The Twin Pillars of Baha'i Faith

The Time Hath Come

O ye peoples of the Kingdom! How many a soul expended all its span of life in worship, endured the mortification of the flesh, longed to gain an
entry into the Kingdom, and yet failed, while ye, with neither toil nor pain nor self-denial, have won the prize and entered in.

It is even as in the time of the Messiah, when the Pharisees and the pious were left without a portion, while Peter, John and Andrew, given neither
to pious worship nor ascetic practice, won the day. Wherefore, thank ye God for setting upon your heads the crown of glory everlasting, for
granting unto you this immeasurable grace.

The time hath come when, as a thank-offering for this bestowal, ye should grow in faith and constancy as day followeth day, and should draw ever
nearer to the Lord, your God, becoming magnetized to such a degree, and so aflame, that your holy melodies in praise of the Beloved will reach upward
to the Company on high; and that each one of you, even as a nightingale in this rose garden of God, will glorify the Lord of Hosts, and become the
teacher of all who dwell on earth.

Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Center of the Covenant

November 28: Anniversary of the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Bahá

Charles Mason Remey

Writing on the Wall

Heartiest Greetings to the Baha'i World

Grand Celebration of the Birth of Baha’u’llah

Birth Date   : 12^th November 1817 AD (2^nd Moharram 1233 AH)

Name         : Mirza Husain Ali Nuri

Father        : Mirza Abbas Nuri (Mirza Buzurg)

Mother       : Khadijih Khanum

“All of the Manifestations have prophesied the coming of the "Day of God," a Day when mankind would be united in one Fold with one Shepherd under the Fatherhood of the one God, a Day in which God's Kingdom would be established on earth as it is in Heaven.

The Bahá'í Faith proclaims that God has fulfilled His ancient promise and that this great Day dawned with the coming of Bahá'u'lláh, the Promised one of all ages.

Bahá'ís recognize Bahá'u'lláh as the mouthpiece of the Laws of God for this Day and the Revealer of Precepts which they believe will recreate and unite mankind spiritually and establish God's long-promised Kingdom on earth – a world civilization, representing the culminating stage and most glorious age of mankind's ordered life on this planet”. (A summary of the aims, teachings and history of the Baha’i Faith by Joel Bray Marangella)
Orthodox Baha’i Community of India congratulates to all the Bahai’s of the world on this very joyous occasion and announces to celebrate the birth of the Baha’u’llah on 12 November 2014 at Tungareshwar.

We extend our heartiest greetings to the living guardian of Baha’i Faith NOSRAT’U’LLAH BAHREMAND.

Obey “The Summons of the Lord of Hosts”

From the Desk of the Living Guardian:

It was brought to my attention that the illegitimate organization which is headquartered in Haifa and which undeservedly calls itself “the Universal House of Justice”, recently has organized a Web-page and claims that it is the “Official website of the Bahá’í Faith”! 

They should have honestly clarified that they meant a version of the Baha’i Faith modified and manipulated by Ruhiyyih Khanum and those former Hands of the Cause who followed her; a faith which repudiates the “Center of the Cause” and does not adhere to the sacred provisions of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, a faith that is based on imitation, herd instinct and mind control, and by scare and hate-mongering rhetoric; a version of faith which is compatible with the ill wishes of “The Center of Sedition, the Prime Mover of mischief, Mirza Muhammad Alí,”, by “interpolating and falsifying the words and verses of the Sacred Text,” and consequently they “inflicted a grievous loss upon the true Faith of God,” by ignoring writings of the first Guardian of the Cause of God, especially his Proclamation of 9 January 1951 the only Proclamation during his own life; and opposing the descendant Guardians of the Cause of God. <>

Mason Remey from Those Who Were There

Accepting Mason Remey's Proclamation, long-time Baha'is Frank and Carole Schlatter, James and Marilyn Meyer, and Stephen Rhodes talk about their acceptance of Mason Remey as the second Guardian, and how they knew him in 1960 and can attest from their own knowledge that he was neither senile or self-centered as the Hands had accused him.

“Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth; it should give birth to spirituality, and bring light and life to every soul. If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it would be better to be without it... Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no religion.” 

― Abdu'l-Bahá

O' Son

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LOYALTY TO THE COVENANT OF BAHÁ'U'LLÁH?

(Extract form the article of Joel Bray Marangella, the Third Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith)

The distinguishing feature of the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh is the binding Covenant He made with His followers to turn to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, His eldest son, after His Ascension as his appointed Successor, the sole Interpreter of His Word, the Expounder of His Book, and the Center of His Covenant; that is: the sole Center to whom all Bahá'ís should turn for spiritual guidance and interpretation of His Holy Writ. This Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh was made in a written Will and Testament which was opened on the ninth day following His Ascension in the presence of nine witnesses and read to His followers assembled in His Holy Tomb. Bahá'u'lláh has described this firm Testament as "The Book of My Covenant" (Kitáb-i-'Ahd) and "His Most Great Tablet". He has further extolled this mighty Covenant as the "Conclusive Testimony", the "Universal Balance", the "Magnet of God's grace", the "Upraised Standard", the "Irrefutable Testament", the "almighty Covenant, the like of which the sacred Dispensations of the past have never witnessed", and "one of the distinctive features of this most mighty cycle”.

It will suffice for our purpose to quote the following excerpt from Bahá'u'lláh's Testament as evidence of the uniqueness and strength of His Covenant with His followers:

"It is incumbent upon the Aghsan (His sons), the Afnán (kindred of the Báb) and My kindred to turn, one and all, their faces toward the Most Mighty Branch. Consider that which We have revealed in Our Most Holy Book (Kitáb-i-Aqdas): 'When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.' The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch ('Abdu'l-Bahá). Thus have we graciously revealed unto you our potent Will, and I am verily the Gracious, the All-Powerful".

Further corroboration of Bahá'u'lláh's appointment of 'Abdu'l-Bahá as His successor is contained in His Most Holy Book wherein He proclaims:

"When the Mystic Dove will have winged its flight from its Sanctuary of Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden habitation, refer whatsoever ye understand not in the Book, to Him ('Abdu'l-Bahá) Who hath branched from this mighty Stock."

In an address given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York City during His visit to America in 1912 His statements concerning His appointment as the Center of His Father's Covenant included the following:

"As to the most great characteristic of the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, a specific teaching not given by any of the prophets of the past, it is the ordination and appointment of the Center of the Covenant. By this appointment and provision He has safeguarded and protected the religion of God against differences and schisms, making it impossible for any one to create a new sect or faction of belief. To insure unity and agreement He has entered into a Covenant with all the people of the world including the interpreter and explainer of His teachings so that no one may interpret or explain the religion of God according to his own view or opinion and thus create a sect founded upon his individual understanding of the divine words."

In spite of the firmness and clarity of Bahá'u'lláh's testamentary instructions concerning the appointment and authority of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (accepted by the Heterodox Bahá'ís, too), following the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh these instructions were flagrantly violated as 'Abdu'l-Bahá had to contend with betrayal, treachery and infidelity within the ranks of most of those who had been the closest to Bahá'u'lláh.

As time went on, however, the faithful rallied to the support of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and it became increasingly clear that only through the providential provisions of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant appointing a Center to whom all Bahá'ís could turn following His Ascension and vesting in Him sole authority for interpretation of His Holy Writ had Bahá'u'lláh protected and safeguarded His teachings from corruption – a protection that could only continue to be vouchsafed to it down through the ages to come of His Dispensation if the same Center provided in His unique Covenant were perpetuated for as long as this Dispensation endured. For as 'Abdu'l-Bahá stated:

"Were it not for the protecting power of the Covenant to guard the impregnable fort of the Cause of God, there would arise among the Bahá'ís, in one day, a thousand different sects as was the case in former ages..."

The uninterrupted continuity of a Center to whom all Bahá'ís were enjoined to turn following His passing was provided by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in a Will and Testament written in His own hand. This Document did far more than appoint an immediate successor to serve as the Center of the Cause. 'Abdu'l-Bahá established an Institution – the Institution of the guardianship of the Cause of God in which a "Center of the Cause" and an unchallengeable and continuing source of interpretative authority would be preserved down through the centuries to come of the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh. His Will and Testament called for the Institution of the guardianship to be occupied by a continuous and unbroken succession of Guardians each of whom would be chosen and appointed by the predecessor-Guardian "in his own life-time" (i.e. not designated by testamentary document). As the first occupant of this supreme Office 'Abdu'l-Bahá appointed His eldest grandson (i.e. a "twig" and not a "Branch" of His Family Tree). More than this 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament delineated the other institutions of the Bahá'í Administrative Order and this momentous Document constituted the Charter of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. The other administrative institutions incorporated in this Charter included the International (or Universal) House of Justice – the supreme legislative institution of this Order, the institution of the Hands of the Cause and the National and Local Houses of Justice. All of these institutions were made subordinate to the Guardian of the Cause as 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will included the clear injunction:

"The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the guardian of the Cause of God."

RIDVAN MESSAGE (APRIL 2014) BY THE 4TH GUARDIAN NOSRAT U LLAH BAHREMAND

Through the Care of the Hand of the Cause of God,
Jeffrey Goldberg, Secretary-General of the International Bahá'í Council;

To the Faithful and true Bahá'ís around the world,
Dear Friends,
Today, the last day of the Festival of Ridván, is the anniversary of the departure of Bahá'u'lláh from the Garden of Ridván.
During the one and a half century since then, the believers many times and in different condition have been under the fire of tests and trials.
Bahá'u'lláh reveals:
“O COMRADES!
The gates that open on the Placeless stand wide and the habitation of the loved one is adorned with the lovers' blood, yet all but a few remain bereft of this celestial city, and even of these few, none but the smallest handful hath been found with a pure heart and sanctified spirit.” (The Hidden Words)

Friends, be thankful that you are blessed to be among the handful “with a pure heart and sanctified spirit.” This distinction and privilege obligates the Friends to help those who are left behind and awaken those who are misled, before the retributive afflictions and calamities which have been prophesied hit with full force. Humanity at the moment is tasting only a small sample of what is to come.

“The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody.”
  (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 118)

My fervent hope is that the friends, in cooperation with each other, will illumine the minds and spirits by the light of the teachings of the true Faith of God and save as many misled souls as you can while the time allows.

With best wishes and loving regards,

Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand