Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Paragraph 130

Thou dost witness today how, notwithstanding the radiant splendour of the Sun of divine knowledge, all the people, whether high or low, have clung to the ways of those abject manifestations of the Prince of Darkness. They continually appeal to them for aid in unraveling the intricacies of their Faith, and, owing to lack of knowledge, they make such replies as can in no wise damage their fame and fortune. It is evident that these souls, vile and miserable as the beetle itself, have had no portion of the musk-laden breeze of eternity, and have never entered the Ridván of heavenly delight. How, therefore, can they impart unto others the imperishable fragrance of holiness? Such is their way, and such will it remain for ever. Only those will attain to the knowledge of the Word of God that have turned unto Him, and repudiated the manifestations of Satan. Thus God hath reaffirmed the law of the day of His Revelation, and inscribed it with the pen of power upon the mystic Tablet hidden beneath the veil of celestial glory. Wert thou to heed these words, wert thou to ponder their outward and inner meaning in thy heart, thou wouldst seize the significance of all the abstruse problems which, in this day, have become insuperable barriers between men and the knowledge of the Day of Judgment. Then wilt thou have no more questions to perplex thee. We fain would hope that, God willing, thou wilt not return, deprived and still athirst, from the shores of the ocean of divine mercy, nor come back destitute from the imperishable Sanctuary of thy heart’s desire. Let it now be seen what thy search and endeavours will achieve.

This paragraph still falls under the section in which Baha'u'llah is describing true sovereignty, and how it applies to the Bab. It is the last paragraph in the sub-section in which He describes the meaning of the terms "life", "death", "resurrection", and the like. Therefore this paragraph can be seen, in a sense, as a summary of the preceding paragraphs.

Like we have seen in Part 1, there are clues that lead us to this conclusion. You may recall how often Baha'u'llah used the words "ponder", "reflect", and "meditate" in Part 1, usually after He had given us a particularly difficult or new concept to consider. Here He encourages us, again, to "ponder" these words, paying careful attention to "their outward and inner meaning in (our) heart".

He also brings us back to the very beginning of this book, with the mention of "the shores of the ocean".

So, to us, He seems to be indicating that this new understanding of the Day of Judgment is deep and can be troubling for some, and therefore He gives us ample time to reflect on it. Once we understand what He is saying, though, then we will "have no more questions" to perplex us. We will have attained the "shores of the ocean of true understanding", and even the "Sanctuary of our heart's desire", that tabernacle which has "been raised in the firmament of the Bayan". But that's not the end of it. Now, He says, let's see what we're going to do about it. He is projecting us forward. Up until this point, it has all been about the search, but now He is helping us see past this and asking what we will achieve once we recognize.

But going back to the beginning of this paragraph, let's look at His warning. He is reminding us that so many are clinging to the clergy, "those abject manifestations of the Prince of Darkness". They ask these "learned" people to explain things to them, but they cannot. They don't have the knowledge, and are too concerned about their reputation or wealth. How, He wonders, can such people teach others about God? In fact, He goes further and points out that only those people who repudiate such teachers will be able to understand the Word of God. It is as if we have to recognize this false station of knowledge and deny it if we hope to understand the truth. We have to, in a sense, be able to tell the difference between the stench of egotism and the beauty of humility.

In fact, looking back at paragraph 6, "the more closely we observe the denials... the firmer will be (our) faith in the Cause of God." Here, in paragraph 130, we are told to closely examine the denials of today.

Now, what does all this have to do with sovereignty? Well, if we consider what He has said in the past few paragraphs, we will see that the uncle of the Bab was trying to see how sovereignty, as defined by the Mullas of his day, applied to his Nephew. Quite simply, it didn't, because the definition was a false one. To demonstrate this, Baha'u'llah has shown, using the Qu'ran, how we have misunderstood other terms relating to the Day of Judgment, such as "life", "death", "resurrection" and the like. He has shown how even the people of Muhammad's time misunderstood these terms. We can therefore conclude that we have likely misunderstood the term "sovereignty", as He will demonstrate over the next few paragraphs.

Finally, one last little thing caught our attention: Baha'u'llah does not use the word "haply" in describing the results of our search. Previously, He had often stressed the "luck factor", if you will. So much was dependent on the Will of God. If we go back to paragraph 1 again, we will see that if we sanctify our soul, then, with luck, we might attain this shore. Why? Perhaps because there are good people in all faiths. It is only with luck that we will find the Messenger of God for today by sanctifying our soul. Here, though, Baha'u'llah is pointing out the extreme egotism of the Mullas of His day, and if we merely look for it, we cannot help but see it. There is no luck involved, just unbiased observation. And if we "heed these words" and "ponder their outward and inner meaning", we will clearly see that they are acting exactly as the religious leaders of the past did when they denied the other Messengers.

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