[From the Guardian:]
The splendid efforts, so devotedly exerted by the members of the Baha'i
communities in India, Pakistan and Burma, extending over more than a
decade, in connexion with the launching and prosecution of no less than
three successive Plans, formulated for the promotion of the interests of
the Faith in South-East Asia, have raised their prestige in the eyes of
the Baha'i World, and have fitted them to undertake, at this auspicious
hour in the evolution of its institutions in the Indian sub-continent and
its neighbouring territories and islands, yet another collective
enterprise, of still vaster dimensions, of far greater possibilities,
requiring the utmost exertion and consecration for a period of no less
than ten years, and culminating in the Most Great Jubilee, designed to
commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of the Mission of
the Founder of their Faith.
The task they now assume involves the consolidation of the manifold
institutions which, through the operation of three successive Plans, have
been patiently and laboriously established, as well as the erection of the
administrative structure of the Faith in the virgin territories along the
shores, and in the vicinity, of the Indian sub-continent, in the Islands
of the Indian Ocean, in African Dependencies, and as far as the Islands of
the South Pacific Ocean.
Through the prosecution of the Plans initiated by your Assembly these
communities have acquired the training and experience that have qualified
them to embark upon so extensive and momentous an undertaking--an
undertaking which if victoriously consummated will eclipse all the joint
efforts and enterprises which have illuminated the pages of Indian Baha'i
history since the inception of the Formative Age of the Baha'i
Dispensation.
The first and most sacred obligation confronting them, on the morrow of
the launching of their Ten-Year Plan, is the despatch and settlement,
during the current year and the one succeeding it, of pioneers in the
sixteen virgin territories and islands, assigned to your Assembly
according to the provisions of the aforementioned Plan. The opening of the
six dependencies along the eastern and western coasts of the Indian
subcontinent must be given careful attention, and must be carried out with
promptitude and vigour. The despatch and definite settlement of no more
than one or two pioneers in each of these territories and islands is a
task not only of great urgency but of infinite merit, and constitutes the
most important feature of the initial phase of the Plan.
Next in importance and of no less urgency is the selection and purchase,
either within or in the outskirts of the capital-city of India--in which
the Administrative Headquarters of the Faith has already been
established--of the site of the
First Mashriq'ul Adhkar of the Indian sub-continent, covering an area of
approximately one or two acres at least which can gradually be enlarged in
the course of the coming years.
Collateral with this vital project is the preparation in conjunction with
the Australian National Assembly of a suitable pamphlet by your Assembly,
and the adoption of energetic measures for its translation into the
languages allocated to the Australian and Indian National Assemblies.
While this threefold objective is being assiduously pursued, the process
of the multiplication of local Assemblies, of groups and isolated centres
must be maintained, nay accelerated, for upon it will depend the early
formation of independent National Spiritual Assemblies in India, Pakistan,
Burma, Ceylon and South-East Asia.
The responsibilities devolving upon your Assembly in the course of the
opening stage of the Plan are enormous, sacred and pressing. All Baha'i
communities participating in this glorious enterprise must bend every
effort, and sacrifice to the utmost of their power to ensure the
unqualified success of the great work that lies immediately ahead.
There is no time to lose. The newly launched Plan demands a vigilance, an
expenditure of effort and resources on a scale unprecedented in Indian
Baha'i history. Baha'i communities in East and West, embarked on a similar
Crusade, are vying with one another and with your Assembly in the
world-wide field of Baha'i pioneering. The glory of the prizes to be won,
the benefits that will accrue to all participants are unimaginable.
I direct my appeal to your Assembly and, through its members, to all
communities participating in this unprecedented enterprise, to arise to
this great and unique occasion that now presents itself, at this critical
hour in the fortunes of mankind and at so significant a stage in the
evolution of the Faith, and to resolve, with inflexible determination, to
consummate, at the appointed time, this fate-laden enterprise on which all
our hearts are set and upon which the immediate destinies of the Cause of
Baha'u'llah so largely depend.
In my hours of prayer and meditation in the holy Shrines I will supplicate
on behalf of your Assembly, as well as on behalf of the communities you
represent, that Divine Guidance may direct your steps, that God's
sustaining grace may aid you to overcome every obstacle, that His strength
may be poured out upon you, that His providence and love may enfold you,
and that the inspiration of the Dawn-breakers, who proclaimed the birth of
His Cause, may carry you to ultimate and total victory.