"O Eyes of this Temple! Look not upon the heavens and that which they contain, nor upon the earth and them that dwell thereon, for We have created you to behold Our own Beauty: See it now before you! Withhold not your gaze therefrom, and deprive not yourselves of the Beauty of your Lord, the All-Glorious, the Best-Beloved. Erelong shall We bring into being through you keen and penetrating eyes that will contemplate the manifold signs of their Creator and turn away from all that is perceived by the people of the world. Through you shall We bestow the power of vision upon whomsoever We desire, and lay hold upon those who have deprived themselves of this gracious bounty. These, verily, have drunk from the cup of delusion, though they perceive it not."
Comments:
• In this and the two following paragraphs we see Baha’u’llah addressing the “eyes”, “ears” and “tongue” of His Temple – the organs associated with one’s ability to see, hear and speak. Since every aspect of our physical reality has a spiritual counterpart, let’s reflect a bit on the significances of these metaphors.
• In one of His Tablets Baha’u’llah explains that God has given us eyes so that we could see His “signs”, “behold” His “verses” and “to contemplate the revelations of .. [His] handiwork” (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 6). In another reference He equates “Trustworthiness” “as eyes to the human temple”. (Baha’u’llah, The Compilation of Compilations vol. II, p. 329).
• We are also being instructed by Baha’u’llah to “purge and sanctify” our breasts, hearts, ears and eyes through our interaction with the sacred Word of God and to “set” our “faces towards Him” so we could hear how “all things proclaim: 'Verily, He the True One is come. Blessed are they that judge with fairness, and blessed they that turn towards Him!'" (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 65).
• Metaphorically speaking, we should pay attention to what Baha’u’llah instructs His own Eyes not to see and what to see instead: The “Beauty” of the Manifestation of God!
• Through the “eyes” of the Manifestation of God the following were brought “into being”:
• “.. keen and penetrating eyes that will contemplate the manifold signs of their Creator and turn away from all that is perceived by the people of the world.”; and
• “the power of vision upon whomsoever We desire ..”
• It’s a humbling realization that our “power of vision” which should allow us to “contemplate the manifold signs” of our Creator, is really a gift from God and His Manifestation. We should remind ourselves of this gift periodically and be thankful and humble in putting it to work to help us gradually “turn away from all that is perceived by the people of the world” and instead become more attracted to the Reality that the Manifestation of God brings to our attention.
• It’s also fairly educational to know that, perhaps as an aspect of our free will, the good Lord allows people to “deprive” themselves of this “gracious bounty” -- so it’s not being forced on them. This is something that we should remember in our teaching efforts. From God’s point of view, however, Baha’u’llah explains that such folks “have drunk from the cup of delusion, though they perceive it not.” We should remember them in our healing prayers!
