22. O SON OF SPIRIT!
Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself.
Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share of the flood of grace
which God poureth forth for him.
Let none, therefore, consider the largeness or smallness of the receptacle.
The portion of some might lie in the palm of a man's hand,
the portion of others might fill a cup, and of others even a gallon-measure.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 7)

A drop of the billowing ocean of His endless mercy
hath adorned all creation with the ornament of existence,
and a breath wafted from His peerless Paradise
hath invested all beings with the robe of His sanctity and glory.
A sprinkling from the unfathomed deep of His sovereign and all-pervasive Will hath,
out of utter nothingness,
called into being a creation which is infinite in its range and deathless in its duration.
The wonders of His bounty can never cease,
and the stream of His merciful grace can never be arrested.
The process of His creation hath had no beginning, and can have no end.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 59)

The diversity in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony,
as it is in music where many different notes blend together
in the making of a perfect chord.
If you meet those of different race and colour from yourself,
do not mistrust them and withdraw yourself into your shell of conventionality,
but rather be glad and show them kindness.
Think of them as different coloured roses
growing in the beautiful garden of humanity,
and rejoice to be among them.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 52)

God sent His Prophets into the world to teach and enlighten man,
to explain to him the mystery of the Power of the Holy Spirit,
to enable him to reflect the light, and so in his turn, to be the source of guidance to others.
The Heavenly Books, the Bible, the Qur'án,
and the other Holy Writings have been given by God  
as guides into the paths of Divine virtue, love, justice and peace.

Therefore I say unto you that ye should strive to follow the counsels of these Blessed Books,
and so order your lives that ye may, following the examples set before you,
become yourselves the saints of the Most High!

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 61)

"A friend asked how the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh
contrasted with the teachings of Jesus Christ.
"The teachings are the same." declared 'Abdu'l-Bahá;
"It is the same foundation and the same temple.
Truth is one, and without division.
The teachings of Jesus are in a concentrated form.
Men do not agree to this day as to the meaning of many of His sayings.
His teachings are as a flower in the bud.
Today, the bud is unfolding into a flower!
Bahá'u'lláh has expanded and fulfilled the teachings,
and has applied them in detail to the whole world.”
(‘Abdu'l-Bahá, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá in London, p. 92-93)

 

In this Day the secrets of the earth are laid bare before the eyes of men.
The pages of swiftly-appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world.
They reflect the deeds and the pursuits of divers peoples and kindreds.
They both reflect them and make them known.
They are a mirror endowed with hearing, sight and speech.
This is an amazing and potent phenomenon.
However, it behoveth the writers thereof to be purged from the promptings of evil passions and desires and to be attired with the raiment of justice and equity.
They should enquire into situations as much as possible and ascertain the facts,
then set them down in writing.

Concerning this Wronged One,
most of the things reported in the newspapers are devoid of truth.
Fair speech and truthfulness, by reason of their lofty rank and position,
are regarded as a sun shining above the horizon of knowledge.

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 39)

And now concerning thy question regarding the nature of religion.
Know thou that they who are truly wise have likened the world unto the human temple.
As the body of man needeth a garment to clothe it,
so the body of mankind must needs be adorned with the mantle of justice and wisdom.
Its robe is the Revelation vouchsafed unto it by God.
Whenever this robe hath fulfilled its purpose, the Almighty will assuredly renew it.
For every age requireth a fresh measure of the light of God.
Every Divine Revelation hath been sent down in a manner
that befitted the circumstances of the age in which it hath appeared.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 79)

As ye have faith so shall your powers and blessings be.
This is the balance -- this is the balance--this is the balance.

(H.M. Balyuzi, Abdu'l-Baha - The Centre of the Covenant, p. 72)

Knowledge is as wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent.
Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone.
The knowledge of such sciences, however,
should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth,
and not those which begin with words and end with words.

(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 26)

Divine things are too deep to be expressed by common words.
The heavenly teachings are expressed in parable
in order to be understood and preserved for ages to come.
When the spiritually minded dive deeply into the ocean of their meaning
they bring to the surface the pearls of their inner significance.
There is no greater pleasure than to study God's Word with a spiritual mind.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 79)

Set before thine eyes God's unerring Balance and, as one standing in His Presence,
weigh in that Balance thine actions every day, every moment of thy life.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 236)

31. O SON OF BEING!
Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

“The Word of God may be likened unto a sapling,
whose roots have been implanted in the hearts of men.
It is incumbent upon you to foster its growth through the living waters of wisdom,
of sanctified and holy words,
so that its root may become firmly fixed
and its branches may spread out as high as the heavens and beyond.”

— Bahá’u’lláh 

Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess,
for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future.
They bear the seeds of the character of future society
which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community
do or fail to do with respect to children.
They are a trust no community can neglect with impunity.
An all-embracing love of children, the manner of treating them,
the quality of the attention shown them, the spirit of adult behaviour toward them -
- these are all among the vital aspects of the requisite attitude.
Love demands discipline, the courage to accustom children to hardship,
not to indulge their whims or leave them entirely to their own devices.
An atmosphere needs to be maintained in which
children feel that they belong to the community and share in its purpose.

(The Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 157, 2000, p. 8)