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The beauty of the rose (gol) or mere mortal dust (gil)?

 To me, this 2 nd Hidden Word builds upon and continues from the 1 st of the exploration of being aware and vigilant about what our heart dwells upon, what occupies and concerns our mind.  Jesus was remembered to have said, “ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also . ” (Matthew 6:21)  What we truly treasure determines the location of our heart, or—in Buddhist terms—our reality is determined by our thoughts.  In this Hidden Word, Bahá’u’lláh uses again the example of what is most befitting for a bird to summon the bird-of-the-human-heart to lift itself higher than that which is sociologically customary. He affirms that the best home for a bird is its “ nest ,” just as for the “ hearts of men ” (men in Persian/Arabic ‘ibád , which more literally translated would have been “worshippers” or “servants”) it is not “ transient dust ” ( turáb-e-fání ) but our “ eternal nests ” ( a sh yán-é-báqí ). Bahá’u’lláh poetically juxtaposes gil - há (“ slou...
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Rivers of God's might and Unity flowing through everything

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  "Make manifest the rivers of Thy sovereign might..." by  Bahá’u’lláh Transliteration by Daniel Azim Pschaida: fasubḥánaka’llahumma yá iláhí fa’aẓ’hir anhára qudratik a liyajrí ma’ul- aḥadíyati  fí haqáíqi kulli shay’ in  ḥattá  yastarfi‘a  bi dh álika a‘lámu  hidáyatik a fí malakúti  amrik a wa  yusha‘ sh i‘a  anjumu nawwáríyatik a   fí samáwáti  majdik a i dh  innaka anta’l-muqtadiru ‘alá má ta sh á’ u wa innaka anta’l-muhayminu’l-qayyúm Bahá’í Authorized Translation = BA Joshua Hall Translation = JH   Original Arabic from Ad’íyyah Mubárakah ,  Volume 3, Number 140, by  Bahá’u’lláh Daniel Pschaida transliteration = DP DP: fasubḥánaka’llahumma yá iláhí BA: G lory be to Thee, O Lord my God!  JH: Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! DP: fa’aẓ’hir anhára qudratik a BA: Make manifest the rivers of Thy sovereign might, JH: Do Thou reveal the rivers of Thy...
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A true and abiding dominion--reflection on the first Hidden Word from the Arabic

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  O Son of Spirit! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.  Recitation and transliteration by the Utterance Project: In the original Arabic (from here ) : يَا ابْنَ الرُّوحِ فِي أَوَّلِ القَوْلِ امْلِكْ قَلْباً جَيِّداً حَسَناً مُنيراً لِتَمْلِكَ مُلْكاً دائِماً باقِياً أَزَلاً قَدِيماً. Transliteration (by Daniel Pschaida, based on that of  Adib Masumanian ): Yá'bna'r-rúḥ Fí awwali'l-qawl Imlik qalban jayyidan ḥasanan muníran li-tamlika mulkan dá’iman báqíyan azalan qadíman Transliterations with Shoghi Effendi’s translations just after in parenthesis (I bolded the three places words of the Arabic root M-L-K to highlight why I believe the central theme of this Hidden Word is a reflection on worthy possessions/dominion) : Yá'bna'r-rúḥ (O Son of Spirit!) Fí awwali'l-qawl (My first counsel is this) Imlik (Possess) qalban (heart) jayyidan (pure) ḥasanan (kindly) mu...
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Worthy Home for the bird of our soul--reflection on the first Hidden Word from the Persian

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In the Name of the Lord of Utterance, The Mighty. 1. O YE PEOPLE THAT HAVE MINDS TO KNOW AND EARS TO HEAR! The first call of the Beloved is this: O mystic nightingale! Abide not but in the rose-garden of the spirit. O messenger of the Solomon of love! Seek thou no shelter except in the Sheba of the well-beloved, and O immortal phoenix! dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness. Therein is thy habitation, if on the wings of thy soul thou soarest to the realm of the infinite and seekest to attain thy goal. Recitation and transliteration by the Utterance Project:   My own transliteration from the Persian:   Bé-nám-e  gúyande-ye  taváná. Ay  ṣáḥibán  húsh  va  gúsh! Avval  sorúsh-e  dúst  ínast: Ay  bolbol-e  ma‘naví ,  juz  dar  golbon-e  ma‘ání  já-y  magozín, va  ay  hod-hod-e  solaymán-e  ‘ishq,  juz  dar  sabáy-e  jánán  vaṭan  magír, v...
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