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Chapter 82
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The Youth is Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet.
1)
Arise, O wayfarer in the path of the Love of God, and aid thou His
Cause. Say: Barter not away this Youth, O people, for the vanities of
this world or the delights of heaven. By the righteousness of the one
true God! One hair of Him excelleth all that is in the heavens and all
that is on the earth. Beware, O men, lest ye be tempted to part with
Him in exchange for the gold and silver ye possess. Let His love be a
storehouse of treasure for your souls, on the Day when naught else but
Him shall profit you, the Day when every pillar shall tremble, when the
very skins of men shall creep, when all eyes shall stare up with
terror. Say: O people! Fear ye God, and turn not away disdainfully from
His Revelation. Fall prostrate on your faces before God, and celebrate
His praise in the daytime and in the night season.
Let thy soul glow with the flame of this undying Fire that burneth in
the midmost heart of the world, in such wise that the waters of the
universe shall be powerless to cool down its ardor. Make, then, mention
of thy Lord, that haply the heedless among Our servants may be
admonished through thy words, and the hearts of the righteous be
gladdened.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 38
2)
Know thou, moreover, that We have been cast into an afflictive Prison,
and are encompassed with the hosts of tyranny, as a result of what the
hands of the infidels have wrought. Such is the gladness, however,
which the Youth hath tasted that no earthly joy can compare unto it. By
God! The harm He suffereth at the hands of the oppressor can never
grieve His heart, nor can He be saddened by the ascendancy of such as
have repudiated His truth.
Say: Tribulation is a horizon unto My Revelation. The day star of grace
shineth above it, and sheddeth a light which neither the clouds of
men's idle fancy nor the vain imaginations of the aggressor can obscure.
Follow thou the footsteps of thy Lord, and remember His servants even
as He doth remember thee, undeterred by either the clamor of the
heedless ones or the sword of the enemy.... Spread abroad the sweet
savors of thy Lord, and hesitate not, though it be for less than a
moment, in the service of His Cause. The day is approaching when the
victory of thy Lord, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Bountiful, will be
proclaimed.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 42
3)
XLIX. Know verily that whenever this Youth turneth His eyes towards His
own self, he findeth it the most insignificant of all creation. When He
contemplates, however, the bright effulgences He hath been empowered to
manifest, lo, that self is transfigured before Him into a sovereign
Potency permeating the essence of all things visible and invisible.
Glory be to Him Who, through the power of truth, hath sent down the
Manifestation of His own Self and entrusted Him with His message unto
all mankind.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 102
4)
We eventually succeeded in manifesting the Cause of God, and exalted it
to so eminent a position that all the people, except those who
cherished ill-will in their hearts against this Youth and joined
partners with the Almighty, acknowledged the sovereignty of God and His
mighty dominion. And yet, notwithstanding this Revelation whose
influence hath pervaded all created things, and despite the brightness
of this Light, the like of which none of them hath ever beheld, witness
how the people of the Bayan have denied and contended with Me. Some
have turned away from the Path of God, rejected the authority of Him in
Whom they had believed, and acted insolently towards God, the Most
Powerful, the Supreme Protector, the Most Exalted, the Most Great.
Others hesitated and halted in His Path, and regarded the Cause of the
Creator, in its inmost truth, as invalid unless substantiated by the
approval of him who was created through the operation of My Will. Thus
have their works come to naught, and yet they failed to perceive it.
Among them is he who sought to measure God with the measure of his own
self, and was so misled by the names of God as to rise up against Me,
who condemned Me as one that deserved to be put to death, and who
imputed to Me the very offenses of which he himself was guilty
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 273
5)
Thy glory beareth me witness! Were all that are in the heavens and all
that are on earth to unite and seek to hinder me from remembering Thee
and from celebrating Thy praise, they would assuredly have no power
over me, and would fail in their purpose. And were the infidels to slay
me, my blood would, at Thy command, lift up its voice and proclaim:
"There is no God but Thee, O Thou Who art all my heart's Desire!" And
were my flesh to be boiled in the cauldron of hate, the smell which it
would send forth would rise towards Thee and cry out: "Where art Thou,
O Lord of the worlds, Thou One Desire of them that have known Thee!"
And were I to be cast into fire, my ashes would -- I swear by Thy glory
-- declare: "The Youth hath, verily, attained that for which he had
besought his Lord, the All-Glorious, the Omniscient."
How, then, can such a man be fearful of the combination of the kings to
injure him in Thy Cause? No, no, I swear by Thyself, O Thou Who art the
King of kings! Such is my love for Thee that I can fear no one, though
the powers of all the worlds be arrayed against me. Alone and unaided I
have, by the power of Thy might, arisen to proclaim Thy Cause, unafraid
of the host of my oppressors.
To all that dwell on earth I cry aloud and say: "Fear ye God, O ye
servants of God, and suffer not yourselves to be kept back from this
pure Wine that hath flowed from the right hand of the throne of the
mercy of your Lord, the Most Merciful. I swear by God! Better for you
is what He possesseth than the things ye yourselves possess and the
things ye have sought and are now seeking in this vain and empty life.
Forsake the world, and set your faces towards the all-glorious Horizon.
Whoso hath partaken of the wine of His remembrance will forget every
other remembrance, and whoso hath recognized Him will rid himself of
all attachment to this life and to all that pertaineth unto it."
-- Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 187
6)
He came down from the pavillions of beauty and stood like the Sun at the zenith of heaven, peerless and unique in His beauty.
Rejoice! This is the Deathless Youth, come bearing great joy.
Thus He stood in the midst of heaven, shining like the noonday Sun at
the axis of beauty, His Name mighty! Thereupon a herald proclaimed: "
Rejoice! This is the Beauty of the Unseen, come with a mighty spirit."
A clamor then arose from the hearts of the maids of heaven in their
chambers, "Blessed be God, the best of Creators!" Thereupon the dove
sang out,
Rejoice! for the eyes of the privy angels have seen none like unto this Deathless Youth."
The gates of Paradise were flung wide yet again, opened with the key of a mighty Name.
Rejoice! This is the Deathless Youth, come with a mighty Name.
The Maid of Beauty came forth, dawning like the sun, plain upon the horizon of the morn.
Rejoice! This is the Maid of Glory, come with a mighty beauty.
A brocade she wore, dazzling the minds of the privy angels.
Rejoice! this is the Deathless Maid, come with a mighty grace.
She descended from the chambers of eternity, then She sang such a song as to enchant the hearts of the sincere.
Rejoice! This is the Deathless Beauty, come with a mighty secret.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablet of the Deatless Youth. A provisional translation by Walbridge.
7)
O, thou personage, who considerest thyself the greatest of all men,
while looking upon the Divine Youth, thinking him to be the lowest of
men, yet through him the Eye of the Supreme Concourse is brightened and
illumined. This Youth has never made nor will he ever make a request of
thee: For from the beginning every one of the Manifestations of
Mercifulness and the dawning-Places of the Glory of the Almighty, who
have stepped forth from the Realm of Immortality upon the arena of
existence and shone forth with great splendor for the quickening of the
dead, men like thee have considered those Sanctified Souls and Temples
of Oneness upon whom the reformation of the world depends, as the
people of strife, and wrong-doers. Verily, their names (the deniers)
are forgotten and ere long thy name will also be forgotten and thou
shalt find thyself in great loss.
-- Baha'u'llah, (Lawh-i-Ra'ís (both), Tablet to Ali Pasha II). A provisional translation by A. Sohrab.
8)
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, Provisional Translations, Persian Holy Mariner - Cole.
9)
23. O DWELLERS IN THE CITY OF LOVE!
Mortal blasts have beset the everlasting candle, and the beauty of the
celestial Youth is veiled in the darkness of dust. The chief of the
monarchs of love is wronged by the people of tyranny and the dove of
holiness lies prisoned in the talons of owls. The dwellers in the
pavilion of glory and the celestial concourse bewail and lament, while
ye repose in the realm of negligence, and esteem yourselves as of the
true friends. How vain are your imaginings!
-- Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words
10)
70. O SON OF WORLDLINESS!
Pleasant is the realm of being, wert thou to attain thereto; glorious
is the domain of eternity, shouldst thou pass beyond the world of
mortality; sweet is the holy ecstasy if thou drinkest of the mystic
chalice from the hands of the celestial Youth. Shouldst thou attain
this station, thou wouldst be freed from destruction and death, from
toil and sin.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words
11)
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon she summoned unto herself one maiden from her handmaidens,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And commanded her: "Descend into space from the mansions of eternity,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"And turn thou unto that which they have concealed in the inmost of their hearts.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Shouldst thou inhale the perfume of the robe from the Youth that hath
been hidden within the tabernacle of light by reason of that which the
hands of the wicked have wrought,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Raise a cry within thyself, that all the inmates of the chambers of
Paradise, that are the embodiments of the eternal wealth, may
understand and hearken;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"That they may all come down from their everlasting chambers and tremble,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"And kiss their hands and feet for having soared to the heights of faithfulness;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Perchance they may find from their robes the fragrance of the Beloved One."
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon the countenance of the favored damsel beamed above the
celestial chambers even as the light that shineth from the face of the
Youth above His mortal temple;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then descended with such an adorning as to illumine the heavens and all that is therein.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She bestirred herself and perfumed all things in the lands of holiness and grandeur.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
When she reached that place she rose to her full height in the midmost heart of creation,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And sought to inhale their fragrance at a time that knoweth neither beginning nor end.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She found not in them that which she did desire, and this, verily, is but one of His wondrous tales.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then cried aloud, wailed and repaired to her own station within her most lofty mansion,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And then gave utterance to one mystic word, whispered privily by her honeyed tongue,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And raised the call amidst the Celestial Concourse and the immortal maids of heaven:
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"By the Lord! I found not from these idle claimants the breeze of Faithfulness!
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"By the Lord! The Youth hath remained lone and forlorn in the land of exile in the hands of the ungodly."
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then uttered within herself such a cry that the Celestial Concourse did shriek and tremble,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And she fell upon the dust and gave up the spirit. It seemeth she was
called and hearkened unto Him that summoned her unto the Realm on High.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Glorified be He that created her out of the essence of love in the midmost heart of his exalted paradise!
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon the maids of heaven hastened forth from their chambers, upon
whose countenances the eye of no dweller in the highest paradise had
ever gazed.
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
They all gathered around her, and lo! they found her body fallen upon the dust;
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High! And as they beheld her state and
comprehended a word of the tale told by the Youth, they bared their
heads, rent their garments asunder, beat upon their faces, forgot their
joy, shed tears and smote with their hands upon their cheeks, and this
is verily one of the mysterious grievous afflictions -
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner, Compilations, Baha'i Prayers, p. 224
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