Dawn of a New Day

The splendid efforts, so devotedly exerted by the members of the Baha’i communities in India, Pakistan and Burma, extending over more than a decade, in connexion with the launching and prosecution of no less than three successive Plans, formulated for the promotion of the interests of the Faith in South-East Asia, have raised their prestige in the eyes of the Baha’i World, and have fitted them to undertake, at this auspicious hour in the evolution of its institutions in the Indian sub-continent and its neighbouring territories and islands, yet another collective enterprise, of still vaster dimensions, of far greater possibilities, requiring the utmost 158 exertion and consecration for a period of no less than ten years, and culminating in the Most Great Jubilee, designed to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of the Mission of the Founder of their Faith.

The task they now assume involves the consolidation of the manifold institutions which, through the operation of three successive Plans, have been patiently and laboriously established, as well as the erection of the administrative structure of the Faith in the virgin territories along the shores, and in the vicinity, of the Indian sub-continent, in the Islands of the Indian Ocean, in African Dependencies, and as far as the Islands of the South Pacific Ocean.

Through the prosecution of the Plans initiated by your Assembly these communities have acquired the training and experience that have qualified them to embark upon so extensive and momentous an undertaking—an undertaking which if victoriously consummated will eclipse all the joint efforts and enterprises which have illuminated the pages of Indian Baha’i history since the inception of the Formative Age of the Baha’i Dispensation.

The first and most sacred obligation confronting them, on the morrow of the launching of their Ten-Year Plan, is the despatch and settlement, during the current year and the one succeeding it, of pioneers in the sixteen virgin territories and islands, assigned to your Assembly according to the provisions of the aforementioned Plan. The opening of the six dependencies along the eastern and western coasts of the Indian subcontinent must be given careful attention, and must be carried out with promptitude and vigour. The despatch and definite settlement of no more than one or two pioneers in each of these territories and islands is a task not only of great urgency but of infinite merit, and constitutes the most important feature of the initial phase of the Plan.

Next in importance and of no less urgency is the selection and purchase, either within or in the outskirts of the capital-city of India—in which the Administrative Headquarters of the Faith has already been established—of the site of the 159

Collateral with this vital project is the preparation in conjunction with the Australian National Assembly of a suitable pamphlet by your Assembly, and the adoption of energetic measures for its translation into the languages allocated to the Australian and Indian National Assemblies.

While this threefold objective is being assiduously pursued, the process of the multiplication of local Assemblies, of groups and isolated centres must be maintained, nay accelerated, for upon it will depend the early formation of independent National Spiritual Assemblies in India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon and South-East Asia.

The responsibilities devolving upon your Assembly in the course of the opening stage of the Plan are enormous, sacred and pressing. All Baha’i communities participating in this glorious enterprise must bend every effort, and sacrifice to the utmost of their power to ensure the unqualified success of the great work that lies immediately ahead.

There is no time to lose. The newly launched Plan demands a vigilance, an expenditure of effort and resources on a scale unprecedented in Indian Baha’i history. Baha’i communities in East and West, embarked on a similar Crusade, are vying with one another and with your Assembly in the world-wide field of Baha’i pioneering. The glory of the prizes to be won, the benefits that will accrue to all participants are unimaginable.

I direct my appeal to your Assembly and, through its members, to all communities participating in this unprecedented enterprise, to arise to this great and unique occasion that now presents itself, at this critical hour in the fortunes of mankind and at so significant a stage in the evolution of the Faith, and to resolve, with inflexible determination, to consummate, at the appointed time, this fate-laden enterprise on which all our hearts are set and upon which the immediate 160 destinies of the Cause of Baha’u’llah so largely depend.

In my hours of prayer and meditation in the holy Shrines I will supplicate on behalf of your Assembly, as well as on behalf of the communities you represent, that Divine Guidance may direct your steps, that God’s sustaining grace may aid you to overcome every obstacle, that His strength may be poured out upon you, that His providence and love may enfold you, and that the inspiration of the Dawn-breakers, who proclaimed the birth of His Cause, may carry you to ultimate and total victory.