"Say: In this day, the fertilizing winds of the grace of God have passed over all things. Every creature hath been endowed with all the potentialities it can carry. And yet the peoples of the world have denied this grace! Every tree hath been endowed with the choicest fruits, every ocean enriched with the most luminous gems. Man, himself, hath been invested with the gifts of understanding and knowledge. The whole creation hath been made the recipient of the revelation of the All-Merciful, and the earth the repository of things inscrutable to all except God, the Truth, the Knower of things unseen. The time is approaching when every created thing will have cast its burden. Glorified be God Who hath vouchsafed this grace that encompasseth all things, whether seen or unseen! Thus have We created the whole earth anew in this day, yet most of the people have failed to perceive it. Say: The grace of God can never be adequately understood; how much less can His own Self, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, be comprehended!"
Comments:
• In this amazing paragraph Baha’u’llah helps us better understand and appreciate God’s attribute of Grace that has encompassed His creation through His Manifestation – in this Day, through Baha’u’llah! As was explained in comments associated with some earlier paragraphs, this attribute is symbolically represented by the fourth letter of the Arabic word Haykal (Temple) -- referring to one of Baha’u’llah’s Tablets known as the Surih of Haykal.
• We notice that the metaphor “fertilizing winds” is used in this paragraph in connection with “the grace of God”. To “fertilize” is defined in the dictionary as, to make fertile, make fruitful or productive, to enrich.
• In the first line of this paragraph we further notice that the past tense of the verb “pass” is used in describing the “fertilizing winds” that have passed over “all things”.
• The effects that these “fertilizing winds” have had by passing “over all things”, Baha’u’llah tells us, are that:
o “Every creature hath been endowed with all the potentialities it can carry”;
o “Every tree hath been endowed with the choicest fruits”;
o “every ocean enriched with the most luminous gems”; and that
o “Man, himself, hath been invested with the gifts of understanding and knowledge.”
As one can imagine, the ramifications of these are overwhelming!
• Among the many illuminating points that this paragraph bring to our attention one is the realization that our “understanding and knowledge” as human beings, are in reality “gifts” that the Creator through His Manifestations has bestowed upon us.
• Reflecting on the stupendous station of God’s latest Manifestation, Whose Advent, with respect to the Message that He has brought to humanity, is referred to as the “Day of God”, makes one wonder, as to the incredible transformations that will take place on earth as a result of the effect of these “fertilizing winds of the grace of God”!
• Next we notice these fascinating points:
1. “The whole creation hath been made the recipient of the revelation of the All-Merciful …”., and
2. “the earth the repository of things inscrutable to all except God, the Truth, the Knower of things unseen”; and
3. “ The time is approaching when every created thing will have cast its burden.”
Each one of these amazing verses requires some reflection and pondering in light of the Writings and the interpretations of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the beloved Guardian.
• Adib Taherzadeh provides some helpful insights with respect to the process of divine revelation by the Manifestation of God and the fact that It requires the existence of a human being to be able to receive It :
“The Báb states that the advent of a Manifestation of God depends upon the existence of a person -- the first believer -- who has the capacity to understand and embrace His Cause. Should such an individual be found among mankind God will immediately reveal Himself and will not postpone His Revelation, even for a fraction of a minute. The Báb gives the example of His own Revelation and states that since the appearance of Muhammad, God had been watching for a person to appear and become the recipient of His Message and that it took 1260 lunar years until Mulla Husayn acquired the capacity to know Him. The Báb further asserts that, had Mulla Husayn been ready to acknowledge the truth of His Cause one moment earlier than he did, He would have correspondingly revealed Himself to him that much sooner.
"The birth of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation occurred at a time when 'Abdu'l-Bahá, though a mere child, was able to perceive intuitively the glorious Mission with which His Father was invested. It seems also providential that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was born on the same day that the Báb declared His Mission to Mulla Husayn. It is significant indeed that as the Declaration of the Báb, the Herald of Bahá'u'lláh, took place on that memorable evening, so did the birth of the Person who was destined to become the recipient of His great Revelation. (Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, p. 110)
“The person upon whom God had conferred the greatest capacity to understand the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh was His eldest son 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Who at the age of nine instinctively knew the station of His Father. Soon after His arrival in Iraq, Bahá'u'lláh unfolded the Mission with which God had entrusted Him to 'Abdu'l-Bahá Who immediately acknowledged the truth of His Cause, prostrated Himself at His feet, and with great humility and earnestness begged the privilege of laying down His life in His Father's path.
"Such momentous events do not come about casually. The hand of God was at work creating the means of manifesting His own Self to mankind. Not only was the Báb sent to pave the way for the coming of Bahá'u'lláh, but also 'Abdu'l-Bahá was created especially for the purpose of receiving the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh on behalf of mankind. How significant it is that 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who was to become the instrument of such a sublime Revelation, was born the same night that the Báb communicated His Mission to Mulla Husayn and set in motion the process of preparing His followers for the appearance of 'Him Whom God shall make manifest'”. (Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 2, p. 14)
• With this very helpful explanation by Adib Taherzadeh, we could ponder, in light of our knowledge of the Advent of the “Day of God” that has been brought to humanity by Baha’u’llah, how this incredible attribute of God, namely His grace, has surrounded “The whole creation” to make it “the recipient of the revelation of the All-Merciful …”.
• There is also another reference from Baha’u’llah in which He makes us aware of the interaction between the Mouthpiece of God and our planet:
“This is the Day whereon the unseen world crieth out: 'Great is thy blessedness, O earth, for thou hast been made the footstool of thy God, and been chosen as the seat of His mighty throne.'” (Baha’u’llah, quoted by Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 154)
What an incredible privilege to be a Baha’i!
• Gaining an infinitesimal glimmer of insight into the operation of this amazing and awe-inspiring attribute of God -- His grace – and how it has “encompasseth all things, whether seen or unseen”, not only makes one very grateful to Baha’u’llah for helping us to understand these aspects of our reality, but also, as He indicates in this verse, makes us aware that we can never adequately understand it – how much less to understand the reality of God and His Manifestation:
“Say: The grace of God can never be adequately understood; how much less can His own Self, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, be comprehended!”
• Lastly, let’s remind ourselves about this passage in the Tablet of Ahmad in which we become aware that reaching this attitude of gratefulness in appreciating all the gifts and grace that we continue to receive from God is so important that He even rewards us for it:
"Learn well this Tablet, O Ahmad. Chant it during thy days and withhold not thyself therefrom. For verily, God hath ordained for the one who chants it, the reward of a hundred martyrs and a service in both worlds. These favors have We bestowed upon thee as a bounty on Our part and a mercy from Our presence, that thou mayest be of those who are grateful." (Baha’u’llah, Tablet of Ahmad, Baha'i Prayers, p. 211)
