of Divine Civilization

giving