Hear Me, ye mortal birds!
In the Rose Garden of changeless splendor a Flower hath begun to bloom,
compared to which every other flower is but a thorn,
and before the brightness of Whose glory the very essence of beauty must pale and wither.
Arise, therefore, and, with the whole enthusiasm of your hearts,
with all the eagerness of your souls, the full fervor of your will,
and the concentrated efforts of your entire being, strive to attain the paradise of His presence,
and endeavor to inhale the fragrance of the incorruptible Flower,
to breathe the sweet savors of holiness,
and to obtain a portion of this perfume of celestial glory.
Whoso followeth this counsel will break his chains asunder,
will taste the abandonment of enraptured love, will attain unto his heart's desire,
and will surrender his soul into the hands of his Beloved. Bursting through his cage,
he will, even as the bird of the spirit, wing his flight to his holy and everlasting nest.

   (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 320)

Breathe the air of purity.
May you each and all share in the Divine Bounties of the Kingdom of Heaven.
May the world be for you no obstacle hiding the truth from your sight,
as the human body of Christ hid His Divinity from the people of His day.
May you receive the clear vision of the Holy Spirit,
so that your hearts may be illumined
and able to recognize the Sun of Truth shining through all material clouds,
His splendour flooding the universe.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 45)

All the virtues of humankind are summed up in the one word
'steadfastness',
if we but act according to its laws.
It draws to us as by a magnet the blessings and bestowals of Heaven,
if we but rise up according to the obligations it implies.

God be praised, the house of the heart is lit by the light of unswerving constancy,
and the soul's lodging is bedecked with the ornament of faithfulness.

Steadfastness is a treasure that makes a man so rich
as to have no need of the world or any person or any thing that is therein.
Constancy is a special joy, that leads us mortals on to lofty heights,
great progress, and the winning of the perfections of Heaven. 

(Compilations, Bahiyyih Khanum, p. 147)

O ye loved ones of the Lord!
Praise be to Him, the unseen,
welling bounties of the Sun of Truth encompass you on every side,
and from every direction the portals of His mercy stand ajar.
Now is the time to take advantage of these bestowals, and benefit therefrom.
Know ye the value of this time, let not this chance escape you.
Stay ye entirely clear of this dark world's concerns,
and become ye known by the attributes
of those essences that make their home in the Kingdom.
Then shall ye see how intense is the glory of the heavenly Day-Star,
and how blinding bright are the tokens of bounty coming out of the invisible realm.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 12)

Behold a beautiful garden full of flowers, shrubs, and trees.
Each flower has a different charm, a peculiar beauty,
its own delicious perfume and beautiful colour.
The trees too, how varied are they in size, in growth, in foliage -
- and what different fruits they bear!
Yet all these flowers, shrubs and trees spring from the self-same earth,
the same sun shines upon them and the same clouds give them rain...

...Thus should it be among the children of men!
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.

Likewise, when you meet those whose opinions differ from your own,
do not turn away your face from them.
All are seeking truth, and there are many roads leading thereto.
Truth has many aspects, but it remains always and forever one.

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

The Lord of all mankind
hath fashioned this human realm to be a Garden of Eden,
an earthly paradise.
If, as it must, it findeth the way to harmony and peace,
to love and mutual trust, it will become a true abode of bliss,
a place of manifold blessings and unending delights.
Therein shall be revealed the excellence of humankind,
therein shall the rays of the Sun of Truth shine forth on every hand.

Remember how Adam and the others once dwelt together in Eden.
No sooner, however, did a quarrel break out between Adam and Satan
than they were, one and all, banished from the Garden,
and this was meant as a warning to the human race,
a means of telling humankind that dissension -
- even with the Devil -- is the way to bitter loss.
This is why, in our illumined age,
God teacheth that conflicts and disputes are not allowable,
not even with Satan himself.  

Gracious God! Even with such a lesson before him, how heedless is man!
Still do we see his world at war from pole to pole.
There is war among the religions; war among the nations;
war among the peoples; war among the rulers.
What a welcome change would it be,
if only these black clouds would lift from off the skies of the world,
so that the light of reality could be shed abroad!
If only the darksome dust of this continual fighting and killing could settle forever,
and the sweet winds of God's loving-kindness
could blow from out the well-spring of peace.
Then would this world become another world,
and the earth would shine with the light of her Lord.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 275)

The divine Manifestations since the day of Adam
have striven to unite humanity so that all may be accounted as one soul.
The function and purpose of a shepherd is to gather and not disperse his flock.
The prophets of God have been divine shepherds of humanity.
They have established a bond of love and unity among mankind,
made scattered peoples one nation and wandering tribes a mighty kingdom.
They have laid the foundation of the oneness of God
and summoned all to universal peace.
All these holy, divine Manifestations are one.
They have served one God, promulgated the same truth,
founded the same institutions and reflected the same light.
Their appearances have been successive and correlated;
each one has announced and extolled the one who was to follow
and all laid the foundation of reality.
They summoned and invited the people to love
and made the human world a mirror of the Word of God.
Therefore the divine religions they established have one foundation;
their teachings, proofs and evidences are one;
in name and form they differ but in reality they agree and are the same.
These holy Manifestations have been as the coming of springtime in the world.
Although the springtime of this year i
s designated by another name according to the changing calendar,
yet as regards its life and quickening it is the same as the springtime of last year.
For each spring is the time of a new creation, the effects, bestowals,
perfections and life-giving forces of which are the same
as those of the former vernal seasons although the names are many and various.
This is 92, last year's was 9 and so on,
but in fundamental reality no difference is apparent.
The sun is one but the dawning-points of the sun are numerous and changing.
The ocean is one body of water but different parts of it have particular designation, Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, Antarctic, etc.
If we consider the names, there is differentiation,
but the water, the ocean itself is one reality.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 14)

 

The fundamentals of the whole economic condition are divine in nature
and are associated with the world of the heart and spirit...
...Strive, therefore, to create love in the hearts
in order that they may become glowing and radiant.
When that love is shining,
it will permeate other hearts
even as this electric light illumines its surroundings.
When the love of God is established,
everything else will be realized.
This is the true foundation of all economics.
Reflect upon it.
Endeavor to become the cause of the attraction of souls
rather than to enforce minds.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 238)

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)

All men have been created in the nature made by God,
the Guardian, the Self-Subsisting. 
Unto each one hath been prescribed a preordained measure,
as decreed in God’s mighty and guarded Tablets. 
All that which ye potentially possess can, however,
be manifested only as a result of your own volition. 
Your own acts testify to this truth. 
Consider, for instance, that which hath been forbidden...unto men. 
God hath...by His behest, decreed as lawful whatsoever He hat pleased to decree,
and hath, through the power of His sovereign might,
forbidden whatsoever He elected to forbid...
Men, however, have wittingly broken His law. 
Is such a behavior to be attributed to God, or to their proper selves? 
Be fair in your judgement. 
Every good thing is of God,
and every evil thing is from yourselves. 
Will ye not comprehend?

Baha’u’llah

Breathe the air of purity.
May you each and all share in the Divine Bounties of the Kingdom of Heaven.
May the world be for you no obstacle hiding the truth from your sight,
as the human body of Christ hid His Divinity from the people of His day.
May you receive the clear vision of the Holy Spirit,
so that your hearts may be illumined and able to recognize the Sun of Truth
shining through all material clouds, His splendour flooding the universe.

-Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 45

Only when the lamp of search, of earnest striving, of longing desire,
of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of rapture, and ecstasy,
is kindled within the seeker's heart,
and the breeze of His loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul,
will the darkness of error be dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated,
and the lights of knowledge and certitude envelop his being.
At that hour will the mystic Herald, bearing the joyful tidings of the Spirit,
shine forth from the City of God resplendent as the morn,
and, through the trumpet-blast of knowledge,
will awaken the heart, the soul, and the spirit from the slumber of negligence.
Then will the manifold favours and outpouring grace of the holy and everlasting Spirit
confer such new life upon the seeker that he will find himself endowed with a new eye,
a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind.
He will contemplate the manifest signs of the universe,
and will penetrate the hidden mysteries of the soul.
Gazing with the eye of God,
he will perceive within every atom
a door that leadeth him to the stations of absolute certitude.
He will discover in all things the mysteries of divine Revelation
and the evidences of an everlasting manifestation.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 195)

"You must follow the example and footprints of Jesus Christ. Read the Gospels.
Jesus Christ was mercy itself, was love itself.
He even prayed in behalf of His executioners -- for those who crucified Him -- saying,
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
If they knew what they were doing, they would not have done it.
Consider how kind Jesus Christ was, that even upon the cross He prayed for His oppressors.
We must follow His example. We must emulate the Prophets of God. We must follow Jesus Christ.
We must free ourselves from all these imitations which are the source of darkness in the world."          

Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 41 

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)