O ye two seekers after truth! Your letter was received and its contents
noted. As for the letters ye had previously sent, not all were received,
while some reached here at a time when the cruelty of the oppressors had
so intensified that it was not possible to send a reply. Now this present
letter is here, and we are able to answer it, and I have therefore set
about writing, in spite of much pressing business, so that ye will know
that ye are loved amongst us, and also accepted in the Kingdom of God.
Your questions, however, can be answered only briefly, since there is no
time for a detailed reply. The answer to the first question: the souls of
the children of the Kingdom, after their separation from the body, ascend
unto the realm of everlasting life. But if ye ask as to the place, know ye
that the world of existence is a single world, although its stations are
various and distinct. For example, the mineral life occupieth its own
plane, but a mineral entity is without any awareness at all of the
vegetable kingdom, and indeed, with its inner tongue denieth that there is
any such kingdom. In the same way, a vegetable entity knoweth nothing of
the animal world, remaining completely heedless and ignorant thereof, for
the stage of the animal is higher than that of the vegetable, and the
vegetable is veiled from the animal world and inwardly denieth the
existence of that world--all this while animal, vegetable and mineral dwell
together in the one world. In the same way the animal remaineth totally
unaware of that power of the human mind which graspeth universal ideas and
layeth bare the secrets of creation--so that a man who liveth in the east
can make plans and arrangements for the west; can unravel mysteries;
although located on the continent of Europe can discover America; although
sited on the earth can lay hold of the inner realities of the stars of
heaven. Of this power of discovery which belongeth to the human mind, this
power which can grasp abstract and universal ideas, the animal remaineth
totally ignorant, and indeed denieth its existence.
In the same way, the denizens of this earth are completely unaware of the
world of the Kingdom and deny the existence thereof. They ask, for
example: 'Where is the Kingdom? Where is the Lord of the Kingdom?' These
people are even as the mineral and the vegetable, who know nothing
whatever of the animal and the human realm; they see it not; they find it
not. Yet the mineral and vegetable, the animal and man, are all living
here together in this world of existence.
As to the second question: the tests and trials of God take place in this
world, not in the world of the Kingdom.
The answer to the third question is this, that in the other world the
human reality doth not assume a physical form, rather doth it take on a
heavenly form, made up of elements of that heavenly realm.
And the answer to the fourth question: the centre of the Sun of Truth is
in the supernal world--the Kingdom of God. Those souls who are pure and
unsullied, upon the dissolution of their elemental frames, hasten away to
the world of God, and that world is within this world. The people of this
world, however, are unaware of that world, and are even as the mineral and
the vegetable that know nothing of the world of the animal and the world
of man.
The answer to the fifth question is this: Baha'u'llah hath raised up the
tabernacle of the oneness of mankind. Whoso seeketh shelter under this
roof will certainly come forth from other dwellings.
And to the sixth question: if on some point or other a difference ariseth
among two conflicting groups, let them refer to the Centre of the Covenant
for a solution to the problem.
And the seventh question: Baha'u'llah hath been made manifest to all
mankind and He hath invited all to the table of God, the banquet of Divine
bounty. Today, however, most of those who sit at that table are the poor,
and this is why Christ hath said blessed are the poor, for riches do
prevent the rich from entering the Kingdom; and again, He saith, 'It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man
to enter into the Kingdom of God.'(54) If, however, the wealth of this
world, and worldly glory and repute, do not block his entry therein, that
rich man will be favoured at the Holy Threshold and accepted by the Lord
of the Kingdom.
In brief, Baha'u'llah hath become manifest to educate all the peoples of
the world. He is the Universal Educator, whether of the rich or the poor,
whether of black or white, or of peoples from east or west, or north or
south.
Among those who visit Akka, some have made great forward strides.
Lightless candles, they were set alight; withered, they began to bloom;
dead, they were recalled to life and went home with tidings of great joy.
But others, in truth, have simply passed through; they have only taken a
tour.
O ye twain who are strongly attracted to the Kingdom, thank ye God that ye
have made your home a Baha'i centre and a gathering place for the friends.