words with these letters

17 Haziran 2012 Pazar

Titles of the Baha'i Revelation

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"This Cause" -- Titles of the Baha'i Revelation, from the Baha'i Writings

1. this Revelation from the Most High

2. this most mighty Revelation.

3. this mighty, this glorious Revelation

4. this mighty, this transcendent Revelation

5. this sublime, this beauteous Revelation

6. this sublime and momentous Revelation

7. this sublime, this unique and wondrous Revelation

8. this mighty, this sublime, and most holy Revelation

9. this most sublime and momentous Revelation

10. this inestimable, this wondrous, and sublime Revelation

11. this most manifest, this lofty, this shining and glorious Revelation

12. this most manifest and all‑glorious Revelation

13. this wondrous Revelation

14. this most exalted, this most holy, this mighty, and wondrous Revelation

15. a Revelation direct from God

16. this God‑given, and ever‑enduring Revelation

17. this most potent Revelation

18. this Supreme Revelation

19.this Revelation whose influence hath pervaded all created things

20. this most effulgent, this most holy, and manifest Revelation of His Beauty

21. this holy, this glorious, and exalted Revelation

22. this new and wondrous Revelation

23. this wondrous and transcendent Revelation

24. This most wondrous and sublime Revelation

25. this mysterious and transcendent Revelation

26. this pre-eminent and glorious Revelation

27. this glorious, this august Revelation

28. this Most Great Revelation

29. so mighty a Revelation

30. so stupendous a Revelation

31. so transcendent a Revelation

32. so preeminent a Revelation

33. so tremendous a Revelation

34. so colossal a Revelation

35. so wondrous a Revelation

36. so sublime a revelation

37. so impetuous a Revelation

38. so overpowering a Revelation

39. so transcendent a Revelation

40. so stunning a revelation

41. so dazzling a Revelation

42. God's Revelation

43. apprehend the greatness of this Revelation, and perceive its stupendous glory

44. a momentous Revelation

45. a Revelation so incomparably great, so infinitely precious, so mightily potent, so manifestly innocent

47. a Divine Revelation

48. a Revelation of loving-kindness

49. this wondrous Revelation, this transcendent and divine Faith

50. this sacred, this mighty, and most exalted Faith

51. the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future

52. this, Thine inviolable Faith

53. His resistless, His irrefutable and most exalted Faith

54. the true Faith of God

55. this upright Faith

56. an immortal and infinitely precious Faith

57. this all‑compelling Cause

58. this pre-eminent Cause

59. this momentous Cause

60. this impregnable Cause, this glorious Announcement

61. this inviolable, this mighty and enlightened Cause

62. this wondrous and most exalted Cause

63. this wondrous Cause of God

64. this most wondrous Cause

65. this all-compelling Cause

66. this glorious Cause

67. My mighty and unassailable Cause

68. God's holy Cause

69. His great and mighty Cause

69a His glorious and resplendent Cause

69b His irresistible, His mighty and wondrous ause

70. this Most Great Cause

71. His shining and glorious Cause

72. Thine irresistible Cause

73. a heavenly Cause

74. this most great and lofty Cause

75. this new and living Cause

76. this most great and lofty Cause

77. this great and glorious Cause

78. this wonderful Cause

79. this new Cause

80. this great and most holy Cause

81. this sacred Cause

82. this steadily-growing Cause

83. this glorious Cause

84. this Holy Cause

85. this Divine Cause

86. this most precious Cause

87. such a Holy Cause

88. such a great Cause

89. so challenging a Cause

90. so unique, so enduring, so precious a Cause

91. so noble a Cause

92. so transcendent and priceless a Cause

93. so mighty a Cause

94. so pre-eminent and meritorious a Cause

95. so glorious and mighty a Cause

96. this all-embracing and all-compelling Cause

97. This most mighty Sovereignty

98. this Scene of transcendent glory

99. this Seat of stainless sanctity

100. this divine and glorious Vision

101. This most resplendent Dispensation

102. This glorious Dispensation

103. This wondrous Dispensation

104. This wondrous and exalted Dispensation

105. This most mighty Dispensation

106. This new and wondrous dispensation

107. This sacred Dispensation

108. This great dispensation

109. This divine dispensation

110. This universal dispensation

111. This Most Great Dispensation

112. This shining and luminous Beauty

113. My marvelous Revelation

114 a mysterious Faith

115 This greatest of all Dispensations

(First five photographs copyright © 2006 Baha'i International Community used with permission; final photograph copyright © 2006 Michael Bernhard, used with permission)

REFERENCES
1. Ã�qÃ¡n p. 77 paragraph 84

2. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 190

3. The Most Holy Tablet, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 12

4. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 240

5. The Most Holy Book, p. 61, paragraph 116

6. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 14

7. The Most Holy Book, p. 71-72, paragraph 143

8. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 10

9. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 288

10. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 183

11. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 105

12. Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 276

13. Proclamation of Baha'u'llah, p. 34

14. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 117

15. The Most Holy Book, p. 32, Paragraph #37.

16. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 82

17. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 95

18. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 97

19. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 273

20. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 294

21. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 330

22. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 324

23. Book of Certitude, p. 112

24. Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 67, Paragaraph 1.130

25. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 325

26. Book of Certitude, p. 227

27. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 247

28. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 79

29. The Promised Day is Come, p. 118

30. Messages to America, p. 52

31. The Promised Day is Come, p. 13

32. The Promised Day is Come, p. 48

33. The Promised Day is Come, p. 78

34. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 24

35. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 62

36. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 100

37. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 103

38. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 112

39. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 123

40. God Passes By, p. 53

41. God Passes By, p. 103

42. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 271

43. The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 236

44. God Passes By, p. 7

45. The Promised Day is Come, pp. 15-16

47. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 124

48. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 124

49. Book of Certitude, p. 252-253

50. The Most Holy Book, p. 36, paragraph 45

51. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 136

52. Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 193.

53. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 105

54. the Qayyumu'l-Asma, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 41

55. the Qayyumu'l-Asma, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 63

56. Messages to the Baha'i World, p. 101

57. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 57-58

58. Tablet of Tarazat (Ornaments), Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 44

59. Tablet of Tarazat (Ornaments), Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 44

60. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 260

61. Tablet to Siyyid Mihdiy-i-Dahaji, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 201

62. Book of Certitude, p. 65

63. Book of Certitude, p. 77

64. Book of Certitude, p. 88

65. Tablet of Ishraqat (Splendours), Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 132

66. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 235

67. The Most Holy Book, p. 62, Paragraph #117

68. Book of Certitude, p. 83

69. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 83

69a Paragraph 154, The Most Holy Book

69b Paragraph 167, The Most Holy Book

70. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 162

71. The Most Holy Book, p. 60, paragraph 113

72. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf p. 104

73. `Abdu’l-Baha, Japan Will Turn Ablaze! p. 6

74. `Abdu’l-Baha, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 38

75. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu’l-Baha, p. 62

76. The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 66

77. Paris Talks, p. 167

78. Tablets of `Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, Vol. I, p. 73

79. Tablets of `Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, Vol. I, p. 142

80. Tablets of `Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, Vol. II, p. 474

81. Baha’i Administration, p. 66

82. Baha’i Administration, p. 125

83. Citadel of Faith, p. 141

84. Unfolding Destiny, p. 170

85. Unfolding Destiny, p. 446

86. Dawn of a New Day, p. 134

87. Unfolding Destiny, p. 455

88. Baha’i Administration, p. 68

89. The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 3

90. Baha’i Administration, p. 61

91. Citadel of Faith, p. 93

92. Messages to America, p. 104

93. God Passes By, p. 409

94. Unfolding Destiny, p. 320

95. Letters to Australia and New Zealand 1923-1957, p. 11

96. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.98

97. Gleanings 180

98. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.97

99. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.97

100. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.98

101. Ã�qÃ¡n 222

102. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 30

103. Ã�qÃ¡n p. 173

104. Ã�qÃ¡n p. 105

105. Most Holy Book p. 109

106. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 112

107. Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 13

108. Tablets of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ Abbas Vol. II, p. 449

109. Tablets of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ Abbas Vol. III, p. 647

110. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 145

111. BahÃ¡'Ã Prayers 65

112. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts 29

113. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 325

114. This Decisive Hour; Messages from the Guardian to America 1932-1946, paragraph 85.5

115. This Decisive Hour; Messages from the Guardian to America 1932-1946, paragraph 85.8

Abdu'l-Baha, and Saffa and Vafa Kinney

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Saffa and Vafa Kinney were pillars of the Faith, immensely blessed by the Master. Edward was his birth name, but everyone knew him by the name the Master gave him, Saffa -- Serenity; and they called Carrie by the name the Master gave her, Vafa -- Certitude.

When Abdu'l-Baha's ship arrived in New York Harbor, and a multitude was awaiting Him on the dock, He asked Mr. Kinney to come on board, and He spoke with him. Then He directed everyone to go to the Kinneys' home, and wait for Him there. His first address on American soil was in the Kinney home:

How are you? Welcome! Welcome!
    After arriving today, although weary with travel, I had the utmost longing and yearning to see you and could not resist this meeting. Now that I have met you, all my weariness has vanished, for your meeting is the cause of spiritual happiness.
    I was in Egypt and was not feeling well, but I wished to come to you in America. My friends said, "This is a long journey; the sea is wide; you should remain here." But the more they advised and insisted, the greater became my longing to take this trip, and now I have come to America to meet the friends of God. This long voyage will prove how great is my love for you. There were many troubles and vicissitudes, but, in the thought of meeting you, all these things vanished and were forgotten.
    I am greatly pleased with the city of New York. Its harbor entrance, its piers, buildings and broad avenues are magnificent and beautiful. Truly, it is a wonderful city. As New York has made such progress in material civilization, I hope that it may also advance spiritually in the Kingdom and Covenant of God so that the friends here may become the cause of the illumination of America, that this city may become the city of love and that the fragrances of God may be spread from this place to all parts of the world. I have come for this. I pray that you may be manifestations of the love of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, that each one of you may become like a clear lamp of crystal from which the rays of the bounties of the Blessed Perfection may shine forth to all nations and peoples. This is my highest aspiration.
    It was a long, long trip. The more we traveled, the greater seemed the expanse of the sea. The weather was brilliant and fine throughout; there was no storm and no end to the sea.
    I am very happy to meet you all here today. Praise be to God that your faces are shining with the love of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h. To behold them is the cause of great spiritual happiness. We have arranged to meet you every day at the homes of the friends.
    In the East people were asking me, "Why do you undertake this long voyage? Your body cannot endure such hardships of travel." When it is necessary, my body can endure everything. It has withstood forty years of imprisonment and can still undergo the utmost trials.
    I will see you again. Now I will greet each one of you personally. It is my hope that you will all be happy and that we may meet again and again.

Several important talks in the City of the Covenant recorded in The Promulgation of Universal Peace were in the Kinneys' home.

When the Master fell asleep on John Bosch's shoulder during an automobile drive in New York, that drive ended at the Kinneys' home.

When the Master told Howard MacNutt, who had followed Khayrullah and then came back to the Covenant, and for a bountiful reward was directed to compile all of the Master's addresses into The Promulgation of Universal Peace -- when the Master told Mr. MacNutt to go and tell the people, "I was like Saul, now I am Paul" -- that was at the Kinneys' house, as recounted here.

In the movie of Abdu'l-Baha at the MacNutt home in Brooklyn, Mr. Kinney and Mr. Getsinger at the beginning of the movie are together walking up the sidewalk after the Master does.

This experience of Howard Colby Ives was in the Kinneys' home:

Not long after that great first experience with 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ I was again talking with Him. It was in the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Kinney, a family of the friends who seemed to feel that the gift of all which they possessed was too little to express their adoring love. Entering their home the roar of the city, the elegance and luxury of Riverside Drive, the poverty and wealth of our modern civilization all seemed to merge into a unity of nothingness and one entered an atmosphere of Reality. Those heavenly souls who thus demonstrated beyond any words their self-dedication had a direct influence upon my hesitating feet of which they could have had no suspicion. My heart throughout all worlds shall be filled with thankfulness to them.
    In this home I had become a constant habitue. I could not keep away. One day 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡, the interpreter and I were alone in one of the smaller reception rooms on the ground floor. 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ had been speaking of some Christian doctrine and His interpretation of the words of Christ was so different from the accepted one that I could not restrain an expression of remonstrance. I remember speaking with some heat: "How is it possible to be so sure?" I asked. "No one can say with certainty what Jesus meant after all these centuries of misinterpretation and strife." He intimated that it was quite possible. It is indicative of my spiritual turmoil and my blindness to His station, that instead of His serenity and tone of authority impressing me as warranted it drove me to actual impatience. "That I cannot believe." I exclaimed. I shall never forget the glance of outraged dignity the interpreter cast upon me. It was as though he would say: "Who are you to contradict or even to question 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡!" But not so did 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ look at me. How I thank God that it was not! He looked at me a long moment before He spoke. His calm, beautiful eyes searched my soul with such love and understanding that all my momentary heat evaporated. He smiled as winningly as a lover smiles upon his beloved, and the arms of His spirit seemed to embrace me as He said softly that I should try my way and He would try His.
    It was as though a cool hand had been laid upon a fevered brow; as though a cup of nectar had been held to parched lips; as though a key had unlocked my hard-bolted, crusted and rusted heart. The tears started and my voice trembled, "I'm sorry," I murmured.
    Often since that day have I pondered on the tragic possibilities of the effect of an expression of the face. I have even thought I should like to write a book on The Glance that Saved the World, taking as a theme the way Jesus must have looked upon Peter after the three-fold denial. What could that glance have carried to the fear-stricken, doubting, angry Peter? Surely not the self-righteous, dignified look in the eyes of the interpreter for 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡. As surely it must have been something in the nature of the expression of all-embracing love, forgiveness and understanding with which 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ calmed and soothed and assured my heart. ("Portals to Freedom," pp. 36 ff.)

Juliet Thompson records in her diary that during her Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1906, at which the Kinney family were fellow-pilgrims, these events occurred:

First, with a father's tender care, He came to the carriage with us and watched us start. At the house in Bahji He joined us in a cool, whitewashed room, its door and window-trimmings painted blue, the usual linen-covered divan lining its walls, under three wide windows. Outside stood wonderful trees, like still sentinels guarding the Tomb. Sanctity hung in the air, a brooding spirit. Nowhere else in the world is the beauty of nature so impregnated with the soul of Beauty, a reflection from another world. In the air of 'AkkÃ¡ and Carmel is -- Life.
    On a table was a single photograph, Lua's. Our Lord called me to sit by His side, then, pointing to the photograph, said: "Your friend!"
    I got it and placed it on a little table close to His elbow, between the couch where He sat and my own chair. As I did this His face lit up with a smile of heaven.
    Tea was brought in -- in the little clear glasses always used in 'AkkÃ¡ -- and He served us with His own hands. Then, seating Himself again on the divan, He called the four children who were with us: two of his own little grandsons (Shoghi Effendi and Ruhi) and the two Kinney boys, and with a lavish tenderness, a superabundance of overflowing love, such as could only have come from the very Centre and Source of Love, He drew all four to His knees, clasped them in His arms, which enclosed them all, gathered and pressed and crushed them to His Heart of hearts. Then He set them down on the floor and, rising, Himself brought their tea to them.
`Words absolutely fail me when I try to express the divine picture I saw then. With the Christ-love radiating from Him with the intensest sweetness I have yet witnessed, He stooped to the floor Himself to serve the little children, the children of the East and the children of the West. He sat on the floor in their midst, He put sugar into their tea, stirred it and fed it to them, all the while smiling celestially, an infinite tenderness playing on the great Immortal Face like white light. I cannot express it! In a corner sat an old Persian believer, in a state of complete effacement before his Lord, his head bowed, his eyelids lowered, his hands crossed on his breast. Tears were pouring down his cheeks.

Abdu'l-Baha and the Kinney family
Copyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, WilmetteUsed With Permission
During a meal during that Pilgrimage, Juliet writes:

He called Mr. Kinney's attention to the rice. "Rice. Rice," He said in English, "very good." Then looking at me and laughing: "She is smiling at My English!" "I smile because Your voice makes me happier than anything in the world."
    Soon, sensing my wish to speak to Him, only for the sake of speaking to Him: "Speak. Speak."
    But I had really nothing to say! I brought forth this: "Even this physical food is the best in the world."
"That is because of your intense love. A poison given by a friend is like honey. A Persian poet says: 'The poison which comes from Thee to me is my antidote. A wound from Thee is remedy.' Certainly these physical dishes are tasteful to you because you have the greatest love."
    I supplicated that He might give me poison and wound me in His Cause, that I might be found worthy of this. "I will. When afflictions and bitter conditions taste sweet to man, this shows that he is favoured in the sight of God." Mr Kinney said: "I am not eating now, but my Master is feeding me." Our Lord: "I, Myself, am the Food." As He spoke His head was bowed, His hands upturned, like cups, in His lap. He sat, the embodiment of Divine humility. A great Mystery flooded the room, and a tremendous Power. "How like Jesus that sounds!" whispered Mr Kinney. "Jesus," said our Lord, His head still bowed, "was the Bread that came down from Heaven, but I am the Food prepared by the Blessed Beauty, BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h."

Mr. Kinney recounted that the New York Spiritual Assembly met in the Kinney home: Mr Kinney: "The Board of Council has met for three years past in my studio and I am very proud of it."
Our Lord: "It is indeed worthy to be proud of. I hope your home may always be the place of the gatherings; that the beloved of God may always come together there, be engaged in commemoration of God, have heavenly talks and speak through the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. Your home will be one of the heavenly constellations, Insha'llah, and the stars will gather there."
Mr Kinney: "What could I ask for more?"
Our Lord: "There is nothing superior to this."

The Master permitted the Kinneys to remain as pilgrims in the Holy Land for eight months during 1906. They asked Him for the privilege of returning the favor, imploring Him to visit America, and when He did, to stay as a guest in their home. He did, and while in their home in New York He told Mrs. Kinney, "I am returning your visit, but while I am in your home I will be the host and you will be the guests."

SAFFA KINNEYCopyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, Wilmette
Used With Permission
On the occasion of Saffa Kinney's passing, Shoghi Effendi cabled to the Baha'i world:

GRIEVE PASSING DEARLY LOVED, HIGHLY ADMIRED, GREATLY TRUSTED, STAUNCH, INDEFATIGABLE, SELF-SACRIFICING TEACHER, PILLAR FAITH, SAFFA KINNEY. HIS LEONINE SPIRIT, EXEMPLARY STEADFASTNESS, NOTABLE RECORD SERVICES ENRICHED ANNALS CLOSING PERIOD HEROIC AGE OPENING PHASE FORMATIVE AGE BAHA'I DISPENSATION. BOUNTIFUL REWARD ASSURED ABHA KINGDOM BENEATH SHADOW MASTER HE LOVED SO DEARLY, SERVED SO NOBLY, DEFENDED SO HEROICALLY UNTIL LAST BREATH. SHOGHI

"Saffa was so human." (Statement by one of Saffa Kinney's friends after his passing.)

That beautiful scene recounted in Portals to Freedom (pp. 50 ff.), when Howard Colby Ives followed the Master up the stairs when the Master was so tired, and asked Him about Renunciation, was in the Kinneys' home.

One day the Master asked Saffa Kinney to walk with Him on Riverside Drive. He stopped and looking deep in to Saffa's eyes asked in heart-piercing tones,
"Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?"

The next-to-last talk of the Master on America's shores was at the Kinneys' home:

I am greatly pleased with you all and rejoice that you have shown me the utmost kindness and affection. It is my desire that BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h shall be pleased with you, that you may follow His precepts and become worthy of His confirmations. The requirements are that your minds must be illumined, your souls must be rejoiced with the glad tidings of God, you must become imbued with spiritual moralities, your daily life must evidence faith and assurance, your hearts must be sanctified and pure, reflecting a high degree of love and attraction toward the Kingdom of Abha. You must become the lamps of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h so that you may shine with eternal light and be the proofs and evidences of His truth. Then will such signs of purity and chastity be witnessed in your deeds and actions that men will behold the heavenly radiance of your lives and say, "Verily, ye are the proofs of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h. Verily, BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h is the True One, for He has trained such souls as these, each one of which is a proof in himself." They will say to others, "Come and witness the conduct of these souls; come and listen to their words, behold the illumination of their hearts, see the evidences of the love of God in them, consider their praiseworthy morals, and discover the foundations of the oneness of humanity firmly implanted within them. What greater proof can there be than these people that the message of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h is truth and reality?" It is my hope that each one of you shall be a herald of God, proclaiming the evidences of His appearance, in words, deeds and thoughts. Let your actions and utterances be a witness that you are of the Kingdom of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h. These are the duties enjoined upon you by BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h.
BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h endured the greatest hardships. He found neither rest by night nor peace by day. He was constantly under the stress of great calamity -- now in prison, now in chains, now threatened by the sword -- until finally He broke the cage of captivity, left this mortal world and ascended to the heaven of God. He endured all these tribulations for our sakes and suffered these deprivations that we might attain the bestowals of divine bounty. Therefore, we must be faithful to Him and turn away from our own selfish desires and fancies in order that we may accomplish that which is required of us by our Lord.

‘Abdu’l-BahÃ¡ Farewell at New York Harbor, December 5, 1912
Copyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, Wilmette Used With Permission

Words and Deeds

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From the Writings of Baha'u'llah
O servant of God! The day of deeds hath come: Now is not the time for words.
(Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle of Unity, paragraph 5.5 p. 73)

Beware, O people of Baha, lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words differ from their deeds. Strive that ye may be enabled to manifest to the peoples of the earth the signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments. Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions of most men, be they high or low, differ from their conduct
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah CXXXIX, p. 305)

Whoso ariseth among you to teach the Cause of his Lord, let him, before all else, teach his own self, that his speech may attract the hearts of them that hear him. Unless he teacheth his own self, the words of his mouth will not influence the heart of the seeker. Take heed, O people, lest ye be of them that give good counsel to others but forget to follow it themselves. The words of such as these, and beyond the words the realities of all things, and beyond these realities the angels that are nigh unto God, bring against them the accusation of falsehood.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 277)

O people! Words must be supported by deeds, for deeds are the true test of words. Without the former, the latter can never quench the thirst of the yearning soul, nor unlock the portals of vision before the eyes of the blind. The Lord of celestial wisdom saith: A harsh word is even as a sword thrust; a gentle word as milk. The latter leadeth the children of men unto knowledge and conferreth upon them true distinction.
(Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle of Unity, paragraph 1.13, pp. 8-9)

O servants! ... Words must be followed by deeds. Whoso accepteth the words of the Friend is in truth a man of deeds; otherwise a dead carcass is verily of greater worth.
(Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle of Unity, paragraph 4.9, page 69)

It behoveth the people of Baha to render the Lord victorious through the power of their utterance and to admonish the people by their goodly deeds and character, inasmuch as deeds exert greater influence than words.
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 57)

Indeed one's righteous deeds testify to the truth of one's words.
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 91)

The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds; he whose words exceed his deeds, know verily his death is better than his life.
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 156)

O brethren! Let deeds, not words, be your adorning
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words, #5)

O SON OF MY HANDMAID!
Guidance hath ever been given by words, and now it is given by deeds. Every one must show forth deeds that are pure and holy, for words are the property of all alike, whereas such deeds as these belong only to Our loved ones. Strive then with heart and soul to distinguish yourselves by your deeds. In this wise We counsel you in this holy and resplendent tablet.
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words #76)

Words must be followed by deeds; words without deeds are as bees that yield no honey, as trees that bear no fruit....
(Baha'u'llah, The BahÃ¡'Ã World 1926-1928, Volume II, pp. 62-63, translated by Shoghi Effendi)

A Simple Language Addressed to the Heart

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In the Gleanings, Baha'u'llah writes that we should speak of His Revelation in a manner that causes a tumult in the hearts of the people:

Proclaim, then, that which the Most Great Spirit will inspire thee to utter in the service of the Cause of thy Lord, that thou mayest stir up the souls of all men

This section CXXXIX of the Gleanings is from a Tablet addressed to Nabil-i-Azam, the author of Nabil's Narrative, the Dawn-breakers. Here is an example of how Nabil followed Baha'u'llah's admonition to stir up the souls of men: Nabil raised up Badi and prepared him to meet Baha'u'llah and give his life for the Cause.

The Hand of the Cause Hasan Balyuzi explains that during a visit to a believer's home, Nabil found the father of Badi taking care of everything. Nabil asked the man, did he not have a son? The man answered that his son, known then as Aqa Buzurg, was unruly and was not interested in his father's doings, and was the despair of his family. Nabil writes that he said to the father:

"Send for him to come, I wish to see him." He was sent for and he came. I saw a tall, gangling youth, who, instead of physical perfections, had merely a simple heart, and I told his father to make him my host and leave his case to God . . . Then, I mentioned matters, very moving, which would melt a heart of stone.' Nabil-i-A'zam here quotes a number of verses from the long poem by BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h - Qasidiy-i-'Izz-i-Varqa'iyyih, which he composed in Sulaymaniyyih. In these verses quoted by Nabil, BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h speaks of His own sufferings and tribulations.
'Hearing these divine themes, the colour of the visage of that youth reddened. his eves welled with tears, and the sound of his lamentation rose high. I calmed his agitation, but throughout that night, his enamourment and attraction kept sleep away from the eyes of Shaykh Muhammad and myself. Until the light broke we read and recited from the holy script. In the morning, when he prepared the samovar for tea, and went out to fetch milk, his father came and said: "I had never heard my son weep. I thought that nothing could move him. Now, what is the spell cast on him to make his tears flow and to cause him to cry out, to make him afire with the love of God?" I said: "In any case he is no longer in command of himself, and you must give him up." And his father said: "This manner of losing one's self is exactly what I desired. If he remains firm in the Cause of God, I myself shall serve him."
(Balyuzi, Baha'u'llah - The King of Glory, p. 294)

Baha'u'llah then recreated Aqa Buzurg and gave him the name Badi' -- which means new, unique, wondrous, unprecedented. Perhaps we can keep Baha'u'llah's admonition and Nabil's example in mind, when we follow the guidance of the Universal House of Justice to teach the heart:

"The friends must teach with conviction, determination, genuine love, lack of prejudice, and in a simple language addressed to the heart."
(The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, paragraph 18.18, p. 41)

The House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha

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THE HOUSE OF 'ABDU'LLAH PASHA
The house in 'AkkÃ¡ that 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ rented in 1896 and that served as His residence until He moved to Haifa in 1910. Historical photograph from media.bahai.org

"Some of the most poignant, dramatic and historically significant events of the Heroic Age of our Faith are associated with this house, which derives its name from the Governor of 'AkkÃ¡ who built it and used it as his official residence during his term of Office, from 1820 to 1832.... It was in this house that ['Abdu'l-Baha's] celebrated table talks were given and compiled, to be published later under the title "Some Answered Questions." In this house and in the darkest hours of a period which the beloved Guardian describes as 'the most dramatic period of His ministry,' 'in the heyday of His life and in the full tide of His power' He penned the first part of His Will and Testament.... In this house was born the child ordained to hold the destiny of the Faith in his hands for thirty-six years and to become its 'beloved Guardian,' the child named 'Shoghi' by his Grandfather, who grew up under His loving and solicitous care ...."
[As Thornton Chase, the First American Baha'i, wrote of his Pilgrimage, when he visited Abdu'l-Baha in this house:]

'We did not know we had reached our destination until we saw a Persian gentleman, and then another and another, step out at the entrance and smile at us. We alighted and they conducted us through the arched, red brick entrance to an open court, across it to a long flight of stone steps, broken and ancient, leading to the highest story and into a small walled court open to the sky, where was the upper chamber assigned to us, which adjoined the room of 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡. The buildings are all of stone, whitewashed and plastered, and it bears the aspect of a prison.'

"As we contemplate the extraordinary focusing of powerful forces and events upon this house, we eagerly anticipate the day when it will be restored and made ready for pilgrims, who may inhale from its atmosphere, its grounds and sacred walls, the fragrances of a glorious past."(The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, Message 157)

"Freedom is not a matter of place. It is a condition. I was thankful for the prison, and the lack of liberty was very pleasing to me, for those days were passed in the path of service, under the utmost difficulties and trials, bearing fruits and results. Unless one accepts dire vicissitudes, he will not attain. To me prison is freedom, troubles rest me, death is life, and to be despised is honour. Therefore, I was happy all that time in prison."(`Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 120)

~ ~ ~
O House! Who climbed your stairway? When the Master was a prisoner our spiritual forbears came to you in the night, hearts pounding, souls reaching and hoping: Lua and Sarah, and Phoebe and Robert, and Louis, and Laura, and Thornton -- the first in the West to hear the voice of their Shepherd, Christ, in His "New Name."
We hear their footsteps now, the dust crackling beneath their feet. We hear their spirits, crushing doubt, opening the doors of their hearts to the Light of the New Jerusalem.
A child was born here, too --one promised by Isaiah. He ran up and down your stairs, his praises of God filling the courtyard.
- The courtyard? His voice filled the earth, and fills it still, and will for ages to come!
O Palm Tree, witness of servitude and grandeur, bearer of beauty and joy! How sweet your form, how dear your shadow, caressing the room of the Beloved! We, too, would press our cheek against that wall, feel its coolness against our face, inhale its fragrance, and seek to hear the soul-uplifting Voice within, charting destinies, answering questions, granting certitude.

14 Haziran 2012 Perşembe

More germs = less disease?

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So says an article in today's Science Daily, which reports on a recent study at Northwestern of children from the Philippines. The study finds that children from the Philippines have much lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), which indicates better resistance to disease. Exposure to germs was much higher for the children in the Philippines.

So what's wrong with this study? It's a very tenuous association, and from what I can gather in the articles, no attempt was made to ensure the children in the U.S. that were compared to the children in the Philippines were similar in other ways. They might be different in CRP due to other environmental or hereditary factors. Perhaps it's the weather? The diet? One of any number of things could account for the difference.

In addition, the study appears to ignore the much higher infant mortality rate and much lower life expectancy in the Philippines (you can try www.indexmundi.com for life expectancy and other information by country). In other words, even if higher germ exposure does mean lower CRP, does it actually mean less disease and longer life? The broad indication is that it does not.

In order for the study to be valid, it needs to adjust for whatever inherent differences (in addition to germ exposure) exist between Phillipino and US children, and then see if CRP levels are still different. An even better way to do such a study would be to study children living in similar environments (same place, socio-economic situation, etc.) and determine if the ones exposed to more germs had lower levels of CRP when they reached adult-hood.

I've seen articles (see this for example, but I can't find a more definitive one at this time) that indicate that children with early exposure to farm animals have fewer allergies, but nothing showing exposure to more serious germs is good. And some of the germs that we are exposed to are more than just common germs--they are deadly. It might be that those who are exposed to these deadly germs early, and live, are much better off later in life, but that is no reason to expose them to those germs unnecessarily. Of course, you wouldnt give your child a deadly disease so that, if they survived, they'd be resistant to it later in life.

We live in a society that is sometimes alarmist concerning germs, and I have written about this. Yet this doesn't mean that, on the whole, a clean environment does not promote good health, and the article cited above seems to only have the most tenous of indications that it may not.

You asked for it, you got it. Toyota!

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I think that's how the ad line went. When? maybe 25 years ago.

Well, it seems to apply now. Sudden acceleration. Mention a problem with a car, any problem with any car, and people will start crawling out of the wood-work with the complaint. Why? It's a numbers game. There were more than 100,000 pri-i(?) sold in the US in 2005-9. With that many people driving them around, any tiny problem that is reported is going to be "substantiated" by others. Those of us old enough to remember the Audi 5000 found the high correlation between those Audi's with sudden acceleration and those sold to 85 year-old ladies inexplicable (studies mostly concluded it was driver error--see a recent article here in Wired).

The latest, after the brake-related Prius recall, is the claim of sudden acceleration. A guy in California managed to call 911 while it was happening--pretty amazing, huh? Unless, of course, you made it all up. Here's what the current thoughts about it are (from wikipedia):
"On March 8, 2010, a 2008 Prius allegedly uncontrollably accelerated to 94 miles per hour on a California Highway (US), and the Prius had to be stopped with the verbal assistance of the California Highway Patrol as news cameras watched ^[86]. Subsequent to the event, media investigations uncovered suspicious information about the alleged runaway Prius driver, 61-year old James Sikes, including false police reports, suspect insurance claims, theft and fraud allegations, television aspirations, and bankruptcy.^[87]^[88] Sikes was found to be US$19,000 behind in his Prius car payments and had $US700,000 in accumulated debt.^[87] Sikes stated he wanted a new car as compensation for the incident.^[87]^[89] Analyses by Edmunds.com and Forbes found Sikes' acceleration claims and fears of shifting to neutral implausible, with Edmunds concluding that "in other words, this is BS",^[90] and Forbes comparing it to the balloon boy hoax.^{[88]"

Notwithstanding the apparent CA tale above, the reality is that the rare problem is a tough nut to crack statistically. Suppose there is an issue in 1 in 10,000 Prius' and that this issue only crops up on one in 10,000 rides on those cars. Thus, it's a 1 in 100 million car rides in Prius. Even among those, it may be a very short-lived problem and not cause any injury or accident. Such a rare problem might be drowned out by other driver error problems, such as accidently hitting the gas instead of the break, perceiving that the car is accelarating when it is not, hitting both the gas and the break simultaneously in an attempt to hit the break. Each of these things can be exceedingly rare (1 in a million) and still be 100 times as common as the real problem.

There are other ways to go about teasing out rare events. In the lab, a machine could possibly simulate conditions that were occurring when the supposed sudden acceleration took place and see if it is repeatable. Yet these conditions are hard to figure out, as they are determined with the imperfect information of the person reporting the incident. As might be the case with the recent report, that person could be lying, but even if not, they are likely shooken up enough that they cannot remember the exact conditions very well. Consider airline crashes, where we often have very objective information (the black box), but it is still very difficult to figure out what happened and why.

One thing seems certain to be true: we won't know whether or not Prius cars are at fault for a long time to come, and far fewer of them will be bought in the next couple years.}