-- provisional translation by Foad Seddigh
[Please note: some portions of this Tablet have been translated by Shoghi Effendi. These are shown in italics]
In the name of
our Lord, the Exalted, the Most High!
These are the wondrous divine exhortations that have been uttered by the Tongue of Power in the sanctuary of grandeur, from the unapproachable sanctity of His mercy-seat, saying: ‟Incline thine inner ears to His call and deprive not yourselves of the admonishments of the Beloved.”
O banished and faithful friend! Quench the thirst of heedlessness with the sanctified waters of My grace, and chase the gloom of remoteness through the morning-light of My Divine presence. Suffer not the habitation wherein dwelleth My undying love for thee to be destroyed through the tyranny of covetous desires, and overcloud not the beauty of the heavenly Youth with the dust of self and passion. Clothe thyself with the essence of righteousness, and let thine heart be afraid of none except God. Obstruct not the luminous spring of thy soul with the thorns and brambles of vain and inordinate affections, and impede not the flow of the living waters that stream from the fountain of thine heart. Set all thy hope in God, and cleave tenaciously to His unfailing mercy. Who else but Him can enrich the destitute, and deliver the fallen from his abasement?
O My servants! Were ye to discover the hidden, the shoreless oceans of My incorruptible wealth, ye would, of a certainty, esteem as nothing the world, nay, the entire creation. Let the flame of search burn with such fierceness within your hearts as to enable you to attain your supreme and most exalted goal—the station at which ye can draw nigh unto, and be united with, your Best-Beloved.
O Ahmad! Bar not thyself from the surging seas of divine favour that are concealed from the eyes of men, and be not of those who stray from the clear and straight path. By the manifest light of His divine guidance, strive to attain a luminous vision by whose aid you will be lead to the sanctified and blessed spot in the Sinai of Revelation, whereby you may be illumined by the boundless effulgences of His light, and from the ceaseless Revelation of Divine Utterance, hearken to the soul-stirring call: “Look that thou mayest behold Me!”
The unseen Beauty in the temple of His Revelation saith: ‟O Ahmad! A breath from the fragrance of My sanctified rose-garden of the spirit has been wafted over the realm of creation, through whose influence all created things have been adorned with the Divine ornament of My Revelation. This is a mere sprinkling from the fathomless ocean of My loving-kindness that hath been bestowed upon the people of the world, causing them to become intoxicated with the holy wine of Divine utterance in the morning-tide of their creation, a mere droplet of which hath brought them forth out of utter nothingness into eternal existence.”
O Ahmad! Purify and sanctify thy vision that thou mayest become enabled to behold on every side the effulgences of the limitless light of My countenance; and purge thine inner ear from the defilement of blind imitation so that thou mayest hearken to the melodies of the Nightingale of Oneness and Divine Unity that hath appeared in the form of the human temple, singing its melodies on the eternal Twigs of holiness.
O Ahmad! Thine eye is My trust, suffer not the dust of vain desires and worldly affections to becloud its luster. Thine ear is a revelation of My bounty, let not the tumult of unseemly motives turn it away from My Word that encompasseth all creation. Thine heart is My treasury, allow not the treacherous hand of self to rob thee of the pearls which I have treasured therein. Thine hand is a symbol of My loving-kindness, hinder it not from holding fast unto My guarded and hidden Tablets.
Say: O My servants! The outpourings of My boundless mercy, from the heaven of My ancient favour, have rained down upon men the vernal showers of His manifold, divinely-inspired verses - this ever-flowing, life-giving stream. Therefore, with sanctified eyes, purified ears and complete constancy, rush ye forth towards this Divine mercy and imperishable grace.
Say: O My servants! Imprison not your soaring spirits within the narrow confines of your vain desires and corrupt affections, inasmuch as they may be likened to the vapor in the desert that appeareth to be water, but which, from time immemorial and forevermore, has proven itself unable to quench the thirst of those with parched lips. Avert your gaze from such a fleeting mirage and rush forth towards the source of My peerless, everlasting, crystalline, sweet-tasting, soul-reviving waters. Make ye a supreme effort to recognize the worth of this genuine Pearl of Great Price, and to distinguish it from every imitation. Were these pearls to be mixed and immersed in water, the counterfeit ones would certainly alter their appearance, proving themselves worthless, while the true pearls would gain in brilliance and luster! Strive, then, with all thy might, in this lofty endeavor so that thou mayest obtain the sanctified, Divine Pearl, which has been freely bestowed upon thee, in spite of thy undeserving. This act of true discernment, both now and in the future, is nothing but the recognition of the Manifestation of Myself. Such a discerning man will continue throughout all eternity to be granted the bestowal of eternal life, flowing from My loving-kindness, which is nothing but Our life-giving waters indeed.
O My servants! The Ancient Beauty saith: ‟Abandon the darkness of vain desires, remoteness from His bounties, and waywardness; then hasten forth to abide beneath the everlasting shadow of the Tree of His mercy and His Divine Presence.”
Be as resigned and submissive as the earth, that from the soil of your being there may blossom the fragrant, the holy and multicolored hyacinths of My knowledge. Be ablaze as the fire, that ye may burn away the veils of heedlessness and set aglow, through the quickening energies of the love of God, the chilled and wayward heart. Be light and untrammeled as the breeze, that ye may obtain admittance into the precincts of My court, My inviolable Sanctuary.
O My servants! Through the power born of your trust in God, abandon the city of idle fancies and doubts and enter the strongly fortified fortress of certitude. Be ye not despondent when visited by the adversities of life through reliance on My all-embracing grace and pervasive loving-kindness, a grace through which I have brought the entire creation into the realm of being from utter nothingness through My favour and bounty.
Unasked, I have showered upon thee My grace; un-petitioned, I have fulfilled thy wish. In spite of thy undeserving, I have singled thee out for My richest, My incalculable favors.
Ye are, one and all, the trees that I have planted in the blessed realm of My holy paradise, by the hand of divine favor and trained with the outpourings of My unfading mercy; and, through the watchful care of My guardian angels, have I protected them from the vicissitudes and menacing dangers of this mortal world. Thus be ye not neglectful of the One who sowed the seeds of your being, and who protected and trained you. Do not prefer others over Him, lest the withering blasts blow over you and deprive you of the wondrous leaves, heavenly fruits, lofty twigs and tender branches of My favor. Hearken ye unto My Words of Wisdom from My past Revelation, which I addressed to the Son of Mary: ‟The lord of an orchard will not allow a dried-up tree to remain in his garden. He, most certainly, will cut it down and throw it into the fire, inasmuch as a dead tree is fit only for the fire.” Therefore, O trees of the sanctified paradise of My loving-kindness! Protect yourselves from the poisonous breath of malignant souls and the contrary winds which cause the plants of the spirit to perish: by this I mean nothing other than association with those perverse ones who have strayed far from His court of holiness. By observing My counsel, the tender trees of existence may not be deprived from the holy and sweet savors of the All-Merciful and that spiritual association which exists through the bounty of God. In this wise, will they remain evermore refreshed and revived in the sanctified paradise of the one true God.
O My servants! Let not your vain hopes and idle fancies sap the foundations of your belief in the All-Glorious God, inasmuch as such imaginings have been wholly unprofitable unto men, and failed to direct their steps unto the straight Path.
Think ye, O My servants, that the Hand of My all-encompassing, My overshadowing, and transcendent sovereignty is chained up, that the flow of Mine ancient, My ceaseless, and all-pervasive mercy is checked, or that the clouds of My sublime and unsurpassed favors have ceased to rain their gifts upon men? Can ye imagine that the wondrous works that have proclaimed My divine and resistless power are withdrawn, or that the potency of My will and purpose hath been deterred from directing the destinies of mankind? If it be not so, wherefore, then, have ye striven to prevent the deathless Beauty of My sacred and gracious Countenance from being unveiled to men’s eyes? Why have ye struggled to hinder the Manifestation of the Almighty and All-Glorious Being from shedding the radiance of His Revelation upon the earth? Were ye to be fair in your judgment, ye would readily recognize how the realities of all created things are inebriated with the joy of this new and wondrous Revelation, how all the atoms of the earth have been illuminated through the brightness of its glory. Vain and wretched is that which ye have imagined and still imagine!
Retrace your steps, O My servants, and incline your hearts to Him Who is the Source of your creation. Deliver yourselves from your evil and corrupt affections, and hasten to embrace the light of the undying Fire that gloweth on the Sinai of this mysterious and transcendent Revelation. Corrupt not the holy, the all-embracing, and primal Word of God, and seek not to profane its sanctity or to debase its exalted character.
O heedless ones! Though the wonders of My mercy have encompassed all created things, both visible and invisible, and though the revelations of My grace and bounty have permeated every atom of the universe, yet the rod with which I can chastise the wicked is grievous, and the fierceness of Mine anger against them terrible. With ears that are sanctified from vain-glory and worldly desires hearken unto the counsels which I, in My merciful kindness, have revealed unto you, and with your inner and outer eyes contemplate the evidences of My marvelous Revelation.
Take ye your portion from the onrushing waters of the ocean of My mercy, compared to whose significance all other oceans are but a drop; and deprive not yourselves of My sweet and life-giving waters which are flowing from this Source of Holiness. I swear by My unseen Essence! Should you ponder these words in your heart, even less than the extent of an atom’s measure, you would rush forth with the full-fervor of your hearts towards the Sinai of the Spirit. Assisted by your penetrating vision, ye would attain the sanctified, illumined, crystal-clear source of My life-giving waters, and therein would ye hearken to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking from out of the sacred Tree planted within your luminous hearts. In no wise would ye fail in this endeavor.
O Ahmad! Abandon your bondage to blind imitation and walk in the sanctified garden of detachment and the noble paradise of the Unity of God.
Say: O My servants! I have flung open the portals of My mercy to the faces of the inhabitants of heaven and earth; bar them not with the hands of tyranny and waywardness, and attempt not to sever the lofty tree of My loving-kindness with oppression and inequity. Verily I say: ‟Your heart is the treasury of My priceless and inaccessible gems; replace it not with a storehouse of worthless ornaments of clay - your affection for the affairs of the nether world. Your heart is the place intended for the hyacinth of My love; defile it not with the thick dust of enmity. My noble traits must needs be acquired to enable you to enter My lofty kingdom and sanctified dominion. The knowledge of all things is contained in My perspicuous Book and My weighty and indisputable Scriptures; a pure and sanctified eye and an illumined and stainless heart are needed to behold My wondrous, innate and Divinely gifted wisdom.”
O My servants! The animating purpose for revealing the consummate Wisdom, the all-encompassing and sweet-smelling Words wafting from My celestial Tablets is the elevation of susceptible souls to the noble heavens of Divine Unity. Otherwise, My Beauteous Countenance is sanctified from the gaze of those who have attained the knowledge of God, and My grandeur is far removed from the comprehension of accomplished minds. Observe the appearance of the sun in the horizon shedding its profuse and resplendent rays. Should all the people of the world, whether they be clear-sighted or blind, either exaggerate their description of its qualities or fall short of the reality, both descriptions, whether they confirm or deny, approve or disapprove, praise or find fault, return to their owners. Despite their descriptions, the sun appeareth in the heavens and continues to shed its radiance, and to bestow its bounties and illumination, without regard for the perceptions of the people or the changes and chances of the world. Likewise, should you examine a lamp standing before you, as it sheds its light in a pitch-black night, would it either increase or diminish its brilliance were you to laud its virtues or belittle it by the attribution of blameworthy qualities? Nay, I testify by Him who holds my soul in the palm of His hand! As you have previously noted both denial and affirmation do in no wise affect the manner in which the lamp bestows its light. It follows, therefore, that all praise and blame return to those who have expressed them.
O My servants! Deprive not yourselves of the unfading and resplendent Light that shineth within the Lamp of Divine glory. Let the flame of the love of God burn brightly within your radiant hearts. Feed it with the oil of Divine guidance, and protect it within the shelter of your constancy. Guard it within the globe of trust and detachment from all else but God, so that the evil whisperings of the ungodly may not extinguish its light.
O My servants! My holy, My divinely ordained Revelation may be likened unto an ocean in whose depths are concealed innumerable pearls of great price, of surpassing luster. It is the duty of every seeker to bestir himself and strive to attain the shores of this ocean, so that he may, in proportion to the eagerness of his search and the efforts he hath exerted, partake of such benefits as have been pre-ordained in God’s irrevocable and hidden Tablets. If no one be willing to direct his steps towards its shores, if every one should fail to arise and find Him, can such a failure be said to have robbed this ocean of its power or to have lessened, to any degree, its treasures? How vain, how contemptible, are the imaginations which your hearts have devised, and are still devising!
O My servants! The one true God is My
witness! This most great, this fathomless and surging Ocean is near,
astonishingly near, unto you. Behold it is closer to you than your life-vein!
Swift as the twinkling of an eye ye can, if ye but wish it, reach and partake
of this imperishable favor, this God-given grace, this incorruptible gift, this
most potent and unspeakably glorious bounty.
O My servants! Could ye apprehend with what wonders of My munificence and bounty I have willed to entrust your souls, ye would, of a truth, rid yourselves of attachment to all created things, and would gain a true knowledge of your own selves—a knowledge which is the same as the comprehension of Mine own Being. Ye would find yourselves independent of all else but Me, and would perceive, with your inner and outer eye, and as manifest as the revelation of My effulgent Name, the seas of My loving-kindness and bounty moving within you. Suffer not your idle fancies, your evil passions, your insincerity and blindness of heart to dim the luster, or stain the sanctity, of so lofty a station. Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust. Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My divine knowledge.
O My servants! Through the might of God and His power, and out of the treasury of His knowledge and wisdom, I have brought forth and revealed unto you the pearls that lay concealed in the depths of His everlasting ocean. I have summoned the Maids of Heaven to emerge from behind the veil of concealment, and have clothed them with these words of Mine - words of consummate power and wisdom. I have, moreover, with the hand of divine power, unsealed the choice wine of My Revelation, and have wafted its holy, its hidden, and musk-laden fragrance upon all created things. Who else but yourselves is to be blamed if ye choose to remain unendowed with so great an outpouring of God’s transcendent and all-encompassing grace, with so bright a revelation of His resplendent mercy?
O people of the Bayan! Strive to comprehend the purpose of your creation inasmuch as ye are the gems concealed in the heart of God’s lofty mountains and the pearls of the Ocean of the favors of His Divine Unity. And this, despite the fact that others, not from amongst you, have gathered under the shadow of your light and because of this receive bounties and sustenance. For example, imagine a fertile field that the husbandman intends to water and cultivate. Now, it often happens that the worthless stones lying in the field also receive the water that is not intended for them. Therefore, the purpose of the favors of the All-Bountiful One in revealing His verses is to benefit the field of the hearts of His loved ones, which is the fertile soil intended for the cultivation of His knowledge and wisdom. Others from among His enemies and the negligent ones may be likened to the abandoned stones in the field which nevertheless receive the sprinkling of His bounties and the droplets from His heavenly outpourings in like manner as the fertile soil.
O people of the Bayan! It behooveth you to be conscious of the lofty and exalted station that is destined for you. Neglect not your spiritual heritage and abandon not the One True God. Deviate not from watching over the Cause of God, and strive mightily that ye weigh not the Divine Verses with those deriving from mere mortal men.
O My servants! If you are sharp of sight, then enter the city reserved for those who have eyes to behold Him; and if you claim to possess a hearing ear, then direct your steps towards the city which is reserved for those who have inclined their ears to His call; and if you possess a heart keen to perceive, then make your dwelling-place the fortified sanctuary of those who without a shadow of a doubt apprehend and believe His truth; perchance you will not be deprived from beholding the glorious effusions of the light of His countenance in these dark days. What hath been said should be considered in light of the fact that this is the year of grievous trials and mighty tests.
O My servants! Strive to inscribe these spiritual counsels on the tablet of your heart with the pen of submission and the ink of recognition and certitude, and at every moment fix your gaze on His utterances, lest ye stray from a single letter of His Words; and strive mightily to accept Him and believe in the One True God and turn away from all else besides Him. That which hath been revealed lies firmly fixed at the root of the sacred tree, from which the leaves of His command have sprung forth.
O My servants! There shineth nothing else in Mine heart except the unfading light of the Morn of Divine guidance, and out of My mouth proceedeth naught but the essence of truth, which the Lord your God hath revealed. Follow not, therefore, your earthly desires, and violate not the Covenant of God, nor break your pledge to Him. With firm determination, with the whole affection of your heart, and with the full force of your words, turn ye unto Him, and walk not in the ways of the foolish. The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot “fatten nor appease his hunger.”
O My servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain.
Were ye to put away the perishable garment of worldly affairs and don the incorruptible robe of His love, then would ye be enabled to enter the Divine glory of His paradise, which is the abode of eternal and sanctified spirits. Were ye to emerge from the obscuring dust of utter nothingness, then ye would recognize that all things declare the evidences of your existence. Be not despondent due to the adversities ye may encounter during the numbered days of your life, and, in the path of your beloved, be not dismayed by the declining powers of the temple of your body. Because reconstruction follows destruction, and within earthly woes a paradise of comfort lies hidden.
O My servants! Were ye to taste the sanctified waters of His grace, ye must needs search nowhere else but His pure and holy spring; and were ye to seek to partake of the exalted fruits of the paradise of Divine Unity, ye must certainly garner them from the Sacred Tree planted by the Hand of God. Despite thy yearning for the pleasant, heavenly Water of submission to His Will and the sanctified, crystal-clear Water of honor, ye will not find them in a dry and salty land. Likewise, ye will be incapable of ever perceiving delicate and lofty fruits on a dried-up tree.
O ye seekers of the cup of Divine intoxication! My holy and resplendent Beauty hath cast away the veil of ‟Thou shall never behold Me,” and addresses you from the Holy Tree in the Paran of Divine Sanctity: ‟ Deprive not your heart and soul, and hasten forth to the Dawning Place of the light of His countenance.” Thus doth the Divine Speaker counsel you that perchance your steps may be directed toward God’s spiritual dominion.
(Source: Baha’i Library Online)