Valley of Unity

Continuing with excerpts from the Mystical Work, The Seven Valleys, today's quote is from the Valley of Unity.

"It is clear to thine Eminence that all the variations which the wayfarer in the stages of his journey beholdeth in the realms of being, proceed from his own vision.

"We shall give an example of this, that its meaning may become fully clear: Consider the visible sun; although it shineth with one radiance upon all things, and at the behest of the King of Manifestation bestoweth light on all creation, yet in each place it becometh manifest and sheddeth its bounty according to the potentialities of that place. For instance, in a mirror it reflecteth its own disk and shape, and this is due to the sensitivity of the mirror; in a crystal it maketh fire to appear, and in other things it showeth only the effect of its shining, but not its full disk. And yet, through that effect, by the command of the Creator, it traineth each thing according to the quality of that thing, as thou observest.

"In like manner, colors become visible in every object according to the nature of that object. For instance, in a yellow globe, the rays shine yellow; in a white the rays are white; and in a red, the red rays are manifest. Then these variations are from the object, not from the shining light. And if a place be shut away from the light, as by walls or a roof, it will be entirely bereft of the splendor of the light, nor will the sun shine thereon.

"Thus it is that certain invalid souls have confined the lands of knowledge within the wall of self and passion, and clouded them with ignorance and blindness, and have been veiled from the light of the mystic sun and the mysteries of the Eternal Beloved; they have strayed afar from the jewelled wisdom of the lucid Faith of the Lord of Messengers, have been shut out of the sanctuary of the All-Beauteous One, and banished from the Ka'bih [1] of splendor.
[1 The holy Sanctuary at Mecca. Here the word means 'goal.']"

Bahá’u’lláh, The Seven Valleys, p. 18

The Valley of Knowledge

Today's post is another excerpt from The Seven Valleys; specifically, the Valley of Knowledge.

We go through our lives on earth feeling we "know" what's happening.

It doesn't take too many years to realize that we may have learned a massive amount of information but we Know little Truth.

Pity the poor souls that settle for materialistic knowledge and even pride themselves on its possession...

"There was once a lover who had sighed for long years in separation from his beloved, and wasted in the fire of remoteness. From the rule of love, his heart was empty of patience, and his body weary of his spirit; he reckoned life without her as a mockery, and time consumed him away. How many a day he found no rest in longing for her; how many a night the pain of her kept him from sleep; his body was worn to a sigh, his heart's wound had turned him to a cry of sorrow. He had given a thousand lives for one taste of the cup of her presence, but it availed him not. The doctors knew no cure for him, and companions avoided his company; yea, physicians have no medicine for one sick of love, unless the favor of the beloved one deliver him.

"At last, the tree of his longing yielded the fruit of despair, and the fire of his hope fell to ashes. Then one night he could live no more, and he went out of his house and made for the marketplace. On a sudden, a watchman followed after him. He broke into a run, with the watchman following; then other watchmen came together, and barred every passage to the weary one. And the wretched one cried from his heart, and ran here and there, and moaned to himself: 'Surely this watchman is Izra'il, my angel of death, following so fast upon me; or he is a tyrant of men, seeking to harm me.' His feet carried him on, the one bleeding with the arrow of love, and his heart lamented. Then he came to a garden wall, and with untold pain he scaled it, for it proved very high; and forgetting his life, he threw himself down to the garden.

"And there he beheld his beloved with a lamp in her hand, searching for a ring she had lost. When the heart-surrendered lover looked on his ravishing love, he drew a great breath and raised up his hands in prayer, crying: 'O God! Give Thou glory to the watchman, and riches and long life. For the watchman was Gabriel, guiding this poor one; or he was Israfil, bringing life to this wretched one!'

"Indeed, his words were true, for he had found many a secret justice in this seeming tyranny of the watchman, and seen how many a mercy lay hid behind the veil. Out of wrath, the guard had led him who was athirst in love's desert to the sea of his loved one, and lit up the dark night of absence with the light of reunion. He had driven one who was afar, into the garden of nearness, had guided an ailing soul to the heart's physician.

"Now if the lover could have looked ahead, he would have blessed the watchman at the start, and prayed on his behalf, and he would have seen that tyranny as justice; but since the end was veiled to him, he moaned and made his plaint in the beginning. Yet those who journey in the garden land of knowledge, because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in war and friendliness in anger."

Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 13

Valley of Love

Yesterday's post was from the Mystical Writing, The Seven Valleys, by Bahá’u’lláh.

The next few days will see various excerpts from that Masterwork of Spiritual Vision.

Today's excerpt is a collection of the poetic lines from The Valley of Love:

"...Attar saith: "For the infidel, error -- for the faithful, faith; For Attar's heart, an atom of Thy pain."
[Faridu'd-Din Attar (ca. 1150-1230 A.D.), the great Persian Sufi poet.]

"A lover is he who is chill in hell fire; A knower is he who is dry in the sea. "
[Persian mystic poem.]

"Love seizeth not upon a living soul, The falcon preyeth not on a dead mouse. "
[Persian mystic poem.]

"Love's a stranger to earth and heaven too; In him are lunacies seventy-and-two. "
[Jalalu'd-Din Rumi (1207-1273 A.D.); The Mathnavi. Jalalu'd- Din, called Mawlana ("our Master"), is the greatest of all Persian Sufi poets, and founder of the Mawlavi "whirling" dervish order.]

"Kindle the fire of love and burn away all things, Then set thy foot into the land of the lovers. "
[From an ode by Baha'u'llah]

"...yearning would seize the reins of patience and reserve from out thy hand..."

Most of the posts here have been rather easy to understand, being what are called "ethical" writings. The language was as simple as spiritually possible because specific actions and behavior were being promoted.

Today's quote is an introduction to the Mystical Writing, The Seven Valleys.

I've read this excerpt countless times in the last 19 years; sometimes for meaning, sometimes just to immerse my soul in the beauty of the words...

"In the Name of God, the Clement, the Merciful.

"Praise be to God Who hath made being to come forth from nothingness; graven upon the tablet of man the secrets of preexistence; taught him from the mysteries of divine utterance that which he knew not; made him a Luminous Book unto those who believed and surrendered themselves; caused him to witness the creation of all things (Kullu Shay') in this black and ruinous age, and to speak forth from the apex of eternity with a wondrous voice in the Excellent Temple [1]: to the end that every man may testify, in himself, by himself, in the station of the Manifestation of his Lord, that verily there is no God save Him, and that every man may thereby win his way to the summit of realities, until none shall contemplate anything whatsoever but that he shall see God therein.
[1 The Manifestation.]

"And I praise and glorify the first sea which hath branched from the ocean of the Divine Essence, and the first morn which hath glowed from the Horizon of Oneness, and the first sun which hath risen in the Heaven of Eternity, and the first fire which was lit from the Lamp of Preexistence in the lantern of singleness: He who was Ahmad in the kingdom of the exalted ones, and Muhammad amongst the concourse of the near ones, and Mahmud [1] in the realm of the sincere ones. '...by whichsoever (name) ye will, invoke Him: He hath most excellent names' [2] in the hearts of those who know. And upon His household and companions be abundant and abiding and eternal peace!
[1 Muhammad, Ahmad and Mahmud are names and titles of the
Prophet, derived from the verb "to praise," "to exalt.]
[2 Qur'an 17:110.]

"Further, we have harkened to what the nightingale of knowledge sang on the boughs of the tree of thy being, and learned what the dove of certitude cried on the branches of the bower of thy heart. Methinks I verily inhaled the pure fragrances of the garment of thy love, and attained thy very meeting from perusing thy letter. And since I noted thy mention of thy death in God, and thy life through Him, and thy love for the beloved of God and the Manifestations of His Names and the Dawning-Points of His Attributes -- I therefore reveal unto thee sacred and resplendent tokens from the planes of glory, to attract thee into the court of holiness and nearness and beauty, and draw thee to a station wherein thou shalt see nothing in creation save the Face of thy Beloved One, the Honored, and behold all created things only as in the day wherein none hath a mention.

"Of this hath the nightingale of oneness sung in the garden of Ghawthiyyih.[1] He saith: 'And there shall appear upon the tablet of thine heart a writing of the subtle mysteries of "Fear God and God will give you knowledge"'; [2] and the bird of thy soul shall recall the holy sanctuaries of preexistence and soar on the wings of longing in the heaven of 'walk the beaten paths of thy Lord', [3] and gather the fruits of communion in the gardens of 'Then feed on every kind of fruit.'[3] [1 Sermon by Ali.]
[2 Qur'an 2:282.]
[3 Qur'an 16:71.]

"By My life, O friend, wert thou to taste of these fruits, from the green garden of these blossoms which grow in the lands of knowledge, beside the orient lights of the Essence in the mirrors of names and attributes -- yearning would seize the reins of patience and reserve from out thy hand, and make thy soul to shake with the flashing light, and draw thee from the earthly homeland to the first, heavenly abode in the Center of Realities, and lift thee to a plane wherein thou wouldst soar in the air even as thou walkest upon the earth, and move over the water as thou runnest on the land. Wherefore, may it rejoice Me, and thee, and whosoever mounteth into the heaven of knowledge, and whose heart is refreshed by this, that the wind of certitude hath blown over the garden of his being, from the Sheba of the All-Merciful.

"Peace be upon him who followeth the Right Path!"

Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 1

We Were Created To _________

Often, especially with spiritual writings, it's valuable to have a number of different translations or versions of a subject.

Since spirit exists "apart from" yet "surrounds" matter, words must be used in particular ways to state spiritual truths.

The quotes below are all talking about our Purpose for existing.

Read and compare the versions and enjoy the profitable task of seeing new connections between ideas !

"All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection CIX, p. 215

"Ye were created to show love one to another and not perversity and rancour."

Bahá’u’lláh: Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, "Lawh-i-Hikmat" or "Tablet of Wisdom", p. 138

"The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and imitation, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious handiwork, and look into all things with a searching eye."

Bahá’u’lláh: Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, "Asl-i-Kullu’l-Khayr" or "Words of Wisdom", p. 157

"The fruits of the tree of man have ever been and are goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character. Withhold not these fruits from the heedless. If they be accepted, your end is attained, and the purpose of life achieved."

Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 26

"....Thou hast created Thy servants to aid Thy Cause and exalt Thy Word,...."

Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 37

"The first, the fundamental purpose underlying creation hath ever been, and will continue to be, none other than the appearance of trustworthiness and godliness, of sincerity and goodwill amongst mankind, for these qualities are the cause of peace, security and tranquillity."

Bahá’u’lláh: from a Tablet translated from Persian, quoted in the compilation Trustworthiness: A Cardinal Bahá’í Virtue, Selection #7

More Soul

Today's quotes concern the soul's development after it leaves the body.

Since disbelief in the Next Life can lead to the most miserable forms of earthly life, I feel very good about being able to offer this information . . .

"….movement is necessary to existence, which is either growing or declining. Now, as the spirit continues to exist after death, it necessarily progresses or declines; and in the other world to cease to progress is the same as to decline; but it never leaves its own condition, in which it continues to develop."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Chapter 63: "The Progress of Man in the Other World", p. 233

"The progress of man’s spirit in the divine world, after the severance of its connection with the body of dust, is through the bounty and grace of the Lord alone, or through the intercession and the sincere prayers of other human souls, or through the charities and important good works which are performed in its name."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Chapter 66: "The Existence of the Rational Soul after the Death of the Body", p. 240

"Perfections are without Limit"

Some of us are prone to pray often, even when things are going well.

Some folks, deeply ensnared in materialism, will resort to prayer during crises.

Some will continue to pray for those who've already left this earth-plane.

What about souls in the Next Life praying for us...?

"It is even possible that the condition of those who have died in sin and unbelief may become changed—that is to say, they may become the object of pardon through the bounty of God, not through His justice—for bounty is giving without desert, and justice is giving what is deserved. As we have power to pray for these souls here, so likewise we shall possess the same power in the other world, which is the Kingdom of God. Are not all the people in that world the creatures of God? Therefore, in that world also they can make progress. As here they can receive light by their supplications, there also they can plead for forgiveness and receive light through entreaties and supplications. Thus as souls in this world, through the help of the supplications, the entreaties and the prayers of the holy ones, can acquire development, so is it the same after death. Through their own prayers and supplications they can also progress, more especially when they are the object of the intercession of the Holy Manifestations."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Chapter 62: "Perfections are without Limit", p. 232

"...experience such joy and gladness as would be impossible to describe..."

What is the Truth?

How do we assure ourselves we're following the Truth?

Is the Next Life part of that Truth?

Idle questions?

Maybe... for a Materialist. . .

"It is clear and evident that all men shall, after their physical death, estimate the worth of their deeds, and realize all that their hands have wrought. I swear by the Day Star that shineth above the horizon of Divine power! They that are the followers of the one true God shall, the moment they depart out of this life, experience such joy and gladness as would be impossible to describe, while they that live in error shall be seized with such fear and trembling, and shall be filled with such consternation, as nothing can exceed. Well is it with him that hath quaffed the choice and incorruptible wine of faith through the gracious favor and the manifold bounties of Him Who is the Lord of all Faiths....

"This is the Day when the loved ones of God should keep their eyes directed towards His Manifestation, and fasten them upon whatsoever that Manifestation may be pleased to reveal. Certain traditions of bygone ages rest on no foundations whatever, while the notions entertained by past generations, and which they have recorded in their books, have, for the most part, been influenced by the desires of a corrupt inclination. Thou dost witness how most of the commentaries and interpretations of the words of God, now current amongst men, are devoid of truth. Their falsity hath, in some cases, been exposed when the intervening veils were rent asunder. They themselves have acknowledged their failure in apprehending the meaning of any of the words of God.

"Our purpose is to show that should the loved ones of God sanctify their hearts and their ears from the vain sayings that were uttered aforetime, and turn with their inmost souls to Him Who is the Day Spring of His Revelation, and to whatsoever things He hath manifested, such behavior would be regarded as highly meritorious in the sight of God....

"Magnify His Name, and be thou of the thankful. Convey My greetings to My loved ones, whom God hath singled out for His love, and caused them to achieve their objects. All glory be to God, the Lord of all worlds."

Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 170

"...psychic forces..."

I've done a lot of "exploring" in my life; even looked into what are called Occult subjects...

Luckily, I had an early love of science so my approach to the fringe topics was different than those who get caught up in their own fancies.

Amazing and wonderful states exist in the spiritual world but Guidance is very necessary!

"To tamper with psychic forces while in this world interferes with the condition of the soul in the world to come. These forces are real, but, normally, are not active on this plane. The child in the womb has its eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc., but they are not in activity. The whole purpose of life in the material world is the coming forth into the world of Reality, where those forces will become active. They belong to that world."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, quoted in Esslemont: Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, p. 193