The Manifestations of God

If God is ``sanctified above all attributes'' and ``holy above all names,'' Bahá'u'lláh explains, then it must be impossible to know God's Essence directly. Hence, human beings are limited in their ability to know and experience the attributes of God. Everything under the sun reflects the attributes of God to varying degrees. The greatest, most excellent, most complete manifestation of God's attributes is found in the human mind. And amongst these, the supreme, most resplendent mind is that of the Manifestation of God, also known as the Prophet, the Buddha, or the Avatara. Bahá'u'lláh explains further:

To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery

The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace, according to His saying, ``His grace hath transcended all things; My grace hath encompassed them all,'' hath caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence.

These sanctified Mirrors, these Day Springs of ancient glory, are, one and all, the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image, and their revelation a sign of His deathless glory. They are the Treasuries of Divine knowledge, and the Repositories of celestial wisdom. Through them is transmitted a grace that is infinite, and by them is revealed the Light that can never fade   These Tabernacles of Holiness, these Primal Mirrors which reflect the light of unfading glory, are but expressions of Him Who is the Invisible of the Invisibles. By the revelation of these Gems of Divine virtue all the names and attributes of God, such as knowledge and power, sovereignty and dominion, mercy and wisdom, glory, bounty, and grace, are made manifest.[7]

Examples of these Manifestations include Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ, and Muhammad, among many others. Bahá'ís believe that there have always been Manifestations of God in every age and that there always will be. The two most recent ones--the latest, but by no means the last--are the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is the Manifestation of God for this age.

Gandhi's understanding of the Hindu concept of Avatara is remarkably similar to the Bahá'í concept of the Manifestation of God. The word Avatara comes from a Sanskrit root meaning ``to descend,'' and implies the descent of God into the world of mortals, as an ``Incarnation'' of God. Gandhi writes:

In Hinduism, incarnation [of God] is ascribed to one who has performed some extraordinary service of mankind. All embodied life is in reality an incarnation of God, but it is not usual to consider every living being as incarnation. Future generations pay this homage to one who, in his own generation, has been extraordinarily religious in his conduct   There is an Urdu saying which means ``Adam is not God but he is a spark of the Divine.'' And therefore he who is the most religiously behaved has most of the divine spark in him. It is in accordance with this train of thought, that Krishna enjoys, in Hinduism, the status of the most perfect incarnation.[8]

It is also interesting to note that Gandhi does not interpret ``incarnation'' literally to mean that God is born in human ``flesh.'' Rather, he seems to believe, like the Bahá'ís, that the ``descent'' of God into human form is a metaphor. Commenting on the celebrated passage from the Bhagavad Gita[9] in which Lord Krishna declares that he is reborn from age to age to ``save the righteous, to destroy the wicked, and to re-establish Right,'' Gandhi writes:

Here is comfort for the faithful and affirmation of the truth that Right ever prevails. An eternal conflict between Right and Wrong goes on. Sometimes the latter seems to get the upper hand, but it is Right which ultimately prevails. The good are never destroyed, for Right--which is Truth--cannot perish; the wicked are destroyed, because Wrong has no independent existence. Knowing this let man cease to arrogate to himself authorship and eschew untruth, violence and evil. Inscrutable Providence--the unique power of the Lord--is ever at work. This in fact is avatara, incarnation. Strictly speaking there can be no birth for God.[10]

The last two sentences show that Gandhi did not interpret ``incarnation'' anthropomorphically. It is also fascinating to note that Gandhi states above that evil has no independent existence. Exactly the same idea--that evil has no independent existence--can be found in the writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá:

As to thy remark, that `Abdu'l-Bahá hath said to some of the believers that evil never exists, nay rather, it is a nonexistent thing, this is but truth, inasmuch as the greatest evil is man's going astray and being veiled from truth. Error is lack of guidance; darkness is absence of light; ignorance is lack of knowledge; falsehood is lack of truthfulness; blindness is lack of sight; and deafness is lack of hearing. Therefore, error, blindness, deafness and ignorance are nonexistent things.[11]

it is possible that one thing in relation to another may be evil, and at the same time within the limits of its proper being it may not be evil. Then it is proved that there is no evil in existence; all that God created He created good. This evil is nothingness; so death is the absence of life. When man no longer receives life, he dies. Darkness is the absence of light: when there is no light, there is darkness. Light is an existing thing, but darkness is nonexistent. Wealth is an existing thing, but poverty is nonexisting. Then it is evident that all evils return to nonexistence. Good exists; evil is nonexistent.[12]

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