Baha'u'llah

Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892) Born in 1817, Bahá'u'lláh was a member of one of the great patrician families of Persia. The family could trace its lineage to the ruling dynasties of Persia's imperial past, and was endowed with wealth and vast estates. Turning His back on the position at court which these advantages offered Him, Bahá'u'lláh became known for His generosity and kindliness which made Him deeply loved among His countrymen.

This privileged position did not long survive Bahá'u'lláh's announcement of support for the message of the Bab. Engulfed in the waves of violence unleashed upon the Bábís after the Báb's execution Bahá'u'lláh suffered not only the loss of all His worldly endowments but was subjected to imprisonment, torture, and a series of banishments.

http://www.bahaullah.net/Firesides/bahaullah.htm

JUSTICE

'O SON OF SPIRIT!

The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice;

turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me,

and neglect it not that I may confide in thee.

By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes

and not through the eyes of others,

and though shalt know of thine own knowledge

and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor.

Ponder this in thy heart:

how it behooveth thee to be.

Verily justice is My gift to thee

and the sign of My loving-kindness.

Set it then before thine eyes.'

BH1-01

        O SON OF BEING!

        Love Me,
          that I may love thee.

        If thou lovest Me not,
          My love can in no wise reach thee.

        Know this,
          O servant.


        O SON OF BEING!

        Thy Paradise is My love;
          thy heavenly home,
          reunion with Me.

        Enter therein and tarry not.

        This is that which hath
          been destined for thee
          in Our kingdom above
          and Our exalted dominion.


        O SON OF MAN!

        If thou lovest Me,
          turn away from thyself;
          and if thou seekest My pleasure,
          regard not thine own;
          that thou mayest die in Me
          and I may eternally live in thee.

   BH1-02

   And if, confirmed by the Creator, the lover escapes from
   the claws of the eagle of love, he will enter

          THE VALLEY OF KNOWLEDGE

   and come out of doubt into certitude, and turn from the
   darkness of illusion to the guiding light of the fear of
   God. His inner eyes will open and he will privily converse
   with his Beloved; he will set ajar the gate of truth and
   piety, and shut the doors of vain imaginings.

   He in this station is content with the decree of God, and
   seeth war as peace, and findeth in death the secrets of
   everlasting life.  With inward and outward eyes he wit-
   nesseth the mysteries of resurrection in the realms of
   creation and the souls of men, and with a pure heart ap-
   prehendeth the divine wisdom in the endless Manifestations
   of God.  In the ocean he findeth a drop, in a drop he be-
   holdeth the secrets of the sea.

      'Split the atom's heart, and lo!
       Within it thou wilt find a sun.'
         BH2-01

                     Thou  hast  asked Me concerning the
nature of the soul.    Know, verily, that the soul is a
sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most
learned of  men  hath  failed  to  grasp,   and whose
mystery no mind, however acute,  can ever hope to
unravel.   It  is  the  first  among all created things to
declare the excellence of  its  Creator,   the  first  to
recognize His glory,   to cleave to His truth,   and to
bow down in adoration before Him.  If it be faithful
to God, it  will reflect His light,  and will eventually,
return unto Him. If it fails, however, in its allegiance
to its Creator,   it  will  become  a victim to self and
passion, and will, in the end, sink in their depths.

  BH3-01

        Having created the world and all that liveth and
moveth  therein, He, through the  direct  operation of
His  unconstrained   and   sovereign  Will,  chose   to
confer upon man the unique distinction  and  capacity
to know Him and to love Him - a capacity  that must
needs be regarded as the generating impulse  and the
primary   purpose   underlying   the   whole  of  crea-
tion . . . . .  . Upon  the  inmost  reality  of  each  and
every created thing   He hath shed the light of one of
His  names,  and made  it a  recipient  of the glory of
one  of His attributes.  Upon the reality of man, how-
ever,  He  hath  focused  the  radiance  of  all  of  His
names  and  attributes,  and made  it  a  mirror of His
own  Self.  Alone of all created things man hath been
singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.

                      BH3-02

            In  thine  esteemed  letter  thou  hadst  inquired
which  of  the  Prophets  of God should be regarded as
superior   to   others.   Know  thou  assuredly  that  the
essence  of  all  the  Prophets  of  God  is  one  and the
same.  Their  unity  is absolute. God, the Creator, saith:
There  is  no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers
of  My  Message.  They all have but one purpose; their
secret  is  the  same  secret.  To prefer one in honor to
another,  to  exalt  certain ones above the rest, is in no
wise  to  be  permitted.   Every  true  Prophet hath re-
garded His Message as fundamentally the same as the
Revelation  of  every  other Prophet  gone before Him.
If  any  man,  therefore, should fail to comprehend this
truth,  and  should  consequently  indulge  in  vain  and
unseemly  language,  no  one  whose sight  is keen and
whose  understanding  is enlightened would ever allow
such idle talk to cause him to waver in his belief.

        BH3-03

O COMPANION OF MY THRONE

Hear no evil, and see no evil,
    abase not thyself,
    neither sigh and weep.

Speak no evil, that thou mayest
    not hear it spoken unto thee,
    and magnify not the faults of others
    that thine own faults may not appear great;
    and wish not the abasement of anyone,
    that thine own abasement be not exposed.

Live then the days of thy life,
    that are less than a fleeting moment,
    with thy mind stainless,
    thy heart unsullied,
    thy thoughts pure,
    and thy nature sanctified,
    so that, free and content,
    thou mayest put away this mortal frame,
    and repair unto the mystic paradise
    and abide in the eternal kingdom
    for evermore.
                                                   BH1-03

O MOVING FORM OF DUST

I desire communion with thee,
   but thou woudst put no trust in Me.

The sword of thy rebellion
   hath felled the tree of thy hope.

At all times I am near unto thee,
   but thou art ever far from Me.

Imperishable glory I have chosen for thee,
   yet boundless shame thou hast chosen for thyself.

While there is yet time, return,
   and lose not thy chance.

                      BH1-04

BH1 - The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah

Shoghi Effendi, trans.

Bahai Publishing Trust

- 01 p. 3

  - 02  p. 4

     - 03  p. 37

   - 04  p. 29

BH2 - The Seven Valleys and the Four

Valleys - Baha'u'llah
      Marzeih Gail, trans.
      Bahai Publishing Trust
    - 01  p. 11

BH3 - Gleanings From the Writings of

Baha'u'llah
      Shoghi Effendi, trans.
      Bahai Publishing Trust
  Wilmette, IL
    - 01 p.  159

    - 02 p.    65

    - 03 p.    78