re: Challenging Writing from Abdu'l-Baha
In the Holy Books, the recognition of the Manifestation is presented
symbolically in many different ways. Symbols using all five of the senses are
employed -- "seeing" the Prophet means recognizing Him (Luke 24:16 and 24:31);
as does "eating" His "body" (Mark 14:22) and "touching" His body (Luke 5:13;
John 20:27 where Jesus calls on Thomas to put his hand into His side); and
"hearing" the voice of the Prophet; and finally, "inhaling the fragrance."
This is an image often employed by Baha'u'llah for recognition of Him (Aqdas p.
12 and 164) and relates back to the fragrance of the robe of Joseph in the
Story of Joseph in the Qur'an and in the Hebrew Bible.
In this passage you refer to from the Master, He writes,
"The perfume is intimately commingled and blended with the bud, and once the
bud hath opened the sweet scent of it is spread abroad." (Selections from the
Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 176)
Somewhere in Persian mystic poetry there is a verse when some clay is speaking,
and it says that although it is just the clay of the earth, "once a rose was in
me, and its fragrance has remained". And perhaps the Master is referring to
this fragrance in every human being, the recognition of the Manifestation, and
that in this sense, "every plant can even match the laughing, hundred-petalled
rose in rejoicing the sense with its fragrance." (From this same section you
are speaking about.)
He compares this fragrance to the words on a book; that the book is unaware of
its own value, but friends who cherish the words, pass the book lovingly to one
another. The Master says, perhaps in a pilgrim's note, that we should love all
people because they are reflections of God; and He uses this same imagery; and
also the image of a letter that may be worn and tattered, but because we love
the sender of the letter, we kiss it.
These are my personal impressions of the section of the Master's Tablet you
mentioned.
Brent
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RE: Challenging Writing from Abdu'l-Baha
Title: Message
We may ask what the physical
counterpart of the soul is in this world. It seems from the study of the
Writings that it is the embryo growing in the womb of a mother. From a study of
the latter, we can deduce some attributes and characteristics of the former. We
can observe striking similarities between the two; for example, we note that the
embryo begins its life as one cell. There are no limbs and organs at first, but
the cell has the capacity to multiply, and in the fullness of time become
transformed into a perfect human body. Similarly the soul when it is first
created is a 'heavenly gem'. It is without experience and its qualities and
powers are latent within it, but it is capable of acquiring these latent
qualities progressively in the course of a lifetime. God has decreed that the
embryo develop limbs and organs while shielded within the womb. Similarly, He
has ordained that the soul develop spiritual qualities in the course of its
association with the body. It is in this life, this womb-world, that the soul
can acquire divine virtues and perfections. If it so chooses, it can become the
repository of knowledge, of wisdom, of love and all the other attributes of
God.
The growth of limbs and organs in the
embryonic life, and the development of spiritual qualities by the soul, are
governed by the same principles. But there is a major difference. The growth of
10 the embryo is involuntary and dictated by nature, while the soul
has freedom of choice. This is an added dimension granted to the soul which does
not exist in the physical world of nature.
In a Tablet revealed in honour of
Haji Muhammad-Ibrahim-i-Khalil,[1] a believer of note from Qazvin, Bahá'u'lláh
states:[1 For further information about him, see The Revelation of
Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 2, pp. 259-261.]
(Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant
of Baha'u'llah, p. 9)
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It is a very challenging and mystical selection. It is hard to figure out
from the context, what He is referring to in 149.1, and 149.2 in some
ways. Anyways, the very last paragraph, 149.5, especially, seems almost out of
place. My question is: can someone share their thoughts and meditations about
the meaning of this last parag. (149.5) in light of the rest of the
selection?
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Re: Challenging Writing from Abdu'l-Baha
Title: Re: Challenging Writing from
Abdu'l-Baha
At 8:50 AM -0700 10/7/05, Barmak Kusha wrote:
Friends and colleagues,
Last night, as I studied and meditated
upon the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, I was studying selection 149 from
"Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha."
It is a very challenging and mystical
selection. It is hard to figure out from the context, what He is
referring to in 149.1, and 149.2 in some ways. Anyways, the very
last paragraph, 149.5, especially, seems almost out of place. My
question is: can someone share their thoughts and meditations about
the meaning of this last parag. (149.5) in light of the rest of the
selection?
Barmak -
I assume that the recipient of this Tablet had some kind of
mystical experience, perhaps while sleeping, perhaps while awake.
Possibly the experience was along the lines of "nature mystic"
Richard Jefferies "The Secret of My Heart" (see
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2317.
Such experiences have a clarity that is never forgotten.
This is one of the characteristics of a true experience.
Don C
--
-.-.-.-.-
He who believes himself spiritual proves he is not.
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Re: Challenging Writing from Abdu'l-Baha
http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAB/sab-150.html
http://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/ab/SWA1/swa1-188.html
http://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/ab/SWA1/swa1-189.html
Warmest regards,
Iskandar
On Fri, 7 Oct 2005, Barmak Kusha wrote:
> Friends and colleagues,
>
> Last night, as I studied and meditated upon the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, I
> was studying selection 149 from "Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha."
>
> It is a very challenging and mystical selection. It is hard to figure out
> from the context, what He is referring to in 149.1, and 149.2 in some ways.
> Anyways, the very last paragraph, 149.5, especially, seems almost out of
> place. My question is: can someone share their thoughts and meditations about
> the meaning of this last parag. (149.5) in light of the rest of the selection?
>
> Many thanks,
> Barmak
>
>
>
>
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