A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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Chapter 6: Prayer 88 |
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“Prayer,” says ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “is conversation with God.”
In order that God may make known His Mind and Will to men,
He must speak to them in a language which they can understand,
and this He does by the mouths of His Holy Prophets.
While these Prophets are alive in the body They speak with
men face to face and convey to them the Message of God,
and after Their death Their message continues to reach men’s
minds through Their recorded sayings and writings. But this
is not the only way in which God can commune with and inspire those
whose hearts are seeking after truth, wherever they are, and
whatever their native race or tongue. By this language the
Manifestation continues to hold converse with the faithful
after His departure from the material world. Christ continued
to converse with and inspire His disciples after His crucifixion.
In fact He influenced them more powerfully than before; and
with other Prophets it has been the same. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speaks
much of this spiritual language. He says, for instance:—
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We should speak in the language of heaven—in the
language of the spirit—for there is a language of the spirit
and heart. It is as different from our language as our own
language is different from that of the animals, who express
themselves only by cries and sounds. It is the language of the spirit which speaks to God. When, in prayer, we are freed from all outward things and 89 turn to God, then it is as if in our hearts we hear the voice of God. Without words we speak, we communicate, we converse with God and hear the answer. … All of us, when we attain to a truly spiritual condition, can hear the Voice of God. (from a talk reported by Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg). |
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Bahá’u’lláh declares that the higher spiritual truths can be
communicated only by means of this spiritual language. The
spoken or written word is quite inadequate. In a little book
called The Seven Valleys, in which He describes the journey
of travelers from the earthly dwelling to the Divine Home, He
says, in speaking of the more advanced stages of the journey:—
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The tongue is unable to give an account of these, and
utterance falls exceedingly short. The pen is useless in this
court, and the ink gives no result but blackness. …
Heart alone can communicate to heart the state of the
knower; this is not the work of a messenger, nor can it
be contained in letters.
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