Monday 18 July 2016

RIDHVAN MESSAGE 2016

RIDHVAN MESSAGE 
2016

This last Baha'i year has seen many great advancements in the Cause--even as the inner reality of the soul outwardly supports the physical body (and upon the souls departure the body separates back into parts)--all the outward progress and developments in our spiritual community are due to the power of the Covenant now alive in the hearts, minds and souls of the faithful! 

This year has seen the great opening of our Persian language Baha'i Center under the provisions of the Covenant; the blossoming of the European and African branches of our school, and those teachers and guides who have been deepening their Roots in those lands in order to secure integration within the greater communities of those nations through humanitarian employment and occupations. Due to the firmness of the Covenant in the Americas and India--these two sister communities have been able to evolve in tandem--shifting the activity of the people upon the maturing foundation of democratic and spiritual elections. This is the most important and most significant development in the Baha'i Faith since the days of the Great Dividing in 1960! 

For example--if it be thought about with deep insight--it is clearly seen that the throne-line of King David has been well established and under the protection of God from the time of David and Solomon up through the days of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha down to the present time. For almost 3000 years God has protected and established this throne-line and family lineage within the world! But it will also be seen that the world has been troubled all throughout this same time period. That wars have ensued. That poverty, disease, racism, and ignorance and other unnatural divisions have prevailed. That religious fanaticism and scientistic atheism have both served to obscure clear proofs and real faith--and the peoples personal experience with God had been cut off like dark clouds that fill the sky cutting those huddled upon God's great green earth off from the clear light of the Resplendant Shining Sun from on high. Now all this has changed! It is the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Kitab-i-Aqdas: "the Mystery of the Reversal of the sign of the Sovereign!" The flag of the Covenant-breakers has been pulled down in all lands and climes; and the world-wide banner and standard of the Covenant has been valiantly hoisted and upraised all throughout the world! 

"He is God! O thou who art attracted by the rays of the light emanating from the dawning place of mysteries! Hasten to attain true salvation; hasten towards the shining light; hasten towards eternal joy; hasten towards the wondrous grace; hasten towards the mighty Covenant. Verily the hearts of the heedless have been shaken by the convulsions of frequent calamities, by great tests and difficulties, and the horizons of their lives have been darkened by thick clouds of wickedness and rebellion. Thus the water of certitude dried up and in its place the boding waters of idle fancies and vain imaginings welled forth. Doubts and illusions spread, as they abandoned the authorized Centre of the Covenant [every single provision of the sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha] and the solid edifice of the Faith of God, and followed instead every rash and heedless one, the speakers who hear not, and the guides who see not. 

"Do they think that they shall be left alone to their own devices? Nay! When the nightingale sings in the eternal paradise, and the dove of holiness warbles its melody in the groves of the realm of grandeur, and the rays of confirmation beam forth from the midmost heart of heaven, and the lamps of oneness shine brightly within the hearts of His chosen ones, and the way is prepared, and the path made straight, and the trumpet of ecstasy is sounded, and the bugle of eternal life is blown, and the hosts of the Abha Kingdom rush forth, and the angels of the Supreme Concourse spur on their chargers, and the standards of the Covenant are hoisted, and the sails of fidelity and harmony are unfurled-on that Day shalt thou see the steadfast ones abiding in the highest heaven, dwelling beneath His all-embracing shadow, occupying a glorious station, and partaking of His conspicuous favors, while the heedless shall be seen enshrouded in a black smoke, reduced to the seat of abasement, and fallen prey to distress, loss and sorrow, until the Day whereon they shall be raised again to life." ('Abdu'l-Baha) 

And what is this reversal? It is the coming forth of the rod of iron, the spiritual heirs of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah to receive their inheritance of His Kingdom! They are those that the Master--'Abdu'l-Baha--calls The Learned! Those that Baha'u'llah Himself has designated The Learned in the Book of the Covenant, the Kitab-i-'Ahd. 

"The state is, moreover, based upon two potent forces, the legislative and the executive. The focal center of the executive power is the government, while that of the legislative isthe learned—and if this latter great support and pillar should prove defective, how is it conceivable that the state should stand?"('Abdu'l-Baha, Secret of Divine Civilization) 

"It is incumbent upon everyone to aid those daysprings of authority and sources of command who are adorned with the raiment of equity and justice. Blessed are the rulers and learned in el-Baha! They verily are My trustees amongst My servants and the manifestations of My commandments amidst My people. Upon them rest My glory, My blessings and My grace which have pervaded the world of being. In this connection the utterances revealed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas (the Most Holy Book) are such that from the horizon of their words the light of divine grace shineth luminous and resplendant." (Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-'Ahd)