March 14th, 1947.
Dear Baha'i Sister:
Our beloved Guardian has instructed me to answer your letters dated Sep.
2nd and 16th, and Oct. 22nd and 25th, 1946, and to acknowledge receipt of
enclosures sent in some of them, and also material forwarded under
separate cover. He regrets very much the delay in replying to these N.S.A.
communications, but he has been very preoccupied with various pressing
matters the last few months, and his mail has consequently had to wait.
In regard to the various points you raised in your letters: There is no
objection to individual Baha'is sending Naw-Ruz cards if they want to;
also the N.S.A. can send them out occassionally, but it should not become
a fixed custom.
He has already cabled you that he approves of increasing the delegates to
the Annual Convention to 19.
He feels that Committees should be left free to elect their own officers.
Prayers translated by other people may be used and memorized by the
friends; they need not be confined to his translations.
He considers that the N.S.A. has every right to examine the ballots if
there is some doubt as to the election having been properly conducted. By
"preservation" of the ballots is meant that they are preserved in the
National files.
A Convention delegate should certainly be given an opportunity to report
to the community his or her experiences at Convention and impressions.
As to the whole matter of the incorporation of assemblies: he cannot go
into the details of such things, as this is the work of the N.S.A. What he
wants is that the spiritual assemblies in New Zealand and Australia should
be legally empowered to hold property in their own names; how this can be
done, the best way of doing it, are matters for your Assembly and its
legal advisers to decide.
He feels very strongly that the main thing for your Assembly and all the
believers of both Australia and New Zealand to concentrate on are teaching
plans. The United States, India, Persia and England are all embarked on
ambitious and bold teaching campaigns, and it is a great pity that
Australasia, where the Cause is now firmly established and boasts an
active National Assembly, should not have a definite plan, with fixed
goals, of its own.
When the believers are embarked on a definite teaching schedule there will
be less time for them to constantly occupy themselves with purely
secondary administrative points of procedure. Teaching is their need, and
the solution to any problems they may feel they have.
He was delighted over the report of the work in Brisbane; this is a step
in the right direction, and should be followed through vigorously. Please
convey to those who have devotedly served there and brought this group
into being his warm thanks and his admiration for their services.
You may be sure he deeply values the loyal and persevering efforts of your
Assembly to promote the Faith in all its aspects in Australia and New
Zealand. His loving prayers are offered on your behalf and for the success
of your labours.
With Baha'i greetings,
R. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
I wish to appeal, through you, to the members of the entire community in
both Australia and New Zealand, to arise, in these opening years of the
Second Baha'i century, and lend, through their concerted, their sustained,
and determined efforts, an unprecedented impetus to the growth of the
Faith, the multiplication of its administrative centers, and the
consolidation of its nascent institutions. The initiation of a Plan,
carefully devised, universally supported, and designed to promote
effectively the vital interests of the Faith, and attain a definite
objective within a specified number of years, would seem, at the present
hour, highly desirable and opportune, and will, as a magnet, attract, to
an unprecedented degree, the blessings of Baha'u'llah on the members of
both communities, both individually and collectively.
Now that the structural basis of the Baha'i Administrative Order has been
firmly and definitely laid in those far-away lands, and the National
Headquarters of that Order established, a systematic effort must be
exerted to widen the basis of that Order, by multiplying the
Administrative institutions and forming the necessary nucleii, which, as
they develop and are consolidated, will have to be utilized as the
divinely ordained and most effectual instruments for the proclamation of
the Faith to the masses.
I fully realize how small are your numbers, how circumscribed are your
means, how vast the distances that separate the centres already
established. But I firmly believe that the initiation of a Plan to remedy
the very deficiencies from which the infant Administrative Order is now
suffering, and a firm resolve to carry out its provisions, as well as a
sustained effort to make the necessary sacrifices for its consummation,
will set in motion forces of such magnitude, and draw upon both
communities blessings of such potency, as shall excite the wonder of the
believers themselves, and cause their Faith to enter an era of
unprecedented expansion and marvellous and fruitful development.
The concluding years of the first Baha'i century have witnessed a notable
progress in the development and consolidation of both communities. The
first decade of the succeeding century must synchronize with a no less
remarkable extension of that essential administrative foundation on which
the future institutions of a flourishing Faith must repose, and on which
its destinies and security must ultimately depend.
May the Spirit of Baha'u'llah guide, sustain and inspire you in the
discharge of the noble and formidable tasks which will face you in the
years to come.
Your true and grateful brother,
Shoghi.