0:05 ah pence I feel we should now continue
0:07 our subject there is there any other
0:10 questions before I go on there was a
0:12 gentleman a lady first yes you were
0:50 first there you remember in the back yes
0:52 the question is this that if a child is
0:54 born blind for instance and of course in
0:56 this world he has missed an awful lot
0:59 what happens to a soul is not what
1:22 you're saying in an excellent no oh what
1:25 we don't have oh I see yeah you mean to
1:27 say that if we do not acquire certain
1:30 qualities and perfections here and we
1:31 said that we cannot get them in the next
1:33 life what will happen
1:36 well again again you see remember this
1:40 we cannot be we are not here going to be
1:43 discussing this entirely on a rational
1:46 basis and just say exactly what's going
1:49 to happen what we understand from the
1:52 writings that's all I can say is that we
1:54 must acquire these qualities and
1:55 perfections in this life this is the
1:58 place for acquiring them if we do not
1:59 acquire them we cannot get them in the
2:03 next slide then there is a question here
2:05 which we will never we must never
2:08 overlook and it is the bounties of God
2:12 and the grace of God and the forgiveness
2:12 of God
2:14 that's another thing these are all the
2:16 elements which must be taken into
2:19 consideration we know a child for
2:21 instance who has not had the quality the
2:23 opportunity to develop these qualities
2:26 and perfections in this life God will
2:27 compensate it for him in the next life
2:28 through his bounties
2:31 I don't know how God will be deal with
2:33 us if we have not acquired these
2:35 qualities and perfections we cannot be
2:38 sort of in here sitting and giving a
2:41 judgement and say this is exactly what's
2:44 going to happen one thing we know and
2:47 that is that forgiveness of God is very
2:51 great very great indeed you cannot
2:54 underestimate the forgiveness of God I
2:58 am sure myself in my thought in my mind
3:00 this is my feeling a God will forgive
3:03 everybody now I'm not saying that God
3:09 will immediately put us all on the same
3:11 level yeah we will be not all levels but
3:15 God is very forgiving and all the wrong
3:25 there are some things that he cannot
3:28 forgive I'll come we'll discuss this
3:30 later on it is not something that he
3:32 doesn't want to forgive but he cannot
3:35 it's against the laws of creation and
3:37 one of those things I mentioned is this
3:41 covenant breaking but abdu l-bahá
3:44 mentions if you do not educate your
3:47 children properly if you do not educate
3:50 them if you do not teach them the law of
3:52 God and the love of God it's something
3:55 which God cannot forgive I don't know
3:58 what it means what how he will live with
4:02 us there are few things that are
4:04 unforgivable by God
4:06 but his forgiveness is very very great
4:11 the ocean of his forgiveness is very
4:14 immense but it must not become a license
4:16 that we can say alright now that God is
4:18 forgiving let's go and have a jolly good
4:22 time here you have to remember that we
4:24 have to acquire limbs and all spiritual
4:26 qualities and perfections here
4:29 this is the purpose of life you know
4:31 speaking of God's forgiveness I'll tell
4:34 you a little story just to amuse you a
4:37 little bit it's just to amuse you
4:40 you know there was a very great
4:43 religious leader in in the East in
4:49 Persia and one day God said to him and
4:52 he had a lot of followers this man had a
4:57 lot of followers and he was very proud
4:57 of himself
4:59 it became proud a little bit and God
5:02 said to him do you want me to he said I
5:03 see you have a lot of followers he said
5:07 I see you have a lot of followers do you
5:10 want me to reveal to all your followers
5:15 some of your bad qualities which you're
5:18 hiding from them and if I reveal all
5:20 these bad qualities all these followers
5:22 believe you do you want me to do that he
5:26 said this man thought things are getting
5:30 very bad he decided to do a little bit
5:33 of blackmailing he said to God do you
5:39 want me to tell the people about the
5:42 great ocean of your forgiveness that you
5:44 forgive everybody so that if they hear
5:47 it nobody will worship you anymore and
5:51 God thought this is getting very bad [Music]
5:54 [Music]
5:57 he said we'll make a deal I won't I
6:00 won't reveal all your bad qualities and
6:02 you don't talk so much about the ocean
6:09 of my forgiveness so I think it gives us
6:12 an idea now if there is no other
6:15 questions I think I'll go now and talk
6:18 about this and I'm not I suppose some of
6:20 you who have not heard the first part of
6:23 this talk and so I don't know what you
6:26 will learn now or we listen now but
6:30 anyhow I am NOT going to say what I have
6:33 also far said but I feel that it is
6:36 essential to say this much that we said
6:39 that the soul comes from the spiritual
6:40 worlds of God
6:42 it's an emanation from the worlds of God
6:46 that it is here to acquire spiritual
6:49 qualities and perfections so that in the
6:51 next life it can use those qualities and
6:54 perfections to enable him to progress
6:58 and we said that this seems to be the
7:02 purpose of life but really this is not
7:06 the essential purpose of life there is a
7:10 far far greater purpose in life that God
7:12 has created us for something far far
7:15 greater than this he has not just
7:17 created us to come into this world and
7:18 acquire qualities and perfections alone
7:21 he has created us for something far
7:22 greater and in order to appreciate this
7:24 I'm going to take you to nature again
7:26 because I'll tell you this morning that
7:30 nature will give us an awful lot of
7:34 insight into spiritual things provided
7:37 you read the writings in nature you will
7:40 notice anything which grows which has an
7:44 organic growth has a beginning and the
7:46 beginning of it is when you put the seat
7:49 down in the soil you put a seat down in
7:55 the soil the seed will germinate then
7:57 come a time is like again conception of
8:00 a child it's the same thing the seed
8:02 will germinate and then you have a
8:06 little plant and then the plant grows
8:11 and it becomes a tree but now this tree
8:15 we can say it can only fulfill itself
8:17 fulfill the purpose for which this tree
8:20 is created is to give its fruit when it
8:22 gives its fruit when it gives its seed
8:27 we'll say now it has fulfilled itself it
8:37 see everything has to begin at the
8:39 beginning it grows it must give it fruit
8:44 must bring a child the soul is the same
8:47 thing our soul has a beginning we said
8:49 it this morning it has a time when it
8:52 the soul begins to grow in the first at
8:55 the time of conception it grows and it
8:57 acquires spiritual qualities just like
9:02 the tree that is growing but at a
9:04 certain time and not immediately now in
9:06 the same way with a tree that we cannot
9:09 immediately come and give its fruit it
9:13 has to reach an age of maturity and when
9:14 the tree reaches the age of maturity
9:17 then it will give its true its fruit the
9:19 same thing is with the soul the soul
9:24 comes into this life if it first is is
9:28 created like the seed is planted then it
9:30 grows and acquires qualities and
9:34 perfections but at one point at some
9:38 point in his life that soul must produce
9:42 a child must give birth to a child the
9:43 soul I'm talking of the soul which is a
9:47 spiritual thing must give birth to a
9:52 fruit a child but as I said it cannot
9:56 produce it immediately and in fact there
10:00 is a certain age for it that it can
10:03 begin to think in terms of producing a
10:11 child and I'll mention the age later on
10:15 now go back to nature again you will
10:18 find anything which produces a child is
10:19 a female
10:24 a female species is what produces a
10:28 child and I I hope that men would not
10:32 mind me saying this I think that females
10:35 the female is a much better more
10:39 complete form of creation than email you
10:44 know that oh you're V oh there we are
10:46 now men will be angry when I go out of
10:48 this room you must be protecting me you
10:51 know I'll be at I'll be attacked I'll be
10:57 attacked you see because a female can
11:03 reproduce can produce a fruit but again
11:06 the tree cannot produce it a fruit by
11:09 itself and we are just talking of nature
11:14 it has to be pollinated a female cannot
11:18 produce a child on her own there must be
11:23 a relationship with a male factor so
11:26 that the female can conceive a child and
11:29 then give birth to it this is nature
11:33 this is the same thing with the soul our
11:36 soul which is a spiritual entity if it
11:39 has to produce a child it cannot produce
11:43 a child on her own the soul here must
11:46 act as a female and enter into
11:50 partnership with another agency with
11:56 another force but the choice the soul
11:59 here must act as a female and enter into
12:03 partnership with another agency with
12:08 another force but the choice here is
12:11 given to us the tree has no choice its
12:17 pollinated by nature the animal has this
12:22 mating with its own type but we but the
12:26 soul here has got a choice it can you
12:29 can choose whatever agency whatever
12:31 force you want to give your soul to it
12:33 and start
12:35 this marriage it's like a marriage
12:38 really our soul which is a spiritual
12:41 thing now I tell you what most peoples
12:44 of the world do of course most people
12:46 even don't know they have a soul
12:48 they won't even think about it but most
12:51 people without knowing it they give
12:55 their soul to this world they're born
12:59 here they live so many years they think
13:02 of nothing but material things isn't
13:03 that right
13:06 so what happens then they have given
13:10 their soul to this world and so the
13:12 child of that soul which is a spiritual
13:16 entity the child that it produces is not
13:19 worthy of itself it is materialism
13:22 imagine our soul give birth to
13:26 materialism it's become darkened there
13:30 is a little bit of spiritual entity
13:32 there but that spiritual entity has
13:34 given birth as has given itself to this
13:36 world establish a relationship in this
13:39 world and the child of that product is
13:44 very unworthy see it's father is very
13:47 low the mother is the soul but the
13:51 father is very unworthy it's in material
13:53 things and so the child is materialism
13:55 now how Allah tells us
13:57 I'm paradigm just giving you in this
14:01 form of example to whom we should give
14:03 our soul in marriage in relationship
14:05 with whom we should establish a
14:09 relationship we should establish a
14:11 relationship between our soul and the
14:14 forces of the revelation of baha'u'llah
14:19 in other words we give ourselves to the
14:21 influences of the revelation of
14:23 baha'u'llah we open our heart and our
14:25 soul to the influences of his revelation
14:30 and imagine a very much more exalted
14:33 station than ourselves the forces of the
14:35 revelation which he has released in the
14:38 world we allow our souls to become
14:42 fertilized by these forces which he has
14:45 released if you let it because it's up to
14:45 to
14:48 and when you open your heart to the
14:51 influences of his revelation and let the
14:54 forces of his revelation fertilize our
14:57 souls then our souls will conceive a
15:01 child which is worthy and that child
15:06 once it is born it is known you can call
15:10 it the spirit of faith our soul has
15:14 produced the spirit of faith which is a
15:16 very which is the purpose of life the
15:19 purpose of creation the purpose that God
15:23 has created us for and by how Allah says
15:25 if the station of that soul is revealed
15:27 to the eyes of men and paraphrasing his
15:30 work who has given birth to the spirit
15:33 of faith where all of creation would
15:37 will be found dumbfounded someone who
15:39 has given birth to the spirit of faith
15:41 someone who has said I believe then you
15:44 say I believe what really has happened
15:48 is that your soul and the revelation of
15:51 bahá'u'lláh as a result of this mystical
15:55 intercourse has now produced the child
15:58 and you say I believe and that child is
16:02 born the spirit of faith is born now
16:04 this is the station which God has
16:10 destined for man which can overlook all
16:13 the other qualities and perfections
16:15 which can an over not overlook it can
16:20 they really dominate over all the other
16:23 things that we have acquired when you
16:27 have the spirit of thing you know this
16:30 lamp in here is lighting is lighted
16:35 before it was lighted it was nothing but
16:37 when it is lighted when you look at it
16:39 you can't see anything else but the
16:42 light it will dominate over all the
16:44 things in fact if you closely look at it
16:47 you will see it's full of dust probably
16:50 but you can't see the dust it has
16:52 completely overshadowed all the
16:56 imperfections because it has
17:01 become lighted I'm like course you come
17:05 across beautiful beautiful chandeliers
17:09 somewhere hanging in someone's house you
17:11 come across beautiful people in this
17:13 world with great qualities and
17:16 perfections really we're not behind you
17:19 come across great great many people who
17:23 live a marvelous life much better than
17:28 me I'm sure they're like has chandeliers
17:30 you know like it's beautiful
17:36 crystal lamp which is exquisite but it's
17:42 not lighted it's not lighted this is
17:44 that this is the only thing but then you
17:48 come across an old an old little bulb or
17:50 an old little lamp full of dust and full
17:53 of all kinds of imperfections but it is
17:59 connected that's light it that is the
18:01 difference but the real thing to be is
18:03 to be a chandeliers which is lighted
18:08 that is the real purpose of life to have
18:10 the qualities and perfections and been
18:13 exquisite qualities and perfections and
18:17 also lighted that is the story of the
18:19 early or the believers the believers
18:22 both early and the present time to
18:25 acquire qualities and perfections and to
18:28 have faith to have the spirit of faith
18:32 now it's faith when it is born when this
18:34 child is born we said the spirit of
18:36 faith is the child which really our soul
18:38 has given birth to it has conceived it
18:39 because you know it doesn't happen
18:43 suddenly also when you give yourself to
18:46 the influences of the revelation of
18:49 baha'u'llah it doesn't immediately
18:52 appear as a spirit of faith just like a
18:54 mark just like a woman who becomes
18:56 pregnant doesn't immediately give birth
18:59 to a child there must be a period of
19:02 conception of growth of that embryonic
19:05 growth until it can be born takes time
19:09 but there comes a time that then you'll have
19:10 have
19:13 you have so much sure of it
19:16 that you have faith and you say I really
19:18 believe and you really believe in your
19:22 heart I also mentioned you remember that
19:24 when the soul when the tree comes into
19:26 being remember we talked about a tree
19:29 its first there you plant the seed and
19:30 then it grows it doesn't immediately
19:33 produce a fruit either you have to wait
19:37 until it becomes mature it's the same
19:40 thing with this soul not immediately
19:43 recognize and give itself to baha'u'llah
19:47 there is an age for it there is at least
19:49 a limit for it that you have to produce
19:52 that and that is you might say the age
19:55 of 15 that you will become spiritually
19:59 obliged to keep to give to carry out
20:00 some of the teachings although before
20:03 that you are a Baha'i naturally a child
20:08 is a Baha'i but if but the obligations
20:12 where is not binding on you until you
20:16 reach that particular age now having
20:18 said this that our soul must give birth
20:22 to a child now let us look at nature
20:25 again in nature when a mother gives
20:29 birth to a child that's that operate
20:32 that action of giving birth to it may be
20:37 relatively an easy action now maybe I
20:40 shouldn't say that to give birth to a
20:43 child is easy I shouldn't say that but
20:48 really parents know that to give birth
20:51 to a child is nothing comparing with the
20:56 after afterwards after the child is born
20:59 is the beginning of all the caves and
21:01 the attention and the labors and the
21:03 work that you have to do for that child
21:07 to protect it constantly all the time to
21:09 protect it and help it to grow and
21:14 mature it's much more difficult it's
21:18 easy to become behind but it is
21:22 difficult to grow to
21:25 protect the faith to enable it to grow
21:28 day by day and to look after it
21:32 to watch over it much more difficult it
21:34 needs a vigilance which is constant
21:39 vigilance has to be constant so that
21:42 there we come across again a very new a
21:45 new challenge which has come to us
21:49 once you have faith a new challenge come
21:52 to us I have said I am a Baha'i what is
21:53 the next step
21:57 so that my faith may grow and remember
22:01 our faith is precious to us just as much
22:05 a child is precious to a mother to him
22:10 and it's also precious to its father and
22:13 here is the process of the revelation of
22:16 baha'u'llah but how Allah is attached
22:20 very deeply to our faith he loves a
22:25 believer he loves the faithful believer
22:29 person who has faith and his love for
22:31 him is so great that we cannot ever
22:35 measure it the love that bahá'u'llah has
22:38 for the believers and the outpouring of
22:42 his love is so great that we cannot
22:46 visualize in this life and this sorrow
22:50 which floods the heart when one person
22:53 is his heart when one person loses his
22:56 faith or becomes weak in his faith it
23:00 brings great sorrows to the heart of the
23:03 manifestation of God such sorrows that
23:05 are not that are not comparable ever
23:07 with all the sufferings which were
23:09 heaped upon him by the enemies that is
23:12 nothing the sufferings of the enemies is
23:16 nothing it mean nothing to howl are
23:18 really the physical sufferings and he
23:22 himself mentioned the suffering which
23:24 comes to the manifestation of God is
23:27 when one soul who has recognized him
23:31 there's one little thing which is an
23:35 indication that he is not growing just like
23:36 like
23:38 a father who sees his son is becoming
23:43 ill and he will see it he notices it
23:46 becomes ill and as soon as it becomes
23:49 ill he becomes worried becomes unhappy
23:54 one believer doing one thing against the
23:57 faith brought so much sorrow to the
23:59 heart of bahá'u'lláh to the heart of
24:02 abdu l-bahá the heart of shoghi effendi
24:07 that is beyond our estimation and if
24:11 everyone lost his faith that would be
24:15 just like a father who laments the
24:19 passing of his child child is dead
24:24 brings great sorrow to the person also
24:30 and to mahalo i will give you a an
24:32 example of this at least not about
24:34 baha'u'llah but i talked about shoghi
24:36 effendi you know shoghi effendi was a
24:41 very he was very sensitive a very
24:45 sensitive soul very sensitive heart he
24:50 was a guardian of the cause and you know
24:53 of course must have heard the name of
24:55 Dorothea Baker who was one of the hands
24:58 of the cause an American lady and she of
25:03 course was involved in a fatal accident
25:07 where she she was traveling in this
25:09 comet which was the one of the first was
25:12 the first jet airliner which the British
25:16 made and the comet exploded in the air
25:24 wasn't really fully tested and she she
25:25 was she was
25:30 Hill well one of the pilgrims was
25:34 telling us a story she was present at
25:37 the time that the news of the of the
25:40 passing on this tragic form of Dorothea
25:43 Baker was brought to shoghi effendi and
25:48 shoghi effendi was sad and he began to
25:54 talk about her services and spoke about
25:58 her for some time that evening and then
26:01 change the subject and carried on
26:04 carried on and there all this person has
26:09 passed away then a few days later the
26:12 news reached shoghi effendi that one
26:16 young girl who was a believer has been
26:22 with some tricks and some plottings has
26:25 been taken into the company of the
26:28 covenant breakers and has joined in
26:31 marriage with one of them now that
26:33 person is gone it's like a chart like
26:35 his soul which is dead now you know the
26:37 faith is what I was talking to you about
26:42 faith is gone is lost the sorrows which
26:44 flooded the heart of shoghi effendi as a
26:46 result of this fifteen-year-old girl was
26:49 so great that for some days he could not
27:00 crippled really with this blow but look
27:02 the days of the other hand of the cause
27:08 was only 15 minutes we passed by nothing
27:11 after all she had ascended to the realms
27:14 beyond but they
27:18 defection of this girl losing her faith
27:22 dealt such a deadly blow upon him that
27:24 he could not come and meet with the
27:27 brain for one or two days now this shows
27:34 how much our faith is is is really
27:39 precious to God the manifestation of God
27:42 unto his decide an - unto Him above
27:47 behind show him any well now we wanted
27:50 to find out what should we do now we
27:52 have just given birth to the spirit of
27:55 faith just like a mother who was birth
27:57 given birth to a child what are we going
27:58 to do with it now
28:01 to enable it to grow this again we can
28:05 learn from nature you want to say
28:09 something yes yeah yeah yes the soul has
28:12 just given birth to faith our soul has
28:16 just produced a faith he believes now in
28:21 bahá'u'llah and he has given himself to
28:23 Baha'u'llah really and as a result of it
28:26 he says I believe that is when the first
28:28 spark of faith appears in our hearts
28:30 just like a mother was given birth to a
28:32 child this is just a form of looking at
28:35 nature to see what happens there
28:39 now when you look at nature you will
28:40 find that the mother who gives birth to
28:43 a child the first thing she does if you
28:46 notice she loves that child very much
28:48 and the next thing she does she will
28:51 feed the child and the child has never
28:54 been fed before in his life never tasted
28:58 the milk and none of us can remember
29:00 what it was like when we first received
29:03 the milk from our mother but it must
29:06 have been some it must have some effect
29:09 on us on the child it gets the taste for
29:14 it and the next time it probably wants
29:16 it's not going to reject it it becomes
29:20 more and more fond of that milk to such
29:22 an extent that it will cry for it
29:24 afterwards and he wants to
29:27 drink this milk and this milk make it
29:32 grow this is nature and the mother will
29:38 feed the child regularly regularly now
29:41 the same thing applies exactly to our
29:43 faith when you say I become a Baha'i
29:46 it's a dangerous thing to remain like
29:50 this and just remain in that state you
29:53 must we must ours
29:56 our faith we must feed the spirit of
29:58 faith which is born we must feed it with
30:01 some food and the food for it is the
30:05 words of God for this age this is why
30:09 bah how Allah has commanded us this is
30:11 one of his Commandments he says you must
30:14 read you must recite he says recite my
30:22 words recite my words twice a day in the
30:24 morning and in the evening he spent he
30:27 stipulates that recite my words in the
30:29 morning and in the evening it's just
30:31 like a mother who says to her child
30:35 eat your food two or three times a day
30:38 you see our similarities and bah how
30:40 Allah mentions to us if we don't recite
30:43 what will happen to us you can imagine
30:46 what will happen to us what will happen
30:50 if a child does not eat his food but how
30:52 Allah says if you do not read my words
30:55 it's a very serious situation he says
30:59 you are not steadfast in the covenant
31:03 our soul if it is to be healthy it must
31:05 be steadfast in the covenant if it is
31:10 not it's a serious situation and this is
31:10 when the
31:13 believer becomes confused he's a bhai
31:18 yes but he has never taken a food or
31:22 very little and so he becomes frustrated
31:26 he cannot see joy out of his faith and
31:29 out of life just like a person who does
31:33 not eat his food I remember a few years
31:40 ago one young person came to me and he
31:45 said you know he said it's one year that
31:47 are never high but I don't feel any
31:51 difference I'm the same person as before
31:54 can you imagine when you become a bhai
31:57 can you imagine what happened we will
32:00 have to be different one has to be very
32:05 different very different it's a new it's
32:07 a new life this is the second birth that
32:10 Christ is talking about the spirit of
32:12 faith is born it must be the most
32:14 exciting thing which happens just like
32:16 an excitement which comes to a mother
32:19 there is no excitement in the world for
32:21 a mother greater than to have given
32:24 birth to a child and this person said
32:27 well I don't feel any exciting I'm bhai
32:29 for a year but I'm not grown I've not
32:32 changed I'm just like the old days not
32:35 excited about anything what is wrong
32:39 with me is it well you can imagine
32:42 what's wrong you know I mentioned him I
32:45 said have you ever loved somebody
32:51 because you must remember the faith you
32:53 cannot you cannot only become a bhai
32:58 through your intellectual appraisal and
33:00 intellectual investigations you might
33:03 begin with that way but you have to fall
33:07 in love really your heart must accept
33:10 the pea you must fall in love it's a
33:12 falling in love to be a bhai is that you
33:14 have fallen in love and of course this
33:16 is a relative term it varies from person
33:20 to person one person is love for
33:23 baha'u'llah is not much of a love for
33:24 another in another
33:27 case of another person everyone is in
33:30 different levels we are all different
33:32 level this is relative term but to be of
33:35 a high means that you have come to love
33:38 the Howell ah this is what it amounts to
33:40 you can understand it yes you must study
33:42 it and everything else I don't know how
33:45 you become a bhai it's not important you
33:46 might become a bhai through a purely an
33:50 intellectual approach but then if you if
33:53 your heart does not move and if your
33:57 heart does not fall in love because I
33:59 mentioned you have to give ourselves too
34:01 we have to give our soul to the
34:02 influences of the revelation of the
34:04 whole law it simply it is just like a
34:07 marriage when you are marrying somebody
34:11 you love that person you see now here it
34:13 is I this jaw yes young man was telling
34:14 me he said that after a year I don't
34:16 feel any difference I said did you ever
34:19 love you ever loved anybody in your life
34:23 he said yes now let us see what happened
34:25 that you love this person really let us
34:27 examine it this is nature again what
34:29 happens that you come to love somebody
34:31 the first thing you meet that person is
34:34 not right and when you meet that person
34:38 you like that person and when you like
34:41 that person you come a little closer to
34:43 that person it's not wrong you come a
34:46 little closer and when you come a little
34:49 closer you like him more or like her
34:52 more and when you like her more you come
34:56 still further closer and you come closer
34:58 and closer and closer and it comes a
35:02 point that you want to you want to know
35:05 everything about that person isn't that
35:07 right they want to know everything and
35:09 you're going to ask even people what is
35:12 this tell me all about and I'm sure if
35:13 somebody rings you up in the middle of
35:15 night 2:00 in the morning and say look
35:16 I've got some news for you about your
35:18 friend would you like me to tell you oh
35:19 yes please tell me
35:21 you're not tired of it you become
35:24 excited you see you are beginning to
35:29 fall in love with somebody and so this
35:31 is how you fall in love with some person
35:33 so I mentioned to this young man I said
35:35 the new head of Howell and recognized
35:37 him and said you are a bhai
35:39 did you ever come a little closer to him
35:42 to bahá'u'lláh did you ever allowed
35:44 yourself to come a little closer to him
35:48 no did you ever read anything about the
35:50 history of his revelation really to find
35:52 out what was going on in his in all this
35:55 did you try to find out anything about him
35:55 him
36:02 no did you read any of his writings no
36:05 did you care to carry out his teachings
36:06 exactly see what he has said that we
36:09 carry them out no we say well what do
36:11 you expect you have kept your distance
36:14 and now you want to be different of
36:15 course you're not you're the same person
36:18 just like a mother was given birth to a
36:22 child somehow but it's gone now it's not
36:23 there anymore
36:26 it's very little of it left and this is
36:28 why I said it's very easy to become a
36:32 Baha'i but to grow and the faith is the
36:34 greatest challenge and the greatest
36:38 difficult but we can learn we can learn
36:40 from nature and we can learn from the
36:41 writings of bahá'u'lláh and as I said in
36:43 the morning everything that he has said
36:46 it fits into nature now this very
36:48 teaching that it tells us this very
36:51 commandment that it tells us we must
36:53 read his words twice a day in the
36:56 morning and in the evening is just as
37:01 vital as eating the food for a child and
37:04 you see how much similarities to nature
37:10 when he says do it twice a day
37:12 you know in life it's the same thing if
37:14 you eat you cannot lump together all
37:16 your food and eat it once a day you
37:19 can't do that it's not healthy you eat
37:22 something in the morning then that's
37:23 something that you eat in the morning
37:26 you have to give it time to be digested
37:29 and when it is digested then you become
37:31 hungry again and it is a sign of
37:33 digestion is that you have you're hungry
37:36 again then you will eat again
37:38 but how Allah has given us the same
37:41 commandment he says read my words in the
37:44 morning which means when you read it you
37:46 mustn't just read it and forget it but
37:48 rather allow it to penetrate into our
37:54 hearts penetrate into our hearts and and
37:57 when it penetrates in the heart then
38:00 sign of it penetrating in our hearts
38:02 what we read is that when we come home
38:06 in the evening you are eager to read a
38:10 game of the writings this is the sign if
38:12 I come home and I'm not eager to read it
38:13 means what I have read in the morning or
38:16 if I have read it what I have read in
38:18 the morning have not penetrated into my
38:23 heart and there is again a challenge
38:25 what are we going to do how are we going
38:27 to enable the words of the howler to
38:30 penetrate into our soul and now what I
38:32 am trying to tell you in a way is this
38:37 that in life you have to do so many
38:39 things to live in order to enable you to
38:42 live it's not right in life you can't
38:45 just say alright I'm going to eat only
38:49 and then I'm going to live no no you
38:51 can't do that you have to do so many
38:54 things to enable you to live in this
38:58 life you have to eat you have to sleep
39:01 you can't do without it you have to
39:04 breathe air into your lungs you have to
39:07 wash you have to dress
39:12 you have to go shopping you have to work
39:15 you have to have friends if you want to
39:18 live you have to do all these things and
39:20 if one of them is not done if I say I'm
39:22 not going to shopping ever and we can't
39:25 live really you must go for shopping you
39:28 have to do all these things it's like in
39:30 electricity it's like you know these
39:33 switches which are in series if you put
39:35 a lot of a number of switches one after
39:38 the other you must close all the
39:41 switches so that the current may flow if
39:44 one of them is open
39:47 nothing will happen it's the same thing
39:51 in the faith you become a Baha'i now the
39:53 work the task begins you have to close
39:56 switch off the switch in order that you
40:00 may live happily and grow our faith may
40:04 grow one of them the first one was this
40:06 reading of the writings in the morning
40:09 and in the evening it is such an
40:12 important commandment that nobody can
40:16 ever emphasize this point enough how
40:19 important it is to make it a habit for
40:22 ourselves to read the writing and you
40:24 know to form a habit is difficult when
40:27 you are grown up or when you become a
40:28 Baha'i you've never been reading the
40:31 writings before so to form a habit it's
40:34 difficult it's alright for children to
40:38 learn it a child will learn it and make
40:41 a habit of it but to read the writings
40:43 when you are grown up you have to force
40:46 yourself at first until it becomes a
40:49 second habit and it doesn't matter you
40:51 must one must not be worried about it if
40:56 we once there is a lapse in this you may
40:59 do it for a week and then you forget it
41:00 doesn't matter
41:03 try it again you forgot it for another
41:04 week okay doesn't matter God is
41:07 forgiving of course it is you just take
41:09 one little step forward it comes to you
41:14 a thousand meters doesn't matter do it
41:19 again so that it becomes a habit so that
41:22 the goal of a bhai really is to become
41:24 an addict to the writings of baha'u'llah
41:27 this is the goal and you know how you
41:29 become an addict now you must know we
41:31 messed up hello I don't think your
41:34 addicts yourself to anything but people
41:37 who become addicts to drugs what happens
41:38 to them is somebody introduces the idea
41:41 to them and eventually give them a
41:44 little peace to try the child becomes an
41:47 addict to the milk of the mother and we
41:49 have to become an addict to the writings
41:53 about how Allah and I will probably in
41:55 the course of news next sessions will
41:57 talk about it of how should we read the
41:59 words so that we may become really
42:03 addicts too now I think when their
42:06 children children can learn this when
42:09 they are young and we should teach our
42:12 children from childhood to make it a
42:14 habit of reading the writings in the
42:17 morning and in the evening then they
42:19 grow and they becomes natural for them
42:22 now there is one point the time as
42:24 mentioned here it's very important point
42:27 what is the writing
42:30 we must not mix it it prayers here we
42:32 are not talking of prayers prayers are
42:33 different things
42:36 we do it differently and I'm not going
42:38 to talk about it now prayer plays a very
42:41 important part in our life but reading
42:43 their writings about how Allah is very
42:46 different in all together the writings
42:48 are those things that you come across in
42:50 English now many of these writings are
42:55 available to us the gleanings book of
42:56 gleanings is full of the writings of
42:59 baha'u'llah the tablets of ba how Allah
43:00 lately published by the eyes of Justice
43:03 these are the writings of Allah there
43:05 are other books which are not prayers of
43:08 the writings the hidden words is one of
43:10 the writings of bahá'u'llah and there is
43:12 a vast difference between writing
43:14 reading the writings
43:16 and saying prayers in fact these two
43:19 things are sometimes oppositely very
43:23 opposite a prayer and a tablet of
43:26 baha'u'llah or opposite things I will
43:31 explain to you how when you say a prayer
43:36 you often ask God for something but when
43:38 you read the writing it's God who asks
43:42 you to do something very different see
43:45 how different today and we have to be
43:47 differentiating this very clear in our
43:49 mind and especially if you are teaching
43:53 our children I note that the children of
43:56 all the Baha'i families they are taught
43:59 prayers you know most children learn
44:03 prayer but we should have a program
44:07 every home where we can see that we show
44:08 the children the difference between
44:10 reading their writings and saying your
44:13 prayer you could say alright say a
44:15 prayer but let us now read the writing
44:19 and pick up something for them which
44:22 they can read so that it becomes a habit
44:23 for them and they can distinguish
44:28 between the two things in our meeting
44:32 this is my own taste now if you like all
44:34 it this is just the taste personal taste
44:38 I feel we should say prayers but equally
44:39 we should read the writings when we
44:42 gather together in a meeting when you
44:44 have a devotional program you can say
44:48 prayers you can read the writings now
44:52 bahá'u'lláh has again here applied the
44:56 same laws of nature to this particular
45:01 commandment by telling us that we must
45:03 not read the writings when we are tired
45:05 he said read as much as you are enjoying
45:07 it as soon as you become tired
45:10 don't read it you know what it is like
45:13 it's like a mother who says to a child
45:14 eat your food as long as you're hungry
45:17 as soon as you're full stop eating this
45:20 is it is it very natural all these
45:23 teachings as I said have their origin in nature
45:33 now we must also I'm going to the time
45:35 is coming twelve o'clock I think I'm
45:38 going to tell you a story there is much
45:39 we can have you have to cover in this
45:41 field you haven't even touched upon this
45:44 properly of all the things we have to do
45:46 as I said there are a lot of switches we
45:48 have to close in in order that we can
45:51 enable our souls to experience that
45:54 growth and that joy of faith a growing
45:56 faith not a static faith a static faith
45:58 wherever high is fatal
46:00 you know something which is always to
46:03 say but he says you must allow our faith
46:06 to grow day by day and we must feel it
46:08 just like a mother who feels that his
46:13 child is growing and he's happy for it
46:15 now I'm going to tell you a story which
46:16 is a true story and I don't think it's
46:19 made up it relates to one of the early
46:23 believers of bahá'u'lláh now this is a
46:24 very well known one of the well-known
46:26 apostles of the house and one of the
46:29 apostles of bahá'u'lláh was called zayn
46:31 old mahajabeen it doesn't matter now the
46:33 name to you he was one of the
46:35 outstanding disciples of a hollow one
46:41 who really had a great great qualities
46:43 of knowledge and learning and his
46:47 particular work was at one stage in his
46:50 life was to transcribe the writings you
46:53 know transcribing the writings was a
46:55 very important task because when
46:57 revelation came to baha'u'llah and this
47:00 amanuensis would write it very fast so
47:03 fast that you cannot read it revelation
47:04 writings you can look at revelation
47:06 writings it's not possible to read it
47:09 the way revelation came to him was so
47:12 fast and there is no shorthand in
47:15 persian and arabic languages that his
47:18 amanuensis had to had to use a special
47:22 technique of writing them and i'm not
47:24 going to go into details of it but I can
47:27 just give you illustrate for you how he
47:33 he had very large sheets of paper very
47:38 large piles of them and when he was
47:41 writing he found out that you cannot use
47:42 if you if you hold the pen in your hand
47:45 and normally be used to hold the pen in
47:47 our hands and we begin to write by
47:48 moving our fingers when you're writing
47:51 you move your ear your fingers when you
47:52 move your fingers you can't write very
47:56 fast but he used to hold a pen like this
47:58 within his between his fingers but he
47:59 wouldn't move his fingers when he was
48:02 writing he would move his wrist and so
48:05 you can write big one letter with maybe
48:08 one word would take the whole line maybe
48:11 and it would be each word would go into
48:13 each other all the words would go into
48:14 each other
48:15 quick quick quick you would write them
48:18 down because remember revelation came in
48:20 the speed of one thousand verses in an
48:24 hour the catawba I found was probably
48:27 revealed in three or four hours because
48:29 when the man when this person sent the
48:32 questions to Baja wallah in writing 48
48:34 hours later the book of certitude in
48:36 dust in its original form in the
48:38 handwriting of abdu l-bahá was presented
48:41 to him didn't mean it took 48 hours to
48:42 be revealed
48:45 it meant that bow allowed to eat had to
48:47 sleep had to do other things during that
48:49 period three or four hours the
48:52 revelation is like this and so when it
48:55 was written down very fast then he had
48:57 to go to his room the secretary of
48:58 baha'u'llah their manuals is a
49:00 Baha'u'llah and rewrite it again
49:04 properly and then he would bring it to
49:07 Baha'u'llah and baha'u'llah often would
49:09 pace up and down the room and reira veal
49:11 that tablet as if he knew it all by
49:15 heart and this man would chicken and any
49:18 corrections were made and then when it
49:21 was properly done then there were people
49:22 who would transcribe it because there
49:24 were no typewriters in those days or no
49:27 printing machine people were
49:29 transcribing abdu l-bahá was one of
49:31 those people who used to transcribe the
49:34 writings during Baja Lala's ministry now
49:36 this man that I'm going to tell you a
49:39 story off and we are getting late was
49:41 one of those who used to transcribe the
49:42 writings but he was a very meticulous
49:43 man where
49:46 meticulous in his work of transcription
49:48 so meticulous that he used to check it
49:51 all everything he wrote used to check in
49:53 with his son he would he would call him
49:56 after a few pages that he would write he
49:58 would call his son and the son would
49:59 come and read for him
50:02 the original tablet and then he would
50:06 check what he has written this is how
50:08 the writing of general Madara bean
50:10 anything you find in his handwriting is
50:12 authentic it's right it's a standard for
50:15 behind publications you always compare
50:17 every publication with his Rand writing
50:22 now he had a great sense of humor the
50:25 cinematography and he often came to the
50:27 presence of bahá'u'lláh and he always
50:29 had some humorous remarks to make and as
50:32 I said by how Allah loved human good
50:35 human one day he came into the presence
50:38 of bahá'u'lláh and he said you know he
50:42 said to bahá'u'llah we in our family we
50:44 of course carry out your teachings but
50:46 we are particularly have a favorite
50:49 amongst your teachings each one of us
50:52 have a favorite of one of your teachings
50:56 and so baha'u'llah said well what are
50:58 they well he said my son has a very
51:02 special favorite he said every day I
51:06 write many many pages because this was
51:08 his work this man's work he said I write
51:10 and write and write and then when it's
51:14 all finished I call my son to come and
51:17 to read for me the writings so that I
51:21 can check them so he comes in he reads
51:24 one page and then he turns to mean is
51:24 his father
51:27 I am tired and Baha'u'llah says when
51:28 you're tired you must not read the
51:31 writings this is his favorite teaching [Music]
51:40 and bahala laughed very much then he
51:45 said my wife has another favorite when I
51:47 have done a lot of work and very tired
51:51 and exhausted I said well would you make
51:54 us a cup of tea please she says go and
51:56 make it yourself Baha'u'llah says men
52:01 and women are equal this is her favour
52:03 well now friends I think we leave it
52:06 here and we will come back do we come
