“Glorified is He Who sendeth down His verses to those who comprehend. Glorified is He Who speaketh forth from the Kingdom of His Revelation, and Who remaineth unknown to all save His honoured servants. Glorified is He Who quickeneth whomsoever He willeth by virtue of His word "Be", and it is! Glorified is He Who causeth whomsoever He willeth to ascend unto the heaven of grace, and sendeth down therefrom whatsoever He desireth according to a prescribed measure.”
Comments:
There are a number of very interesting points in this paragraph to explore:
· Who is “He” “Who sendeth down His verses to those who comprehend”? Our first inclination might be that it’s God. Could it be instead His Manifestation? To some of us it may not matter whether it’s God or His Manifestation, but a closer interaction with the Writings may inspire us to delve a bit deeper.
· The fact that Baha’u’llah says that the divine verses are “sent to those who comprehend” is a reminder to us on many levels. We need to remind ourselves that this comprehension could take place at different spiritual, intuitive, and mental levels. At times, it is also time-dependent – what we didn’t understand for example some ten years ago, becomes easier to understand now because of our own on-going maturation process. We also need to be sensitive about the ability of our seekers to comprehend the divine verses/concepts, when we try to teach them the Faith.
· Baha’u’llah’s reference to the “Kingdom of His [God’s] Revelation” merits some reflection – where is this Kingdom and who has access to it? Assuming that the “He” “Who speaketh forth from the Kingdom of His Revelation” is a reference to the Manifestation of God, it leads us to realize that He remains “unknown to all save His honoured servants.” Then the question becomes who would these “honoured servants” be and how can one become one of them? This must be an aspect of our spiritual transformation.
· Notice Baha’u’llah’s reference to the process of quickening. Here we are being educated that it is really God/His Manifestation that does the job of quickening our contacts – hopefully we won’t become an impediment in this process.
· The reference to the “heaven of grace” is very awe-inspiring! Grace is such a comforting word! It’s synonymous with mercy, beauty, favor, a period of time granted beyond the date set for the performance of an act, the unmerited love and favor, and a special virtue, gift, or help given to a person by God. It’s amazing that in this passage Baha’u’llah confirms the existence of a “heaven of grace” and that God would cause “whomsoever He willeth” to “ascend” to this heaven and to send down from this heaven “whatsoever He desireth according to a prescribed measure.” One reference to this heaven is made by Baha’u’llah in a protection prayer in which He teaches a servant to supplicate God and ask Him to “Send down, then, upon me, out of the heaven of Thy mercy, a blessing from Thy side …” What a nice thought to reflect on: To receive “a blessing” from that vast heaven of God’s mercy!
