Birth of Baha'u'llah Holy Day Program
A suggested devotional program for your next Birth of Baha'u'llah Holy Day celebration.
Video is excerpts from the Light of the World video.
This is the Day in which God's most excellent favors have been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all created things. It is incumbent upon all the peoples of the world to reconcile their differences, and, with perfect unity and peace, abide beneath the shadow of the Tree of His care and loving-kindness. It behoveth them to cleave to whatsoever will, in this Day, be conducive to the exaltation of their stations, and to the promotion of their best interests.
- Baha'u'llah
When Bahá’u’lláh was still a child, His father arranged for one of His older brothers to marry. The festivities lasted for seven days and nights, and on the final day, there was a puppet show. A large number of princes, dignitaries, and notables gathered from the capital for the occasion, and Bahá’u’lláh was sitting in one of the upper rooms of the building, watching.
A tent was pitched in the courtyard, and from it soon some tiny human-like figures emerged, crying, “His Majesty is coming! Arrange the seats at once!” Other figures came out, engaged in sweeping and sprinkling of water, and then the chief town crier bade the people assemble for the audience with the king. Bahá'u'lláh recounts that this was a grand puppet show about a famous king and the politics and warring of his kingdom.
After the show had ended, He saw a man come out from behind the tent carrying a box under his arm. “What is in the box?” Bahá’u’lláh asked. The man replied, “All these lavish trappings, the king, the princes, and the ministers, their pomp and glory, their might and power, everything you saw, are all now contained within this box.”
Of this event, Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “… ever since that day, all the trappings of the world have seemed in the eyes of this Youth akin to that same spectacle. They have never been, nor will ever be, possessed of any weight though it be to the extent of a grain of mustard seed…. Erelong these outward trappings, these heaped-up treasures, these earthly vanities, these amassed battalions, this gorgeous finery, these proud and overweening souls – all shall pass into the confines of the grave, as though in that box. In the eyes of those possessed of insight, all this conflict, dissension and vainglory hath been, and will ever be, like unto the sport of children.”
In 1852 Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned in the “Black Pit” and tortured with a 100 pound chain around His neck, He wrote of this time:
“Upon Our arrival We were first conducted along a pitch-black corridor, from whence We descended three steep flights of stairs to the place of confinement assigned to Us. The dungeon was wrapped in thick darkness, and Our fellow-prisoners numbered nearly a hundred and fifty souls: thieves, assassins and highwaymen. Though crowded, it had no other outlet than the passage by which We entered. No pen can depict that place, nor any tongue describe its loathsome smell. Most of these men had neither clothes nor bedding to lie on. God alone knoweth what befell Us in that most foul-smelling and gloomy place!”
“During the days I lay in the prison of Tihran, though the galling weight of the chains and the stench-filled air allowed Me but little sleep, still in those infrequent moments of slumber I felt as if something flowed from the crown of My head over My breast, even as a mighty torrent … Every limb of My body would, as a result, be set afire. At such moments My tongue recited what no man could bear to hear.”
"While engulfed in tribulations I heard a most wondrous, a most sweet voice, calling above My head… `By God! This is the Best-Beloved of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not. This is the Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you, could ye but understand. This is the Mystery of God and His Treasure, the Cause of God and His glory … if ye be of them that perceive.'"
Naught but the celestial potency of the Word of God, which ruleth and transcendeth the realities of all things, is capable of harmonizing the divergent thoughts, sentiments, ideas and convictions of the children of men.
Verily I say, this is the Day in which mankind can behold the Face, and hear the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath been raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon men.
More grievous became Our plight from day to day, nay, from hour to hour, until they took Us forth from Our prison and made Us, with glaring injustice, enter the Most Great Prison. And if anyone ask them: `For what crime were they imprisoned?' they would answer and say: `They, verily, sought to supplant the Faith with a new religion!' … If this be My crime, then Muhammad, the Apostle of God, committed it before Me, and before Him He Who was the Spirit of God (Jesus Christ), and yet earlier He Who conversed with God (Moses). And if My sin be this, that I have exalted the Word of God and revealed His Cause, then indeed am I the greatest of sinners! Such a sin I will not barter for the kingdoms of earth and heaven.
- Baha’u’llah
Concerning the uniqueness of Bahá'u'lláh's station and the greatness of His Revelation, Shoghi Effendi affirms that the prophetic statements concerning the "Day of God", found in the Sacred Scriptures of past Dispensations, are fulfilled by the advent of Bahá'u'lláh:
“To Israel He was neither more nor less than the
incarnation of the "Everlasting Father", the "Lord of Hosts" come down "with ten thousands of saints";
to Christendom Christ returned "in the glory of the
Father";
to Shi'ah Islam the return of the Imam Husayn;
to Sunni Islam the descent of the "Spirit of God" (Jesus Christ);
to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram;
to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna;
to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha.”
~ Universal House of Justice
