Bahá'í

2008-10-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

The greatest prison is the prison of self.

-‘Abdu’l-Bahá

2008-10-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Worship thy Lord, until certitude comes to thee [Qur’an]
Whoever strays from this straight path can hope to manifest nothing but impotence and ignorance.

-Mirzá Abdu’l-Fadl

2008-10-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

O SON OF SPIRIT!
I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.

-Baha'u'llah

2008-10-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

O My servants! It behoveth you to refresh and revive your souls through the gracious favors which, in this Divine, this soul-stirring Springtime, are being showered upon you. The Day Star of His great glory hath shed its radiance upon you, and the clouds of His limitless grace have overshadowed you. How high the reward of him that hath not deprived himself of so great a bounty, nor failed to recognize the beauty of his Best-Beloved in this, His new attire. Say: O people! The Lamp of God is burning; take heed, lest the fierce winds of your disobedience extinguish its light. Now is the time to arise and magnify the Lord, your God. Strive not after bodily comforts, and keep your heart pure and stainless. The Evil One is lying in wait, ready to entrap you. Gird yourselves against his wicked devices, and, led by the light of the name of the one true God, deliver yourselves from the darkness that surroundeth you. Center your thoughts in the Well-Beloved, rather than in your own selves.

-Bahá'u'lláh

2008-10-25T12:55:00.002-07:00

The bounties of the Blessed Perfection are infinite. We must endeavor to increase our capacity
daily, to strengthen and enlarge our capabilities for receiving them, to become as perfect mirrors. The more polished and clean the mirror, the more effulgent is its reflection of the lights of the Sun of Truth.

-`Abdu'l-Baha

2008-10-25T12:55:00.001-07:00

Man´s preoccupation with his own patterns, though an aspect of his creativity, has been perceived as a tragedy; his ability to break out of them may indeed be his single moment of glory. But more tragic than his self-suffocating patterns is his assumption that he can break out of them alone. He seems singularly inept at doing so, for every attempt, indeed, seems to tie the knot tighter.

-Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

2008-10-25T12:49:00.002-07:00

True loss is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.
The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and imitation, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious handiwork, and look into all things with a searching eye.

-Bahá'u'lláh

2008-10-25T12:49:00.001-07:00

Indeed the actions of man himself breed a profusion of satanic power. For were men to abide by and observe the divine teachings, every trace of evil would be banished from the face of the earth. However, the widespread differences that exist among mankind and the prevalence of sedition, contention, conflict and the like are the primary factors which provoke the appearance of the satanic spirit. Yet the Holy Spirit hath ever shunned such matters.

-Bahá'u'lláh

2008-10-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

Whatever duty Thou hast prescribed unto Thy servants of extolling to the utmost Thy majesty and glory is but a token of Thy grace unto them, that they may be enabled to ascend unto the station conferred upon their own inmost being, the station of the knowledge of their own selves.

-Bahá'u'lláh

2008-10-25T12:47:00.002-07:00

To appreciate the true meaning of detachment, let us examine the nature of a human being, we note that the animal nature in man makes him selfish. The instinct of survival drives him to find food, clothing and shelter for himself. He pursues comfort, wealth and well being, and has an insatiable appetite for collecting any beautiful and pleasurable object that comes his way. All these, as well as his emotional, spiritual and intellectual pursuits are aimed at benefiting his own self. He is the master of his own life, a pivot around which circle all his material possessions as well as his intellectual pursuits. One day he finds the Cause of God, recognizes its truth, falls in love with it, then he adds it, like his other possessions, to his collection. He remains the master figure in the centre and all his possessions, including the Faith, revolve around him and serve his interests. Such a person is attached to the things of this world. For he allows his own interests to take precedence over the interests of the Cause, and his own ego rule over his spiritual side. He puts his religion on a par with his other possessions and selfishly expects to benefit from it just as he benefits from all his other possessions.

-Adib Taherzadeh

2008-10-25T12:47:00.001-07:00

The individuality of each created thing is based upon divine wisdom, for in the creation of God there is no defect. However, personality has no element of permanence. It is a slightly changeable quality in man which can be turned in either direction. For if he acquire praiseworthy virtues, these strengthen the individuality of man and call forth his hidden forces; but if he acquire defects, the beauty and simplicity of the individuality will be lost to him and its God-given qualities will be stifled in the foul atmosphere of self.

-Abdu'l-Baha

2008-10-25T12:46:00.002-07:00

O My servants! Could ye apprehend with what wonders of My munificence and bounty I have willed to entrust your souls, ye would, of a truth, rid yourselves of attachment to all created things, and would gain a true knowledge of your own selves -- a knowledge which is the same as the comprehension of Mine own Being. Ye would find yourselves independent of all else but Me, and would perceive, with your inner and outer eye, and as manifest as the revelation of My effulgent Name, the seas of My loving-kindness and bounty moving within you. Suffer not your idle fancies, your evil passions, your insincerity and blindness of heart to dim the luster, or stain the sanctity, of so lofty a station.

-Baha'u'llah

2008-10-25T12:46:00.001-07:00

O army of God! Whensoever ye behold a person whose entire attention is directed toward the Cause of God; whose only aim is this, to make the Word of God to take effect; who, day and night, with pure intent, is rendering service to the Cause; from whose behaviour not the slightest trace of egotism or private motives is discerned -- who, rather, wandereth distracted in the wilderness of the love of God, and drinketh only from the cup of the knowledge of God, and is utterly engrossed in spreading the sweet savours of God, and is enamoured of the holy verses of the Kingdom of God -- know ye for a certainty that this individual will be supported and reinforced by heaven; that like unto the morning star, he will forever gleam brightly out of the skies of eternal grace. But if he show the slightest taint of selfish desires and self love, his efforts will lead to nothing and he will be destroyed and left hopeless at the last.

-Abdu'l-Baha

2008-10-25T12:45:00.003-07:00

These tests, even as thou didst write, do but cleanse the spotting of self from off the mirror of the heart, till the Sun of Truth can cast its rays thereon; for there is no veil more obstructive than the self, and however tenuous that veil may be, at the last it will completely shut a person out, and deprive him of his portion of eternal grace.

-Abdu'l-Baha

2008-10-25T12:45:00.001-07:00

Today the confirmations of the Kingdom of Abha are with those who renounce themselves, forget their own opinions, cast aside personalities and are thinking of the welfare of others. Whosoever has lost himself, has found the universe and the inhabitants thereof! Whosoever is occupied with himself is wandering in the desert of heedlessness and regret! The master-key of self-mastery is self-forgetfulness. The road to the palace of life is through the path of renunciation.

-Abdu'l-Bahá

2008-10-25T12:44:00.002-07:00

Leave all thought of self, and strive only to be obedient and submissive to the Will of God. In this way only shall we become citizens of the Kingdom of God, and attain unto life everlasting

-Abdu'l-Baha

2008-10-25T12:44:00.001-07:00

Let us not keep on forever with our fancies and illusions, with our analysing and interpreting and circulating of complex dubieties. Let us put aside all thoughts of self; let us close our eyes to all on earth, let us neither make known our sufferings nor complain of our wrongs. Rather let us become oblivious of our own selves, and drinking down the wine of heavenly grace, let us cry out our joy, and lose ourselves in the beauty of the All-Glorious.

-Abdu'l-Baha

2008-10-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

All calamities and afflictions have been created for man so that he may spurn this mortal world – a world to which he is much attached. When he experienceth severe trials and hardships, then his nature will recoil and he will desire the eternal realm – a realm which is sanctified from all afflictions and calamities.

-Abdu’l-Bahá

2008-10-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

Man’s physical existence on this earth is a period during which the moral exercise of his free will is tried and tested in order to prepare his soul for the other worlds of God, and we must welcome affliction and tribulation as opportunities for improvement in our eternal selves.

-On behalf of The Universal House of Justice

2008-10-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

And the First Tajalli, which has risen from the horizon of the Mother-Book, is that man should know his own self, and know those things which lead to loftiness or to baseness, to shame or to honour, to affluence or to poverty.

-Bahá'u'lláh