Question for all Baha’is: What is the Baha’i Faith to you?

[shunyadragon]

That’s okay. My question in this thread was for all people who call themselves Baha’is, no matter if they are members or not.

I am a member, but my point was the card was over stated. As far as 'what I do?' I support the Baha'i Faith through the administrative order, donate to the funds, and live my life as a Baha'i as much as I am able.

 

[shunyadragon]

Then you're just calling yourself Baha'i

Which is self labelling and nothing to do with the Baha'i religion

I am a Baha'i am involved personally with the faith. You missed the sarcasm concerning the 'card.'

 

[Aupmanyav]

Everything I do in every part of my life, including in these forums, revolves around Bahá’u’lláh’s purposes, and He says that His mission is to seize and possess people’s hearts.

I have only one heart and I have already given it to something (mine to atheism). I do not have any other heart and no space for any other thing. Bahais and Bahaullah cannot seize and posses my heart.

You see Jim, once Lord Krishna sent his friend Uddhav from Dwarika with a message to the cow-girls in Vraja that they should put their heart to worship of God and try to forget him. Here is what the cow-girls said in the words of a blind Krishna devotee and the most respected poet of Hindi, Surdas:

"Udho, man nahin das-bees; ek huto so gayo Shyam sang, ko avaradhe ees"
O Uddhava! We do not have ten or twenty hearts. We had one which is gone with the dark One (Krishna). With what heart should we worship God?"

 

[Jim]

I am a member, but my point was the card was over stated. As far as 'what I do?' I support the Baha'i Faith through the administrative order, donate to the funds, and live my life as a Baha'i as much as I am able.

Thank you.

My question was not “What do you do?” My question was, “What is the Baha’i Faith to you?” For example, do you think that it’s part of what is needed for a more peaceful world with less injustice? What does it have that the world needs? Some beliefs and practices that no other religion has? Is that all it has, that the world needs? What is the Baha’i Faith to you?

 

[Jim]

I have only one heart and I have already given it to something (mine to atheism). I do not have any other heart and no space for any other thing. Bahais and Bahaullah cannot seize and posses my heart.

You see Jim, once Lord Krishna sent his friend Uddhav from Dwarika with a message to the cow-girls in Vraja that they should put their heart to worship of God and try to forget him. Here is what the cow-girls said in the words of a blind Krishna devotee and the most respected poet of Hindi, Surdas:

"Udho, man nahin das-bees; ek huto so gayo Shyam sang, ko avaradhe ees"
O Uddhava! We do not have ten or twenty hearts. We had one which is gone with the dark One (Krishna). With what heart should we worship God?"

I bow to you.


I love, I cherish, what you said to me in that post.


I bow to you.

 

[Jim]

This post is for anyone who is practicing anything that you think is part of what is needed for the people of the world to be united in accordance with Bahá’u’lláh’s purposes.

I think that the more Baha’is practice that kind of unity with each other the better, for Baha’u’llah’s purposes. That includes what we do online. I think that it’s good for His purposes to for us to each have our own initiatives in accordance with our own understanding, and I want to learn to embrace that better than I have. At the same time, I think that it would be even better for His purposes for us to also be collaborating with each other on some common vision. I propose for that to be the kind of neighborhood community development that the House of Justice has been promoting for 20 years or more.

 

[Darkforbid]

I am a Baha'i am involved personally with the faith. You missed the sarcasm concerning the 'card.'

Yes, I totally missed the sarcasm in this comment "The world Baha'i Community. I not have a card."

Which Baha'i faith are you talking about the real one,,, Or the Internets self-proclaimed Bala'i fakery

 

[shunyadragon]

Yes, I totally missed the sarcasm in this comment "The world Baha'i Community. I not have a card."

Which Baha'i faith are you talking about the real one,,, Or the Internets self-proclaimed Bala'i fakery

Accrifd ridicule will not get you anywhere. Two separate comments separated by a period. The world Baha'i Community is not sarcasm it is simply a statement of belief, and out of context citations do not past muster. The comment about the card was the sarcasm.

 

[Jim]

Who am I to say whether it is wrong or right? But what Bahais do, reeks of proselytization to me.

You’ve been saying that endlessly and repeatedly, as long as I’ve been posting here, for more than a year. Do you think that we are deliberately violating forum rules, and that the moderators don’t see it, or that they are not doing their job?

 

[Jim]

Who am I to say whether it is wrong or right? But what Bahais do, reeks of proselytization to me.

Maybe you aren’t accusing us of violating forum rules. Maybe you’re just complaining about Baha’is denying that they’re proselytizing, when they really are. I don’t think that they’re doing anything that they think is proselytizing. I know that I’m doing things that people sometimes call “proselytizing,” but I don’t that it’s what “proselytizing” means in Baha’i writings or in forum rules, and I’ve always been perfectly open and honest about my motives and intentions. Maybe you think that I’m fooling myself, which is possible, but I’ve always been perfectly open and honest about what I think my motives and intentions are.

 

[Jim]

I think that part of what the world and all its people need most of all, for all the best purposes, is for more people, vast multitudes of people, to have their hearts seized and possessed by Bahá’u’lláh. Learning to help Him do that that is part of everything I do in every part of my life, including what I do in Internet discussions.

 

[arthra]

I’d like to know more about what Baha’is posting here think about the Baha’i Faith. What is the Baha’i Faith to you?

For me the Baha'i Faith has been my life...

I became a Baha'i in 1965 at the time I was reading a few volumes about the Faith in the Smiley library in my town. A. K. Smiley as I learned later had invited Abdul-Baha to give a presentation in 1912 at the Lake Mohonk Conference Center which had been dedicated to peace and representatives attended the conference from all over the world. See:

Mahmud: May 14 -- Lake Mohonk Peace Conference

I had read two books in the library:

Bahá'í Reference Library - Bahá’í World Faith—Selected Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Section Only)

Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era | Bahá’í Reference Library

Up to that point I also had studied world religions and reached a point where I accepted the spiritual message of the Prophets and Messengers as one. I had been in an Vedanta Ashram and studied Yoga as well.

Anyway... since being a Baha'i and establishing my family along Baha'i principles ... been on pilgrimage and met several Hands of the Cause I am now awaiting near the closure of my life and look forward to the Messenger of Joy...

 

[Ayjaydee]

There are a number of philosophies and/or religions that, if followed correctly, would benefit the world. Can't see why yours would be superior to some others.

 

[arthra]

There are a number of philosophies and/or religions that, if followed correctly, would benefit the world. Can't see why yours would be superior to some others.

I think as Baha'is we are not claiming to be "superior (in a spiritual sense) to some others" rather that each has the same spiritual origin only varied messages depending on the age and circumstances of humanity:

"The foundation underlying all the divine precepts is one reality…. and reality is one. Therefore the foundation of the divine religions is one. But we can see that certain forms and ceremonies have crept in. They are heretical, they are accidental, because they differ, hence they cause differences among religions. If we set aside all superstitions and see the reality of the foundation we shall all agree, because religion is one and not multiple."

– Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 25.
Read more at
One Foundation for All Religions

 

[Ayjaydee]

I think as Baha'is we are not claiming to be "superior (in a spiritual sense) to some others" rather that each has the same spiritual origin only varied messages depending on the age and circumstances of humanity:

"The foundation underlying all the divine precepts is one reality…. and reality is one. Therefore the foundation of the divine religions is one. But we can see that certain forms and ceremonies have crept in. They are heretical, they are accidental, because they differ, hence they cause differences among religions. If we set aside all superstitions and see the reality of the foundation we shall all agree, because religion is one and not multiple."

– Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 25.
Read more at
One Foundation for All Religions

Then you would have to eliminate any "religion " that does not recognize a creator as being outside the "one". That's a lot of people