Tag: "God, Love of"

tag name	God, Love of	type:	Religion, general
web link	bahai-library.com/tags/God,_Love_of
related tags	God; Love; Purpose of life
referring tags	Faith and deeds; Fire; God, Knowledge of; God, Love for; Heart; Laws; Obligatory prayer, Short; Will, knowledge and love
Inventory subject	Love of God
notes	See also: – Bahá'í Sacred Writings, chapter 2, section The Love of God" (Bahá'u'lláh), and chapter 14, section Spiritual Enkindlement" ('Abdu'l-Bahá)
selected quotations (authoritative sources)	These quotations reflect common presentations of Bahá’í views; the materials below may show a wider range of interpretations and contexts: "My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting. Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty. I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life. Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant. Thy Paradise is My love; thy heavenly home, reunion with Me. Enter therein and tarry not. This is that which hath been destined for thee in Our kingdom above and Our exalted dominion. If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in thee. My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure, and he that turneth away shall surely stray and perish. Thou art My stronghold; enter therein that thou mayest abide in safety. My love is in thee, know it, that thou mayest find Me near unto thee. Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favor upon thee. With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is binding. Question it not, nor have a doubt thereof. I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting. Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not; wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished; why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of glory." – Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, Arabic, no. 1, 3–7, 9–14 (BH00386) "The candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of My power, quench it not with the contrary winds of self and passion. The healer of all thine ills is remembrance of Me, forget it not. Make My love thy treasure and cherish it even as thy very sight and life." – Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, Persian no. 32 (BH00113) "O ye peoples of the world! Know assuredly that My commandments are the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy for My creatures... – Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, ¶3 (BH00001) "... O people of Bahá! Ye are the dawning-places of the love of God and the daysprings of His loving-kindness. Defile not your tongues with the cursing and reviling of any soul, and guard your eyes against that which is not seemly..." – Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, Ishráqát (Splendors), the eighth Ishráq (BH00053) "... Second comes the love of God. The light of this love is kindled, through the knowledge of God, in the lamp of the heart, and its spreading rays illumine the world and bestow upon man the life of the Kingdom. And in truth the fruit of human existence is the love of God, which is the spirit of life and grace everlasting. Were it not for the love of God, the contingent world would be plunged in darkness. Were it not for the love of God, the hearts of men would be bereft of life and deprived of the stirrings of conscience. Were it not for the love of God, the perfections of the human world would entirely vanish. Were it not for the love of God, no real connection could exist between human hearts. Were it not for the love of God, spiritual union would be lost. Were it not for the love of God, the light of the oneness of mankind would be extinguished. Were it not for the love of God, the East and the West would not embrace as two lovers. Were it not for the love of God, discord and division would not be transmuted into fellowship. Were it not for the love of God, estrangement would not give way to unity. Were it not for the love of God, the stranger would not become the friend. Indeed, love in the human world is a ray of the love of God and a reflection of the grace of His bounty..." – 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, chapter 84 "Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God’s holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings. Love is heaven’s kindly light, the Holy Spirit’s eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God’s revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things. Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul. Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms. Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe. Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation..." – Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, no. 12 (AB01214) "... In the highest prayer, men pray only for the love of God, not because they fear Him or hell, or hope for bounty or heaven.... When a man falls in love with a human being, it is impossible for him to keep from mentioning the name of his beloved. How much more difficult is it to keep from mentioning the Name of God when one has come to love Him.... The spiritual man finds no delight in anything save in commemoration of God. – Report of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words as quoted in J. E. Esslemont, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, pp. 94–95, cited in compilation Prayer and Devotional Life, no. 28 "We must never take one sentence in the Teachings and isolate it from the rest ... We must love God, and in this state, a general love for all men becomes possible. We cannot love each human being for himself but our feeling towards humanity should be motivated by our love for the Father who created all men..." – from a letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 4 October 1950, Unfolding Destiny, op. 457-8 (also Lights of Guidance, #1341), quoted in Hooper Dunbar's book Companion to the Study of the Kitáb-i-Íqán, reference 293, in relation to the phrase "He [the true seeker ] must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein...", KI ¶213.
references	en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_of_God; bahaiquotes.com/subject/love-four-kinds; bahaiquotes.com/subject/love-god-to-man; bahaiquotes.com/subject/love-of-god-man-to-god; www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/search#q="love of God"

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