The shortcut to spiritual growth

"O SON OF SPIRIT!
My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting."

-- Baha'u'llah in the Hidden Words

The above Hidden Word was the subject of some discussion during Tarry's highly illuminating talk on justice yesterday. I'd like to highlight some of his thoughts on this, as I found them particularly striking.

Once someone asked Baha'u'llah if there was a spiritual shortcut, a way to achieve spiritual growth without having to go through the myriad writings and teachings of Baha'u'llah, which are probably surpassed in sheer volume only by their profundity. To this question, Baha'u'llah responded that of course there was one, and that it was, in fact, the first Hidden Word - the verse above. And so, if we truly understood and practiced what this verse says, we'd be well on the path to spiritual growth!

Of course, this sounds much simpler than it actually is, but lets try and unpack that quote a little more to see why Baha'u'llah said that this really is the key. We are asked to possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart. Now each of these qualities has a special significance. Purity is really a state - its a state of the heart, a condition, and is related to our intention with respect to any action. It is entirely internal to us, and is deeply connected to our thoughts, our instinctive reactions to situations, our feelings...

Kindliness, on the other hand, is the outward manifestation of purity. Someone with pure intentions, and a pure heart, will express kindliness towards one and all. Kindliness, therefore, is the expression of our internal purity, and is reflected in all our interactions with the world and our fellow beings.

Finally, radiance, is the consequence of the above two qualities - possessing a pure heart, and exhibiting kindliness. Someone who conquers purity and kindliness exudes a radiance, a brilliance which is there for everyone to see.

To me, radiance also implies two other qualities - one, the outward flowing nature of it, and two, the fact that a radiant object radiates uniformly in all directions. A radiant person, therefore, affects one and all around him - and his knowledge, wisdom, and love flow outwards, touching the hearts of everyone who comes into contact with him.

There is of course much that could be said about each of these three qualities - and there are many layers of meaning to purity, kindliness and radiance. But that is something we each need to reflect on in our lives, see how we can each be as pure, kindly and radiant as possible, given our own life conditions. Getting back to the quote, however, Baha'u'llah then goes on to say that once we possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, we shall be sovereign. Now this question of sovereignty is one that demands some thought. What shall we be sovereign of, king of, once we acquire these qualities? It is clearly not a material concept - rather, it refers to the Kingdom of God. But again, what is this Kingdom - it is not a place up in the clouds, which we shall enter through pearly white gates. The Kingdom of God really lies in our own hearts, and it is the Kingdom of all those virtues and qualities of God that we have the potential to manifest. All religious teachings talk in great depth about how man is created in the image of God, how we have the potential to reflect all the attributes of God. Baha'u'llah says,

"Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own self."

Therefore what a pure, kindly and radiant heart gives us is sovereignty over this Kingdom of the attributes of God - and this, as Tarry said, is what the oft-thrown-around word empowerment really means. It is when we have the power over our selves, over all these most amazing qualities and attributes and virtues, that we are truly empowered. And this really is the purpose of spiritual growth - to be able to reflect, as best as possible, all these qualities of God. This potential to reflect the attributes of God is the soul's essential reality, and spiritual growth is the process of understanding and manifesting this reality.

Additionally, this is a sovereignty that has existed for all time, and will continue to exist for all time. It is always within our grasp, should we only turn to God and walk along the yellow brick road He has laid down for us. And the shortcut that puts us right on that road is attempting to understand, and possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart.

Patience

This was a week of patience

Or at least, of trying to be patient
Of waiting
Of listening
Of calmness
Of letting others take initiative
Of giving in
Of trying to not be insistent
Of slowing down a little
Of giving people time and space
Of kindness
Of not worrying about when/how things will happen
Of learning to trust more in God
Of learning to let Him lead the way.

This was a week of trying to be patient.

Eleven Principles

I just read this most excellent talk given by Abdu'l Baha at the Theosophical Society in Paris in 1911. In this talk, he summarizes eleven principles of Baha'u'llah:

I. The Search after Truth.
II. The Unity of Mankind.
III. Religion ought to be the Cause of Love and Affection.
IV. The Unity of Religion and Science.
V. Abolition of Prejudices.
VI. Equalization of Means of Existence.
VII. Equality of Men before the Law.
VIII. Universal Peace.
IX. Non-Interference of Religion and Politics.
X. Equality of Sex—Education of Women.
XI. The Power of the Holy Spirit.

The complete talk can be found here. I highly recommend going through it - I found it very concise, and yet very deep. And oh, each of these principles is further explained in subsequent talks, which can be accessed by clicking the "Next" tab on that webpage.

Here are some of the most striking ideas expressed in this talk:

If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. For it is clear that the purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint it had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no religion. All the holy prophets were as doctors to the soul; they gave prescriptions for the healing of mankind; thus any remedy that causes disease does not come from the great and supreme Physician...

We may think of science as one wing and religion as the other; a bird needs two wings for flight, one alone would be useless. Any religion that contradicts science or that is opposed to it, is only ignorance—for ignorance is the opposite of knowledge...

Religion and science walk hand in hand, and any religion contrary to science is not the truth...

Religions, races, and nations are all divisions of man’s making only, and are necessary only in his thought; before God there are neither Persians, Arabs, French nor English; God is God for all, and to Him all creation is one...

Women have equal rights with men upon earth; in religion and society they are a very important element. As long as women are prevented from attaining their highest possibilities, so long will men be unable to achieve the greatness which might be theirs...

Kindness

This was a week of kindness

Of being thoughtful and considerate
Of developing a kindly tongue
And refraining from unkind words
Of curbing sarcasm
Of quelling anger
Of checking irritation
Of suppressing negativity
Of giving people the benefit of the doubt
Of acts of kindness
Of positive thought
Of making the heart one tiny bit bigger.

This was a week of kindness.

Non violence

At the recently held interfaith panel discussion on Religion and Non-violence, hosted by the Hindu Students Council, the Baha'i speaker made what I thought was a pretty remarkable point about the source of the concept of non-violence in the Baha'i faith.

Most religious philosophies typically make a distinction between good and evil. This is particularly true of Judeo-Christian traditions, but to some extent also exists in other schools of thought. Essentially there exists a dualistic concept of good and evil - an independent existence is accorded to each (often personified by God and Satan, or angels and demons, or devtas and asuras), and there is the idea of an eternal battle between good and evil. It is really the existence of an independent concept of evil that causes many people to ultimately resort to violence in certain situations - for if you truly believed that certain things in this world are evil, then it would make sense to adopt violence to combat them, once other options are exhausted. And of course, once one in principle says that certain things in this world could be evil, where the line is drawn becomes a subjective judgment. For I could justify my actions on the basis that I believed some thing or some person to be evil. And the combination of my judgment, and the idea that it is acceptable to use violence to combat what is evil would sanction an attitude of violence.

However, the Baha'i faith clearly talks about the non-existence of evil. There is no dual nature to Good and Bad - all of creation is essentially Good. More details on this can be found in a previous post here, but to summarize, Abdu'l Baha talks about how the perception of evil/bad comes about either from the absence of goodness, or from the incompatibility between two good things.

Once one adopts this perspective, believing that there is really no evil in this world, that all that is created is truly good, one loses a firm basis for violence. If one believed there were nothing in the world truly evil, that everyone had some good in them, one would not have to be violent.

Note that by violence I mean an attitude of violence - not necessarily a violent action. At no point should one ignore the value of justice - and therefore it might be necessary to have a police force, take action against criminals, etc. But these are to be purely social actions - and from the point of the view of the individual, the right thing to do is to always be forgiving and merciful - in one's heart. Holding on to the belief that everyone's soul has its own spiritual equation with God, and that we are all somewhere along the path of progress towards God, will enable one to achieve that state.

Religion and unity

"...if religious belief proves to be the cause of discord and dissension, its absence would be preferable; for religion was intended to be the divine remedy and panacea for the ailments of humanity, the healing balm for the wounds of mankind. If its misapprehension and defilement have brought about warfare and bloodshed instead of remedy and cure, the world would be better under irreligious conditions."

-- Abdu'l Baha at Stanford University, October 8th, 1912

The purpose of creation

"The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness."

-- Baha'u'llah

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

-- William Henry Davies

The trials of man

The trials of man are of two kinds.

(a) The consequences of his own actions. If a man eats too much, he ruins his digestion; if he takes poison he becomes ill or dies. If a person gambles he will lose his money; if he drinks too much he will lose his equilibrium. All these sufferings are caused by the man himself, it is quite clear therefore that certain sorrows are the result of our own deeds.

(b) Other sufferings there are, which come upon the Faithful of God. Consider the great sorrows endured by Christ and by His apostles!

Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit. The labourer cuts up the earth with his plough, and from that earth comes the rich and plentiful harvest. The more a man is chastened, the greater is the harvest of spiritual virtues shown forth by him. A soldier is no good General until he has been on the front of the fiercest battle and has received the deepest wounds.

-- Abdu'l Baha

Seize thy chance

O MY SERVANT!

Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more.

-- Baha'u'llah