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Self-Realization
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Pages 86-88
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Self-Realization
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1 |
Bahá'u'lláh constantly urges men to realize and give full
expression to the perfections latent within them--the true
inner self as distinguished from the limited outer self, which
at best is but the temple, and too often is the prison of the real
man. In the Hidden Words He says:--
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O Son of Being!
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With the hands of power I made thee and with the
fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have
I placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it
and seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My
command is binding. Question it not, nor have doubt
thereof.
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O Son of Spirit!
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I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down
to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase
thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee
being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone
beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how
dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto
thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee,
mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.
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O My Servant!
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Thou art even as a finely tempered sword concealed in
the darkness of its sheath and its value hidden from the
artificer's knowledge. Wherefore come forth from the
sheath of self and desire that thy worth may be made
resplendent and manifest unto all the world.
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O My Friend!
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Thou art the day-star of the heavens of My holiness,
let not the defilement of the world eclipse thy splendor.
Rend asunder the veil of heedlessness, that from behind
the clouds thou mayest emerge resplendent and array all
things with the apparel of life.
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10 |
The life to which Bahá'u'lláh calls His followers is surely
one of such nobility that in all the vast range of human possibility
there is nothing more lofty or beautiful to which man
could aspire. Realization of the spiritual self in ourselves
means realization of the sublime truth that we are from God
and to Him shall we return. This return to God is the glorious
goal of the Bahá'í; but to attain this goal the only path is that
of obedience to His chosen Messengers, and especially to His
Messenger for the time in which we live, Bahá'u'lláh, the
prophet of the New Era.
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Prayer is a ladder by which everyone may ascend to Heaven.
-- MUHAMMAD.
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