O Thou, my God, Who guidest the seeker to the pathway that leadeth aright,
Who deliverest the lost and blinded soul out of the wastes of perdition,
Thou Who bestowest upon the sincere great bounties and favours, Who
guardest the frightened within Thine impregnable refuge, Who answerest,
from Thine all-highest horizon, the cry of those who cry out unto Thee.
Praised be Thou, O my Lord! Thou hast guided the distracted out of the
death of unbelief, and hast brought those who draw nigh unto Thee to the
journey's goal, and hast rejoiced the assured among Thy servants by
granting them their most cherished desires, and hast, from Thy Kingdom of
beauty, opened before the faces of those who yearn after Thee the gates of
reunion, and hast rescued them from the fires of deprivation and loss--so
that they hastened unto Thee and gained Thy presence, and arrived at Thy
welcoming door, and received of gifts an abundant share.
O my Lord, they thirsted, Thou didst lift to their parched lips the waters
of reunion. O Tender One, Bestowing One, Thou didst calm their pain with
the balm of Thy bounty and grace, and didst heal their ailments with the
sovereign medicine of Thy compassion. O Lord, make firm their feet on Thy
straight path, make wide for them the needle's eye, and cause them,
dressed in royal robes, to walk in glory for ever and ever.
Verily art Thou the Generous, the Ever-Giving, the Precious, the Most
Bountiful. There is none other God but Thee, the Mighty, the Powerful, the
Exalted, the Victorious.
O my spiritual loved ones! Praise be to God, ye have thrust the veils
aside and recognized the compassionate Beloved, and have hastened away
from this abode to the placeless realm. Ye have pitched your tents in the
world of God, and to glorify Him, the Self-Subsistent, ye have raised
sweet voices and sung songs that pierced the heart. Well done! A thousand
times well done! For ye have beheld the Light made manifest, and in your
reborn beings ye have raised the cry, 'Blessed be the Lord, the best of
all creators!' Ye were but babes in the womb, then were ye sucklings, and
from a precious breast ye drew the milk of knowledge, then came ye to your
full growth, and won salvation. Now is the time for service, and for
servitude unto the Lord. Release yourselves from all distracting thoughts,
deliver the Message with an eloquent tongue, adorn your assemblages with
praise of the Beloved, till bounty shall descend in overwhelming floods
and dress the world in fresh greenery and blossoms. This streaming bounty
is even the counsels, admonitions, instructions, and injunctions of
Almighty God.
O ye my loved ones! The world is wrapped in the thick darkness of open
revolt and swept by a whirlwind of hate. It is the fires of malevolence
that have cast up their flames to the clouds of heaven, it is a
blood-drenched flood that rolleth across the plains and down the hills,
and no one on the face of the earth can find any peace. Therefore must the
friends of God engender that tenderness which cometh from Heaven, and
bestow love in the spirit upon all humankind. With every soul must they
deal according to the Divine counsellings and admonitions; to all must
they show forth kindness and good faith; to all must they wish well. They
must sacrifice themselves for their friends, and wish good fortune to
their foes. They must comfort the ill-natured, and treat their oppressors
with loving-kindness. They must be as refreshing water to the thirsty, and
to the sick, a swift remedy, a healing balm to those in pain and a solace
to every burdened heart. They must be a guiding light to those who have
gone astray, a sure leader for the lost. They must be seeing eyes to the
blind, hearing ears to the deaf, and to the dead eternal life, and to the
despondent joy forever.
Let them willingly subject themselves to every just king, and to every
generous ruler be good citizens. Let them obey the government and not
meddle in political affairs, but devote themselves to the betterment of
character and behaviour, and fix their gaze upon the Light of the world.