O Friends! You must all be so ablaze in this day with the
fire of the love of God that the heat thereof may be manifest in all your
veins, your limbs and members of your body, and the peoples of the world may be
ignited by this heat and turn to the horizon of the Beloved. (Baha’u’llah, From a Tablet; The Compilation
of Compilations, Vol. II, Guidelines for Teaching)
The Prophets and Messengers of God have been sent down for the sole purpose of guiding mankind to the straight Path of Truth. The purpose underlying their revelation hath been to educate all men, that they may, at the hour of death, ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and with absolute detachment, to the throne of the Most High.... (Baha’u’llah, ‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I. Baha’i Education)
Strain every nerve to acquire both inner and outer perfections, for the fruit of the human tree hath ever been and will ever be perfections both within and without. It is not desirable that a man be left without knowledge or skills, for he is then but a barren tree. Then, so much as capacity and capability allow, ye needs must deck the tree of being with fruits such as knowledge, wisdom, spiritual perception and eloquent speech. (Baha’u’llah, From a Tablet; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. I, Excellence in All Things)
From ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
The divine friends must be attracted to and enamored of each
other and ever be ready and willing to sacrifice their own lives for each
other. Should one soul from amongst the believers meet another, it must be as
though a thirsty one with parched lips has reached to the fountain of the water
of life, or a lover has met his true beloved. For one of the greatest divine
wisdoms regarding the appearance of the holy Manifestations is this: The souls
may come to know each other and become intimate with each other; the power of
the love of God may make all of them the waves of one sea, the flowers of one
rose garden, and the stars of one heaven. This is the wisdom for the appearance
of the holy Manifestations! When the most great bestowal reveals itself in the hearts
of the believers, the world of nature will be transformed, the darkness of the
contingent being will vanish, and heavenly illumination will be obtained. Then
the whole world will become the Paradise of Abhá, every one of the believers of
God will become a blessed tree, producing wonderful fruits. (‘Abdu’l-Baha,
‘Tablets of the Divine Plan’)
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…the honor and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the world’s multitudes should become a source of social good. Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no greater bliss, no more complete delight. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Secret of Divine Civilization’)