Yeshua

For me, this is stunning!

Amen, amen I say to thee

bwb

'Abdu'l-Baha did not only teach about being a true Christian. He also practiced what He taught. Here is a beautiful story that illustrates how 'Abdu'l-Baha practiced kindness and forgiveness to His enemies ('Abdu'l-Baha's given name was Abbas Effendi, and Baha'is very often also refer to Him as "the Master"):

"For more than thirty-four years this man has been a prisoner at 'Akká. But his jailors have become his friends. The Governor of the city, the Commander of the Army Corps, respect and honour him as though he were their brother. No man's opinion or recommendation has greater weight with them. He is the beloved of all the city, high and low. And how could it be otherwise? For to this man it is the law, as it was to Jesus of Nazareth, to do good to those who injure him. Have we yet heard of any one in lands which boast the name of Christ who lived that life?

Hear how he treats his enemies. One instance of many I have heard will suffice.

When the Master came to 'Akká there lived there a certain man[1] from Afghanistan, an austere and rigid Mussulman.[2] To him the Master was a heretic. He felt and nourished a great enmity towards the Master, and roused up others against him. When opportunity offered in gatherings of the people, as in the Mosque, he denounced him with bitter words. 'This man,' he said to all, 'is an imposter. Why do you speak to him? Why do you have dealings with him?' And when he passed the Master on the street he was careful to hold his robe before his face that his sight might not be defiled. Thus did the Afghan. The Master, however, did thus: The Afghan was poor and lived in a mosque; he was frequently in need of food and clothing. The Master sent him both. These he accepted, but without thanks. He fell sick. The Master took him a physician, food, medicine, money. These, also, he accepted; but as he held out one hand that the physician might take his pulse, with the other he held his cloak before his face that he might not look upon the Master. For twenty-four years the Master continued his kindnesses and the Afghan persisted in his enmity. Then at last one day the Afghan came to the Master's door, and fell down, penitent and weeping, at his feet. 'Forgive me, sir!' he cried. 'For twenty-four years I have done evil to you, for twenty-four years you have done good to me. Now I know that I have been in the wrong.' The Master bade him rise, and they became friends. This Master is as simple as his soul is great. He claims nothing for himself -- neither comfort, nor honour, nor repose. Three or four hours of sleep suffice him; all the remainder of his time and all his strength are given to the succour of those who suffer, in spirit or in body. 'I am,' he says, 'the servant of God.' Such is Abbas Effendi, the Master of 'Akká."

[1 His name was Haji Siddiq.] [2 Musalman (Muslim)]

(H.M. Balyuzi, quoting Myron H. Phelps, Abdu'l-Baha - The Centre of the Covenant, p. 101)

bwb

I love your enthusiasm and positivity, Yeshua. Too bad there is no "stunned" or "amazed" emoticon for you. LOL

Yeshua

Oh if only...a boy can dream LOL

Yeshua

A very touching story indeed BWB of how the spirit of perfect love can transform and can cleanse the hatred from a person's heart. May we all serve God and reflect Christ in the way that Abdu'l-Baha did! As St Paul said: "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love, become slaves to one another".

Abdu'l-Baha (Servant of God) was appropriately named but I think he was more than Servant of God, he was also a Servant of the servants of God - enslaved to others out of love and concern for them.

What a beautiful condition of life it is to love those who hate you. If only we could all have the moral strength to be as Christ-like as Abdu'l-Baha, as Ghandi, as Martin Luther King - all of whom were indeed, in the wonderful poetic language of the Master, "mirrors reflecting the radiance of the divinity of Christ".
Alas my mirror is dusty I'm afraid, dustied and clouded by the weight of my many sins and faults. But it gives me great encouragement to perceive the Spirit of Christ in great men such as Abdu'l-Baha - so that I may aspire to greater heights.

bwb

These words of 'Abdu'l-Baha agree with my own perception of the world's condition, that the ice cold of spiritual wintertime is here in human hearts, and without a spiritual springtime it will deepen into a permanent ice age.


"If the followers of the Lord Christ had continued to follow out these principles with steadfast faithfulness, there would have been no need for a renewal of the Christian Message, no necessity for a re-awakening of His people, for a great and glorious civilization would now be ruling the world and the Kingdom of Heaven would have come on earth.

But instead of this, what has taken place! Men turned away their faces from following the divinely illuminated precepts of their Master, and winter fell upon the hearts of men. For, as the body of man depends for life upon the rays of the sun, so cannot the celestial virtues grow in the soul without the radiance of the Sun of Truth.

God leaves not His children comfortless, but, when the darkness of winter overshadows them, then again He sends His Messengers, the Prophets, with a renewal of the blessed spring. The Sun of Truth appears again on the horizon of the world shining into the eyes of those who sleep, awaking them to behold the glory of a new dawn. Then again will the tree of humanity blossom and bring forth the fruit of righteousness for the healing of the nations. Because man has stopped his ears to the Voice of Truth and shut his eyes to the Sacred Light, neglecting the Law of God, for this reason has the darkness of war and tumult, unrest and misery, desolated the earth. I pray that you will all strive to bring each child of God into the radiance of the Sun of Truth, that the darkness may be dissipated by the penetrating rays of its glory, and the winter's hardness and cold may be melted away by the merciful warmth of its shining."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 32)

"I pray for each and all that you may be as flames of love in the world, and that the brightness of your light and the warmth of your affection may reach the heart of every sad and sorrowing child of God."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 95)

tonyfish58

I like this explanation as well

The spirit of Christ
The body is composed, in truth, of corporeal elements and every composition is necessarily subject to decomposition; but the spirit is an essence, simple, pure, spiritual, eternal, perpetual and divine. He who seeketh Christ from the point of view of his body hath, in truth, debased Him and hath gone astray from Him; but he who seeketh Christ from the point of view of His spirit will grow from day to day in joy, attraction, zeal, proximity, perception and vision.
Thou hast then to seek the spirit of Christ in this marvellous day. The heaven wither Christ ascended is not an infinite space. His heaven is much rather the kingdom of His lord, the Munificent. As He said, “The son of Man is in heaven.” It is known then that His heaven is beyond the boundaries that surround existence and that He is elevated for the people who adore.
Pray God to ascend to this heaven, to taste of its food and know thou that the people have not understood to this day the mystery of the Holy Scriptures. They believe that Christ was deprived of His heaven when He was in this world, that He had fallen from the heights of His elevation and that later he ascended to this elevated pinnacle that is to say, towards the heaven which doth not exist, for there is only space. They expect that He will descend from this heaven seated upon a cloud. They believe that there is in the heavens a cloud upon which He will be seated and by which He will then descend; while, in reality, the clouds are vapours which rise from the earth and which do not descend from the heavens. The cloud mention in the Holy Scriptures is the human body, because it is a veil for them, like a cloud, which prevents them from seeing the Sun of Truth which is shining in horizon of Christ.

Abdul’Baha - BWF

I love reading stories of Abdul'Baha - He was a perfect example of how we should live our lives

It is a shame we can not follow that example

Cheers Tony

bwb

Here are a few more anecdotes about 'Abdu'l-Baha that I very much like, from "The Chosen Highway", by Lady Blomfield (headings added by me).

"BLESSED ARE THE CHILDREN"

For us, every day was filled with joyous interest and marvelling, where simple happenings became spiritual events. One day we were invited to accompany the Master to East Sheen, where a number of friends were gathered, invited by Mr. and Mrs. Jenner. Their three small children clambered on to His knee, clung round His neck, and remained as quiet as wee mice whilst the Master spoke, He meanwhile stroking the hair of the tiny ones and saying:

"Blessed are the children, of whom His Holiness Christ said: 'Of such are the Kingdom of Heaven.' Children have no worldly ambitions. Their hearts are pure. We must become like children, crowning our heads with the crown of severance (from all material things of the earth); purifying our hearts, that we may see God in His Great Manifestations, and obey the laws brought to us by those, His Messengers."

IN THOSE DAYS, IT WAS CONSIDERED 'UNLADYLIKE' FOR A GIRL TO BEAT BOYS AT ANYTHING, BUT 'ABDU'L-BAHA WOULD HAVE NONE OF THAT ATTITUDE

After we had enjoyed the hospitality of the parents of those sweet children, the Master, always loving trees and pastures, went into Richmond Park, where He watched a race on ponies between some boys and a girl. When the latter won, He clapped His hands, crying out "Bravo! Bravo!"

'ABDU'L-BAHA TALKS ABOUT HIS IMPRISONMENT AND EXPLAINS THE MEANING OF TRUE FREEDOM

On the way back the evening light was waning as we crossed the Serpentine bridge. Rows of shining lamps beneath the trees, stretching as far as our eyes could see into the distance, made that part of London into a glowing fairyland.

"I am very much pleased with this scene. Light is good, most good. There was much darkness in the prison at 'Akká, said the Master.

Our hearts were sad as we thought on those sombre years within that dismal fortress, where the only light was in the indomitable spirit of the Master Himself! When we said "We are glad, oh! so full of gladness that you are free," He said: "Freedom is not a matter of place, but of condition. I was happy in that prison, for those days were passed in the path of service.

"To me prison was freedom.

"Troubles are a rest to me.

"Death is life.

"To be despised is honour.

"Therefore was I full of happiness all through that prison time.

"When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed freedom! For self is the greatest prison.

"When this release takes place, one can never be imprisoned. Unless one accepts dire vicissitudes, not with dull resignation, but with radiant acquiescence, one cannot attain this freedom."

(Lady Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, p. 165)

bwb

Here is another story of 'Abdu'l-Baha to warm your heart, about how 'Abdu'l-Baha rescued a man from suicidal despair during His travel to England:


"Another day, whilst several personages were talking with 'Abdu'l-Bahá, a man's voice was heard at the hall door. "Is the lady of this house within?" The servitor answered "Yes, but -- " "Oh please, I must see her!" he interrupted with despairing insistence. I, overhearing, had gone into the hall.

"Are you the hostess of 'Abdu'l-Bahá?" he asked.

"Yes, Do you wish to see me?" "I have walked thirty miles for that purpose." "Come in and rest. After some refreshment you will tell me?" He came in and sat down in the dining-room. In appearance he might have been an ordinary tramp, but as he spoke, from out the core of squalor and suffering, something else seemed faintly to breathe.

After a while the poor fellow began his pitiful story: "I was not always as you see me now, a disreputable, hopeless object. My father is a country rector, and I had the advantage of being at a public school. Of the various causes which led to my arrival at the Thames embankment as my only home, I need not speak to you."

"Last evening I had decided to put an end to my futile, hateful life, useless to God and man!"

"Whilst taking what I had intended should be my last walk, I saw 'a Face' in the window of a newspaper shop. I stood looking at the face as if rooted to the spot. He seemed to speak to me, and call me to him!"

"Let me see that paper, please," I asked. It was the face of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

"I read that he is here, in this house. I said to myself, "If there is in existence on earth that personable, I shall take up again the burden of my life.'"

"I set off on my quest. I have come here to find him. Tell me, is he here? Will he see me? Even me?"

"Of course he will see you. Come to Him."

In answer to the knock, 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself opened the door, extending His hands, as though to a dear friend, whom He was expecting.

"Welcome! Most welcome! I am very much pleased that thou hast come. Be seated."

The pathetic man trembled and sank on to a low chair by the Master's feet, as though unable to utter a word.

The other guests, meanwhile, looked on wonderingly to see the attention transferred to the strange-looking new arrival, who seemed to be so overburdened with hopeless misery.

"Be happy! Be happy!" said 'Abdu'l-Bahá, holding one of the poor hands, stroking tenderly the dishevelled, bowed head.

Smiling that wonderful smile of loving compassion, the Master continued:

"Do not be filled with grief when humiliation overtaketh thee.

"The bounty and power of God is without limit for each and every soul in the world.

"Seek for spiritual joy and knowledge, then, though thou walk upon this earth, thou wilt be dwelling within the divine realm.

"Though thou be poor, thou mayest be rich in the Kingdom of God."

These and other words of comfort, of strength, and of healing were spoken to the man, whose cloud of misery seemed to melt away in the warmth of the Master's loving presence.

As the strange visitor rose to leave Him Whom he had sought and found, a new look was upon his face, a new erectness in his carriage, a firm purpose in his steps.

"Please write down for me His words. I have attained all I expected, and even more."


"And now what are your going to do?" I asked. "I'm going to work in the fields. I can earn what I need for my simple wants. When I have saved enough I shall take a little bit of land, build a tiny hut upon it in which to live, then I shall grow violets for the market. As He says 'Poverty is unimportant, work is worship.' I need not say 'thank you,' need I? Farewell." The man had gone."

(Lady Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, p. 159)

bwb

"Our belief in Christ, as Bahá'ís, is so firm, so unshakable and so exalted in nature that very few Christians are to be found now-a-days who love Him and reverence Him and have the faith in Him that we have."
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá'ís of Vienna, June 24, 1947)
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 159)