Universal religion

"…if there is ever to be universal religion, it must be one which will be infinite, like the God it will preach, and whose sun will shine upon the followers of Krishna and of Christ, on saints and sinners alike; which will not be Brahmanic or Buddhistic, Christian or Mohammedan, but the sum total of all these, and still have infinite space for development; which in its catholicity will embrace in its infinite arms, and find a place for every human being, from the lowest grovelling savage, not far removed from the brute, to the highest man, towering by virtues of his head and heart almost above humanity, making society stand in awe of him and doubt his human nature. It will be a religion which will have no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity, which will recognize divinity in every man and woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force, will be centred in aiding humanity to realize its own true, divine nature."

-- Swami Vivekananda, World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893

More illumination on laws

"The Laws of God are not imposition of will, or of power, or pleasure, but the resolutions of truth, reason and justice."

-- Abdu'l Baha

But a leaf...

Nowadays I find more and more beauty and poetry in some of the writings of Baha'u'llah... Almost feel like I've been blind to this until now... :) Here's a quote of his describing his own station.

"By My life! Not of Mine own volition have I revealed Myself, but God, of His own choosing, hath manifested Me... I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven, and for this there befell Me what hath caused the tears of every man of understanding to flow... This is but a leaf which the winds of the will of thy Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised, have stirred. Can it be still when the tempestuous winds are blowing?"

More on spiritual laws

For some thoughts on the quote in the post below, do check out this blog post.

A couple more thoughts on spiritual laws that came to me as I read the above post, that I thought I'd share here. One, I find it helpful to think of spiritual laws not as arbitrarily imposed rules by some anthropomorphic being, but rather laws that are interwoven into the fabric of creation, much as physical laws are. So, for example, if I climb to the top of a skyscraper and jump down, I will fall due to gravity. Gravity is one of the laws of the universe. It is not that someone willfully pushes me down to crash onto the ground - but the consequence of choosing to jump down from a building is that I will fall down.

Likewise, many spiritual laws exist as a part of this world - such as the effect of prayer, fasting, loving thoughts, the effect of indulging in immoral activities etc. Just as physical laws are statements of consequences when it comes to physical actions, spiritual laws are statements of consequences of spiritual acts. All the Manifestation/Prophet of God really does is acquaint us with these laws, just as a scientist acquaints us with physical laws. Of course the expression of these laws might change based on the state of evolution of human society (and so qualities like justice, for example, might be expressed in different ways depending on the condition of human society) - but the laws themselves are intrinsic to this world, not arbitrarily imposed by some external being.

There is another way of thinking about laws that someone once explained to me which I quite like - lets think of traffic laws. One might believe that traffic laws actually restrict our freedom to drive as we want. But if we think a little deeper, we realize that if these laws didn't exist, one would be afraid just to step out onto the road, as one has no guarantee about how others are driving. So, even though it might seem counter-intuitive, the existence of traffic laws actually makes us more free - free to drive how we want within the scope of these laws. This analogy might be useful in understanding how spiritual laws can actually be freeing rather than restricting.

Of course, both the above are just ways of thinking about spiritual laws - I doubt we'll ever attain complete comprehension of these subtle forces. But it definitely helps one in following these laws to understand, at least to some extent, that these are not laws to be blindly followed just because someone came along and said we should.

Commandments

A friend recently pointed out a quote which led me to search out its source - and I find the following passage deeply illuminating in understanding what it means to follow the laws/commandments of God - and why they even exist. I love some of the metaphors used here...

"O YE peoples of the world! Know assuredly that My commandments are the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy for My creatures. Thus hath it been sent down from the heaven of the Will of your Lord, the Lord of Revelation. Were any man to taste the sweetness of the words which the lips of the All-Merciful have willed to utter, he would, though the treasures of the earth be in his possession, renounce them one and all, that he might vindicate the truth of even one of His commandments, shining above the Dayspring of His bountiful care and loving-kindness.

From My laws the sweet smelling savour of My garment can be smelled, and by their aid the standards of victory will be planted upon the highest peaks. The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of My omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation these words: ‘Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty.’ Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the divine fragrance of his Best-Beloved from these words, laden with the perfume of a grace which no tongue can describe. By My life! He who hath drunk the choice wine of fairness from the hands of My bountiful favour, will circle around My commandments that shine above the Dayspring of My creation.

Think not that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and power. To this beareth witness that which the Pen of Revelation hath revealed. Meditate upon this, O men of insight!…"

-- Baha'u'llah

A short prayer

O God, my God, my Beloved, my heart's Desire.

-- The Báb

Our home

Today C helped me discover new dimensions of the beauty and depth in this quote of Abdu'l Baha's through the medium of her art.

"My home is the home of peace.
My home is the home of joy and delight.
My home is the home of laughter and exultation.
Whosoever enters through the portals of this home, must go with gladsome heart.
This is the home of light; whosoever enters here must become illumined…"

May our home increasingly reflect the Divine attributes and be a "lodestone of the hearts of all men".

The Parable of the Tenants

(Jesus said) "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.

"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"

"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."

-- Matthew 21:33-41

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'

The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

-- Matthew 20:1-15

Spreading the word...

Religious persecution is still very much a reality today, as evidenced by recent happenings in Iran, which you can read about here.

Those arrested include someone related to a dear friend... If you get a chance, do say a prayer for these brave souls...