Bàhà'i

The Simurg.

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:49:23 +0100

Ah, the Simurgh, who is this wondrous being
Who, one fated night, when time stood still,
Flew over China, not a single soul seeing?
A feather fell from this King, his beauty and his will,
And all hearts touched by it were in tumult thrown.
Everyone who could, traced from it a liminal form;
All who saw the still glowing lines were blown
By longing like trees on a shore bent by storm.
The feather is lodged in China's sacred places,
Hence the Prophet's exhortation for knowledge to seek
Even unto China where the feather's shadow graces
All who shelter under it -- to know of this is not to speak.
But unless the feather's image is felt and seen
None knows the heart's obscure, shifting states
That replace the fat of inaction with decision's lean.
His grace enters the world and moulds our fates
Though without the limit of form or definite shape,
For all definitions are frozen contradictions not fit
For knowing; therefore, if you wish to travel on the Way,
Set out on it now to find the Simurgh, don't prattle and sit
On your haunches till into stiffening death you stray.
All the birds who were by this agitation shook,
Aspired to a meeting place to prepare for the Shah,
To release in themselves the revelations of the Book;
They yearned so deeply for Him who is both near and far,
They were drawn to this sun and burned to an ember;
But the road was long and perilous that was open to offer.
Hooked by terror, though each was asked to remember
The truth, each an excuse to stay behind was keen to proffer.

- Farid ud-Din Attar -

The nightingale ...

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:31:13 +0100

The nightingale raises his head, drugged with passion,
Pouring the oil of earthly love in such a fashion
That the other birds shaded with his song, grow mute.
The leaping mysteries of his melodies are acute.
'I know the secrets of Love, I am their piper,'
He sings, 'I seek a David with broken heart to decipher
Their plaintive barbs, I inspire the yearning flute,
The daemon of the plucked conversation of the lute.
The roses are dissolved into fragrance by my song,
Hearts are torn with its sobbing tone, broken along
The fault lines of longing filled with desire's wrong.
My music is like the sky's black ocean, I steal
The listener's reason, the world becomes the seal
Of dreams for chosen lovers, where only the rose
Is certain. I cannot go further, I am lame, and expose
My anchored soul to the divine Way.
My love for the rose is sufficient, I shall stay
In the vicinity of its petalled image, I need
No more, it blooms for me the rose, my seed.
The hoopoe replies: 'You love the rose without thought.
Nightingale, your foolish song is caught
By the rose's thorns, it is a passing thing.
Velvet petal, perfume's repose bring
You pleasure, yes, but sorrow too
For the rose's beauty is shallow: few
Escape winter's frost. To seek the Way
Release yourself from this love that lasts a day.
The bud nurtures its own demise as day nurtures night.
Groom yourself, pluck the deadly rose from your sight.

- Farid ud-Din Attar -

Talus Simorg ...

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:23:17 +0100

Talus Simorg habite en toi
seul l'eau céleste dont il boit
anime ces ailes vers le toit
de la montagne du Kaba.
Par feu ardent, vision chimère,
toquade d'amour, délire Baha,
l'oiseau céleste révèle sa voie.

- Fernando Soave -

Among the human race ...

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:49:41 +0100

Abdul-Baha spoke these words to a number of Jewish, Zoroastrian, Christian and Mohammedan Bahais seated around his table and while serving them all.

"Among the human race, the bonds of and means for love are numerous, for man cannot live without it; nay, rather, human life is dependent upon friendship and affection. Both the material and intrinsic development of man are conditional upon amity and love and the greatest honor and pleasure in the human world is love; but the ways and means are different. Sometimes the cause of love is simply relationship and kinship; and sometimes it is a racial bond, patriotism, political affairs, etc. But, through all these various bonds and means it is impossible to obtain a real and pure love; it is rather superficial and temporary. Such love may easily be changed into enmity and rancor, for it is affected by the slightest manifestation of hostility; whereas a true and ideal love is faith and assurance. Those who believe in God and are confident in His Word shall enter the Kingdom, and the essential oneness appears among them to such an extent that all become the drops of one ocean, the rays of one sun, the fishes of one sea, the trees of one garden, the birds of one orchard, the candles of one assembly and the stars of the same heaven. Such love is real; there is no interruption for this connection, nor any separation for this union: this foundation shall never be destroyed, for it is eternal: hence it is established that the love which exists among the beloved of God is everlasting, for it is a Divine bounty, a Godly appearance, a melody of the Kingdom and a heavenly cohesion.

"In the Koran it is said: 'They love Him and He loves them'--i. e., the bounty of love is one of the Divine bounties which comes to man from God; just as the sun when it sends its rays to the mirrors and thereby the mirrors are illumined; this effulgence and splendor are from the bounty of the sun. Therefore, this love which is among the beloved is a Divine bounty, a Godly splendor, an eternal manifestation and the power of Divinity; it is perpetual.

"Praise be to God! Ye are gathered here under the shadow of the Blessed Beauty and your hearts are overflowing with His love, your souls are rejoicing in His favors and Abdul-Baha is serving you. What more do you need?"

Star of the West - Abdu'l Baha - Talk No. 2--Haifa, May 13, 1910

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O thou seeker ...

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:24:23 +0100

HE IS GOD!
O thou seeker after the knowledge of numbers!

Thy letter was received. The science of numbers is one of the common sciences, but the aim of Abdul-Baha is, that the Heavenly Knowledge and Divine Wisdom encircle the world of existence.

Shouldst thou desire to become my pupil thou must acquire the Mysteries of God and attain to the Knowledges and Sciences of the Kingdom-- for they are the cause of the life of the world and the salvation of humanity.

Upon thee be greeting and praise!

(Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
Star of The West Baha'i News 1:6 page 5

Wever van gedachten ...

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:40:22 +0100

Wever van gedachten
aan de wiel der tijd.
In 't hart schouwt de ziel
het licht, de geest die vrijheid
in zijde kan betrachten.
Het kleed verhult in woorden.
Een roos uit verre oorden
pronkt in de tuin der liefde
naast het huis waar ik zo griefde.

- Fernando Soave -

Canto 1

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:00:03 +0100

Klik hier

Absolute evil ...

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:14:35 +0100

Absolute evil has no conception of Good, other than that a good person may be corrupted. It cannot comprehend a positive outcome from any action. It sees its own destruction, or attempts at that end, as being only by way of violence, force or powers which it itself can use. The rejection of power is something beyond its wildest dreams. Thus it is demonstrated that evil carries within it the seeds of its own downfall.

The essence of Evil is control and domination by power, and the essence of Good is free will of power in goodness.

You are confronted with the choice, what do you chose ? That's the key and the temptation in the valley of humiliation.

I choose for the power of sanctification.

- Fernando Soave -

Invern

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:00:03 +0100

Earth's winter cometh
And I being part of all
And sith the spirit of all moveth in me
I must needs bear earth's winter
Drawn cold and grey with hours
And joying in a momentary sun,
Lo I am withered with waiting till my spring cometh!
Or crouch covetous of warmth
O'er scant-logged ingle blaze,
Must take cramped joy in tomed Longinus
That, read I him first time
The woods agleam with summer
Or mid desirous winds of spring,
Had set me singing spheres
Or made heart to wander forth among warm roses.
Or curl in grass next neath a kindly moon.

- Ezra Pound -

What would the world be like ...

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:00:05 +0100

What would the world be like
if mankind was a soul ...
What would the world be like
if the earth was just one light bulb ...
O, my soul rejoyced even from
the vault of heaven.
What would love be like if
the light was living welkin.

- Fernando Soave -

Be not ...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:00:02 +0100

Be not a slave of words.

- Thomas Carlyle -

Artistic geniality ...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:57:07 +0100

Artistic geniality depends only
on ones ability to make a swirl
of the mind with the heart
meeting in one point
expressing the light.

- Fernando Soave -

A person ...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:00:03 +0100

A person who is gifted
sees the essential point
and leaves the rest as surplus.

Thomas Carlyle

A man's felicity ...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:00:02 +0100

A man's felicity consists not
in the outward and visible blessing of fortune,
but in the inward and unseen
perfections and riches of the mind.

- Thomas Carlyle -

They say ...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:00:22 +0100

They say that God is everywhere,
and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse.

- Emily Dickinson -