Appreciating the conditions of a human being, the loftiness and vastness of God’s riches and favors, and the Intermediary role of God’s Manifestation

Insights from this prayer by Baha’u’llah

• God’s “true lovers” became “so enraptured by …[His] sweet utterance that they hastened unto the Pinnacle of Glory, the site of the most glorious martyrdom”
• There are “mysteries which lie enshrined in…[God’s] knowledge"
• There are “pearls… treasured in the ocean of…[God’s] bounty"
• Attributes describing the condition of a human being:
• “essence of sinfulness”
• “feeble one”
• “poor creature”
• “sins”
• “trespasses”
• to “have committed that which Thou didst forbid me to do”
• to “have put away what Thou didst order me to observe”

• Metaphors describing God’s attributes:
• “the ocean of Thy favour”
• “the kingdom of Thy divine power”
• “the day-star of Thy wealth”
• “the revelations of Thy bounty”
• “Thy door which Thou hast opened wide to all that dwell in Thy heaven and on Thine earth.”
• “the Court of Thy holiness”
• “the Tabernacle of Thy majesty”

• I pray to God by “Him Who is the sovereign Lord of Names” to:
• “write down for me with the Pen of…[His] bounty that which will enable me to draw nigh unto…[Him] and will purge me from my trespasses which have intervened between me and…[His] forgiveness and…[His] pardon.”

The relationship between God and His Manifestations

Insights from this prayer by Baha’u’llah

• In God’s creation there is a “Center” “Which is wholly subjected to… [God’s] sovereignty, Which adoreth…[God’s] Beauty, and is propelled through the movement of…[God’s] Pen.
• This “Center” attracts to Its orbit:
• “The loftiest sentiments which the holiest of saints can express in praise of” God; and
• “the deepest wisdom which the most learned of men can utter in their attempts to comprehend” God’s “nature”.
• Even though this “Center” is “propelled through the movement of” God’s “Pen” there is no “existence of any direct relationship between the Pen of” God’s “Revelation and the essence of all created things.” “Far, far are They Who are related to Thee [God] above the conception of such relationship!”

Question: Could this “Center” be the “Primal Will of God” that each Manifestation of God presents gradually to humanity? What about the “Pen”? Does that also refer to the Manifestation of God or to the Entity acting on the “Primal Will of God”?

• Baha’u’llah reminds us that “All comparisons and likenesses fail to do justice to the Tree of Thy [God’s] Revelation, and every way is barred to the comprehension of the Manifestation of Thy [God’s] Self and the Day Spring of Thy [God’s] Beauty.”
• So we, as human beings, can never really comprehend the relationship between God and His Manifestations or the nature of the Manifestation Himself.
• No one else besides Thee [God] hath, at any time, been able to fathom Thy[God’s] mystery, or befittingly to extol Thy[God’s] greatness.”
•  “Unsearchable and high above the praise of men wilt Thou [God] remain for ever. There is none other God but Thee, the Inaccessible, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Holy of Holies.”

The existence of some very exalted Beings in the Domains of God

Insights from this prayer by Baha’u’llah

In the Domains of God there are exalted Beings:

• “Who are the highest Embodiments of perception”
• Who are known as “the Well Springs of wisdom” – They’ve been “generated through the operation” of God’s Will.
• Who are the inmost essence of oneness”. They are “sent down” to this world by God and “are but the evidences” of God’s “handiwork.”
• “Who are the Quintessence of knowledge”. They are “the creation and instruments” of God’s Purpose.

Question: Should we understand that these Beings are the Manifestations of God Who appear in this contingent world or should we also assume that some belong to different worlds of God unknown to us?