Detachment
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Original Message -----
From: konstant
To: Farzin Aghdasi Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 5:04 AM Subject: Two points. …. DETACHMENT
- not another answer to that intriguing question, just exploring some ideas. The
Báb is very strong in telling us what's what. In SB page 77 He says
"Worship thou God in such wise .... Fire and paradise both bow down and
prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to
worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise...."
It's all about love. We
have already seen in Iqan, as in Tablet of Ahmad, that if someone isn't
interested, we are to leave them to themselves. In this religion, there must be
no coercion. Love of God must be freely given - Tch tch! - - Surely it must be
enthusiastically pursued? - - More,
shouldn't it be the dominating passion in order to be worthy of God? On
a different tack, didn't Ábdu'l-Bahá tell us that tests help us become detached
from the things of the earth? Don't we hear in the Tablet of Ahmad ".. be
thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords
of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise
against thee...."? Maybe we get tested from the things of heaven too? - Is
that to help us become detached from heavenly things? - Note that most
significant word "all" - - -
Mama mia! In
the Tablet of the Seeker; Gleanings CXXV (Page 264), it seems that Bahá'u'lláh only
talks of detachment from the things of this world. Maybe He is addressing the
tablet to people at the beginning of the journey? Once one becomes a believer,
however, I suspect one is expected to progress faster and faster, but even as a
seeker;- Valley
of love revealed more or less at the same time as the Iqan; ". . . now is
the traveler unaware of himself, and of aught besides himself. ... in this
station the lover hath no thought save the Beloved, and seeketh no refuge save
the Friend. ..." Bottom
line I suppose is that true love transcends reward and punishment, fire and
paradise, they become irrelevant. - For me there is such a long way to go...
brings to mind the phrase; "Nay, immeasurable is the distance". The
Báb revealed a prayer which I call the Tablet of Ahmad for the Bábi
dispensation. SB 206. The Bábis were asked to memorise it and it gains
protection for the one who uses it (obviously not physical protection) - the
preamble reads in part; "..He is God ... He Whose help all men implore..."
Yes yes yes! Warm
regards. Martin. _______________ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Farhad
Aghdasi" <aghdasi@mopipi.ub.bw> To: "Farzin
Aghdasi" <farzin.aghdasi@attbi.com> Sent: Thursday, August 22,
2002 10:42 PM Subject: Detachment Dearest Friends, Perhaps the attachment on
"Detachment" as explained by Adib Tahirzadeh (The Conenant of
Baha'u'llah, Page 20) explains it. Warmest love, Farhad In one of His Tablets [P-25] Baha'u'llah states that there
are three barriers between man and God. He exhorts the believers to pass beyond
these so that they may attain His Presence. The first barrier is attachment to
the things of this world, the second is attachment to the rewards of the next
world, and the third is attachment to the Kingdom of Names. A believer
becomes attached to the things of this world when he allows his material,
intellectual and selfish interests to take precedence over the interests of the
Cause of God. This does not mean that he has to forego his personal interests,
but rather to use them in promoting his spiritual pursuits, and not to allow
earthly things to come between him and God. Since
attachment to this world is a great barrier which prevents man from fulfilling
his part in the Covenant of God, Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha have exhorted
their followers in many of their Tablets to become detached from earthly
desires, to turn instead to God and obey His commandments. "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 lustre, or stain the sanctity, of so lofty a
station. Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its
mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of
the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the
water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of
its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence
it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that
bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place
upon the dust. Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of
waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust
of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My
divine knowledge." [P-26] This
concept of detachment from material things is often misunderstood and is taken
to mean renouncing the world. Many people think that the way to detachment is
to shut oneself away in a monastery, lead an ascetic life, or live as a
mendicant, careless of one's personal affairs and responsibilities. None of
these practices conform with the teachings of Baha'u'llah. In His second
Tablet[1] to Napoleon III, Baha'u'llah, addressing the Christian monks,
admonishes them in these words: [1 ]See The
Revelation of Baha'u'llah. vol. 3. "O
concourse of monks! Seclude not yourselves in churches and cloisters. Come
forth by My leave, and occupy yourselves with that which will profit your souls
and the souls of men. Thus biddeth you the King of the Day of Reckoning.
Seclude yourselves in the stronghold of My love. This, verily, is a befitting
seclusion, were ye of them that perceive it. He that shutteth himself up in a
house is indeed as one dead. It behoveth man to show forth that which will
profit all created things, and he that bringeth forth no fruit is fit for fire.
Thus counselleth you your Lord, and He, verily, is the Almighty, the
All-Bounteous. Enter ye into wedlock, that after you someone may fill your
place. We have forbidden you perfidious acts, and not that which will demonstrate
fidelity." [P-27] Attachment
to this world may be described as anything which becomes a barrier between God
and man, depriving the individual from drawing near to his Maker. It is clear
from the Writings of Baha'u'llah that God has created this world for man alone.
For instance, in The Hidden Words, Baha'u'llah declares: "O Son
of Dust! all that is in heaven and on earth I have ordained for thee except the
human heart..." [P-28] This means
that the world and all that is therein is created for man. God wants him to
benefit from its wealth, to exploit its resources wisely and in harmony with
nature, to work and possess all the good things he can earn, and to enjoy all
the legitimate pleasures that life bestows upon him. But at no time must he allow
the things of this world to possess him and rule over his heart and soul. Indeed, in
this Dispensation Baha'u'llah has ordained work rendered in the spirit of
service to mankind as worship of God. He enjoins upon man the duty of working
for the betterment of the world and the building of a new world order on this
planet. In one of His Tablets Baha'u'llah has revealed these exalted words: "Should
a man wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth, to wear its
apparels, or partake of the benefits it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if
he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene between him and God, for God hath
ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the earth, for
such of His servants as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good
things which God hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous
bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly
thankful." [P-29] (Adib
Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, p. 20) ________________