Your letters to the beloved Guardian, dated April 3rd (two) 4th and 26th;
May 4th and 25th; July 13th; and Oct. 16, with various enclosures, have
been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
Regarding various matters raised in your letters: The Guardian feels that
as Mr. Audenwood clearly signified his belief in Baha'u'llah before his
passing, his name should by all means be registered in your records as a
believer. Please assure his wife of the Guardian's prayers for the
progress and happiness of his soul, and for her own services to the Faith
to be richly blessed.
Shoghi Effendi feels it is better not to put the Greatest Name on Baha'i
graves. It is not forbidden to do so, but inappropriate.
Regarding Mr. ... and Mr. ... we all regret exceedingly the loss he
afflicted this believer with. Your Assembly, if you have not already done
so, should write both the Persian and Indian Assemblies exposing him, and
asking if there is no way he can be reached and made to pay his debt. The
last news the Guardian had of him he was in Cyprus and planned (?) to go
on to Iran or India. It is most extaordinary to see the way this man, who
breaks all the laws of his Faith and disobeys both the Guardian and the
Assemblies, has been able to plant a firm faith in the hearts of sincere
souls in Fiji, who are now devoted believers! Your Assembly should give
this small community every aid and encouragement you can, for its members
were born with a terrific test, enough to shake the belief of old and
tried Baha'is.
The Guardian was very pleased to see the Racing Conference courteously
changed the name of that horse which had been called Baha'u'llah.
He is also very glad you are in touch with dear, faithful Mr. Auskauli.
You should keep up this contact and when you write please assure him of
the Guardian's appreciation of his steadfastness and of his loving
prayers. He advises you to keep for your library the books sent you.
The Guardian has noted a new spirit of love and unity amongst the
Australian and New Zealand Baha'is, which pleases him very much, as the
atmosphere of harmony amongst the friends will attract the Divine
Blessings and enable them to achieve a great deal more for the Faith.
He strongly feels that the time has come for the believers of Australia
and New Zealand to arise as a conquering army and ensure the attainment of
their goals under their Six Year Plan. They now constitute one of the
strongest bodies of believers in the world, ranking with such active and
well established communities as those of Canada, Great Britain and India.
Their period of adolescence in the Faith has passed; they are now adults,
and they must face the problems involved in fulfilling their Plan squarely
and with maturity. The pleasant period of youthful irresponsibility, when
they could look on the work of the American and Persian Communities as the
feats of the strong, which they were not called upon to emulate, being too
young, is now passed forever. They must sacrifice, concentrate on their
tasks, plan their actions and carry on their pioneer work with
determination, realizing they will have no one to blame for any failures,
except themselves! The Guardian feels they are entirely capable of
fulfilling their Plan. He is proud of the progress they have made and
confident they can succeed if they really try.
He assures you all of his loving prayers for your guidance and for the
success of your work, the progress of which he follows with the keenest
interest.
With Baha'i love,
R. Rabbani.
P.S. I am enclosing a receipt herein. I do not think this sum has been
previously acknowledged, but if there is any duplication, please destroy
it.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The Six-Year Plan, formulated by the elected representatives of the
valiant Baha'i communities in Australasia, is now entering its final and
most critical stage. If successfully terminated it will mark the
conclusion of a memorable chapter in the evolution of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah in the Antipodes, and will at the same time herald the opening
of the initial phase in the establishment of the institutions of that
Faith, beyond the borders of that far-off continent, in the numerous
diversified and widely scattered Islands of the South Pacific Ocean. It
will in fact signalize the third stage in the evolution of the Faith in
that newly opened, highly promising, far-flung continent--an evolution
which commenced, during the concluding decade of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Ministry
and of the Heroic Age of the Faith, with the birth and rise of the Baha'i
Administrative Order, and which was subsequently accelerated through the
formulation during the opening years of the Formative Age of the Baha'i
Dispensation, of two successive Plans, designed to broaden and reinforce
the foundations of that nascent Order in Australia, New Zealand and
Tasmania. The inauguration of the third and most glorious phase in this
historic and momentous development must now depend on the consummation of
the tasks willingly shouldered by this youthful, this virile and greatly
beloved community, which, despite its physical remoteness from the heart
and world centre of the Faith, the smallness of its size, its limited
resources and the vastness of the field under the jurisdiction of its
elected representatives, has made such great strides since its inception,
has shown such exemplary devotion and loyalty, and has preserved and
reinforced so nobly the solidity of its foundations.
This Community, which owes its birth to the revelation of the Tablets of
the Divine Plan, must now brace itself, during the fleeting months that
lie ahead, for a supreme, a concerted and sustained effort to ensure the
attainment of the objectives of the present Plan, and thereby acquire the
spiritual potentialities essential to the launching of a mighty Crusade,
in collaboration with the Trustees of the Plan, conceived by the Center of
Baha'u'llah's Covenant, and with its neighbouring sister communities in
Latin America and in the Indian Sub-continent, destined to culminate in
the fullness of time in the Spiritual conquest of the multitudinous
islands of the South Pacific Ocean.
So exalted a mission, so strenuous a task, so weighty a responsibility
call for, while the Present Preparatory Plan speeds to its end, an
unprecedented demonstration on the part of young and old, or both men and
women, whether administrators or teachers, veterans or neophytes, of
solidarity, determination, zeal and constancy, a still greater display of
self-sacrifice, a wider dispersion of forces, a more energetic discharge
of duty, a clearer vision, a firmer grasp, of the requirements of the
present hour, and a more complete dedication to the purposes of the
present-day enterprise.
The steady multiplication of Baha'i Administrative institutions; the rapid
consolidation of these basic agencies on which the speedy expansion of the
community beyond its borders must ultimately depend; the early
incorporation of all steadily functioning assemblies as a means of further
reinforcing a newly erected administrative structure; the systematic and
vigorous dissemination of Baha'i literature, and the gradual proclamation
of the Faith through the Press and Radio; the initiation of measures
designed to forge friendly links between these newly-fledged assemblies
and local civil authorities, and a parallel effort aimed at the
strengthening of the ties binding the Baha'i Supreme Administrative Body
with both the Federal and State authorities--above all the constant
deepening of the spiritual life of the individual believers, the
enrichment of community life, the promotion of greater unity, harmony and
cooperation among the rank and file of the followers of the Faith--these
are the essential prerequisites to which special attention should be
directed in preparation for the great campaign destined to be launched in
that remote corner of the globe, by one of the most youthful and promising
Baha'i national communities, on the morrow of the world-wide celebrations
of the centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission.
Afire with the vision that now opens before their eyes; conscious of the
substantial share of responsibility they must assume, in conjunction with
the Indian, the Pakistani, the North American, and the Latin American
followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, in uplifting the banner of the Most
Great Name amidst the dwellers of these scattered, distant and in some
cases isolated, Islands of the South, and in drawing them into the orbit
of His constantly evolving Administrative Order; fortified by the
magnificent progress they themselves have achieved in their own homelands;
and confident of the irresistible and mysterious power instilled by the
Hand of Providence in every agency associated with His Most Holy Name, let
the members of these rapidly maturing, fast evolving, soundly established,
Baha'i communities throughout Australasia arise, as they have never
heretofore done, and during the concluding phase of their present
fate-laden Plan, to seal their high endeavours with total and complete
victory, and thereby open a chapter of undreamt-of glory that will add an
imperishable lustre to the annals of an immortal Faith.
Just as their first collective enterprise, through its resounding success,
contributed its particular share of tribute to the memory of the Herald of
their Faith, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of His
Revelation, may their present collective enterprise, through its
consummation, qualify and empower them to play a distinctive role in the
celebration of the Great Jubilee that will mark the hundredth anniversary
of the birth of Baha'u'llah's Prophetic Mission.
A great opportunity lies before them. Much of their present mighty task
still remains to be achieved. Immense virgin fields stretch before them,
flanked, on the one side, by a sister community in the South American
continent, and on the other by another sister community in the vast Indian
sub-continent, both ready and eager to extend their help in prosecuting a
memorable, a gigantic and supremely arduous task. May they, when the hour
strikes, be found ready and well equipped to assume the onerous
responsibilities that will fall to their share.
Shoghi.