Issue No. 6 July-August 1925:
To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful, the delegates and visitors to the Baha’i Convention, Green Acre, Maine, U.S.A.
To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful, the delegates and visitors to the Baha’i Convention, Green Acre, Maine, U.S.A.
Fellow-Laborers in the Vineyard of God:
Once again the hand of divine power has gathered together
the chosen representatives of the American believers, assembled this time amid
the pleasant surroundings of a blest and beloved spot, to deliberate upon the
most effective measures that will ensure the advancement of the Cause of
Baha’u’llah. I feel it a pleasure and privilege to offer you these few thoughts
as my humble contribution to the proceedings of your annual Convention.
May I at the outset reaffirm my feelings of gratitude and
keen appreciation for the eminent share which the friends in America,
individually as well as by their collective efforts, have contributed to ease
the burden of responsibility and care that has so often oppressed my heart.
Your steadfastness, your unsparing devotion; your self-sacrifice in upholding
and fostering the institutions of the Cause; the notable advance you have
achieved in the coordination of your activities; the remarkable solicitude you
have shown, and the magnificent response you have made on behalf of the
oppressed and needy among your brethren; the measures you have initiated, the
hindrances you have removed and the means and methods you have perfected --
these and others beside have established you in the confidence, the esteem and
the admiration of all the Baha’i world. I personally appreciate and am thankful
for your unfailing supplications and special prayers on my behalf. I am deeply
touched by your expressions of unwavering faith, of loyalty and affection, and
fully reciprocate your brotherly sentiments and your keen desire and readiness
to collaborate with me more closely and effectively than ever before.
And now regarding this forthcoming Convention, I feel that
the dominating purpose inspiring the assembled friends, delegates and visitors
alike, should be a twofold one. The first is a challenge to the individual, the
second a collective responsibility. The one seeks to reinforce the motive power
of our spiritual activities, the second aims at raising the standard of
administrative efficiency so vitally needed at this advanced stage of our work.
We should first and foremost endeavor by every conceivable means to revitalize
our precious Cause, rudely shaken by the constant vicissitudes attending the
outward departure of a vigilant and gracious Master. Our next object should be
to seek to approach, through more intimate association, fuller and more
frequent consultation, and a closer familiarity with the character, the mission
and the teachings of the Cause, that standard of excellence which should
characterize the cooperative efforts of Baha’i Communities in every land.
High aims and pure motives, however laudable in themselves,
will surely not suffice if unsupported by measures that are practicable and
methods that are sound. Wealth of sentiment, abundance of good will and effort,
will prove of little avail if we should fail to exercise discrimination and
restraint and neglect to direct their flow along the most profitable channels.
The unfettered freedom of the individual should be tempered with mutual
consultation and sacrifice, and the spirit of initiative and enterprise should
be reinforced by a deeper realization of the supreme necessity for concerted
action and a fuller devotion to the common weal.
It would be impossible at this stage to ignore the
indispensability or to overestimate the unique significance of the institution
of the National Spiritual Assembly -- the pivot round which revolve the
activities of the believers throughout the American continent. Supreme is their
position, grave their responsibilities, manifold and arduous their duties. How
great the privilege, how delicate the task of the assembled delegates whose
function it is to elect such national representatives as would by their record
of service ennoble and enrich the annals of the Cause! If we but turn our gaze
to the high qualifications of the members of Baha’i Assemblies, as enumerated
in Abdu’l Baha’s Tablets, we are filled with feelings of unworthiness and
dismay, and would feel truly disheartened but for the comforting thought that
if we rise to play nobly our part every deficiency in our lives will be more
than compensated by the all-conquering spirit of His grace and power. Hence it
is incumbent upon the chosen delegates to consider without the least trace of
passion and prejudice, and irrespective of any material consideration, the
names of only those who can best combine the necessary qualities of
unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of
recognized ability and mature experience. May the incoming National Spiritual
Assembly -- the privileged and chosen servants of the Cause -- immortalize
their term of stewardship by deeds of loving service, deeds that will redound
to the honor, the glory and the power of the Most Great Name.
I would also earnestly entreat all the delegates at this
coming Convention, and through them I appeal to the larger body of believers
whom they represent, to ever bear in mind the supreme injunction of Abdu’l
Baha, to teach unceasingly until the “head cornerstone of the foundation” of
the Cause of God is firmly established in every heart. Let those whose time,
resources and means allow, travel throughout the length and breadth of that
vast continent, let them scatter to the most distant regions of the earth and,
fired with enthusiasm and detachment, hand on the torch of God’s undying flame to
the waiting multitudes of a sadly-stricken world.
One word more in conclusion. Let the West, and particularly
the Great Republic of the New World, where a quarter of a century ago
Baha’u’llah’s Banner was firmly implanted, realize that upon it now rests the
responsibility of achieving the universal recognition of the Baha’i Faith, of
fulfilling Abdu’l Baha’s fondest hopes.
Persia, the cradle of an unfolding world civilization, is
still bereft of her freedom, sunk in ignorance, a prey to contending policies
and factions, beset on one hand by the powers of orthodoxy and sectarian
fanaticism and assailed on the other by the forces of materialism and unbelief.
In her evil plight she is radiantly confident that the Flame she has kindled in
the world will, in the fullness of time, blaze forth in the heart of the mighty
West and shed redeeming illumination upon the silent sufferers of a distracted
country. Will it be America, will it be one of the nations of Europe, that will
seize the torch of Divine Guidance from Persia’s fettered hands and with it set
the western world aflame? May your Convention, by its spirit, its resolutions
and its accomplishments, give to that country’s urgent call a noble and
decisive answer.
Your brother and fellow-worker,
(signed) Shoghi.
Haifa, Palestine,
June 3rd, 1925.