The
Significance of the Second Baha'i World Congress
"There hath branched from the Sadratu'l-Muntaha this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow...Render thanks unto God, O people for His appearance; for verily He is the most great Favor unto you, the most perfect bounty upon you; and through Him every mouldering bone is quickened."
Baha'u'llah, Suriy-i-Ghusn
It has been said that we are too close in time to Baha'u'llah, the author of the Baha'i revelation to properly assess the importance of what He has brought to the world. It is equally true that we stand too close to the magnetic figure of Abdu'l-Baha - Baha'u'llah's eldest son and the appointed center of His covenant - to fully appreciate His impact on human life on this planet. The analogy of standing too close, say to a wall or a mountain, brings to mind the picture of a person of limited field of view attempting to piece together the 'big picture' from the distorted fragments seen from his or her vantage point. We have often witnessed how people attempt to not only see all that there is to be seen but also to grasp it, to comprehend it, to so clearly understand the past as to be able to predict, or even to control the future; and all this despite the limited mental and spiritual vision that we all have by virtue of our very nature. Yet this desire to make sense of the history and to obtain a coherent and unified view of our predicament is so intense as can be regarded as being innate in humans. Commemorative times offer a particular opportune moment to indulge in satisfaction of this basic need of the thinking species. Indeed this singular activity of reflection on the meaning and purpose of our lives provides a bridge between the cognitive and spiritual aspects of our lives, between our meditative and active selves, between our head and our heart. If at the conclusion of such reflection we succeed in discovering a pattern in the tumultuous social conditions under which we live, if this pattern points to the nature and causes of spiritual illness of mankind, and if we succeed in recognizing the source of its healing we will obtain a vision that will not only enable us to achieve inner peace but will also transform us to new heights of hope and optimism. It not only binds us to ourselves and makes us wholesome but will spur us to such levels of volition and action as to enable us to fulfill the purpose of our lives and obtain abiding joy.
The Universal House of Justice, the supreme Trustee of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, that "source of all good" and "free from all error", that "last refuge of a tottering civilization", in its unprecedented televised address to the second Baha'i World Congress on the Day of the covenant and the centenary of its inauguration, has directed our attention to this very act of reflection. Meditation on this address, the text of which has now been made available to Baha'is everywhere, will enable us to stand back, take a broader look, and make a fresh examination of the events associated with mankind's collective life during the one hundred years that separate us from the earthly life of Baha'u'llah. This article is one such reflection.
Let us recall that Baha'u'llah, having revealed His Cause, established the covenant. The covenant is the instrument that enables us to translate belief in God into constructive deeds. It is at once, the spirit, the instrument and the method to achieve the goal of oneness of mankind. Baha'u'llah as testified by His will and testament, bequeathed to us not material possessions but the World Order and the person of Abdu'l-Baha.
Already it should be clear to the unbiased observer that no single life in this century has had a greater impact or will have a more enduring effect on the life of the people of the world than that of the Master, Abdu'l-Baha. He was the "Mystery of God", the "Perfect Handiwork". Where is Sultan Abdu'l-Hamid who confined Abdu'l-Baha to his infamous penal colony? Where it not for his opposition to the Cause of God we would not have even remembered his name! Where is Mirza Muhammad Ali who had the audacity to promise Abdu'l-Baha that, like Omar did some thirteen centuries ago in Islam, he too will succeed in usurping the seat of authority of the Cause. Their name in infamy is all that remains. "All on the earth shall pass away; and this is the face of your Lord, the Almighty, the Well-Beloved".
Particularly now, well into the last decade of the twentieth century, it is abundantly clear that some of the recent and most powerful rulers of mankind have also been amongst the most irrelevant and inconsequential of its inhabitants; that though in their own lifetime the communist dictators of the east and imperialist and fascist potentates of the west, to name but a few, wielded unchallenged authority, they can now safely be discounted as amongst the least significant; and their teachings can be "relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines". Yet as the century draws to a close once again the call of the Manifestation can be heard: "The best beloved of all things in My sight is justice". Through the upheavals and convulsions of this past century, through these stormy seas, the Ark of the Cause of God remained on course. The community of the Most Great Name greatly expanded and consolidated its unity, cleansed itself of corrupt elements through the mysterious operation of the Covenant, and like unto solid gold its face shone brightly in the fire of persecution.
It is particularly this aspect of constancy in the life and work of the Baha'i community that stands today as a living testimony to the power of the covenant. The task of promulgation of the divine fragrances and establishment of communities has been pursued with such a singularity of purpose, such a unity of thoughts and aspirations, over such a vast territory, and maintained for such a long time, by so many different servants of the Cause, and with so little material resources offered sacrificially by its adherents, the like of which has never been witnessed by mankind for any other cause or conquest, spiritual or otherwise. If not through the power of the covenant then how else can we explain the cohesiveness of the Baha'is the world over despite their geographical dispersion, their unity despite their diversity. The organic unity within the Baha'i community is not because we are similar but despite the fact that we are different. And indeed our differences have been channeled through the administrative order, a child of the covenant, such as to add to the beauty of the whole and increase, rather than impede, its efficacy in addressing the social and spiritual ills of mankind. It was the Master who set this process in motion through His Tablets of the Divine Plan.
Abdu'l-Baha had three roles. He was the interpreter, the "expounder of the Word". He was the center of the covenant, the "incorruptible" agent for applying the Word. And he was the exemplar, an enduring model for us all to emulate. Consider the first of these three functions. Imagine if you will, how much would we comprehend of Baha'u'llah's matchless utterances if we were devoid of Abdu'l-Baha's interpretations, of His illustrations, of His arguments, of the summaries that He presented in His public addresses in the West, of the analogies that He gave, of the way He divulged the secrets of Divine civilization, of His elucidations of the Christian and the Islamic thoughts, of His philosophical pronouncements during His "tired" hours at the dinner table, of His interpretations of the past Scriptures and of His application of the Teachings of Baha'u'llah to the social, economic and industrial life. As Brown testified "One more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, ... could, I should think, scarcely be found even amongst the eloquent, ready, and subtle race to which He belongs".
As for His second role we stand awestruck at the mysterious nature and workings of the covenant. Societies in the past have either been tolerant of diverging views of their individual members or have been effective in erecting a cohesive and well organized society; but not both. Great crusades could only be won at the cost of brutal repression. Yet we see before our very eyes how compassion and discipline are fostered together in the Cause and peacefully coexist like the proverbial lion and the lamb. How else could the great spiritual conquest of the planet as planned in the ten year crusade be achieved, even though its full implementation had to wait the dismantling of a communist empire before the Sakhalin islands could be claimed for Baha'u'llah?
It may be said that many problems in our public life is due to the problem of power. Man's perception and pursuit of it is the stuff of political history. It may also be said that much of our dissatisfaction in private lives is due to the related problem of ego. Relations among individuals, families, friends, or strangers hinges to a large degree on our control of this base side of our nature. Abdu'l-Baha personifies Baha'u'llah's prescribed remedy for these two ills. In His conduct as the center of authority and in His utter self-effacement can be read a simple but effective lesson for the "good of the world and the happiness of the nations".
And now one last word on Abdu'l-Baha, the magic name by which He chose to be called, - the Master, Sarkar-i-Aqa, as He was referred to by His Father. In 1912, at the age of 68, during the course of His epic journey to the West, He visited Philadelphia. His health was run down not only by the fifty six long years of suffering in exile but also by the busy schedule that He kept in His insistence to serve His Father to the last ounce of His energy. The deteriorating condition of His health forced Him to cancel a number of engagements but He addressed two large gatherings at two churches in as many days, one of which was His longest public address ever. He returned to New York after his two-day visit to Philadelphia and shortly after revealed a Tablet in which regarding His addresses He said: "I spoke within the measure of my incapacity. But the confirmations of the Abha Kingdom, as evident as the sun, descended and enfolded us."
Abdu'l-Baha's capacity to mirror forth true qualities of a Baha'i is an article of faith for us, yet He speaks of "the measure of my incapacity". Such was the humility of Abdu'l-Baha, the center of the Cause; and reflection on this theme was the purpose and significance of the second Baha'i world congress.