June 20, 2015

Lawh-i-Ru’yá’ (Tablet of the Vision) - by Bahá’u’lláh

--provisional translation by Stephen Lambden

In My Name, that warbleth upon the Twigs!

O My Name! Hearken unto My Call which cometh from the precincts of the heavenly Throne that it might enable thee to attain unto the shore of an opulent Ocean; the fathomless deep of which no seeker hath ever attained. And Thy Lord is assuredly One Knowing and Generous. 

We indeed desired to cast Our Bounty upon thee by making mention of that which We visioned. This to the end that thou mayest witness the Luminous World in this nether world of darkness and be firmly assured that for Us there is many a world within this mortal world. Then render thanks unto Thy Lord, the Well-Informed. And if He desired that He might cause the rays of the Sun to appear from a tiny atom or disclose the waves of the ocean from a mere droplet, He is assuredly capable of this; even as He hath enabled the knowledge of what was and what is to emerge from a single Point!

We were enthroned upon the heavenly Throne when there entered a Luminous Maiden clad in a beauteous, snow white robe. Even as the full moon did her brilliant morning light dawn forth from the horizon of heaven. Exalted be God, her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

When she untied her face covering veil, the heavens and the earth beamed forth; Pre-Existent Being, by virtue of her Radiant Lights, disclosed theophanic splendor thereon. Exalted be God, her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

Then she smiled and bent obliquely, like the stem of a balsam plant before the gaze of the All-Merciful. Exalted be He Who Manifested her for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

Then did she move about and circumambulate with neither intention nor desire on her own part but as if the needle of her yearning were attracted by the magnetic intensity of the Beauty which beamed forth before her Countenance. Exalted be her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

When she walked forth the Divine Glory attended her whilst the Kingdom of Beauty heralded her from behind. This on account of the wonder of her comeliness, her amorous ways and the perfect symmetry of her form. Exalted be her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

Then We discovered her jetblack locks cascading over the length of her snow-white neck as if night and noontime embraced in this most beauteous locale and most elevated goal. Exalted be her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

We investigated the depth of her Countenance and discovered the Hidden Point neath the Veil of Unicity, radiating forth from the horizon of her Bosom. Through it were the Tablets of the Love of the All-Merciful differentiated in the continent world as well as the registers of the enraptured lovers in the Horizons. Exalted be her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

And the circumstance of that Point was narrated by the Subsequent Point situated above and to the right-hand of side her Breast. Exalted be the Lord of the Hidden and Manifest who created her!

Then did the Temple of God rise up and walk forth whereon the Maiden also didst walk along behind, listening, trembling and enraptured at the verses of her Lord. Exalted be He Who created her, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

Then were the joy, rapture, and yearning of the Maiden multiplied to the extent that she was transformed and swooned away. When she recovered from her swoon she drew nigh said: ‘May my soul be a sacrifice for thine incarceration, O Mystery of the Unseen in the Kingdom of Existence.’ Exalted be her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

Then did she gaze toward the Orient Light of the Throne even as one in a state of intoxication and mystical bewilderment; until that is, she set her hand upon the neck of her Lord and drew Him nigh in unity. When the Maiden drew nigh, We also drew nigh and found with her that which was sent down by Our Exalted Pen in the treasured Crimson Scroll. Exalted be her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

Then did the Maiden bow her head and place her Countenance upon her two fingers. It was as if the new Moon were conjoined with an wholly full Moon. Exalted be her Originator, for no eye hath ever beheld anything like unto her!

Thereupon she wailed and exclaimed: ‘May the world and all that is therein be a ransom for Thy woes. O Sovereign of heaven and earth! Wherefore hast Thou left Thyself in the hands of the dwellers of this prison-city of ‘Akká? Hasten Thou to other dominions, to Thy retreats above, whereon the eyes of the people of names have never fallen.’ We smiled and spake not. [1]

Consider ye this most exquisite commemoration and what We have intended by the most secreted mystery, a matter evident yet most hidden, O ye possessors of knowledge among the companions of the Crimson Ark.

This commemoration hath coincided with the day in which the Herald was born who cried out after My Remembrance and Our Sovereignty. He announced unto the people the tidings of My Will, the ocean of My Intention and of the Sun of My Theophany. We honoured Him with another Day in which the Hidden Unseen, the Treasured Mystery and the Well-Guarded Symbol hath been manifested. The One, that is, through Whom the dwellers of the Kingdom of Names were disarrayed and whomsoever were on earth and in heaven were thunderstruck; save that is, such as We safeguarded through a Sovereignty and a Power which cometh from Us. I, verily, am One Powerful to accomplish whatsoever He willeth. No God is there except Me, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. Blessed be whomsoever hath caught the fragrance of God in this Day, which is the Dawning-Place of the Theophany, the Orient of My Name, the Forgiving. Thereon hath the Breath wafted, the Breeze come forth and the ecstasy of the Theophany entranced all such as are lie in the graves. [On that Day] Mount Sinai crieth out saying. ‘The Kingdom is God’s, the Powerful, the Transcendent, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.’ This Day every seeker attaineth the Desired One, every mystic aspirant achieveth Real Gnosis and every wayfarer reacheth the Straight Path. 

Praised be unto Thee, O my God. May Thy lovers be blessed in such wise that Thou send down upon them from the heaven of Thy Bounty, that which will enable them to be detatched from all that is other than Thee. Do Thou orient them in the direction of that Horizon from which beameth forth the Sun of Thy Bounty. Empower them, O my God, with what will benefit them in both this world and the world to come. Thou in Truth art the Powerful, the Transcendent, the Benefactor, the One Who Giveth Forth, the Wealthy, the Generous. 

- Baha’u’llah (English source: Irfán Colloquium session #22 (English) London, England, August 27–29, 1999)

Notes
[1] The provisionally translated paragraph was replaced with the one quoted by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in ‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’