Letter concerning the Tablet of the Divine Test 8 страница
Beware that Thou divest not Thyself, Thou Who art the Essence of Purity,
of Thy robe of brilliant glory.
55.
Nay, enrich Thyself increasingly, in the kingdom of creation,
with the incorruptible vestures of Thy God,
that the beauteous image of the Almighty may be reflected through Thee in all created things
and the grace of Thy Lord be infused in the plenitude of its power into the entire creation.
56.
If Thou smellest from anybody the smell of the love of Thy Lord,
offer up Thyself for Him, for We have created Thee for this purpose,
57.
and have covenanted with Thee, from time immemorial,
and in the presence of the congregation of Our well-favored ones, for this very purpose.
58.
Be not impatient if the blind in heart hurl down the shafts of their idle fancies upon Thee.
59.
Leave them to themselves, for they follow the promptings of the evil ones.
60.
Cry out before the gaze of the dwellers of heaven and of earth,
61.
I am the Maid of Heaven, the Offspring begotten by the Spirit of Bahá.
62.
My habitation is the Mansion of His Name, the All-Glorious.
63.
Before the Concourse on high I was adorned with the ornament of His names.
64.
I was wrapt within the veil of an inviolable security,
and lay hidden from the eyes of men.
65.
Methinks that I heard a Voice of divine and incomparable sweetness,
proceeding from the right hand of the God of Mercy,
66.
and lo, the whole Paradise stirred and trembled before Me,
in its longing to hear its accents, and gaze on the beauty of Him that uttered them.
67.
Thus have We revealed in this luminous Tablet, ad in the sweetest of languages,
the verses which the Tongue of Eternity was moved to utter in the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá.
68.
Say,
He ordaineth as He pleaseth, by virtue of His sovereignty,
and doeth whatsoever He willeth at His own bidding.
69.
He shall not be asked of the things it pleaseth Him to ordain.
70.
He, in truth, is the Unrestrained, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.
71.
They that have disbelieved in God and rebelled against His sovereignty
are the helpless victims of their corrupt inclinations and desires.
72.
These shall return to their abode in the fire of hell!
73.
Wretched is the abode of the deniers!
Gleanings 129
74.
Say,
Doth it beseem a man while claiming to be a follower of his Lord, the All-Merciful,
he should yet in his heart do the very deeds of the Evil One?
|
|
|
75.
Nay, it ill beseemeth him,
and to this He Who is the Beauty of the All-Glorious will bear Me witness.
76.
Would that ye could comprehend it!
77.
Cleanse from your hearts the love of worldly things,
78.
and from your tongues every remembrance except His remembrance,
79.
and from your entire being whatsoever may deter you from beholding His face,
or may tempt you to follow the promptings of your evil and corrupt inclinations.
80.
Let God be your fear, O people,
and be ye of them that tread the path of righteousness.
Tablet of the [Explaination] CHAPTER FOUR
Divisions 81-105
Tablet of the Bayan
THE BAYAN (THE EXPLAINATION)
81.
Say,
Should your conduct, O people, contradict your professions,
how think ye, then, to be able to distinguish yourselves
from them who, though professing their faith in the Lord their God,
have, as soon as He came unto them in the cloud of holiness,
refused to acknowledge Him, and repudiated His truth?
82.
Disencumber yourselves of all attachment to this world and the vanities thereof.
83.
Beware that ye approach them not,
inasmuch as they prompt you to walk after your own lusts and covetous desires,
and hinder you from entering the straight and glorious Path.
84.
Know ye that by “the world” is meant your unawareness of Him Who is your Maker,
and your absorption in aught else except Him.
85.
The “life to come,” on the other hand,
signifieth the things that give you a safe approach to God, the All-Glorious, the Incomparable.
86.
Whatsoever deterreth you, in this Day, from loving God is nothing except the world.
87.
Flee it, that ye may be numbered with the blest.
88.
Should a man wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth,
to wear its apparels, or partake of the benefits it can bestow,
89.
no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene between him and God,
for God hath ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the earth,
|
|
|
for such of His servants as truly believe in Him.
90.
Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath allowed you,
and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties.
91.
Render thanks and praise unto Him,
and be of them that are truly thankful.
92.
O thou that hast fled thy home and sought the presence of God!
93.
Proclaim unto men the Message of thy Lord,
that it may haply deter them from following the promptings of their evil and corrupt desires,
and bring them to the remembrance of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Great.
94.
Say:
Fear God, O people,
and refrain from shedding the blood of any one.
95.
Contend not with your neighbor,
and be ye of them that do good.
96.
Beware that ye commit no disorders on the earth after it hath been well ordered,
and follow not the footsteps of them that are gone astray.
97.
Whoso ariseth among you to teach the Cause of his Lord,
let him, before all else, teach his own person,
that his speech may attract the hearts of them that hear him.
98.
Unless he teacheth his own person,
the words of his mouth will not influence the heart of the seeker.
99.
Take heed, O people,
lest ye be of them that give good counsel to others, yet forget to follow it themselves.
100.
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.
101.
Should such a man ever succeed in influencing anybody,
this success should be attributed not to him,
yet rather to the influence of the words of God,
as decreed by Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Wise.
102.
In the sight of God he is regarded as a lamp that imparteth its light,
and yet is all the while being consumed within itself.
103.
Say,
Commit not, O people, that which will bring shame upon you
or dishonor the Cause of God in the eyes of men, and be not of the mischief-makers.
104.
Approach not the things which your minds condemn.
105.
Shun and avoid all manner of wickedness,
|
|
|
for such things are forbidden unto you in the Book which none touch
except such as God hath cleansed from every taint of guilt, and numbered among the purified.
Tablet of the [Explaination] CHAPTER FIVE
Divisions 106-130
Tablet of the Bayan
THE BAYAN (THE EXPLAINATION)
106.
Be fair to yourselves and to others,
that the evidences of justice may be revealed, through your deeds, among Our faithful servants.
107.
Beware lest ye encroach upon the substance of your neighbor.
108.
Prove yourselves worthy of his trust and confidence in you,
and withhold not from the poor the gifts which the grace of God hath bestowed upon you.
109.
He, verily, shall recompense the charitable,
and doubly repay them for what they have bestowed.
110.
No God is there except for Him.
111.
All creation and its empire are His.
112.
He bestoweth His gifts on whom He will,
and from whom He will He withholdeth them.
He is the Great Giver, the Most Generous, the Benevolent.
113.
Say:
Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Bahá,
for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message,
and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds.
114.
Such a deed is acceptable only when he that teacheth the Cause is already a firm believer in God,
the Supreme Protector, the Gracious, the Almighty.
115.
He hath, moreover, ordained that His Cause be taught through the power of men’s utterance,
and not through resort to violence.
116.
Thus hath His ordinance been sent down
from the Kingdom of Him Who is the Most Exalted, the All-Wise.
117.
Beware lest ye contend with anybody,
118.
nay, strive instead to make him aware of the truth
with a kindly manner and most convincing exhortation.
119.
If your hearer respond, he will have responded to his own behoof,
120.
and if not, turn ye away from him,
and set your faces towards God’s sacred Court, the seat of resplendent holiness.
|
|
|
121.
Dispute not with any one concerning the things of this world and its affairs,
for God hath abandoned them to such as have set their affection upon them.
122.
Out of the whole world He hath chosen for Himself the hearts of men—
hearts which the hosts of revelation and of utterance can subdue.
123.
Thus hath it been ordained by the Fingers of Bahá,
upon the Tablet of God’s irrevocable decree,
by the behest of Him Who is the Supreme Ordainer, the All-Knowing.
Gleanings 128
124.
If ye meet the abased or the down-trodden, turn not away disdainfully from them,
for the King of Glory ever watcheth over them
125.
and surroundeth them with such tenderness as none can fathom
except them that have suffered their wishes and desires
to be merged in the Will of your Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise.
126.
O ye rich ones of the earth!
Flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust,
127.
Nay, rather, befriend him and suffer him to recount the tale of the woes
with which God’s inscrutable Decree hath caused him to be afflicted.
128.
By the righteousness of God!
Whilst ye consort with him, the Concourse on high will be looking upon you,
will be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and glorifying your action.
129.
Blessed are the learned that pride not themselves on their attainments;
130.
and well is it with the righteous that mock not the sinful, yet rather conceal their misdeeds,
so that their own shortcomings may remain veiled to men’s eyes.
Gleanings 145
Translated by S. Effendi in Gleanings 128, 129, and 145
Translated by S. Lambden
Tablet of the Preserver
An Arabic tablet of the Adrianople-Edirne period. It might pertain to the period surrounding the break with Mirza Yahya Nuri, that has been characterized as the "days of stress".
The break with Mirza Yahya Nuri and his Azali followers during the mid Adrianople-Edirne period (1866) was one of the most profoundly calamitous periods for Baha-ullah and the emergent Bahai dispensation. It marked the split with middle Babism centered upon the leadership role of Mirza Yahya, the initial nominee of the Bab who was the half-brother of Baha'-Allah.
Next Baha'-Allah exhorts the recipient to "Mention of Name of thy Lord, His servant Jawad, who hath come to faith and been guided aright". The person Jawad referred to here could indicate any one of a number of followers of the Bab. Among them the Babi-Baha'i Hajji Mirza Muh. Jawad Qazvini. that, after the passing of the prophet Baha'-ullah, sided with the prophet's younger son Mirza Muhamnmad `Ali, the half-brother of `Abd al-Baha'.
THE PRESERVER
1.
This is the chapter of the Preserver.
2.
It was certainly sent down [revealed] from the Heaven of the Calamitous Stress.
3.
"He is the Beloved, the Treasured Up [Hidden]".
4.
Make mention of the Name of thy lord, His servant Jawad,
who came to faith and was guided aright.
5.
And he was established in His [Babi/Bahai] Cause on the [eschatological] Day
in which even the footsteps of the mystic knowers were made to slip,
for they disbelieved in God, their Lord, the Lord of the era to come and of times primordial.
6.
So hearken ye unto that which he hath revealed for thee
regarding the partition [division] of the horizons [of reality].
7.
This perchance thou might be attracted by the Breezes of Divine Inspiration
regarding the possibility of a cleaving asunder
and thou might draw near unto the [reality of the] covenantal authorization
regarding the establishment of thy Lord, the Glorious, the All-Glorious.
8
We have indeed bestowed Our favour upon thee, (Jawad)
time after time then again during these latter days [of the eschatological era].
Translated by S. Lambden
Tablet of the Saddle CHAPTER ONE
Divisions 1-
Written to Aqa Mirza Muhammad `Ali Sarraj 'the Saddler' in 1867
Translation in progress
Otherwise named the Tablet of Siraj,
or the Tablet of Light (Siraj = `Light').
THE SADDLE
1.
He is the Beloved, [the Answerer].
2.
In reply to the questions of `Ali Muhammad Sarrāj Iṣfahānī.
3.
The letter of that revered one was presented before the [Divine] Throne
and arrived unto the locale the nature of which none knoweth other than He Himself.
4.
The contents thereof were observed with the perception of God.
5.
It had been enquired as to how it can possibly be that "elevated [sublime] letters" [of souls]
can be transformed into "debased letters” [or,] souls]"
or [the condition of] faith-affirmation be altered into one of [faith-negation;
6.
how the choice fruit can be abstracted from the spiritual subtleties
or the [station of the polished] Mirror be witheld from
the splendours of the lights of the Sun of Mystic Meaning.
7.
So yea indeed, unto what thou hast asked,
for thou art such as pose questions.
8.
Thou hast submitted numerous questions,
for in this [eschatological] Day it is [perfectly] legitimate for every soul that is troubled
to enquire after the mystical [gnosic] aspects of the enigmatic divine realities
from the [Embodiment of] the Law of Lordly Knowledge
and the All-Enduring Euphrates [River] of Wisdom
9.
and expectently [hopefully] become a recipient of
a [revelational] sprinkling forth from the [Divine] Fountainhead
and thus experience beatitude upon the carpet of tranquility and certitude.
10.
We supplicate God that He may enable thee to ascend unto a station
in which thou shalt witness the Ancient Beauty with thine [own] eye
and be abstracted from the sight of the worldly realms,
11.
and shalt hear His [divine] melodies with thine own ear
and be detached from the [variations] of the hearts
of whomsoever lieth within either the heavens or the earth[s].
12.
There is no God except Him.
.
The Supreme Visage (of the Bāb) is certainly His Bahā [of glory] within the Supreme Concourse,
His very Brilliance between earth and heaven,
His Grandeur unto whomsoever liveth within the Kingdom of the Command and the Creation.
.
The same do all things cry out,
[as thou wouldst realize] if thou be in possession of a hearing ear.
.
This in that [this eschatological] Day it is encumbent upon every soul before God
to investigate and ponder upon His Cause with their very eye, ear, and heart.
.
Ponder the reason why all the people were witheld from the Encounter [Meeting] with God
and are occupied with [other devices].
.
It is because of vain fancies,
and being veiled by the likenesses of their own being.
.
The Cause shines resplendent, yet their faculties are veiled by words of the people.
.
Bābī believers must consider the Power of God,
and the Testimony of past religionists who failed.
.
Be warned.
Don't make same mistake.
.
Don't imagine [like the Jews of ages past]
that "the hand[s] of God are chained up" Quran 5:64, 48:1
.
As the Quran says,
"Nay! Outstretched are both his hands!"
(Through the continuity of prophetic revelation. God doeth what he pleaseth.)
.
"Thus it was, that with the advent of the year 60,
all the people were witheld from [the] Reality [of the Bāb],
from both knowledge and [awareness of] ignorance [of knowledge],
by virtue of meaningless worldly constraints.
.
Persons were returned,
transformed from the eternal beauty to the infernal destruction that they were.
Дата добавления: 2019-02-12; просмотров: 214; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!