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7 January 1948 [Yerrinbool Summer School]
ASSURE ATTENDANTS SUMMER SCHOOL LOVING FERVENT PRAYERS ACTIVITIES CONSOLIDATION EXPANSION INSTITUTION SHOGHI
4 February 1948 [Ethel Dawe]
Dear Bahá'í Sister:
Your letter to our beloved Guardian, dated Jan. 12th, has been received, and he has instructed me to write to you on his behalf.
He was very pleased to hear of the valuable service you have been able to render the Cause through your visits to the Bahá'ís in Perth. What they seem to need is a settler there who will actively stimulate the work and form an Assembly, and he hopes that the Nat. Assembly will find someone for this post.
He trusts that by now you have entirely recovered from the effects of your operation and are able to continue your many Bahá'í activities.
Please inform dear Mother Dunn that he has no objection to Thelma Perks writing him, although he is, indeed, very busy these days. Also tell her he remembers her in his prayers, and hopes she is well.
You may be sure that he will pray that you may be guided to do that which is for your highest good and the good of the Cause.
With loving greetings, R. Rabbani.
May the Beloved bless, sustain & guide you in your meritorious labours, reward you for your splendid accomplishments, aid you to extend continually the range of your activities, & win notable victories for His Faith & its institutions.
Your true & grateful brother, Shoghi.
27 February 1948
[Thelma Perks]
Dear Bahá'í Sister:
Your letter to our beloved Guardian, dated Feb. 15th. has been received, and he is very happy to have this opportunity of writing you and personally welcoming you into the service of our glorious Faith.
The main thing is that now you are a believer, and he hopes your services will be such as to make up for the years you feel you have lost.
He sees no objection at all to sending Miss Shampson's book on Mary Magdalene to Mr. Rank.
Please give his loving greetings to dear Mother Dunn, and assure her she is often in his thoughts and prayers.
He will certainly pray for you and that your services to the Faith may be richly blessed.
With loving greetings, R. Rabbani
Assuring you of a most hearty welcome into the Bahá'í Faith, & of my loving prayers for your spiritual advancement & success in the service of our beloved Faith & its God-given institutions,
Your true brother, Shoghi
4 April 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
Natbahai Sydney
KINDLY AIR MAIL AFTER APRIL ELECTIONS SEPARATE UP TO DATE ALPHABETICAL LISTS ASSEMBLIES GROUPS ISOLATED BELIEVERS AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND TASMANIA
15 March 1948
Mr H.C. Featherstone
Dear Bahá'í Brother:
Your letter to our beloved Guardian, dated Feb.25th, has been received, and he has instructed me to answer it on his behalf.
He is very happy indeed to hear you now will have your own Spiritual Assembly in Woodville. This is an important addition to the Faith in Australia, and enhances its prestige and influence. He was also delighted to hear of your other teaching activities carried on in neighbouring towns.
As regards the questions you asked:
1. There is no significance, as far as our teachings are concerned, to "40".
2. The "Risen Christ" is the consciousness that came to His disciples, grieving over His death, of His living reality; it was not a physical thing but a spiritual realization.
3. Bahá'u'lláh was not aware of His own station prior to His experience in the Siyáh-Chál of Tiherán. He himself says so by implication in His Tablet to the Sháh.
4. In general the administrative order as laid down in America should be followed every where. But secondary decisions are left to the judgement of each National Assembly, and the American pattern, as elaborated in "Bahá'í Procedure" need not be followed universally.
He wishes you and all the dear friends there, every success in your labours for the Faith, and assures you of his loving prayers on your behalf.
Please tell dear Miss Carpenter he was very pleased to hear she is serving there.
With warm Naw-RÏz greetings, R. Rabbani
Assuring you of my loving prayers for your success & spiritual advancement,
Your true brother, Shoghi
4 May 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
National Sydney
ASSURE DELEGATES LOVING FERVENT PRAYERS SUCCESS DELIBERATIONS FULFILMENT HOPES URGE PERSEVERANCE ENSURE VICTORIOUS CONCLUSION PLAN SHOGHI
11 May 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
Dear Bahá'í Brother:
Your letter to our beloved Guardian, dated Dec.11th, 1947, has been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
The devotion and perseverance of the believers in seeking to meet the requirements of their Plan pleases and touches him immensely, and although he fully realizes that the fewness of their numbers and the great distances involved in such a vast country as Australia, form serious handicaps in the progress of their teaching work, he, nevertheless, feels confidant that they can achieve their goals in time, and raise their heads proudly in the galaxy of their fellow-pioneers the world over.
We can truly say that this Cause is a cause that enables people to achieve the impossible! For the Bahá'ís, everywhere, for the most part, are people with no great distinguishments of either wealth or fame, and yet once they make the effort and go forth in the name of Bahá'u'lláh to spread His Faith, they become, each one, as efficacious as a host! Witness what Mustafa Raumie accomplished in Burma, and a handful of pioneers achieved, in a decade, in Latin America! It is the quality of devotion and self-sacrifice that brings rewards in the service of this Faith rather than means, ability or financial backing.
This has again, during the last few years, been demonstrated even more remarkably by the British Bahá'ís, who have not only had to contend with very limited means and a small community to draw from, but have also had infinite restrictions and privations to put up with - and, in spite of this, they are steadily gaining on the requirements of the Plan they have set for themselves, and, indeed, are startling and inspiring their fellow-Bahá'ís everywhere by their spirit and achievements!
He hopes that now, from "down under", news will begin to flow out to the Bahá'í World of the remarkable accomplishments of the Australians and New Zealanders!
Regarding the question you asked him about the Bahá'í sacred writings: these should be regarded as the writings of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá and only these should be read during the purely devotional part of the Feast.
He wishes to assure you, and all the other members of the N.S.A., of his most loving and ardent prayers for the success of your various undertakings and above all, for the success of your teaching plan.
With warmest greetings, R. Rabbani.
Dear and valued co-workers,
The Plan launched by the small yet highly promising community of devoted believers in Australia and New Zealand constitutes a landmark of unusual significance in the history of the evolution of the Faith in that far-off continent. It opens a new chapter, rich in promise, momentous in the events which it must record, and destined to be regarded as a prelude to still more glorious chapters in the annals of the Faith in the Antipodes.
The limited resources at the disposal of the prosecutors of the Plan, the vastness of the territory in which it must operate, the fewness of the numbers of those participating in its execution, offer a mighty challenge which no loyal follower of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh can either ignore or minimize. Indeed the greater the challenge, the more bountiful the blessings which will be vouchsafed from on high, and the richer the reward to be won by its triumphant executors.
The successful termination of this Plan, the first fruit of the newly established and properly functioning Administrative Order in those distant lands, will pave the way for the launching of still greater enterprises, destined to carry the message of Bahá'u'lláh to the Islands of the Pacific in the vicinity of that continent. For the mission entrusted to the care of the Faith in Australia and New Zealand is by no means confined to the mainland of Australia and the islands of New Zealand, but should embrace, as it unfolds, in the years to come, the islands of the Antipodes, where the banner of the Faith still remains to be unfurled and its Message is as yet undelivered.
It is not for them, however, at the present stage of their evolution, to probe into the future, and seek to evaluate the range of their future achievements. They must concentrate every ounce of their energy, and focus their entire attention, on the tasks immediately ahead, resolved to work unremittingly and unflinchingly until the goals of the present Plan are achieved.
Whatever the situation that may develop in the years to come, however great the obstacles by which a nascent community may yet be faced, no matter how arduous the task now confronting its members, it must persevere until the historic work is accomplished.
I will, from the depths of my heart, supplicate the Beloved to reinforce the noble exertions of this community, guide its steps, clarify its vision, deepen its understanding of the requirements of the present hour, and aid it to extend continually the scope of its meritorious achievements.
My heart longs to receive the news of the progress of this first collective enterprise on which the community has embarked, and I feel confident that its stalwart members will not allow the hopes that animate me to be frustrated.
Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi.
30 May 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
DEEPLY APPRECIATE INCOMING ASSEMBLYS NOBLE DETERMINATION PRAYING SIGNAL VICTORIES MOMENTOUS PLAN DEEPEST LOVE SHOGHI
29 JULY 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
PRAYING SUCCESS CONFERENCE CABLE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS PROGRESS TEACHING PLAN ADVISE HOLD MAIL TILL WAY OPENS DEEPEST APPRECIATION HIGH MERITORIOUS EFFORTS LOVING ADMIRATION PERSEVERANCE SHOGHI
13 August 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
DELIGHTED PROGRESS ACHIEVE URGE CONCENTRATE IMMEDIATE EFFORTS FORMATION ASSEMBLIES BRISBANE PERTH ALL SAFE LOVING APPRECIATION SHOGHI
19 August 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
ASSURE NEW ZEALAND FRIENDS HEARTY APPROVAL PRAYING SUCCESS MERITORIOUS ENTERPRISE SHOGHI
1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
APPROVE PRINTING BRILLIANT PROOF SHOGHI
2 September 1948 [Yerrinbool School]
FERVENTLY PRAYING SUCCESS SCHOOL SESSION DELIBERATIONS ASSEMBLY VICTORIES TEACHING FIELD SHOGHI
16 October 1948
Mr & Mrs Alvin Blum
Dear Bahá'í Friends:
Your letter of May 31st took a very long time to reach our beloved Guardian - as you can see - but it arrived at last, and he was delighted with the news it contained.
The fact that there are now isolated Bahá'ís and little groups forming in different parts of New Zealand shows that at last the Faith there has really settled down to grow, and is in the stage of definite expansion at last.
He was very happy to hear Mr Blum had visited Australia. This association with the Australian believers will serve to bring closer the two communities working under one NSA and stimulate the work in both places.
As long as Mr Blum is so satisfactorily settled in business, a business which enables him to travel so widely and help the friends in various cities, he sees no urgent need for you to move away from Auckland. But he hopes in the future the way will open for you to do pioneer work in Wellington.
The assistance you are giving our beloved Faith in the Antipodes is very greatly appreciated, and his loving prayers surround you both in your devoted services there.
With warm Bahá'í love, R. Rabbani
Dear and valued co-worker,
Your splendid services, so far afield, under such difficult circumstances, and with so few helpers, are indeed highly praiseworthy in the estimation of our Beloved, and will be regarded as an example worthy to emulate by the pioneers in the days to come. You are, I assure you, often in my thoughts and prayers, and I will continue to supplicate on your behalf the richest blessings of the Almighty. Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi
18 October 1948 [National Youth Committee]
MAY THE ALMIGHTY BLESS YOUR EFFORTS GUIDE YOUR STEPS AID YOU TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVELY THE MANIFOLD INTERESTS OF THE FAITH WHICH YOU LOVE SO DEARLY AND SERVE WITH SUCH DEVOTION AND ENABLE YOU TO REALIZE THE DEAREST WISH OF YOUR HEART IN ITS SERVICE YOUR TRUE AND GRATEFUL BROTHER SHOGHI
22 November 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
DELIGHTED MAGNIFICENT PROGRESS FERVENT PRAYERS OFFERED SHRINES SUCCESS ASSEMBLIES DELIBERATIONS DEEPEST LOVE SHOGHI RABBANI
26 December 1948
Miss Alice Deakin & Miss Olive Bunn
Dear Bahá'í Sisters:
Your letter to our beloved guardian, dated Dec. 8th. has been received, and he has instructed me to answer you both on his behalf.
He is delighted to hear the work is going forward in Perth, and that Mr. Perdu was able to give you so much enthusiastic support. He hopes now, with this new impetus, that you will be able to enlarge your activities and establish a thriving Bahá'í Community there.
Regarding your question about re-incarnation: we Bahá'ís do not believe that one individual soul keeps returning to this earthly life in different bodies. This is a very ancient belief, and based on a great truth - namely that the soul does go on developing and unfolding and returning towards its Creator. But the concept of its returning to this physical world is erroneous, and an outgrowth of man-made doctrines which have grown up about the fundamental concept of the progress of the soul. It would be like putting the child over and over again back into the world of the womb. It is unnecessary: but from state to state spiritually, after death. the soul does go on and go higher, so to speak.
He assures you both of his loving prayers for the success of your Bahá'í labours.
With cordial greetings, R. Rabbani.
May the Almighty bless your efforts, guide your steps, remove all obstacles from your path, & enable you to further the vital interests of His Faith & its institutions,
Your true brother, Shoghi
30 December 1948 [National Spiritual Assembly]
Dear Bahá'í Sister:
The letter written by our dear Bahá'í brother, Mr. Jim Heggie, as secretary at that time, and dated May 5th, as well as those written by you, and dated July 17th, Dec. 4th, 6th (two of this date), and 9th, together with their various enclosures, have been received, and our beloved Guardian has instructed me to answer your Assembly on his behalf.
He was very happy to hear of your meeting held in Melbourne, as he feels sure this was a great stimulus to the local community, and he hopes that circumstances will permit the N.S.A. to meet in other communities and inspire and encourage the friends in different parts of the country by this personal contact with them and their work.
In regard to the various matters raised in your letters:
He would be pleased to receive reports of the Teaching Work, the Annual Convention and Annual Reports, and, of course, the minutes of your N.S.A. meetings.
He does not feel it advisable to combine more than one town area in an Assembly, as you have suggested might be done. It is better for the friends to move, if possible, into one town's limits, and form their Assembly that way, or concentrate on their teaching work and wait until they have the requisite 9 members.
Unfortunately it is not feasible for the believers to elect or constitute an Assembly and also elect and send delegates to the Annual Convention of the same year, as both events take place in the Ridván period.
The Guardian is striving to build up uniformity in essentials all over the Bahá'í World, and this frequently involves a small measure of delay in achieving our various goals set locally. But he considers it sufficiently important to warrant the sacrifices it sometimes involves:
In this connection he would like to mention your Local By-Laws: He feels that they should conform much more closely to the original one of the New York Assembly. What is absolutely essential was incorporated in those, and all other Local Assemblies being incorporated should follow this pattern as closely as local legal technicalities permit. This again is in order to maintain international uniformity in essentials. It is not a question here of whether the By-Laws drawn up by your Legal Committee are not more up to date and do not represent the last word, undoubtedly they are and do, but if every country, when drawing up its Local By-Laws, continues this process of elaboration, in the end uniformity will be lost. The Eastern Assemblies have adhered to the original By-Laws so carefully that they have practically translated them word for word and adopted them. He feels sure Mr. Dive will understand this, and he would like you to please express to him his deep appreciation of the excellent work he has done in this connection, truly a labour of love to the Faith.
There is also another, perhaps even more pertinent reason, why he does not want anything more added to these New York By-Laws, and that is that he is everywhere urging the believers - the Americans included - to not add procedures and rulings to the Cause. He considers that what he has laid down in Bahá'í Administration is essential, but that practically everything else is secondary and he wishes the Assemblies, your own included, to deal with things with elasticity, as they come up, case by case, and not by continually passing new rulings to cover all similar cases.
The efforts being made by your Assembly to carry out the Teaching Plan for Australia and New Zealand, and the ever-increasing response of the believers in both places to this all-important work, greatly encourage and cheer him. He feels sure a very great future lies in store for our beloved Faith in those distant regions, but much more still remains to be done by the friends in order to complete this first, historic and vital, organized Plan of theirs. He feels sure they will see it through to victory; just as their brothers and sisters in other lands, working also on Plans of their own, are determined to achieve all their goals at the appointed time, so must they persevere and ensure a resounding victory for the Faith there in the Antipodes.
His loving prayers are offered in the Holy Shrines very often for the success of your work, and that God may bless you and all the members of the National Assembly in the discharge of your important duties.
With Bahá'í love, Yours in His Service, R. Rabbani.
P.S. I wish to also acknowledge receipt of the letter of your Assembly's Treasurer, dated Dec. 23rd, and to thank you, on behalf of the Guardian, for your loving contribution to the International Fund here in Haifa. He regrets the delay in getting this off to you, but has been too busy to attend to it owing to work in connection with the Shrine here. Kindly give the enclosed receipt to Mr. Tunks.
Dear and valued co-workers:
Recent communications and reports from your Assembly have revealed, in a very striking manner, the magnificent progress achieved by the alert, the faithful, and truly distinguished communities of the followers of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. The range of their labours, the rapid consolidation of their swiftly multiplying institutions, the soundness and solidity of the foundations, on which they are erecting these institutions, the exemplary loyalty they demonstrate, the solidarity and self-sacrifice, the courage and confidence they display in their incessant and manifold activities, prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Faith they love and serve so nobly and efficiently has at last been firmly and unassailably established in the Antipodes, and that its upholders and defenders in those far-away yet highly promising islands are contributing a notable and never-to-be-forgotten share to the onward march and unfoldment of its world Administrative Order.
I desire to offer the members of this high-minded, this resolute and dearly-beloved community, and particularly its elected representatives, my heartfelt congratulations on their splendid achievements which posterity will recognize as deeds that have truly enriched and adorned the annals of the Faith in the opening years of the second Bahá'í century.
As the processes impelling a rapidly evolving Order on the highroad of its destiny multiply and gather momentum, attention should be increasingly directed to the vital need of ensuring, by every means possible, the deepening of the Faith, the understanding and the spiritual life of the individuals who, as the privileged members of this community, are called upon to participate in this glorious unfoldment, and are lending their assistance to this historic evolution. A profound study of the Faith which they have espoused, its history, its spiritual as well as administrative principles; a thorough understanding of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh and of the Will of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, a deeper realization of the implications of the claims advanced by the Founders of the Faith; strict adherence to the laws and principles which they have established; a greater dedication to the fundamentals and verities enshrined in their teachings - these constitute, I feel convinced, the urgent need of the members of this rapidly expanding community. For upon this spiritual foundation must depend the solidity of the institutions which they are now so painstakingly erecting. Every outward thrust into new fields, every multiplication of Bahá'í institutions, must be paralleled by a deeper thrust of the roots which sustain the spiritual life of the community and ensure its sound development. From this vital, this ever-present need, attention must at no time be diverted; nor must it be, under any circumstances, neglected, or subordinated to the no less vital and urgent task of ensuring the outer expansion of Bahá'í administrative institutions. That this community, so alive, so devoted, so strikingly and rapidly developing, may maintain a proper balance between these two essential aspects of its development, and march forward with rapid strides and along sound lines toward the goal of the Plan it has adopted, is the ardent hope of my heart and my constant prayer.
Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi.
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