Posted by Stuart Gilman (67.68.68.157) on October 18, 2002 at 06:18:36:

Using the subject of ablutions to make a deeper point:

Arul, aruln@pc.jaring.my, wrote:

Is the(ere a) difference between these two ablutions -

"Let him then kneel, and bowing his forehead to the ground, let him say:"

and

"Let him then repeat the Greatest Name thrice, and kneel with his forehead to the ground, and say:"

Whereas the text following these two introductions are the same, unlike Loren who writes that they are the same, they are not. Neither in act or in spirit.

The first is directed at the "average" follower, for whom the omission of "Let him repreat the Greatest Name thrice, might be too demanding and, for most Judeo-Christians totally "foreign", being wholly Persian/Islamic in tradition.

Obviously, the second is more authentic, being entirely in the religious tradition of Baha'u'llah and the Father of The Poor, Abdul Baha.

Arul's motive for the question is unclear. I like to use the Buddhist scriptures when answering Baha'i dilemmas because many dialectical and theosophical (non)-contradictions in Buddhism mirror Baha'i:

Buddha, in the Diamond Sutra, when asked why the Holy One seemed to have different answers at different times and places to the same questions, said:

"There are three wheels, Ananda. The large wheel is the understanding of the uneducated faithful; the second wheel is for those who have accepted my enlightenment; the third wheel - the inner wheel - is for the Boddhisatvas, my disciples, who share my most intimate knowledge."

STUART GILMAN

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