Krishna
Krishna was a Messenger of God. His Message was the Message
of love. He was born in a prison. This was a sign for us to know that all of us are born in the prison of self, the prison of this world. Krishna
miraculously escaped from prison. If we try to be good, if we try to be godly, we too can escape from the prison of self.
Krishna, like all the other Manifestations of God, was
confronted with the forces of
evil. He fought against evil
and became victorious. No matter how powerful evil might be, the power of truth
is always victorious.
Krishna became the king of Dwarka - which means the small
Gate. He was the gate of the knowledge of God
Himself. His teachings were for the good of man. But alas! man has rejected them.
Krishna was sad that
the people would not understand Him. He complained that people did not believe in
Him because He came in human form. They had their own fancies about God and His
Manifestation. Therefore, when Krishna claimed that He manifested God, the
people rejected Him. This is what Krishna says in the Gita:
"The deluded despise Me clad in human body not knowing
MY high nature as Lord of all existence."
(Gita, IX, II)
Even His beloved
disciple Arjuna could not understand the Divine Power in Krishna. Arjuna
could not believe that the temple of man
might become the seat of the Divine Being. They say that Krishna had to
transfigure Himself into the Divine Form so that Arjuna could see His power and believe in Him. This means that Krishna helped
Arjuna to understand His spiritual majesty and grandeur before Arjuna would
find faith in the Lord.
The battle of Kurukshetra took a different turn when Arjuna took up arms to obey the Lord. You know that this battle was the battle between Good and Evil. The Kaurvas, the cousins of the Pandavas, started it. Arjuna, the mighty one among the Pandavas, was led by Krishna to fight the army of Darkness. Krishna was Arjuna's charioteer. But Arjuna did not want to fight his own relatives. His beloved teacher and his friends were in the army of the Kaurvas. Arjuna tried to argue and laid down his mighty bow. But Krishna demanded that Arjuna should surrender himself to Him and fallow Him.
When we
find the Manifestation of God and embrace His Faith, we must obey His Commands.
This is what Krishna taught us in
the Gita:
"Surrendering in thought all actions to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme and resorting to Steadfastness in understanding, do
thou fix thy thought
constantly on Me." (Gita XVIII, 57)
Krishna was the abode of peace. He called us to Himself, saying :
"Abandoning all
duties, come to Me alone
for Shelter, be not grieved, for I shall release thee from all evils." (Gita, XVIII, 66)
Krishna, the Manifestation of God, brought a new civilization. He delivered man from
evil and sorrow. He assured His followers that in the future
also God would manifest Himself
to repeat what Krishna had done. In order to guide the wandering people of the world to the straight path of God,
He said:
"Whenever there is a decline of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness, O Bharta (Arjuna); then I send forth Myself for the protection of good, for the destruction
of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness. I come into being
from age to age." (Gita,
IV,7,8)
We shall see in the following pages how this
promise of the Lord has been fulfilled.
Buddha
Buddha was born in the royal family of a Himalayan kingdom.
He was still a baby when an old sage, named Asita, visited the palace. Asita
was a godly man and he gave the
good news to the father of Buddha that his son would become the Saviour of Man.
Buddha was then called Prince Gautama. His father provided his
beloved son with all the
enjoyments of life. He wanted to make his son a good king. But Gautama found
that worldly pleasures alone were not the cause of comfort. One day He saw an old man, then a man who
was sick, and then one who had died. He found out that all human beings were subject to suffering and death. Therefore
He realized that spiritual happiness alone could make all men really happy.
Gautama left His
home, His wife and child to seek spiritual truth. In the beginning He went to
far away jungles and denied Himself
food and comfort. This was not helpful. For if the body is weakened, mental powers also grow weak. It was under a Bodhi
Tree in India that Buddha received His enlighten. From that day He started His
great mission to save mankind from suffering.
Buddha told men to purify their souls and minds, to avoid
greed and dishonesty and to realize that this world of suffering is a place where they should prepare for
eternal and spiritual joy and happiness. He set an example for us in His blessed life. When He was
sitting under the Tree wrapped in meditation, Mara, the evil one, tried to
tempt Him by offering Him the wealth
of the world and the pleasures of the senses. But Buddha, the Enlightened One,
overcame the forces of evil. His power was the power of the
spirit.
Through His wonderful teachings, Buddha helped millions of people of various nations to
attain spiritual salvation.
In the days of Buddha the people of His country were fighting
against each other in the name of God.
They had, in fact, set up many different gods and goddesses for
themselves. Buddha knew that the way to God was only through His Manifestation.
He was the Manifestation of God, therefore, He did not want people to fight
against each other in the name of God Whom they could not know except through Him.
He was a wise teacher. To avoid quarrels
among the people, He was mostly
silent about God but called upon them to obey Him, the Manifestation of Truth.
In this way he succeeded in uniting millions of people who were divided among
themselves either in the name of God or in the name of caste. He said, "One does not become a Brahmin by
birth, one does not become an outcast by birth. One becomes Brahmin by act, one
becomes an outcast by act."
Shortly before His passing away from this earth, Buddha made a great promise
to His followers who were afraid that His Cause would gradually die away. He
said:
"I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth nor
shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a holy
one, a supremely enlightened one endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious,
knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and
mortals. He shall reveal to you the same
eternal truths which I have taught you. He will preach to you this
religion, glorious , in its
origin, glorious at the climax, and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in
the letter. He will proclaim a
religious life wholly perfect and pure such as I now proclaim. His disciples
will number many thousands while Mine number many hundreds.”
This promise gave hope to Buddhists that they would not be
left alone on this earth but would receive the light of guidance from another glorious
Buddha. Buddha is now rejoicing in His eternal abode because He sees His
glorious promise fulfilled in Baha’u’llah, the Glory of God.
Moses
In a far-away land there was a group of slaves living a very difficult life. They were called
the "Children of Israel'' and were
working as slaves under the mighty emperor of Egypt. These people
belonged to another country, now 'called Israel, but had been taken away from
their homes by force. Only a Manifestation of God could save them from their
suffering. So Moses was destined to arise for the salvation
of these people. He was alone and the Egyptian emperor had every means to destroy Him. But
when the Manifestation of God comes, He is endowed with such a great power that
no power on earth can overcome
it. Moses, unaided and singlehanded, arose to give the glad-tidings of the
Kingdom of God to His people.
When Moses declared
Himself as the Manifestation of God, the Children of Israel knew that the time
of their suffering was over. They followed
Him. They came back to Israel, the Holy Land, and started a new life. The emperor of Egypt, with all his might and all his power,
could not prevent them. When he
and his army tried to do so, they were drowned in the Red Sea.
The words of God transformed the lives of the Children of Israel. Though
they had been mere slaves,
they established a wealthy kingdom. They became great teachers of mankind. Many
of the philosophers and teachers of other lands derived
their knowledge from the followers of Mosses. For with His coming, the Manifestation
of God not only brings us happiness but also gives us the source of great knowledge and wisdom.
Moses, summarized His teachings in 10 laws. They were
beautiful laws. He told us to love God;
never to love anything
else more than God; to love our
father and mother and to obey them. He told us not to steal; not to hurt other people; to be pure and clean ; to be always truthful. Besides these
beautiful teachings, Moses made a promise to His people that in the fulness of time, the Lord of Hosts would
come to deliver them from all sufferings. He promised that when the Lord of
Hosts did come, the Children of Israel would once more return to the Holy Land
after ages of separation, and would be united again in the land of their
forefathers.
The Lord of
Hosts has come. Baha'u'llah has proclaimed that the Day of God, promised in the
Holy Books of the past, has
come. He gave the glad-tidings to the followers of Moses that their cherished
Promise has been fulfilled. Jews of all
countries, after an age-long separation, during which time they endured all forms of humiliation and suffering, have
now gathered together in the Holy Land. They have established a separate homeland for themselves called
Israel. According to the Promise
of Moses all this had to be fulfilled when the Lord of Hosts sat on the Throne of Judgment on this
earth. Many Jews, when they saw
how the Children of Israel had gathered
in the Holy Land according to
the Promise in their Holy Book, understood that the Lord of Hosts had come.
Otherwise it would have been impossible
for them to gather together.
In the Baha’i World community there an many Jews, who believe in Baha’u’llah as their glorious
Promised One.
Jesus Christ
The story of Jesus Christ is a very beautiful story. It is
a story of the love of
God and the love of mankind, it is the story of a Manifestation of God.
Before Christ revealed His Mission to mankind, there lived a
holy man by the name of John the Baptist. We have seen in the story of Buddha how a holy man gave the good news that the Saviour of mankind would soon appear. This
is exactly what happened what
happened before Christ revealed His Mission.
John the Baptist gave the good news to the people of his time that the
Messenger of God would come to deliver them from all sorrows. The people of
that time did not like to change their ideas; they wished to go on imitating
what their forefathers had done for centuries before them. The priests who led
the people did not want a Messenger
of God to come, because they were afraid that if He came they might lose their position.
Therefore, they put John the Baptist in prison and after some time they cut off
his head. John was happy to give even his life in the path of God.
Jesus Christ was born in a very simple home. Joseph, who was
known to be His father, was only a carpenter. Christ Was born in the Holy Land. He was very good and kind to the people even
when He was a young boy and workinng as a carpenter with His father. When He was a young man, He said, "The time has now come for me to look after the
business of my real heavenly Father."
He went out for meditation for many days, then came back to the people
revealing His true mission. He gave the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God.
Once He went
to a holy place. This was a
centre of pilgrimage and reverence for
the Jews, but they had also
turned it into a business centre. Christ went and pulled down their shop and chased them out of the holy place. He
said, “This is the House of God. You should not
pollute itwith your worldly
interests." He wanted to show that the Religion of God should not become a
source of material gains.
In the days of Christ there were very many people who were spiritually
sick and spiritually dead. He cured them and gave them life
with the power of the Word of God. Soon He became very popular. The priests
grew jealous and did not like that their followers should be attracted
by this simple man, who was teaching a new way of life for the people. When He
told them that He was their spiritual King, the One
Promised in their Holy Books, the priests grew very angry because they expected their king to be a man with worldly grandeur while
Jesus Christ was a simple man. He had even no shoes. Nevertheless, He proclaimed
that He was the King of Israel. "I am your true King , He said, "I am the Master of the New Kingdom.
These worldly kingdoms are nothing
as compared to the everlasting Kingdom of God." But the Jews did not want
to Him. They rose against Him
and had Him crucified along with two thieves. Even on the Cross, Jesus Christ
prayed for the forgiveness of
His enemies.
The Jews did not understand the true meaning of their Holy Book; they did not even know that by killing Manifestation of God,
they could not kill His voice as it was
the Voice of God and would be heard in every
land.
When Christ
died, very simple and ordinary people were among those who believed in Him.
They had received new spiritual life by the power of the Word of Christ and
risen out of their graves of
ignorance. Although these early disciples of Christ were humble fishermen,
ordinary clerks, farmers and tillers of
the soil, they were guided by a Manifestation of God and received new powers through
Him. They scattered far and wide
throughout the world and spread the good Message of their Master – Jesus
Christ. Many of them even gave their lives for the sake of His Cause. Under great hardships and the threat of the
sword, they carried His Message to different
peoples and cried aloud that the Kingdom of God had been established on earth through Jesus. Though mere
fishermen and farmers, they withstood the
onslaught of the forces of the whole world. They conquered nation after
nation with the Word of God and brought new spiritual life to all who
came under their influence. This was the
divine power of Jesus Christ, the Manifestation of God.
Before He left this world, Christ, like Krishna and Moses, assured the people of the world that in the fullness of time He would
come again in the glory of His Heavenly Father. He said
to the people of His age that
He had many other things to say but they would not be able to
understand them. He promised,
however, that another great Messenger would later come to tell them more about
God and religion.
Baha’is give the
good news to their Christian brothers that Christ has come again in the glory
of the Father. This is what Baha’u’llah said to the leaders of Christianity,
“Surely the Father hath come and hath fulfilled that which you were
promised in the Kingdom of God...."
Muhammad
There is a land called Arabia. It is mostly desert with very
little water and a hot, unfavorable climate. In this difficult land there used to live savage tribes who
were always at War with one another. They were so savage and ignorant that they
used to bury alive their own baby daughters just because they were girls, and
women were no more than slaves in those days. But no matter how cruel those
people Were, they were still God's
children and had to be educated. So Muhammad,
the prophet of God, was born
among them.
Muhammad was a simple man. He was in charge of a caravan, taking camel-loads and
goods from Arabia to sell in other lands. Most of the Manifestations of God
wert simple people. Even those who, like Buddha, came from higher ranks in
life, gave up their princely
positions to live simple lives. God wants to show that it is His wealth and His
influence that work through
His Manifestations. When charged with the Power of God, even the humblest person becomes victorious over all
the power of the world.
One day when Muhammad was praying on a hill-top, He
received inspiration from God.
He had not been to any
school. He could not even write
His own name, but from that hour the verses of the Holy
Qur'an were revealed through Him. From then
onwards, Muhammad was no longer a leader of a caravan. He was the Messenger of God. He went to the people with His Message.
At first nobody listened to
Him. When He insisted that they should stop worshipping the
idols they had built, and should
believe in the One True God, the people of Arabia rose against Him. They called Him
a madman. They ridiculed Him
as a poor poet. But Muhammad went about saying, "O people, I am the
Messenger of God. I have come to save you and to lead you to the Path of Truth." This was too
much for the proud people of
Arabia. They had tolerated
Muhammad at first then they persecuted
Him and His followers, but
after 13 long years of
suffering Muhammad was still calling upon them to turn to the One Compassionate
God and follow His Commandments. Why should they put aside their own gods; they thought. Besides, they were
too busy with their continuous warfare. They had no more patience with
Muhammad. So they decided to
kill Him and His handful of followers. But the Mission of Muhammad was not yet
fulfilled. He still had other laws to give to people of His age. He left His birth-place,
Mecca, for another town, now called Medina.
The enemies of the Cause of God organized great armies to kill
Muhammad and His band of followers. Muhammad
had to protect the Cause of God and those who had come to believe in God, so He permitted
His followers to fight against the savages who wished to destroy them. Thus, in
the days of Muhammad, as in the life time of Krishna, the armies of Light and of Darkness arrayed their
forces against each other.
Muhammad was a
Divine shepherd. He had to protect His
innocent flock from the
attack of savage wolves. In the beginning, Muhammad end His followers had a difficult time. Many of them were killed while defending
themselves against the fierce onslaught of their enemies.
But all the time Muhammad assured them
that the Cause of God had always been
victorious and would always continue to be so. When the Muhammadans,
His followers, were
surrounded by powerful enemies,
Muhammad foretold that mighty empires would soon crumble before them because they were alive with the Spirit of God whereas others were
spiritually dead.
This has come to pass as we all know. The great Persian and
Roman empires were defeated by a handful of Arabs whose lives were transformed
after they believed in Muhammad, the Prophet of God, and accepted His divine
Message. The Maaage of God transformed the lives of millions of other people
too, for the teachings of Islam spread
from India to Spain. During the
age of Islam's golden civilization many different nations united in one great
brotherhood. They offered
their daily Prayers to the One God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. They recited the Holy Qur’an which prescribes a life of virtue and submission
to the Will of the Almighty.
Even today millions of the
people all over the world pray
the same prayer and read the same Holy Book. Muhammad, like all the Manifestations of
the past, assured His followers that a great messenger that a great Messenger would
come after Him. He said that the Religion of God which had come down from
heaven through Him, would go back to God after the passing of a thousand years.
By this He meant that people would forget His teachings in the course of one thousand
years. But after that, He said, when no trace of God's Religion was left on
earth, a mighty Trumpet sound would be heard -- not once but twice -- and the
people of the world would behold the Face of God Himself.
The Trumpet sound means the Call of God. The Call of God has
already been raised twice in this age foretold by Muhammad. The Báb appeared
exactly one thousand years after the revelation of Islam. Almost immediately
after Him, Baha’u’llah declared His Mission. Was it not the Báb Who called men to
God and reminded them of God's great Promise? And was it not Baha’u’llah Who raised up the cry a second time
immediately after the Báb, calling upon the children of God to behold His Face?
The Báb
'Báb' means 'Gate?!
The Báb was the Gate to a new Kingdom -- the Kingdom of God on earth.
The Báb was very young when He told people about the Message
which God had given Him. He was only twenty-five years old. A beautiful city in
the south of Iran, called Shiraz, was the birthplace of the Báb. The people of
Iran were Muhammadans, so He was given a name that was much used in that country.
He was called Ali Muhammad, and was a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad
Himself. The Báb's father died soon after His birth, so He was placed under the
care of His maternal uncle. As a child He was sent to a teacher who taught the
Qur'an and elementary subjects. But from His early childhood, the Báb was
different from other children. He was always asking difficult questions and
then giving the answers Himself in a way that astonished His elders. Often when
other children were busy at play, He would be found wrapped in prayer under the
shade of a tree or in some other quiet spot.
Later, when the Báb revealed His reality as a Manifestation of
God, both His uncle and His teacher believed in Him because they had known Him
since His childhood, and seen the difference between Him and other children.
His uncle even died as a martyr for the Cause of God revealed through his
Nephew, the Báb.
Before the Báb declared His Mission as a Messenger of God, there
were two famous teachers who said that according to the Qur'an and the holy
traditions, the Promised One of Islam would soon appear. These two teachers
were Sheikh Ahmad and his chief disciple Siyyid Kazim. Because they were holy men
and very learned, many people believed what they said and prepared themselves
to receive the Promised One.
When Siyyid Kazim died, his followers scattered in different
directions to find the Promised One. A number of them, under the leadership of
a pious and learned young man, called Mulla Husayn; spent 40 days in prayer and
fasting, and then took the road to Shiraz.
Their prayers were answered. Near the gate of Shiraz, Mulla Husayn
met a radiant young man who had come out to receive him. This young man was
none other than the Báb Himself.
He invited Mulla Husayn to His house and there, on the 23rd
of May 1844, the Báb declared Himself as the Promised One.
Mulla Husayn's heart had been drawn towards the Báb from the
minute his eyes rested, on Him outside the gate of Shiraz, but now that his
Host made His great announcement, he asked for some proof by which he could
know Him as the promised One. The Báb said that no proof was greater than
divine verses revealed by a Manifestation of God. Then, taking up His pen and
paper, He wrote down His first sacred Writing. Though He had not attended any
school except for a brief period in His childhood, the Báb, like all the other Manifestations,
was endowed with a deep knowledge which was a gift of God. He wrote with great
speed and, as He wrote, He chanted the verses in a heavenly, mild voice. Mulla
Husayn needed no further proof. With tears in his eyes, he prostrated himself
before the Manifestation of God.
Mulla Husayn was the Báb's first disciple. The Báb gave him
the title of Bábu'l-Báb which ,means gate of Gate. That night was the beginning
of a new era. The Baha'i calendar starts from that year.
It was not long before many people came to believe in the Báb.
Some met Him, some read His holy Writings while others recognized Him through
dreams and visions.
The Manifestation of God is like the sun. When the sun rises,
everybody sees it except those who are fast asleep. Even the sleeping ones must
sooner or later come to know that the sun is shining.
The Message of the Báb was first given to the people of
Iran. But the Muslims of other countries did not yet know that their Promised
One had come. Therefore when thousands of Muslims from all countries gathered
in Mecca for pilgrimage, the Báb journeyed to this holiest spot of Islam to
tell them that the object of their adoration had come and that He was their
Promised One. Nobody listened to Him; but
the Báb had completed His announcement.
When the Báb returned to His native land, He was met by a
group of soldiers who had come to arrest Him because the fanatical Mullas did
not want the new Faith to spread. These Mullas made every effort to put out the
Light of God which was burning in the breast of the Blessed Báb. From that day
the Báb had to undergo many hardships.
His short but brilliant life was mostly spent in prison
after He had made His Declaration. Twice He was sent to prisons built on very
cold and forbidding mountains. But no chains or prisons could ever prevent the
Call of God from spreading. When the Báb was ni prison, His faithful followers spread His Message throughout the
country, and during that brief time thousands of people gave their lives for
His Cause.
The Báb was still young, about 31 years of age, when they decided
to kill Him. The Báb knew that He would be martyred in the path of God. He was
glad to give His life so that the people of the world might come to understand
the purpose of their lives and turn to God and His eternal kingdom.
The day of His martyrdom was the 9th of July, 1850. In the
morning, the officer who was in charge of the Báb's execution came to Him in
the prison. The Báb was talking to one of His followers who was writing down
His last instructions. The officer told Him that the time had come for His
execution and soldiers were ready in the city square to carry out their orders.
The Báb said that He had to finish His conversation with His disciple, but the officer
laughed and said that a prisoner could not choose to do as he wished. As the Báb
was being taken away, He said that no power on earth could harm Him until He
had completed His Mission in this world, and had finished what He intended to
say. The officer paid no attention and took the Báb to the public square. At
this time, one of the disciples of the Báb, a young man named Muhammed Ali
Zunuzi, rushed forward and, throwing himself at the feet of his beloved Master,
begged to be permitted to die with Him. The officer tried to push him away but
Muhammad Ali Zunuzi wept and entreated so much that he was obliged to take him
also.
In the square where the soldiers were waiting to shoot the
Báb, a great crowd had gathered. They all watched while the Báb and His young disciple
were tied in such a way that the head of the disciple rested on the chest of
his Beloved. Then came the great moment. Drums were beaten, trumpets were sounded.
And as the sound of the trumpets died away, the terrible order was heard: "Fire."
Hundreds of soldiers who had taken aim, fired their guns. A
huge cloud of smoke spread through the whole place. The smell of gun-powder
filled the air. After some time when the smoke cleared, there came a great
surprise. There was no trace of the Báb, while His faithful disciple was
standing there unharmed. No one hew what to think. Many people said that a
miracle had happened and the Báb had gone up to heaven. The firing squad and
their commander had never seen such an extraordinary thing happen before. Officers
were sent in every direction to search for the Báb. The same officer who had
brought the Báb from the prison cell now found aim sitting calmly at the same
place, finishing His conversation which had been rudely interrupted. The Báb
turned to the officer and smiled saying that His Mission on earth was now
completed, and that He was ready to sacrifice His life to the truth of His
Mission.
The Báb was once more taken in to the square, but the
commander of the firing squad refused to have anything to do with His
execution. He took his soldiers out of the square and swore that nothing would
make him take the life of such an innocent and saintly youth. Another company
of soldiers was found to carry out the execution, and this time hundreds of
bullets riddled the bodies of the Báb and His faithful disciple. His beautiful
face, which was not scattered by the bullets, still bore a lovely smile -
showing the peace and happiness of One who had given His life to proclaim the beginning
of a new era for mankind.
The Báb was a great Manifestation of God. In all His Writings
He said that the main purpose of His coming was to give the glad-tidings that
very soon the Promised One of all ages would appear. He warned His followers to
beware lest they failed to recognize "Him Whom God shall make manifest."
He said that they should lady
aside everything else and follow
Him as soon as they heard His Message.
The Báb wrote many payers beseeching God that His own life might be accepted as a
sacrifice to the Beloved of His heart, the One "Whom God shall make manifest." He even referred in
His Writings to the Order of Baha’u’llah, and said: "Well is it with him who follows Baha’u’llah."
The Báb's prayers were answered and His promise was fulfilled.
Nineteen years after His Mission, Baha’u’llah openly declared that He was the
Promised One Whose coming had been foretold by all the Manifestations of God in
past ages.
Bahá’u’lláh
On April 21st 1863, Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed to the world that
"The Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the
Purpose and Promise of all Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire of
His Messengers, hath now.. been revealed unto men.", When Bahá’u’lláh made
this wonderful announcement, He was a prisoner at the hands of two powerful
monarchs, and He was being exiled to Acre, "the most desolate of
lands."
About 46 years before this announcement, Bahá’u’lláh was
born in the house of a distinguished Minister of the royal court of Iran. From
the days of His childhood everybody could notice that Bahá’u’lláh was different
from other children, but no one actually knew that this wonderful Boy was soon to
change the whole destiny of mankind.
When He was 14 years old, Bahá’u’lláh was already famous in
the court for His learning and wisdom. He was 22 years of age when His father
died. The government wished Him to take over the position His father had
occupied. They thought this gifted young man would make a very good minister,
but Bahá’u’lláh had no intention of wasting His time in the management of
worldly affairs. Being a man of God, He took no interest in the royal life
which was offered Him. He left the court
and its ministers to follow the path set for Him by the Almighty.
When the Báb declared His Mission, Bahá’u’lláh was 27 years
old. He immediately accepted the Báb as the Manifestation of God and soon
became one of His most powerful and famous followers.
At the time when the Government and fanatical Mullas persecuted
the followers of the Báb, Baha’u’llah was not spared in any way. He was twice
imprisoned, and once He was beaten so severely with whips, and canes that the
soles of His feet started bleeding.
Nine years after the Báb's Declaration, Bahá’u’lláh was
thrown into a dark dungeon. This was a terrible underground room which had no
window or other opening except the door through which they entered. In this dungeon Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned with about 150 murderers, highway robbers
and other such criminals. The chains that were put round His neck were so heavy that He could not lift up
His head. Here Bahá’u’lláh spent four terrible months of suffering, yet it was
in this same dungeon that the Glory of God filled His soul. He writes that one
night in a dream He heard the following words vibrating from all sides.
"Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and
by Thy Pen."
Bahá’u’lláh endured all these hardships for our sake and for
the sake of generations to come. He bore chains round His blessed neck in order
to free us from the chains and fetters of prejudice, bigotry and enmity.
At last Bahá’u’lláh and His family were, deprived of all their
ancestral riches and ordered to leave the country. They were exiled to Baghdad
in the bitter cold of winter. The road lay along mountainous parts of Iran
where thick snow and ice covered the ground. Bahá’u’lláh, His wife and young children
had to walk hundreds of miles to their destination and the fact that they did
not have proper clothing made the journey even more difficult to endure. At
last they reached Baghdad but Bahá’u’lláh's sufferings did not come to an end in
that city. However, had Bahá’u’lláh been afraid of hardships and difficulties,
He could have enjoyed a luxurious life in the court of the king of Iran. He was
prepared to endure any amount
of suffering in the path of God.
The fame of Bahá’u’lláh soon spread throughout Baghdad and
other cities of Iraq, and many people came to the door of this exiled Prisoner to receive His
blessings. The followers of the
Báb gathered round Him from different parts of Iran and Iraq seeking guidance and inspiration.
But there were some
who became jealous of His fame. Among them was His own brother Yahya, who was living under Bahá’u’lláh’s loving care and guidance. Yahya
thought that, because he was
respected by the followers of the Báb, he might be accepted as their leader if he should denounce Bahá’u’lláh. He did
not realize that by turning against the Manifestation of God, he was bringing about his own doom. For when a Manifestation appears, only those
who accept His servitude can
hope for true greatness. Even His closest relatives are no exception, because a Manifestation
of God stands apart from all
other human beings and has a station which no one else can share. All the past Manifestations have had brothers and sisters or other relatives, but
even their names have now been
forgotten.
Yahya's plotting caused disunity among the followers of the
Báb and this made Bahá’u’lláh very sad. One night without telling anybody, He
left His home and went into the mountains of Kurdistan. He spent two years of
secluded life in these mountains giving all His time to prayer and meditation.
He stayed in a small cave and lived on very simple food. Nobody knew His name.
Nobody knew where He had come from. But soon, like a moon in a dark night, His
light shed over all Kurdistan and everybody heard of the "Nameless
One". All this time His family and friends in Baghdad who were heartbroken
by His departure did not know where He was. Then they too heard about the
"Nameless One", the great Saint who was known to have inherent knowledge
bestowed upon Him by God. Bahá’u’lláh’s son, 'Abdu'l-Baha, immediately knew
that this could be no one but His beloved Father. He sent letters and a special
messenger entreating Him to return because not only His own family but all the
followers of the Báb were suffering from His absence.
Thus, after spending two years in prayer and meditation, Bahá’u’lláh returned to Baghdad and with Him returned the joy of all the Báb's
followers.
The only people who were angry about His return were the
fanatical Mullas and His treacherous and jealous brother Yahya. The Mullas did
not want Bahá’u’lláh to stay in Baghdad because He was too close to certain
sacred places belonging to the Muslims, and pilgrims who came to visit these
places were often attracted by Bahá’u’lláh’s charm and personality. These
Mullas kept on complaining until the
Government of Iran joined hands with the authorities of the Turkish Empire to
remove Baha’u’llah to a more distant place - Istanbul.
The same thing happened in Istanbul which was the seat of
the Muslim Caliphs. Bahá’u’lláh's great wisdom and personal charm attracted many
people. "He must not stay in Istanbul any longer", said the fanatical
Mullas, so once more He was sent to a smaller town – Adrianople. From there He
was again exiled, but this time to Acre in the Holy Land, which was then a
special penal colony reserved for murderers, thieves and highway robbers
undergoing life imprisonment. It was a terrible place and for the first few
days after their arrival even water was denied to Bahá’u’lláh, His family and
friends.
The hardships and sufferings of Bahá’u’lláh in Acre are too
many to describe. In the beginning He was imprisoned in a lonely cell where
even His children were not permitted to see Him. He lacked every means of
comfort, and was surrounded by enemies day and night. Yet it was from Acre that
He sent His famous letters to the most powerful kings and rulers of His day,
calling upon them to listen to the Message of God and obey the Commandments of
the King of kings. No one but a Manifestation of God could dare to address
those who had imprisoned Him as a king addresses his vassals.
Bahá’u’lláh raised the banner of universal peace and
brotherhood from His prison walls and though the powers of the world combined
their forces against Him, He was victorious over them all as God had promised
Him in His dream. The Message of Bahá’u’lláh influenced the hearts of thousands
of people and many of them gave their lives for His Cause. Through the power of
the Word of God and the sacrifices of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh, now
hundreds of thousands of people who were once divided under various names have become
like members of one family.
Although Bahá’u’lláh was sent to Acre as a prisoner for life,
He chose to leave that fortress city nine years after His arrival. By this
time, His great personal charm had made such friends of all those around Him - even
His hard-hearted jailor - that no one objected to His leaving His prison. Bahá’u’lláh spent the remaining years of His life in a place outside the city of Acre where
He passed away to His heavenly Kingdom on May 29th, 1892.
The Message of Bahá’u’lláh spread to different parts of the world
from the Holy Land as had been foretold in the sacred Books of the past. In
Buddhist scriptures the Holy Land is referred to as a Paradise in the West, the
Seat of the Promised One - Amitabha. To the Jews it is "The Promised
Land" from where the Law of God will once more go out into the world. The
Christians and Muslims too have wonderful prophecies about this sacred country
which has been their Holy Land for many centuries. Since the time when Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to Acre the Holy Land of the religions of the past has become the World
Centre of the Baha’i Faith.
Bahá’u’lláh is that Great Manifestation of God Whose coming
all the Manifestations of the past have foretold. The divine religions of all
ages lead to the same direction and teach the same goal - the Baha’i Faith.
They are like many rivers that flow into the ocean. Each river irrigates
thousands of acres of land, but no single river is, by itself, as vast and powerful
as the mighty ocean because the ocean is the meeting place of all these rivers.
In the Baha’i community followers of all religions have come together and
become united. Eventhough they are from the four corners of the earth, they
have now joined hands in one great Brotherhood, one common Faith.
The waters of different Rivers merge into one indeed, when
they pour into the Mighty Ocean!
(Hushmand Fathe’azam, ‘The New Garden’)