Allah-u-Abha

If someone longed to experience a visitation from 'Abdu'l-Baha, would there perhaps be any prayers that could help them experience this, or no?

I want 'Abdu'l-Baha to visit me, but I don't know if this is allowed in the Bahai Faith or not.

As histories and accounts of the Baha'i Faith testify, many souls have experienced what they believed to be a personal communication with one of the Central Figures of the Faith. However, the Writings make clear that such communications are through the bounty of the Holy Spirit, and not to be sought through necromancy - which is absolutely forbidden. Consequently there are no prayers to be used as an aid to summoning the spirits of the departed, whether of 'Abdu'l-Baha or anyone else.

The foundation of the Baha'i Faith is not private communications to individuals, but rather the Word of God which is open and available to everyone. I humbly suggest that you forget about a personal visitation - which you may or may not receive - and look instead to the certain promises given to those who remain steadfast in the Faith.

The Bahá'í Writings do urge caution on visions, particularly as they had earlier in the Faith been used by some believers to claim some kind of authority.



However, such visions are not restricted to the Prophets:



There is even this old translation which seems to refer to a possible opportunity for having such a vision:



This might have been just for that individual, perhaps, or not well-translated, but it does seem to say something about this...

take care,
Brett

So, no hope of visitations

When asked how this new civilization was to be brought about, Abdul Bahá said:

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"Through solidarity. In some animals mutual co-operation is frequently seen; when in time of danger, each will try to surpass the others in help. One day as I was standing near the borders of a little stream on Mt. Carmel, I noticed a number of locusts that had not yet developed full wings.

"These insects wishing to pass from my side of the stream to the other in order to procure some food, threw themselves forward, each one trying to emulate the other in flinging itself into the water, so that a bridge was formed in order that the others might pass over and this was accom-


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plished; yet those who gave themselves as a bridge finally perished. Consider how much solidarity makes for life as compared to the fighting for self interest which destroys it."
When the moment came for the patriarch's parting words, he pushed back his white turban and gave one of his smiles that in itself seems like a benediction.

"I am leaving Paris for the Orient though in reality I am always with you. Place does not matter. Two people may be in the same room and yet not attain to a visitation. When I was in prison many people came to see me. They crossed seas and deserts and yet remained in the city of the blind while others in far-distant lands attained the meeting.


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In a short time the Master came from around the eastern corner of the Tomb, followed by

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little Foad. The Master was radiantly beautiful. He wore a dove-colored overcoat or wrap, for the wind was cool on the mountain-side. Foad was dressed in a stiffly starched white dress, and made a staunch little body-guard for the Master. (Some one told us that one night Foad went up to the Master after supper and said, "You go to bed now and rest. I will take my gun and lie across the threshold. If any thieves come, I will scare them away!")

The Master gave us the talk about Elijah, which Mirza Lotfullah took down in Persian, and later translated into English, so that we might have a copy of it. At the Tomb that day Mirza Aziz 'Ullah interpreted for us.

As always the beauty of the Master's face, its power and majesty, held my attention so that it was difficult to listen to what he said. After the talk, the door at the west end of the Tomb was opened, and we all filed past the Master, who anointed our hands with rose-water. Never again will we be able to inhale that special rose fragrance, without the memory of that western entrance and the Master at the door, coming to our minds!

The candles were burning in the glass vases; there was utter stillness except when the Tablet was being chanted; and, as on the previous afternoon, my heart was won by the peace and glory of the place. While the tall, black-robed Bahai from Eskabad chanted the prayer of Visitation in Persian, the Master stood in the doorway, and the room was filled with a divine radiance of Love. At the threshold of that Tomb one may lay all burdens down. Life becomes simple and straight because one feels surrounded with Divine Love.

After the meeting in the Tomb the carriage took us back down to the Pilgrim House, and then returned to bring the Master. Cora and I watched for his return for a long time, while the quick twilight faded into darkness. Soon above us, on the mountain, there shone out the light in front of the Tomb, which is lighted every night unless there is very brilliant moonlight. At last, the carriage drew up before the door of the Master's house, and we caught a glimpse of white as he swept down from the high seat, and we heard the murmur of his greeting to the men who were sitting in front of the gate, waiting for the call to go in to dinner. So do all the pilgrims linger near his house, hoping that they may but glimpse his face as he passes by them.

That night at dinner, the Master said, "I hope the health of the friends is good. Today you went to visit the shrine (the Tomb of the Bab). Are you happy?" His smile, his care for our happiness and comfort, would have made any one happy, and our smiles of reply must have been bright enough to show him a little of how happy we were!

For dessert that night we had grapes, although on every other night we had watermelon. While we were eating the grapes, he said, "His Holiness Christ once was eating grapes. He said, 'I will not eat of the fruit of the vine again until ...

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Whoso recitheth this prayer with lowliness and fervor will bring gladness and joy to the heart of this Servant; it will be even as meeting Him face to face.


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(This prayer, revealed by `Abdu'l-Bahá, is read at His Shrine. It is also used in private prayer.)
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Whoso recitheth this prayer with lowliness and fervor will bring gladness and joy to the heart of this Servant; it will be even as meeting Him face to face.
3 He is the All-Glorious!

4 O God, my God! Lowly and tearful, I raise my suppliant hands to Thee and cover my face in the dust of that Threshold of Thine, exalted above the knowledge of the learned, and the praise of all that glorify Thee. Graciously look upon Thy servant, humble and lowly at Thy door, with the glances of the eye of Thy mercy, and immerse him in the Ocean of Thine eternal grace.

5 Lord! He is a poor and lowly servant of Thine, enthralled and imploring Thee, captive in Thy hand, praying fervently to Thee, trusting in Thee, in tears before Thy face, calling to Thee and beseeching Thee, saying:

6 O Lord, my God! Give me Thy grace to serve Thy loved ones, strenghten me in my servitude to Thee, illumine my brow with the light of adoration in Thy court of holiness, and of prayer to Thy kingdom of grandeur. Help me to be selfless at the heavenly entrance of Thy gate, and aid me to be detached from all things within Thy holy precincts. Lord! Give me to drink from the chalice of selflessness; with its robe clothe me, and in its ocean immerse me. Make me as dust in the pathway of Thy loved ones, and grant that I may offer up my soul for the earth ennobled by the footsteps of Thy chosen ones in Thy path, O Lord of Glory in the Highest.

7 With this prayer doth Thy servant call Thee, at dawntide and in the night-season. Fulfill his heart's desire, O Lord! Illumine his heart, gladden his bosom, kindle his light, that he may serve Thy Cause and Thy servants.

8 Thou art the Bestower, the Pitiful, the Most Bountiful, the Gracious, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

- `Abdu'l-Bahá

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Another nice thing the Israeli Government has done

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for the Baha'is in appreciation of the beautification of Mt. Carmel was to purchase the land that extends on from the Shrine Gardens and connects with the section on which the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is to be built, with the plan to develop it into a garden similar to the already existing gardens around the Shrine. This had made the Guardian and all at Haifa very happy.

Next we visited the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the One so close to the heart of the Americans because of his visit to our shores and because He had been visited by many of the American friends in the Most Great Prison who had told us countless stories of the Holy Family and particularly of the greatness and humility of the Master. He seemed very close and we said many prayers here at this precious Threshold of the One who is the Centre of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, for the success, Triumph and speedy fulfillment of His Divine Plan and that the Baha'is the world over would arise as one person, imbued with His spirit of selflessness to steadfastly carry out His instructions to "hasten to all parts of the world. . .travel through all the continents and islands of the globe. . .raising the cry of 'Ya Baha'ul-Abha'" One was so aware of the fact that 'Abdu'l-Baha longed to travel throughout these regions Himself, but since He was not able to go He wanted more than anything else to see the believers shouldering their responsibilities and accepting the great privilege of taking this Blessed Message for Him. His "Tablet of Visitation" took on new and deeper meaning when we said it in this Holy Place. . . "Lord give me to drink of the chalice of selflessness; its robe clothe me and in its ocean immerse me. . ."

The rest of the morning we viewed with intense interest everything there and were deeply thrilled to stand on the spot where the Archives building is to be erected and to calculate where the "arc" for the buildings mentioned in the Guardian's cable of Nov. 24th, would be erected with the Memorial Gardens as the pivot.

In the afternoon we all "fell in" to help Ruhiyyih Khanum in preparation for the dinner party to be given in honour of Josephine Baker. We helped to polish silver,

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Dear Friend,

Allah'u'Abha!

To yearn to be with Abdu'l Baha is a wonderful thing and I hope that the above rendetion of various things helps you in your endevours .... personally I have memorized the above Tablet of Visitation and while I can not say that I have had any unusual experiences worth mentioning I will relate to you on story that was told to me by a Mary Louis Suhm, a beloved Knight of Baha'u'llah.

now some of these facts may not be verbatim ... and God nows that my spelling is atrocious but I hope that readers can tell that I try to keep my heart in tune with His spirit ...

I remember a Knight of Baha'u'llah saying her father Curtis Kelsey{?} was at Haifia at the time of our Masters' passing and as well as you can imagine there was much wailing and gnashing of the teeth ... for whatever reason and I think the reason related was Mr Kelsey had a distinct impression { one may even wonder if he had had a Vistitation from Abdu'l Baha' Himself at this time right after Abdu'l Baha had passed! } yes !

Mr. Kelsey had a distinct impression that this was not the time to be sad ... but heaven help I am crying as I write this note now ... but ... Mr. Kelsey had a distinct impression that this was not the time to be sad ... and as such he wasn't aware of what was best to do ... then he had an idea to photograph the proceedings ... it seems as Mr.Kelsey was one of the few {if not the only Baha'i} to have a camarea there at that time at Mt Carmel ... ..... ...... ..... and yet to this day I Dean Hedges still struggle not to cry as I write this memmory down ...... ...... ....

sooooo ... ..... .... as the story was related to me ...... all the pictures you see of Abdu'l Baha's funeral ...... .... His casket being carried up the hill {etc...} was taken by Curtis Kelsey the father of a Knight of Baha'u'llah Mary Louis Suhm .... ..... ......

the readers of this note may find it interesting that a lot of the photograph plates of this event were destroyed by Mr Kelsey since he had been told by .... { ??????} ..... someone to destroy most of the plates because future citizens of our glorious commonwealth would be so ennamoured with Abdu'l Baha that they might be tempted to worship Him ..... .... . and that is something that Abdu'l Baha would definately not want ..... ...... ....


.... ..... ..... ...... ...... anyway ... I wish to leave you, the reader of this note ...... with one last story about visitation ...... .....


Jesus prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem, saying that it would be destroyed as "you (the people) did not know the time of your visitation."
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a person of oneness
Dean Phillip Hedges

No, I don't think we should go this far. Vistiations are always possible...Dean has given some further postings referring to them...The last prayer I gave also suggests it might be possible...

But basically we are not to emphasize them or spend too much energy seeking them out (spirituality is in our pure motives and actions in obedience, character and service).

Mr. Furutan, a Hand of the Cause of God, when I had the pleasure to meet him during a pilgrimage to the World Centre, joked that although the other Hands of the Cause had experienced visitations of one kind or another and he had not, he and the Guardian were like this (crossing his fingers to show closeness)...

Dear Friends,

Allah'u'Abha!

was doing some research into what various writers have written about copper here at the Baha'i Library Online ... for I strongly believe that in the event of an American sytsemic economic collapse copper pennies could be used in America to start a new form currency ... and at the very minimuim copper pennies can always be traded for ... well ... whatever necissity ..... ..... .....

Of course as I was reading up on copper I ran into various reflections from our Master ... it just sorta also reminded me of this thread ...
the following is one such acct


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Tuesday, October 1, 1912

[San Francisco]

From early morning the enthusiasm, eagerness, excitement, joy and singing of the believers surrounded `Abdu'l-Bahá, just as in the stories of the iguana and the sun and the moth and the candle. It was the ultimate example of a joyful reunion among the lovers of God. These ecstatic friends offered thanks for the bounty of attaining His presence and being near to Him.

`Abdu'l-Bahá continuously gave thanks for the confirmations of the Abhá Kingdom and for the power and influence of the Cause of God and encouraged the believers to proclaim the Cause of God. At noon He went for a walk and then took a little rest.

I will describe `Abdu'l-Bahá's residence, as He saw it, because it is unique among all the homes in America which have been graced by Him. It is situated on an elevated plot of land on a wide street surrounded by a spacious garden. `Abdu'l-Bahá would approach the house, climb a few steps and stand on the porch where He would see fragrant flowers and plants set in pots around the veranda and porch. When the Master entered the house, He would see on His right three large rooms, decorated with fine furniture and many varieties of flowers. Each room opens on the other by means of wide doors covered with velvet curtains, which, when drawn, create one large hall.
Every morning and afternoon the hall is filled with so many friends and seekers that there is standing room only. Many who seek private interviews meet Him on the second floor. On this second floor, accessible by a carpeted staircase, there is a large room occupied by some of His servants and to the left a small tea room. Across the hall is another room occupied by the Master. Attached to this room is a tea room and a bathroom. Situated in a corner of the house, the room commands a view of a large part of the city. At night the lights of the city appear like twinkling stars. Here many Americans, Japanese and Hindus come into `Abdu'l-Bahá's presence one after another. Each one has a question or statement to make. Many of the friends bring their children, supplicating His blessings and requesting Persian names for them. One of the Japanese friends at Mrs Goodall's home in Oakland asked the Master for Persian names for his two sons and `Abdu'l-Bahá gave them the names Hasan and Husayn.302
The third floor, where we have our rooms, is identical to the second floor. We each have our own room and are able to be close to the Master. The kitchen and dining room are on the first floor where some of the friends have the honor of dining with the Master at His table.
At each dawn, after offering prayers of gratitude, the Master calls His servants and serves us tea with His own hands. Using stories and narratives, He explains issues relating to the blessings of God and expresses gratitude for His divine confirmations. Later the friends arrive to experience the bounty of being with Him and to give praise. Whenever a group assembles, the Master comes downstairs to speak to them about great and lofty matters.
Before both lunch and dinner the Master takes a walk or goes for a ride. Mrs Goodall, Mrs Cooper and Mr and Mrs Ralston send two automobiles every day for His use. Whenever He goes out, the friends watch Him from the doors and windows of their houses. Even among the seekers there is much excitement.
`Abdu'l-Bahá is reverently received at the churches by the clergymen. Each respectfully accompanies Him to the pulpit and introduces Him to their congregations with glowing praise. They speak of Him as the Prophet of the East, the messenger of peace and tranquillity and attest to His great station and the importance of the teachings. Following His addresses at the meetings, crowds of people continually surround Him, begging for blessings and confirmations. When He returns to His home afterwards He offers praise and gratitude for the confirmations of the Abhá Beauty.

Wednesday, October 2, 1912

[San Francisco -- Oakland]

Among some of the prominent people visiting `Abdu'l-Bahá was ...

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oneness
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