Fasting - DETACHMENT, LOVE

The Fast

(click here to view the video "The Baha'i Fast - 51 Reasons Why")

51 "reasons" are given (the last perhaps the best). But actually there is only a single reason in the world to fast (the rest is Grace): love for the Manifestation -
"Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty." (Baha'u'llah)
http://bahai.org/article-1-4-0-3.html

Say: O people of the world! We have enjoined upon you fasting during a brief period, and at its close have designated for you Naw-Ruz as a feast...The traveller, the ailing, those who are with child or giving suck, are not bound by the Fast; they have been exempted by God as a token of His grace. He, verily, is the Almighty, the Most Generous...Abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sundown, and beware lest desire deprive you of this grace that is appointed in the Book.

- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book) http://tinyurl.com/aopx52

(Naw-Ruz is the Baha'i New Year which falls on the spring equinox, usually 21 March)

Shadow theatre - CREATIVITY, ORGANIZATION

 

In Mongolia, shadow theater delights performers and audiences alike.

© 2008 Bahá'í International Community

The POWER of a small gathering of consecrated souls - UNITY

Posted by Phillipe Copeland

Celebration and Deliberation

 
The Universal House of Justice has called on the Baha'is of the world to convene 41 conferences to celebrate our achievements in this latest stage of the process of social salvation, as well as deliberate on the work yet to be done. The stories coming from those conferences already held in places such as Ecuador and the Democratic Republic of Congo are deeply inspiring. Starting this weekend, the American Baha'is will get their turn with conferences in Portland, Chicago, and Atlanta. The following weekend there will be conferences in Stamford, Los Angeles, and Dallas. Over 12,000 people have already registered for these conferences, with over 1,000 of those anticipated at the Stamford conference which I'll be attending with my family. I'm reminded of the words of 'Abdu'l-Baha:

"Look ye not upon the fewness of thy numbers, rather, seek ye out hearts that are pure. One consecrated soul is preferable to a thousand other souls. If a small number of people gather lovingly together, with absolute purity and sanctity, with their hearts free of the world, experiencing the emotions of the Kingdom and the powerful magnetic forces of the Divine, and being at one in their happy fellowship, that gathering will exert its influence over all the earth. The nature of that band of people, the words they speak, the deeds they do, will unleash the bestowals of Heaven, and provide a foretaste of eternal bliss. The hosts of the Company on high will defend them, and the angels of the Abha Paradise, in continuous succession, will come down to their aid."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 80)

If a small number of people can produce such powerful effects, imagine what a large number of people can do! I know many of the readers of Baha'i Thought reside in the northeastern part of the U.S. and I hope to see you all at the Stamford conference. There is something powerful happening through this deceptively simple act of getting Baha'is together in obedience to the Universal House of Justice. Let's find out together what that is.