6 April | a.m

O My servant, who hast sought the good-pleasure of God and clung to His love on the Day when all except a few who were endued with insight have broken away from Him! May God, through His grace, recompense thee with a generous, an incorruptible and everlasting reward, inasmuch as thou hast sought Him on the Day when eyes were blinded.

- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 36

These blind imitations and hereditary prejudices have invariably become the cause of bitterness and hatred and have filled the world with darkness and violence of war. Therefore, we must seek the fundamental truth in order to extricate ourselves from such conditions and then with illumined faces find the pathway to the Kingdom of God.

- Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 180

5 April | p.m

Warn…the beloved of the one true God, not to view with too critical an eye the sayings and writings of men. Let them rather approach such sayings and writings in a spirit of open-mindedness and loving sympathy.

- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 329

If five people meet together to seek for truth, they must begin by cutting themselves free from all their own special conditions and renouncing all preconceived ideas. In order to find truth we must give up our prejudices, our own small trivial notions; an open receptive mind is essential. If our chalice is full of self, there is no room in it for the water of life.

- Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 136

5 April | a.m

Thus on the Day of Resurrection God will ask everyone of his understanding and not of his following in the footsteps of others. How often a person, having inclined his ears to the holy verses, would bow down in humility and would embrace the Truth, while his leader would not do so. Thus every individual must bear his own responsibility, rather than someone else bearing it for him.

- The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 90

Consider history. What has brought unity to nations, morality to peoples and benefits to mankind? If we reflect upon it we will find that establishing the divine religions has been the greatest means toward accomplishing the oneness of humanity. The foundation of divine reality in religion has done this; not imitations of ancestral religious forms. Imitations are opposed to each other and have ever been the cause of strife, enmity, jealousy and war.

- Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity, p. 101

4 April | p.m

Should a Christian contend, 'How can I deem the Qur’án a testimony while I am unable to understand it?' such a contention would not be acceptable. Likewise the people of the Qur’án disdainfully observe, 'We are unable to comprehend the eloquence of the verses in the Bayán, how can we regard it as a testimony?' Whoever uttereth such words, say unto him, 'O thou untutored one! By what proof hast thou embraced the Religion of Islam? Is it the Prophet on whom thou hast never set eyes? Is it the miracles which thou hast never witnessed? If thou hast accepted Islam unwittingly, wherefore hast thou done so? But if thou hast embraced the Faith by recognizing the Qur’án as the testimony, because thou hast heard the learned and the faithful express their powerlessness before it, or if thou hast, upon hearing the divine verses and by virtue of thy spontaneous love for the True Word of God, responded in a spirit of utter humility and lowliness - a spirit which is one of the mightiest signs of true love and understanding - then such proofs have been and will ever be regarded as sound.'

- The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 120

4 April | a.m

…scrutinize the Writings with thine own eyes and ponder upon that which hath come to pass. Have pity upon thyself and upon the servants of God and be not the cause of waywardness like unto the people aforetime. The path is unmistakable and the proof is evident. Change injustice into justice and inequity into equity. We cherish the hope that the breaths of divine inspiration may strengthen thee and that thine inner ear may be enabled to hear the blessed words: 'Say, it is God, then leave them to entertain themselves with their cavillings.'[Qur’án 6:91.]

- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 43

The morals of humanity must undergo change. New remedy and solution for human problems must be adopted.... Just as the thoughts and hypotheses of past ages are fruitless today, likewise dogmas and codes of human invention are obsolete and barren of product in religion. Nay, it is true that they are the cause of enmity and conducive to strife in the world of humanity; war and bloodshed proceed from them and the oneness of mankind finds no recognition in their observance. Therefore it is our duty in this radiant century to investigate the essentials of divine religion, seek the realities underlying the oneness of the world of humanity and discover the source of fellowship and agreement which will unite mankind in the heavenly bond of love.

- Abdu’l-Bahá, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu’l-Bahá Section, p. 228

3 April | a.m

It is clear and evident that whenever the Manifestations of Holiness were revealed, the divines of their day have hindered the people from attaining unto the way of truth. To this testify the records of all the scriptures and heavenly books.

- Baha'u'llah, The Kitáb-i-Iqán, p. 165

For a child a teacher is necessary, but the aim of the true teacher is to fit his pupil to do without a teacher; to see things with his own eyes, hear with his own ears, and understand with his own mind. Just so, in the childhood of the race, the priest is necessary, but his real work is to enable men to do without him: to see things divine with their own eyes, hear them with their own ears and understand them with their own minds. Now the priest’s work is all but accomplished, and the aim of the Bahá’í teaching is to complete that work, to make men independent of all save God, so that they can turn directly to Him, that is, to His Manifestation. When all turn to one Center, then there can be no cross-purposes or confusion and the nearer all draw to the Center, the nearer they will draw to each other.

- J. E. Esslemont, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, p. 131

2 April | p.m

O SON OF SPIRIT!

The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

 

- Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words

2 April | a.m

The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and imitation, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious handiwork, and look into all things with a searching eye.

- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 156

No man should follow blindly his ancestors and forefathers. Nay, each must see with his own eyes, hear with his own ears and investigate independently in order that he may find the truth. The religion of forefathers and ancestors is based upon blind imitation. Man should investigate reality.

- Abdu’l-Bahá, Divine Philosophy, p. 25

1 April | p.m

If, in the Day when all the peoples of the earth will be gathered together, any man should, whilst standing in the presence of God, be asked: "Wherefore hast thou disbelieved in My Beauty and turned away from My Self," and if such a man should reply and say: "Inasmuch as all men have erred, and none hath been found willing to turn his face to the Truth, I, too, following their example, have grievously failed to recognize the Beauty of the Eternal," such a plea will, assuredly, be rejected. For the faith of no man can be conditioned by any one except himself.

- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 142

1 April | a.m

Suffer not yourselves to be wrapt in the dense veils of your selfish desires, inasmuch as I have perfected in every one of you My creation, so that the excellence of My handiwork may be fully revealed unto men. It follows, therefore, that every man hath been, and will continue to be, able of himself to appreciate the Beauty of God, the Glorified. Had he not been endowed with such a capacity, how could he be called to account for his failure?

- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 142

Praise be to God! thou didst see with thine own eyes, thou didst hear with thine own ears and thou didst comprehend with thine own heart.

- Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdu’l-Bahá v3, p. 664

27 January | p.m

Should a Christian contend, 'How can I deem the Qur’án a testimony while I am unable to understand it?' such a contention would not be acceptable. Likewise the people of the Qur’án disdainfully observe, 'We are unable to comprehend the eloquence of the verses in the Bayán, how can we regard it as a testimony?' Whoever uttereth such words, say unto him, 'O thou untutored one! By what proof hast thou embraced the Religion of Islam? Is it the Prophet on whom thou hast never set eyes? Is it the miracles which thou hast never witnessed? If thou hast accepted Islam unwittingly, wherefore hast thou done so? But if thou hast embraced the Faith by recognizing the Qur’án as the testimony, because thou hast heard the learned and the faithful express their powerlessness before it, or if thou hast, upon hearing the divine verses and by virtue of thy spontaneous love for the True Word of God, responded in a spirit of utter humility and lowliness - a spirit which is one of the mightiest signs of true love and understanding - then such proofs have been and will ever be regarded as sound.'

 

- The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 120