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Chapter 26
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Prophets (both Independent and Dependent/Lesser) coming from The Exalted Paradise.
1)
The "immaculate Maids of Heaven" (Prophets in the era of Baha'u'llah) dwell in the garden of Paradise:
HE IS THE ALMIGHTY LORD!
Lo, this is the garden of Paradise wherein is raised the Voice of God,
the Dominant, the Strong; Here do the immaculate Maids of Heaven dwell,
they whom no eye hath seen save only God's, the Sanctified, the
Well-Beloved; Herein the eternal nightingale singeth on the bough of
the sacred Lote-Tree a song that bedazzaleth the minds, and herein are
the needy led to the haven of wealth, and all men guided to the Word of
God; verily this is a manifest truth.
(Here is the song that the nightingale singeth;)
IN THY NAME THAT IS GOD,
Thou art verily God!
O sacred Monk, ring out the bells, for the day of God hath come, and
the Beauty of the All-Glorious is established on the holy, shining
throne.
Glory to Thee, O God, O Thou who art God,
O Thou who alone art God!
O prophet of wisdom, Hud, beat thou upon thy drum, in the name of the
Lord, the Precious, the Bountiful, for the Temple of Holiness is seated
upon His high, unapproachable throne.
Glory to Thee, O God, O Thou who art God,
O Thou who alone art God!
O Thou beauty of eternity, pluck with the fingers of the spirit at the
strings of Thy lute that is wondrous and Holy, for the Heavenly Beauty
hath come in His garment of glimmering silk.
Glory to Thee, O God, O Thou who art God,
O Thou who alone art God!
O angel of light, sound thou thy trumpet to herald this appearance, for
the letter HA hath mounted above the letter of pre-existent might.
Glory to Thee, O God, O Thou who art God,
O Thou who alone art God!
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Feast of Ridvan. A provisional translation by Gail, Khan.
2)
"Step out of Thy holy chamber, O
Maid of Heaven, inmate of the Exalted Paradise" the Dependent Prophet
of Baha'u'llah is summoned to appear on earth. "They that have disbelieved in God
and rebelled against His sovereignty are the helpless victims of their
corrupt inclinations and desires..." refers to
those who reject a Dependent Prophet (similar to those who rejected
the Holy Imams in the era of Muhammad).
Say: Step out of Thy holy chamber, O Maid of Heaven, inmate of the
Exalted Paradise! Drape thyself in whatever manner pleaseth Thee in the
silken Vesture of Immortality, and put on, in the name of the
All-Glorious, the broidered Robe of Light. Hear, then, the sweet, the
wondrous accent of the Voice that cometh from the Throne of Thy Lord,
the Inaccessible, the Most High. Unveil Thy face, and manifest the
beauty of the black-eyed Damsel, and suffer not the servants of God to
be deprived of the light of Thy shining countenance. Grieve not if Thou
hearest the sighs of the dwellers of the earth, or the voice of the
lamentation of the denizens of heaven. Leave them to perish on the dust
of extinction. Let them be reduced to nothingness, inasmuch as the
flame of hatred hath been kindled within their breasts. Intone, then,
before the face of the peoples of earth and heaven, and in a most
melodious voice, the anthem of praise, for a remembrance of Him Who is
the King of the names and attributes of God. Thus have We decreed Thy
destiny. Well able are We to achieve Our purpose.
Beware that Thou divest not Thyself, Thou Who art the Essence of
Purity, of Thy robe of effulgent glory. Nay, enrich Thyself
increasingly, in the kingdom of creation, with the incorruptible
vestures of Thy God, that the beauteous image of the Almighty may be
reflected through Thee in all created things and the grace of Thy Lord
be infused in the plenitude of its power into the entire creation.
If Thou smellest from any one the smell of the love of Thy Lord, offer
up Thyself for him, for We have created Thee to this end, and have
covenanted with Thee, from time immemorial, and in the presence of the
congregation of Our well-favored ones, for this very purpose. Be not
impatient if the blind in heart hurl down the shafts of their idle
fancies upon Thee. Leave them to themselves, for they follow the
promptings of the evil ones.
Cry out before the gaze of the dwellers of heaven and of earth: I am
the Maid of Heaven, the Offspring begotten by the Spirit of Baha. My
habitation is the Mansion of His Name, the All-Glorious. Before the
Concourse on high I was adorned with the ornament of His names. I was
wrapt within the veil of an inviolable security, and lay hidden from
the eyes of men. Methinks that I heard a Voice of divine and
incomparable sweetness, proceeding from the right hand of the God of
Mercy, and lo, the whole Paradise stirred and trembled before Me, in
its longing to hear its accents, and gaze on the beauty of Him that
uttered them. Thus have We revealed in this luminous Tablet, and in the
sweetest of languages, the verses which the Tongue of Eternity was
moved to utter in the Qayyumu'l-Asma'.
Say: He ordaineth as He pleaseth, by virtue of His sovereignty, and
doeth whatsoever He willeth at His own behest. He shall not be asked of
the things it pleaseth Him to ordain. He, in truth, is the
Unrestrained, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.
They that have disbelieved in God and rebelled against His sovereignty
are the helpless victims of their corrupt inclinations and desires.
These shall return to their abode in the fire of hell: wretched is the
abode of the deniers!
--Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 282
3)
The handmaidens are the
pre-existent Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah who are created in God's
"Paradise of transcendent holiness". "Handmaidens" is a symbolic
reference to Dependent Prophets, who assist the "Bride", Baha'u'llah,
the Independent Prophet, mentioned in the last passage of the the
Hidden Words. Later in the passage below, the handmaidens are also
referred to as "Thy chosen ones", affirming they are Prophets. "such as
stubbornly oppose Thee [God]" refers to those who will reject them.
Since Thou hast purposed, O my God, to cause all created things to
enter into the tabernacle of Thy transcendent grace and favor, and to
waft over the entire creation the fragrances of the raiment of Thy
glorious unity, and to look upon all things with the eyes of Thy bounty
and Thy oneness, I beseech Thee, therefore, by Thy love, which Thou
hast made to be the mainspring of the revelations of Thine eternal
holiness, and the flame that gloweth within the hearts of such of Thy
creatures as yearn towards Thee, to create, this very moment, for those
of Thy people who are wholly devoted to Thee, and for such of Thy loved
ones as love Thee, out of the essence of Thy bounty and Thy generosity,
and from the inmost spirit of Thy grace and Thy glory, Thy Paradise of
transcendent holiness, and to exalt it above everything except Thee,
and to sanctify it from aught else save Thyself. Create, moreover,
within it, O my God, out of the lights shed by Thy throne, handmaidens
who will intone the melodies of Thy wondrous and most sweet invention,
that they may magnify Thy name with such words as have not been heard
by any of Thy creatures, be they the inmates of Thy heaven or the
dwellers of Thine earth, nor been comprehended by any of Thy people.
Unlock, then, the gates of this Paradise to the faces of Thy loved
ones, that haply they may enter them in Thy name, and by the power of
Thy sovereignty, that thereby the sovereign bounties vouchsafed by Thee
unto Thy chosen ones
and the transcendent gifts granted unto Thy trusted ones be perfected,
that they may extol Thy virtues with such melodies as none can either
intone or describe, and that none of Thy people may conceive the design
of appearing in the guise of any of Thy chosen ones, or of emulating
the example of Thy loved ones, and that none may fail to discern
between Thy friends and Thine enemies, or to distinguish them that are
devoted to Thee from such as stubbornly oppose Thee. Potent art Thou to
do what Thou willest, and powerful and supreme art Thou over all things.
--Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá'u'lláh, p. 326
4)
The handmaiden (Dependent Prophet of Baha'u'llah) created "in the midmost heart of his exalted paradise":
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious! Glorified be He that created
her out of the essence of love in the midmost heart of his exalted
paradise!
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious! Thereupon the maids of heaven
hastened forth from their chambers, upon whose countenances the eye of
no dweller in the highest paradise had ever gazed.
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High! They all gathered around her, and lo! they found her body fallen upon the dust;
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High! And as they beheld her state and
comprehended a word of the tale told by the Youth, they bared their
heads, rent their garments asunder, beat upon their faces, forgot their
joy, shed tears and smote with their hands upon their cheeks, and this
is verily one of the mysterious grievous afflictions - Glorified be our
Lord, the Most High!
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner
5)
18. O YE DWELLERS IN THE HIGHEST PARADISE!
Proclaim unto the children of assurance that within the realms of
holiness, nigh unto the celestial paradise, a new garden hath appeared,
round which circle the denizens of the realm on high and the immortal
dwellers of the exalted paradise. Strive, then, that ye may attain that
station, that ye may unravel the mysteries of love from its
wind-flowers and learn the secret of divine and consummate wisdom from
its eternal fruits. Solaced are the eyes of them that enter and abide
therein!
--Bahá'u'lláh, The Persian Hidden Words
6)
1.100
O Temple of Divine Revelation! Sound the trumpet in My Name! O Temple
of Divine mysteries! Raise the clarion call of Thy Lord, the
Unconditioned, the Unconstrained! O Maid of Heaven! Step forth from the
chambers of paradise and announce unto the people of the world: By the
righteousness of God! He Who is the Best-Beloved of the worlds -- He
Who hath ever been the Desire of every perceiving heart, the Object of
the adoration of all that are in heaven and on earth, and the Cynosure
of the former and the latter generations -- is now come!
1.101
Take heed lest ye hesitate in recognizing this resplendent Beauty when
once He hath appeared in the plenitude of His sovereign might and
majesty. He, verily, is the True One, and all else besides Him is as
naught before a single one of His servants, and paleth into nothingness
when brought face to face with the revelation of His splendours.
Hasten, then, to attain the living waters of His grace, and be not of
the negligent. As to him who hesitateth, though it be for less than a
moment, God shall verily bring his works to naught and return him to
the seat of wrath; wretched indeed is the abode of them that tarry!
-- Baha'u'llah, Suri of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 53
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