A warning and a call to Baha’is from Baha’u’llah’s Universal House of Justice

[Aupmanyav]

"..At the deepest level, as Baha’u’llah emphasizes, there is but one religion. .."

And that is his religion. That is the seed of conflict.

Baha’is however do not believe there will be another great Teacher like Krishna, Buddha or Jesus anytime soon. Is Bahá’u’lláh wrong? Time will tell.

800, 1,000 years. That is to keep his 'mnifestationship' safe for that period. For that period, he would like all people to follow his religion. He was sure a smart guy.

Unfortunately, his line ended after two generations, otherwise like Ahmadiyyas, the Ismailis or the Daudi Bohras, he had created a good business for his future generations.

It’s those blind men again, ..

Is that meant for people who are not Bahais?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

And that is his religion. That is the seed of conflict.

I see it is the seed of Unity. But in the end each of us is responsible for our own reactions and actions in life.

I see it is important not to water down what was offered, that means we know what the choice is without any deception.

Regards Tony

 

[Aupmanyav]

I see it is the seed of Unity. But in the end each of us is responsible for our own reactions and actions in life.

Claiming to be better than the earlier 'sowers of the seeds of unity' (they all were that, or so they claimed) is not the 'seed of unity'. It is just one more to the horde who want their pound of flesh.

 

[Marcion]

@adrian009 The reason I wanted to discuss “One Common Faith” is because I’ve seen Baha’is all over the Internet doing things that seem to me to help perpetuate and even reinforce religious and anti-religious prejudices and delusions. I see “One Common Faith” as possibly one way of helping to remedy that. I’m not sure that discussing that in this forum can make any difference, but I’m not sure it can’t. I’m sure that it would do me some good at the very least.

But why, given that even in Arabic, the language of the Quran, a distinction is made between religion (Ar: majab) and Dharma (Ar: imán) and Dharma is clearly the more scientific or rational unifying principle that binds all of humanity together, why then do the Baha'i still seek "One common Faith" instead of unifying humanity under the banner of Dharma?

Dharma is not a "hindu thing" or something only from India. This universal mystic path towards spiritual elevation and liberation is the only thing that makes every human truly human. Religions are what keep us divided and under the illusion that we have to choose between one religion or the other or between atheistic spirituality and faith.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Claiming to be better than the earlier 'sowers of the seeds of unity' (they all were that, or so they claimed) is not the 'seed of unity'. It is just one more to the horde who want their pound of flesh.

I see It as the same seed replanted from the original tree of Unity.

I see any message and every person that puts in an effort for unity, is from that same tree.

That we now have a world that can obtain and urgently requires unity, is unique to this day.

Peace be with you always, Regards Tony

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Dharma is not a "hindu thing" or something only from India. This universal mystic path towards spiritual elevation and liberation is the only thing that makes every human truly human. Religions are what keep us divided and under the illusion that we have to choose between one religion or the other or between atheistic spirituality and faith.

I am not seeing that is what the Message is saying. I see the Message as saying we will come to see that all our Faith is from one Source. We could ask ourselves the question as to why do we want our faith to be from an exclusive source?

Thus Dharma has a meaning in all Faiths. We just have to find what that connection is.

Regards Tony

 

[Dawnofhope]

Is that meant for people who are not Bahais?

We all have our truth as well as our limited vision of the possibilities of life. That includes you and I.

 

[Marcion]

Thus Dharma has a meaning in all Faiths. We just have to find what that connection is.

The most important paths that teach about Dharma never mention the word faith or religion. The whole idea of separate religions is a relatively recent invention. Where does even Yeshua in Q-lite ever mention the word 'faith' in the sense of religion? It is absent in his teachings.

So instead of seeking connections by focussing on by nature divisive religions we should seek to follow and clarify our common Dharma and learn from each others techniques to make following that Dharma easier.
Spirituality should be like science, a universal affair and not something separated artificially for the wrong reasons. In fact it cannot be separated, religious divides are human errors just like most things in politics.

 

[Jim]

*** Message in a bottle ***

Is anyone besides adrian interested in what I would like to discuss, in this thread?

 

[Jim]

I am asking, is it not more reasonable to say "imagine what we could achieve if we all stopped thinking like that and focused a bit more on what we can DO together regardless of what we believe about God and religion".

siti, Im ready whenever you are. What can you and I DO together on the Internet, about the issues we’ve been discussing, regardless of what we believe about God and religion"?

 

[Vinayaka]

What people may have not considered, is that every one that has decided to implement the Message given by Baha'u'llah, has already had to come to terms with the thoughts and warnings given. Many of us I can tell you have had to look long and hard at our our own selves and implement a lot of change, with much more required.

Regards Tony

Almost all religious people, most especially converts or adoptives, have done that, Anthony. Not with Baha'u'llah but with other beli9ef systems. You speak as if it is something unique to your faith, like the rest of the people don't put any thought into it. It's also true of ex-________ s, including ex-Baha'is. It's often through a great deal of turmoil, and reflection.

 

[Jim]

siti, more precisely, I’m thinking of this:

It means everything to me - truthfully it does - I am a grandfather of 6 - soon to be 7 - of those who will are destined to be the grandparents of children of the 22nd century. I want them to inherit a world that is truly a home for all humanity - its up to us to lay the foundation for that.

You also said:

... imagine what we could achieve if we all stopped thinking like that and focused a bit more on what we can DO together regardless of what we believe about God and religion.”

Let’s don’t just imagine it. Let’s do it. I’m ready whenever you are. What can you and I DO together about the kind of world your children’s grandchildren will inherit, regardless of what we believe about God and religion?

 

[Vinayaka]

We do not need Sons, Messengers, Prophets, Manifestations and Mahdis; and we do not need to break our heads about religions, or whether there is One God or many to experience unity. In my family, I am an atheist, all others are polytheists. So what? We are still one family. Such proclamations only create differences and conflicts. The history of Bahai and Ahmadiyya religions, who are shunned in Iran and Pakistan, shows that very clearly. We would have been better without Sons, Messengers, Prophets, Manifestations and Mahdis. They are the creators of differences and conflicts.

"Ayam, nijah, paro veti; ganānām laghuchetasām;
udāracharitānām tu 'vasudhaiva kutumbakam'." MahaUpanishad

"Me, mine, someone else's, are peoples' narrow thinking;
for the broad-minded, the whole world is a family."

Totally concur. Many verses in the Upanishads had this insight. Still, the followers of all the so called prophets and messengers proclaim their guys's message is something new and unique, and that all that came before them had it wrong. Perplexing.

 

[Vinayaka]

Perhaps the answers have been provided but simply don’t satisfy you?

Insinuating that if he were only a Baha'i, he'd be happy?

 

[Vinayaka]

Let’s don’t just imagine it. Let’s do it. I’m ready whenever you are. What can you and I DO together about the kind of world your children’s grandchildren will inherit, regardless of what we believe about God and religion?

Many many people are already doing it. Environmentalist who work incredibly hard to protect this planet, peace activists, Doctors without Borders, and tons more. People are trying, from all religions, all walks of life.

Others remain stagnant, believing promotion of their prophet, and nothing else, is the only way.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Insinuating that if he were only a Baha'i, he'd be happy?

Not all.

I don't believe the Baha'i Faith would bring a secular humanist happiness anymore than being a secular humanist would bring a Baha'i happiness. Its interesting to consider each others belief systems. What works for one person may never work for another.

Would you be happy becoming a Baha'i? I can't imagine you would, anymore than Hinduism for me.

 

[Marcion]

If you really want to change the sectarian attitide within many of the worlds religions you could perhaps organize collective hunger fasts or just have large silent meditative 'sit ins' in busy spots in cities and hope to make it with your message of the unity of mankind into the main stream media all around the world.

This is the right time for such things with the terrorist strikes of sectarian movements creating their own stirs. If you did it big scale I'm sure many movements would want to join in, you could actively invite them to join.

But what worries me about the Baha'i view is that they seem to believe that the "East" has somehow "degraded" spiritually by adopting "superstitions" and other irrational things.
Now I'm all for avoiding irrational beliefs, I could myself only feel at home in a modern movement that has dropped them, but dividing the world up into West and East and supposing that the "West" has surpassed the "East" spiritually is something I could never subscribe to, it is false geo-sentiment that should and can never be a part of trying to unify the world.

 

[Dawnofhope]

If you really want to change the sectarian attitide within many of the worlds religions you could perhaps organize collective hunger fasts or just have large silent meditative 'sit ins' in busy spots in cities and hope to make it into the main stream media all around the world.

This is the right time for such things with the terrorist strikes of sectarian movements creating their own stirs. If you did it big scale I'm sure many movements would want to join in.

We have the annual interfaith prayers for world peace coming up. Everyone contributes. The Brahma Kumaris create a space for us all the meditate and reflect. It works well.

 

[Marcion]

We have the annual interfaith prayers for world peace coming up. Everyone contributes. The Brahma Kumaris create a space for us all the meditate and reflect. It works well.

I think that in itself is not enough to make into all the world news media and create a real stir around the world.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I think that in itself is not enough to make into all the world news media and create a real stir around the world.

Its not but its a reflection of interfaith cooperation that has developed over the last 17 years since 9/11. Each faith community takes it in turns to say a prayer or meditation to open out city council's meetings. We are are increasingly respected and consulted as a body when it comes to making decisions that affect all faith groups. What we do largely reflects the commitment of all faith groups contributing to it.

Whatever we do needs to be sustainable. From small steps we take increasingly bigger steps.

We may not get ourselves in the front page of the newspaper. Usually when a religious group does that, its for all the wrong reasons.

The Baha'is are also set up neighbour devotional meetings and so have hundreds of these throughout my country.