O MY CHILDREN!
I fear lest, bereft of the melody of the dove of heaven, ye will sink back to the shades of utter loss, and, never having gazed upon the beauty of the rose, return to water and clay.

~ Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words #13

I had to read this one through several times… the images that stand out to me are the ‘dove of heaven’ and to ‘sink back to the shades of utter loss’.  I can see in this the sadness and disappointment if we were to never see the beauty of God, or to hear that wonderful ‘melody of the dove of heaven’.  If we were never to do those things, it would seem that we would even cease to be human and return to our elemental materials.

It was while Abdul Baha was in Paris that a group composed of different sects awaited an audience to argue their various faiths. Suddenly this divine teacher of men swept into the room and pointing out of the window, exclaimed: "The sun of truth rises in each season from a different point of the horizon — to-day it is here, yesterday it was there, and to-morrow it will appear from another direction. Why do you keep your eyes eternally fixed on the same point? Why do you call yourselves Christians, Buddhists, Mohammedans, Bahais? You must learn to distinguish the sun of truth from whichever point of the horizon it is shining! People think religion is confined in an edifice, to be worshipped at an altar. In reality it is an attitude toward divinity which is reflected through life.

"This movement eludes organization — it is the realization of a new spirit. The foundation of that spirit is the love of God; and its method, the love and service of mankind. Many who have never heard of this revelation teach its laws and spiritual truths.

~ Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 14

This description of Abdu’l-Baha is stunning.  A major reason that I became a Baha’i is that I had already come to believe in all of the principles of the Faith before ever learning the name of Baha’u’llah.  Accepting that he was the latest manifestation of God was easy for me at that point.  I have heard this similar story echoed from numerous others as well.  To me, the concepts of unity, world peace, harmony of science and religion, equality of men and women, the establishment of a universal auxiliary language, providing education for all, and that all religions are worshipping the same God were what made me a Baha’i.  Anyone who deigns to serve mankind and promote these truths is showing the love of God.

I asked the Prophet, “What is the greatest sin in the Sight of Allah?” He said, “That you set up a rival unto Allah though He Alone created you.” I said, “That is indeed a great sin.”

~ Hadith, Bukhari Vol 6, Book 60, Number 4

Baha’is believe that all of the world’s religions really are just one; that there is no one way to get to God; that one religion is not better than the other; that the world religions are not, and should not, be rivals with one another.  Baha’is believe there is only one God; that all of the world’s religions are actually worshiping the same God.  It is our human interventions that make these different dispensations of God’s message to be rivals with one another.

Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first day of Ridvan, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes.

~ Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 47

On this day (along with the 9th and 12th days of Ridvan), Baha’is will abstain from work and school and celebrate through community gatherings, prayers, and in some places, the election of the Local Spiritual Assembly—the local administrative council.

It is not just by means of morality and religious observances, not by great learning nor by attainments in meditation, nor by living alone, nor by thinking,"I am enjoying a spiritual happiness which ordinary people do not know" that a bhikkhu* achieves peace if he has not achieved the elimination of inflowing thoughts.

~ Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards)

I imagine those “inflowing thoughts” to be the temptations and desires of this world.  The Baha’is are instructed to resist the desires of materialism and placing the accumulation of things above service to others and to God.  But, in this Buddhist text we see that no matter what else we do in our efforts to become closer to God, such as adherence to observances, prayer and meditation will mean nothing if we cannot eliminate the inflowing thoughts.

* Bhikku is the term for an adult Buddhist monk.