Friends

"Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path."

--Abdu'l Baha

Thank you, O Lord, for blessing me with some of the kindest, most loving and sensitive friends one could ever have asked for. These spiritual bonds that we are able to form on this material earth are but the one reflection of that eternal spiritual bond we have with You.

Sensitivity

This was a week of sensitivity.

Of being sensitive to the needs of others
And to my own
Of being more consciously aware of the wonderful world we live in
Of being patient - with others and myself
Of listening
Of understanding
Of observing
Of perceiving
Of forgiveness
Of giving people the space they need
Of letting them be
Of sacrifice
Of being positive
Of showing people the positive side of things
Of providing a shoulder to lean on
Of joy and cheer
Of being flexible
Of openness
Of tact
Of appreciation
Of thankfulness
Of increasing awareness of how God ever so lovingly guides us along
Of prayer
Of trying to connect to the all-pervading spirit
Of love and affection
Of being aware of all the delightful gifts and blessings God has showered upon me

This was a week of sensitivity.

Always room for more

Here is a beautiful anecdote from the life of Abdu'l Baha that I just read in a book.

The following occurred in 1919 at Abdu'l Baha's house in Haifa. One of the visitors, Mr. Denham, after a series of questions, commented on how peaceful the atmosphere there was. Abdu'l Baha responded by saying that he should come and stay there. Mr. Denham then said that if everyone who desired to come and stay there did, there would be no room for him. In response to this, Abdu'l Baha told this story:

There was a society in Persia where the members sat in silence. By gesture they could know what was to be said, as for example, by the gesture of the hand. Whoever wanted to join the society had to give an application. Once there was one who wanted to become a member, but the president wanted to make the members understand that he was not fit to be accepted. There was on the table a tumbler and a pitcher of water. He filled the tumbler with water. His object was to make the gathering understand without talking. The glass was filled to the brim and both the members and the candidate understood. Then he who had applied took out a small piece of paper from his pocket and placed it gently on the surface of the water and the tumbler did not overflow. They clapped. By this he meant that his presence amongst them was exactly like that piece of paper, and they accepted him right away. And now you are like that delicate piece of paper. However full it may be here, you will find room.

What a wonderful way to encourage someone...

Prayer of healing

For a friend...

"Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! I beg of Thee by Thy Name through which He Who is Thy Beauty hath been stablished upon the throne of Thy Cause, and by Thy Name through which Thou changest all things, and gatherest together all things, and callest to account all things, and rewardest all things, and preservest all things, and sustainest all things—I beg of Thee to guard this handmaiden who hath fled for refuge to Thee, and hath sought the shelter of Him in Whom Thou Thyself art manifest, and hath put her whole trust and confidence in Thee.

She is sick, O my God, and hath entered beneath the shadow of the Tree of Thy healing; afflicted, and hath fled to the City of Thy protection; diseased, and hath sought the Fountainhead of Thy favors; sorely vexed, and hath hasted to attain the Wellspring of Thy tranquillity; burdened with sin, and hath set her face toward the court of Thy forgiveness.

Attire her, by Thy sovereignty and Thy loving-kindness, O my God and my Beloved, with the raiment of Thy balm and Thy healing, and make her quaff of the cup of Thy mercy and Thy favors. Protect her, moreover, from every affliction and ailment, from all pain and sickness, and from whatsoever may be abhorrent unto Thee.

Thou, in truth, art immensely exalted above all else except Thyself. Thou art, verily, the Healer, the All-Sufficing, the Preserver, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful."

-- Baha'u'llah

Honesty

This was a week of honesty.

Of being truthful
Of being honest with others
Of being honest with myself
Of accepting
Of not ignoring my inner voice
Of coming to terms with reality
Of being practical
Of not living in a dream world
Of lowering expectations
Of balancing frankness with tact
Of not hiding the truth
Of certainty

This was a week of honesty.

Seeing things in context

A friend recently pointed out the following verse from the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah to me, and raised a few interesting questions. I figured I'd just blog my thoughts on it, rather than just share them with her.

"O FRIEND!
In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold. Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly."

The first thing that really struck me when I read this verse is how important it is, with spiritual writings to different religions, to

1. Not always interpret statements literally
2. Keep the broader context of the overall teachings in mind

So lets keep both these in mind as we go along...

As is often the case with the Hidden Words, I think the way Baha'u'llah addresses the reader provides a clue to the context of the verse - and here, addressing the reader as "O Friend", I believe the core message this verse conveys is that of the need to cultivate a deep friendship with one and all and love everyone without any inhibitions or prejudices. As Abdu'l Baha says in one of his Paris talks, "Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path." The imagery of the language here is indicative of how strong a feeling of love this should be.

This, I think, then clarifies what is meant in the last part of this verse - of eschewing all fellowship with the ungodly. Though this might literally be interpreted to mean that we should stay away from those who don't believe in God, and not love them, the broader teachings of the Baha'i faith clearly seem to indicate otherwise. What we do need to eschew is fellowship in actions - and so refrain from being a party to those actions that are ungodly - or in other words, those detrimental to our spiritual growth. From the spiritual standpoint, the primary emotional response to anyone should always be love (ya, I know how hard that is). And the primary response to any act of wrongdoing (again, from the individual perspective, not social) should always be forgiveness, and not hatred or vengeance. That of course does not mean we condone the action and become party to it - but it does mean that we do not hold anything personally against the doer of the action. Justice, of course, might need to be meted out at the social level - but personally speaking, we should always love others.

Such a deep and pure love, of course, arises only from viewing everything around us not as independent entities, but rather in relation to God. Abdu'l Baha says, "Love the creatures for the sake of God and not for themselves. You will never become angry or impatient if you love them for the sake of God. Humanity is not perfect. There are imperfections in every human being, and you will always become unhappy if you look toward the people themselves. But if you look toward God, you will love them and be kind to them, for the world of God is the world of perfection and complete mercy." This quote, I think, makes it very clear what we should be doing, and that's all I'll say on that.

On the other hand, not keeping God and broader spiritual goals in the picture can also lead us in the other direction - towards our love becoming a self-consuming passion that clouds reason and judgment, and makes us stray off the spiritual path. The Baha'i teachings stress how all human emotions and feelings have positive and negative expressions. As I've described in previous posts, there is no concept of pure evil in the Baha'i faith - and so there is no such thing as an evil or bad emotion. Therefore every emotion, taken in the right context, can be a positive one. And so greed is good if it represents a thirst for knowledge, or for spiritual growth. However if it turns into a slavering desire for money, a material life, or envy for other people's possessions, it becomes a negative emotion. Anger is good if it is expressed against injustice and prompts us to take action against it. But a self-consuming anger against others that destroys us and cultivates hate is entirely undesirable.

Therefore again, it is important to read the above verse in this context. When it talks about not losing hold on affection and desire, we should not to use this as a justification for wholly and completely immersing oneself in the love and affection for our loved ones, to the exclusion of everything else in our lives. Likewise it is important to not be consumed by blind passion and desire for someone. Passion and desire is one part of the love that one develops in a particular kind of relationship - but it should always be recognized as just one aspect of the broader, spiritual love one has for that person, and that it is to exist within the context of that relationship. Balancing detachment with any of these feelings, therefore, is critical. And we should always make sure none of this deters us from our spiritual path.

Love in its purest form is a feeling we need to absolutely express towards every element of creation. But there are other forms of expression of love, and it is important to bear in mind the context within which they need to be expressed. Much of society today, though, seems to have lost sense of context when it comes to expressing emotion of any kind.

Thankfulness

This was a week of thankfulness.

For all the grace that God has showered upon us
For near and dear ones
For family, so close, yet so far
For those very special friends who brighten up my every day by just being
For all the gifts God has given
For the oh, so wonderful world we live in
For its beauty, majesty and awe-inspiring bounties
For the sun that shines brightly every morning, without fail
For the opportunities granted to me that are available to few
For good health
For solace, comfort, and contentment
For love, protection and friendship
For knowledge and wisdom
For the opportunities to serve, to give back
For faith
For prayer
For all the guidance that we receive, every single day
For God

This was a week of thankfulness.

Patience

This was yet another week of patience

Of letting others make decisions
Of being patient with myself
Of not expecting too much
Of detachment
Of trying to be understanding
Of being accommodating
Of letting others have their way
Of waiting for others to catch up
Of walking behind, keeping pace with the slow ones
Of controlling anger and irritation
Of being calm

This was yet another week of patience

Justice

The main subject of Tarry's talk on sunday was, as I mentioned in an earlier post, justice, and I'd like to take some time here to elaborate on some of the concepts he elucidated.

Justice, according to the Baha'i teachings, has its manifestation at two levels.

1. The individual level: At the individual level justice as a quality is intrinsically related to the way we view the world. As Baha'u'llah says in the Hidden words, "The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee." It is therefore only through possessing a sense of justice and fairness that we are able to turn the mirrors of our soul towards the grace of God, reflect the rays he sends down towards us, and bask in the sunshine of his knowledge. But what exactly does it mean to be just or fair? Baha'u'llah further expounds - "By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor." The quality of justice, therefore, is closely linked to one of the fundamental Baha'i teachings - that of the independent investigation of the truth. Each of us has been endowed with the capacity to reason, to understand, and to discern. It is therefore incumbent upon us that we use our faculties on the spiritual path, and seek out the truth with a "searching eye". Neither should we blindly believe what others tell us, nor should we be satisfied with a superficial understanding of things.

Justice can also be understood in terms of the lack of prejudice - for this is truly what fairness means. As even the root of the word indicates (pre + judge), having prejudices implies that we prejudge things or situations or people, form opinions without having complete knowledge, and essentially for unreasonable judgments or conclusions. Possessing a just heart would imply that in every interaction we have with the world and its inhabitants, we abandon prejudice and instead search for the truth with an open heart. The latter is actually one of the most difficult things, in my opinion. Though it might be easier to tell oneself not to be prejudiced about people, to be truly open to the truth in all its forms is ever so difficult - for we each grow up with our own baggage, our own history, our own upbringing, within a societal framework which shapes and molds our instincts and opinions - and so usually we start off on the spiritual journey with a preconceived idea of what the truth is, or might be. Usually we shy away for certain kinds of reality, while being attracted towards others, because of what we've always grown up taking for granted. Shedding these veils, ridding oneself of these barriers to seeing the truth, and learning to be just and fair in all our interactions with reality is truly one of the greatest challenges along the spiritual path.

2. The social level: Justice, at the level of society, is expressed through another of the fundamental tenets of the Baha'i teachings - unity. Baha'u'llah says that it is impossible to have a just society unless we are able to wholly transform the current social order into one which is based on the unity of mankind. This is of course a slow and gradual process, but, according to the Baha'i writings, inevitable. The inevitability of unity and oneness is actually a fairly reasonable claim, I believe, and there are two arguments I'll give for that. One, if we look at human history, we see a move towards greater and greater levels of aggregation. At a very early point in their evolution, humans probably lived just with their families, or in groups of small families. This evolved into a situation where the fundamental unit of grouping became a tribe. Further along in history we see the emergence of city-states and kingdoms. And today we find ourselves in an era where the basic unit of governance in the world is the nation-state. The change from one social structure to another has taken many centuries - but it has been definitive. And over time it has also affected the mentality of people - where at one time, which particular city they were from formed a basic part of someone's identity, today that does not matter so much. Rather, which country we are from is one of the strongest elements of our identity (and also one of the key determinants of our future, the social conditions we grow up in, the opportunities available to us, and so on). And so though it might seem at this point in history that given how much people identify with their nations, that we cannot possible unite, it would be well to remember that some time in the past, people thought very much the same about their city, or kingdom. And we would do well to remember that even now, we do see some glimmerings of the higher level of aggregation - the League of Nations (followed by the UN) was the first experiment of its kind, where many countries came together as a group. Undoubtedly even the UN in its current form is severely flawed in many ways - but it is remarkable, nevertheless, that such an experiment has survived, and continues to get stronger and more diverse in its operations with time.

The second reason why the unity of mankind seems inevitable, is the fact that a lot of the problems and social forces we face today are pushing us inexorably towards that. Today the world is so interlinked in every possible way, that it is impossible for any country to exist in isolation (which in the past was entirely possible, and in fact, the order of things). Likewise some of the problems we face today, such as the environmental crisis, economic issues etc, are of a truly global nature, and problems that can only be solved if all nations come together in an attempt to attack them. Therefore, all forces in society seem to be pushing us towards accepting the oneness of mankind as well.

In another of the Hidden words, Baha'u'llah extorts:

"O CHILDREN OF MEN!

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since we have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest."

This unity and oneness, then, needs to become the foundation for our social organization - and that alone, says Baha'u'llah, will lead to a just society. It is not hard to see why this might be the case - for if at the individual level, prejudices continue to exist, we can never reach unity and oneness - and if we have biases against certain groups of people, and have already prejudged them, it is impossible to be completely fair and unbiased.

Therefore what we need is the establishment of justice, first in our hearts, and second in our social systems. And it is extremely important, in this process, to ensure we don't confuse the two, something which often tends to happen. When someone wrongs us, for example, we decide that justice needs to be meted out - and so we get angry, hold it against them, maybe try and punish them for what they did. But this is not what justice really means - for at the individual level, true justice always involves forgiveness. The just and fair thing for us to do is to, in our hearts, instantly forgive anyone who wrongs us. As Baha'u'llah says, "There are imperfections in every human being, and you will always become unhappy if ye look toward the people themselves. But if you look toward God, you will love them and be kind to them, for the world of God is the world of perfection and complete mercy. Therefore, do not look at the shortcomings of anybody; see with the sight of forgiveness." The right thing to do, spiritually, therefore, is to always forgive.

At the social level, however, institutions must exist which can mete out justice - but its nothing personal. Society does need to punish criminals, there should be consequences for our actions - but that is for society and social institutions to enforce, not individuals. As I mentioned in an earlier post on non-violence, justice will require us to have a police force, a judicial system - but at no point should any of the individuals who are a part of that system enforce justice because they feel personally wronged, or out of vengeance. This difference between justice at the individual and social level is key to recognize.

This earthly plane

I just heard this most beautiful composition by a truly talented musician (and the sister of a dear friend), Elika. I started listening to her CD which I'd recently procured, but got stuck on this song, the very first one, and have been listening to it on repeat for a while now. The potency of the words of God is indeed incredible, for I can think of no other force that can inspire such uplifting music.

Also, personally speaking, I am always inspired being in the presence of people who have had the courage, talent and determination to dedicate their lives to music, dance, or any other art form. Such a decision cannot be an easy one, and it requires true strength of character to be able to do so - and I salute all those who have had the will to take a step down that unknown road.

Anyway, here is the passage from the Gleanings that was set to music by Elika. And let me do my own little bit of marketing by letting you know that you can find out more about her music here. :)

"Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain."

-- Baha'u'llah