Praise be to Thee, O my God, that Thou hast ordained this
day [Naw-Ruz] as a festival unto the favoured among Thy servants and the
sincere among Thy loved ones. Thou hast called this day by that Name whereby
all created things have been subdued and the breezes of Thy Revelation have
been wafted between earth and heaven, a Name through which all that hath been
recorded in Thy Holy Books and Sacred Scriptures hath been made manifest, and
which Thy Messengers and Thy Chosen Ones have foretold, that all men might be
made ready to behold Thee, to turn towards the ocean of Thy reunion, to stand
before the seat of Thy throne, and to hear Thy wondrous call from the Dayspring
of Thine invisible Self and the Dawning-Place of Thine Essence. (Baha’u’llah,
‘Days of Remembrance’)
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Know ye that trials and tribulations have, from time
immemorial, been the lot of the chosen Ones of God and His beloved, and such of
His servants as are detached from all else but Him, they whom neither
merchandise nor traffic beguile from the remembrance of the Almighty, they that
speak not till He hath spoken, and act according to His commandment. Such is
God's method carried into effect of old, and such will it remain in the
future.... (Baha’u’llah, ‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation
of Compilations vol. I, Crisis and Victory)
From ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
At this moment the sun appears at the meridian and the day
and night are equal. Until today the north pole has been in darkness. This
sacred day [Naw-Ruz] when the sun illumines equally the whole earth is called
the equinox and the equinox is the symbol of the divine messenger. The sun of
truth rises on the horizon of divine mercy and sends forth its rays on all.
This is the beginning of the spring. When the sun appears at the equinox it
causes a movement in all living things. The mineral world is set in motion,,
plants begin to sprout, the desert is changed into a prairie, trees bud and
every living thing responds, including the bodies of animals and men.
The rising of the sun at the equinox is the symbol of life and the human reality is revivified; our thoughts are transformed and our intelligence is quickened. The sun of truth bestows eternal life, just as the solar sun is the cause of terrestrial life. ('Abdu'l-Baha, from a talk, 21 March 1913, Paris; Star of the West, vol. 5, no. 1, March 21, 1914)
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The ocean is one body of water but different parts of it
have particular designation, Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, Antarctic, etc.
If we consider the names, there is differentiation, but the water, the ocean
itself is one reality.
Likewise the divine religions of the holy Manifestations of God are in reality one though in name and nomenclature they differ. Man must be a lover of the light no matter from what day-spring it may appear. He must be a lover of the rose no matter in what soil it may be growing. He must be a seeker of the truth no matter from what source it come. ('Abdu'l-Baha, from a talk, ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)