Personal God...

[arthra]

Recently did a little personal study on the Baha'i concept of God and found the following references:

I was searching in some of the Baha'i Writings and utterances and found the following...this is an "utterarance" of Abdul-Baha:

Bahá'u'lláh proclaims in the Hidden Words that God inspires His servants and is revealed through them. He says, "Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent. Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation." Therefore, we learn that nearness to God is possible through devotion to Him, through entrance into the Kingdom and service to humanity; it is attained by unity with mankind and through loving-kindness to all; it is dependent upon investigation of truth, acquisition of praiseworthy virtues, service in the cause of universal peace and personal sanctification. In a word, nearness to God necessitates sacrifice of self, severance and the giving up of all to Him. Nearness is likeness.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 148

While the following is not "Scripture" it is authoritative for Baha'is:

What is Meant by a Personal God -- God is not Anthropomorphic

"What is meant by personal God is a God Who is conscious of His creation, Who has a Mind, a Will, a Purpose, and not, as many scientists and materialists believe, an unconscious and determined force operating in the universe. Such conception of the Divine Being, as the Supreme and ever present Reality in the world, is not anthropomorphic, for it transcends all human limitations and forms, and does by no means attempt to define the essence of Divinity which is obviously beyond any human comprehension.

To say that God is a personal Reality does not mean that He has a physical form, or does in any way resemble a human being. To entertain such belief would be sheer blasphemy."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, April 21, 1939)

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 477)

From some Baha'i sources:

He knew each person personally. He taught belief, not in some Blind Force, -- but in 'a personal God, unknowable, the source of all Revelation...',[42] to be approached and communicated with through acceptance of the Mediator, the Messenger that God has always sent periodically to save humanity, Who proves God's existence, and will prove it forever.

[42. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 139.]

(Marzieh Gail, Arches of the Years, p. 82)

This note cited above refers to the text of God Passes By where Shoghi Effendi writes of the Kitab-i-Iqan revealed by Baha'u'llah:

"Within a compass of two hundred pages it proclaims unequivocally the existence and oneness of a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty; asserts the relativity of religious truth and the continuity of Divine Revelation; affirms the unity of the Prophets, the universality of their Message, the identity of their fundamental teachings, the sanctity of their scriptures, and the twofold character of their stations; denounces the blindness and perversity of the divines and doctors of every age..."

 

[Lunitik]

Again, I say Abdu'l Baha and Shoghi Effendi have not been enlightened, Baha'u'llah certainly is however - he is why I accepted the faith, the later leaders are why I have left.

The Hidden Words also say to seek God within, this is clearly an ode to PROPER meditation - the Baha'i definition is very strange from what I've seen, basically seen in the Christian light of mere contemplation it seems. Coupled with your statement, and reading the Seven Valleys and Four Valleys, it is clear that Baha'u'llah is talking about enlightenment as any Sufi or Yogi would understand it - especially interesting because Baha'u'llah has spent much time around the former and indeed is considered a Saint by many.

"Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent. Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation" is a direct statement of enlightenment, in this experience the heart chakra opens and oneness is revealed directly - God is manifested within and without you. Now there is only God, what you have been before is dead. This coincides with the Seventh Valley if it is permanent, but is referred to as a satori if temporary.

It is a shame that Abdu'l Baha has failed to comprehend his father, and Shoghi Effendi has made the Baha'i Faith even more externally oriented. Truly, the words of Baha'u'llah are some of the most beautiful ever uttered by an enlightened man, but his successors have began the normal descent of the message by mere men that do not understand. For me, this is why the Guardianship has been taken away, but the damage is already done. I will always love Baha'u'llah, but I do not believe he would love what has happened with his work. I know you follow both to the letter and have devoted much of your life to it, but can you honestly say it has transformed your being? You are still seeking, you have found nothing.

The Valley of Search is the initial valley, I think you are stuck in the Valley of Love - love for what you have found. Have you experienced oneness, divine love or grace, yet? The Four Valleys are distinctive paths, the Seven Valleys are stages each path traverses, please be honest as to where you are - at least with yourself.