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Chapter 35
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Immortal Beings -- the Independent Prophet and Dependent/Lesser Prophets.
1)
The Manifestation of God -- the immortal Being.
Alas, alas, for that which befell Him Who was the Manifestation of the
Self of God, and for that which He and His loved ones were made to
suffer! The people inflicted upon them what no soul hath ever
inflicted upon another, and what no infidel hath wrought against a
believer or suffered at his hand. Alas, alas! That immortal Being sat
upon the darksome dust, the Holy Spirit lamented in the retreats of
glory, the pillars of the Throne crumbled in the exalted dominion, the
joy of the world was changed into sorrow in the crimson land, and the
voice of the Nightingale was silenced in the golden realm. Woe betide
them for what their hands have wrought and for what they have committed!
-- Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 21
2)
Muhammad, an Independent Prophet -- an immortal Being.
Behold how the sovereignty of Muhammad, the Messenger of God, is today
apparent and manifest amongst the people. You are well aware of what
befell His Faith in the early days of His Dispensation. What woeful
sufferings did the hand of the infidel and erring, the divines of that
age and their associates, inflict upon that spiritual Essence, that
most pure and holy Being! How abundant the thorns and briars which they
have strewn over His path! It is evident that that wretched generation,
in their wicked and satanic fancy, regarded every injury to that
immortal Being as a means to the attainment of an abiding felicity;
inasmuch as the recognized divines of that age, such as
Abdu'llah-i-Ubayy, Abu'Amir, the hermit, Ka'b-ibn-i-Ashraf, and
Nadr-ibn-i-Harith, all treated Him as an impostor, and pronounced Him a
lunatic and a calumniator. Such sore accusations they brought against
Him that in recounting them God forbiddeth the ink to flow, Our pen to
move, or the page to bear them. These malicious imputations provoked
the people to arise and torment Him. And how fierce that torment, if
the divines of the age be its chief instigators, if they denounce Him
to their followers, cast Him out from their midst, and declare Him a
miscreant! Hath not the same befallen this Servant, and been witnessed
by all?
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 24
3)
Baha'u'llah, an Independent Prophet -- the immortal Face.
CXXV. O My brother! When a true seeker determineth to take the step of
search in the path leading unto the knowledge of the Ancient of Days,
he must, before all else, cleanse his heart, which is the seat of the
revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of
all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic
fancy. He must purge his breast, which is the sanctuary of the abiding
love of the Beloved, of every defilement, and sanctify his soul from
all that pertaineth to water and clay, from all shadowy and ephemeral
attachments. He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either
love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to
error, or that hate repel him away from the truth. Even as thou dost
witness in this Day how most of the people, because of such love and
hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the
Embodiments of the Divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming
through the wilderness of oblivion and error.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 264
4)
The Dependent Prophet of Baha'u'llah -- the immortal countenance.
For ages and centuries they settled and dwelt in that pleasant and
spiritual station, in that divine and holy rose garden, with perfect
joy and happiness.
Then the gales of divine tests and the winds of lordly temptation blew
from the Sheba of the everlasting Cause. They became distracted by the
beauty of the wine server and grew heedless of the immortal
countenance, to the extent that they imagined the shadow to be the sun
and phantoms to be light. They set out for the ladders of the greatest
name so that they might scale those heavens and arrive at that seat and
place. When they rose toward it, the divine assayers descended upon
them with the sacred touchstone, by the irresistible decree of the
lord. When these emissaries did not perceive the scent of the spiritual
youth, they forbade entry to all. Afterwards, there occurred what is
inscribed upon the guarded tablet.
-- Baha'u'llah, Persian Holy Mariner, Provisional Translation by Juan Cole
5)
The Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah -- the immortal temples.
Yes, this ephemeral youth here mentions the highest station of the love
of the divine friends. He does so by reference to the wonders of the
text of divine unity and the gems of the wisdom of the self-sufficient
sovereign. Thus, perhaps some might recognize the value of courage and
gallantry, and put off the shirt of negligence and carnal appetites.
Perhaps they will visit the illumined beauty of the pure, radiant and
sanctified friend in the land of love, detachment, amiability and
exaltation. Thus would they receive the lights dawning from the morn of
his brow and the effulgence of the perspicuous day, to at least the
extent that they would be enabled to unite their inner and outer
selves. We have passed beyond the loftiness of abstraction, the
sublimity of divine oneness, the ultimate recognition that God is above
all attributes, and the most great sanctification. Now, they must put
forth their utmost effort and give their unswerving attention, so that
their inward secrets not be contrary to their overt behavior, nor their
outward deeds at variance with their inner mysteries. We have traversed
the stage of expending the self for others. Arise to expend justice and
fairness upon the souls that pertain to you.
In the end, however, you prefer the cloak of carnal longing and desire
to the robe of divine benediction, and you exchange the song of the
nightingale of immortality for the disagreeable croaking of death that
issues from the throats of the hateful and rebellious. How miserable a
trade you make! We are from God and to him do we return. God willing,
we maintain the hope that the immortal temples
of glory shall, through the adornment of holiness and the divine
attributes, appear illumined, gentle, pure and undefiled like the
eternal sun. This is not difficult for God.
-- Baha'u'llah, Persian Holy Mariner, Provisional Translation by Juan Cole
6)
Baha'u'llah, an Independent Prophet -- the immortal Being.
Praise be unto God Who hath manifested the Point, hath unfolded
therefrom the knowledge of all things, whether of the past or of the
future -- a Point He hath chosen to be the Herald of His Name and the
Harbinger of His Great Revelation which hath caused the limbs of all
mankind to quake and the splendour of His light to shine forth above
the horizon of the world. Verily, this is the Point which God hath
ordained to be an ocean of light for the sincere among His servants and
a flame of fire to the froward amidst His creatures and the impious
among His people -- they who bartered away the gift of God for
unbelief, and the celestial food for hypocrisy, and led their
associates to a wretched abode. These are the people who have
manifested sedition throughout the world and have violated His Covenant
on the Day when the immortal Being mounted His throne and the Crier
raised His Voice from the haven of security and peace in the holy Vale.
O followers of the Bayan! Fear ye the All-Merciful. This is the One Who
hath been glorified by Muhammad, the Apostle of God, and before Him by
the Spirit [1] and yet before Him by the One Who discoursed with
God.[2] This is the Point of the Bayan calling aloud before the Throne,
saying: 'By the righteousness of God, ye have been created to glorify
this Most Great Announcement, this Perfect Way which lay hid within the
souls of the Prophets, which was treasured in the hearts of the chosen
ones of God and was written down by the glorious Pen of your Lord, the
Possessor of Names.'
[1 Jesus.]
[2 Moses.]
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 102
7)
Every one who is endowed with a clear insight will behold that They
(the Manifestations) were created before the creation of heaven and
earth, and that this has ever been the Throne of the Merciful, and will
forever be as it was; that there is no relation, connection, similarity
or reference between that Throne and all else save it, and that all
things testify with their inmost tongue; "Verily, these (bodies) are
the Thrones of the Merciful One." They have no like in creation, nor
any equal in the world of emanation. From their elements all have
appeared in such wise that thou wilt find that, verily, from their Fire
fire hath appeared in the universe and hath spoken in the Blessed
Branch of Unity, in the lofty Sinai of Moses the Interlocutor, and that
from their Waters thou findest every soul living and immortal. So,
likewise, after this manner, consider its other elements; but with
manifest certainty. This was the mention of the place whereon He was
established. How much above this, then, will be the station of His
Chair, and that upon which He stands? (The Prophets.) All that which We
have revealed and mentioned unto thee in this Tablet is according to
the language of the people of creation; otherwise, by the One in the
grasp of Whose Power are all things, verily, We have utterances
concerning this station such as are not befitting to mention in these
days, during which the people have differed, and have cast the Lord of
Lords behind them, and have made an idol by the hands of lust, and have
circled around it and become of those who are attached to it.
-- Baha'u'llah, Lawh-i-Zuhúr, Tablet of the Manifestation - Provisional translation by Unknown author
8)
A reference on "immortal" in the
context of humans (who are fallible, as distinct from the Prophets, who
are the Face of God). "but to those souls who are veiled from God,
although they have life, it
is dark, and in comparison with the life of believers it is
nonexistence."
Entrance into the Kingdom is through the love of God, through
detachment, through holiness and chastity, through truthfulness,
purity, steadfastness, faithfulness and the sacrifice of life.
These explanations show that man is immortal and lives eternally. For
those who believe in God, who have love of God, and faith, life is
excellent -- that is, it is eternal; but to those souls who are veiled
from God, although they have life, it is dark, and in comparison with
the life of believers it is nonexistence.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 242
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