Theological Teachings: True Religion; The Goal of Human Life (Salvation)

Dr. Moojan Momen

True Religion

In the opening passages of one of his most important books, the Book of Certitude (Kitáb-i-Íqán), Bahá'u'lláh states that those who wish to have faith and certainty in their lives must first free themselves from the things of this world; their ears from gossip; their minds from idle fancies; and their hearts from longing for the things of this world. He also asserts that the mysteries of the spiritual world will never be revealed to us until we cease to regard the words and actions of ordinary men and women as the standard by which to judge the spiritual world.

Failure to comply with the above conditions has prevented human beings from achieving spiritual growth and advancement. As examples of this, Bahá'u'lláh recalls the history of religion. He points to the fact that in each age, the people have longed for the coming of the saviour promised them in their holy books. And yet when a prophet does indeed come to them, they deny him, turn away from his face, insult him and persecute his followers. All of the world's scriptures record such events.

Bahá'u'lláh states that the main reason for this rejection of the prophets was the close-mindedness and pride of the people and the fact that they were blindly following their religious leaders. If they had purified their hearts and judged fairly, they would not have opposed the divine educators of humankind. Instead they relied on their own limited understandings of the holy scriptures, which they had learned from their religious leaders. And when they found the proofs brought forward by the new prophet to be different from these limited understandings, they arose in opposition to the prophet.

Bahá'u'lláh asserts that it has been the leaders of religion in every age who have held the people back from accepting the new prophet and benefitting from his teachings. It is these leaders who held the reins of authority in their grasp. Some of them were ignorant and did not understand the words of their own scriptures that foretold the coming of the new prophet. Others through a desire to cling on to their leadership led the people into error. It is they who gave the orders for the persecutions of the prophets and their followers. Thus it is that these religious leaders have been condemned in all the books of scripture.

Bahá'u'lláh gives the example of Jesus. All of the people of Israel rose up against Jesus when he came. They said that they knew of the Messiah prophesied in their scriptures, but he was going to fulfill the law of Moses. On the other hand, this young man from Nazareth, who claimed to be the Messiah, had caused the law of divorce and of the Sabbath, which were two important Judaic laws, to be broken. And what is more, none of the signs that were supposed to accompany the coming of the Messiah had been fulfilled; in particular, the Jews were expecting a Messiah who would lead them to victory over Rome and establish a Jewish state.

The same sequence of events, Bahá'u'lláh says, has occurred in each religion. The people failed to understand the real meaning of the words of their scriptures. Thus when they did not find the literal meaning of these words fulfilled, they rejected the prophets and persecuted them. They clung to their own false imaginings instead of asking the prophet himself to explain the real meaning of the scripture. Thus they deprived themselves of the benefits of the new divine teachings.

Bahá'u'lláh says that this is the true meaning of the Day of Judgement referred to in the scriptures of several religions. Whenever a new prophet appears, that is the "end of the world" for the previous religious dispensation and a day of judgement for the followers of that religion: if they are sincere and faithful to the spirit of their religion, they recognize the new teaching from God; but if they are merely following the outward forms of their religion, they will be spiritually blind to the new teaching.

According to Bahá'u'lláh, the Manifestations of God, the prophet-founders of the world's religions, are the successive appearances in the world of the same divine reality. They are therefore in their essential nature one.

Inasmuch as these Birds of the Celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they therefore are regarded as one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness.²¹

Bahá'u'lláh explains the differences among these Manifestations of God by asserting that they each have a two-fold station. In their inner spiritual reality these prophet-founders of the world religions are one and the same. This is the "station of pure abstraction and essential unity."

In this respect, if thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same attribute, thou hast not erred from the truth . . . For they one and all summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the Unity of God . . . They are all invested with the robe of Prophethood, and honoured with the mantle of glory . . . Wherefore, should one of these Manifestations of Holiness proclaim saying: "I am the return of all the Prophets," He verily speaketh the truth.²²

The Manifestations of God differ, however, in their external aspects, their name, their bodily form, the age in which they came, and the specific message that they brought. This is their second station, the "station of distinction", which "pertaineth to the world of creation and to the limitations thereof."

In this respect, each Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a definitely prescribed mission, a predestined Revelation, and specially designated limitations. Each one of them is known by a different name, is characterized by a special attribute, fulfils a definite Mission, and is entrusted with a particular Revelation.²³

Bahá'u'lláh gives the analogy of the sun. In order to mark the passing of time, human beings give each day a different name. If it were to be said that all the days are one and the same that would be true, for they are each the expression of the same reality, the appearance of the sun; and if it were to be said that, with regard to their names, they differ, that would also be true.²⁴ The oneness and differences of the prophets of God should be thought of in the same way. They are each the appearance on earth of the same reality, and thus are all one; and yet, relative to our human world, they each came at a different time and have a different name.

In view of their essential oneness, Bahá'u'lláh asserts that it would be wrong to prefer one of these prophet-founders of the world religions over another.

Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same. Their unity is absolute . . . To prefer one in honour to another, to exalt certain ones above the rest, is in no wise to be permitted. Every true Prophet hath regarded His Message as fundamentally the same as the Revelation of every other Prophet gone before Him. If any man, therefore, should fail to comprehend this truth, and should consequently indulge in vain and unseemly language, no one whose sight is keen and whose understanding is enlightened would ever allow such idle talk to cause him to waver in his belief.²⁵

It is, however, the second station, that of distinctions and difference, that has confused humanity and made it appear that there are some inherent contradictions among the religions of the world.

It is because of this difference in their station and mission that the words and utterances flowing from these Well-springs of divine knowledge appear to diverge and differ . . . As most of the people have failed to appreciate those stations to which We have referred, they therefore feel perplexed and dismayed at the varying utterances pronounced by Manifestations that are essentially one and the same. (Bahá'u'lláh)²⁶

The differences among the teachings of the prophet-founders of the world religions arise because they have come to different parts of the world in which there are differing cultures. They, therefore, have to address their messages differently according to each culture. An even more important reason for difference is the fact that the needs of humanity have changed over the ages. The world now is very different from the world of one thousand or two thousand years ago, and so the message of God changes in accordance with this difference. The message of these Manifestations of God deals with the needs of the age in which they appear.

For every age requireth a fresh measure of the light of God. Every Divine Revelation hath been sent down in a manner that befitted the circumstances of the age in which it hath appeared.²⁷

 

The successive prophets that have come to the earth have each taken humankind onwards in its social and spiritual evolution. They have helped humanity "to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization".²⁸ Each has built on the message of his predecessor and taken humanity on a further stage. This has been necessary because humanity is only able to advance a step at a time. Just as the rays of the sun at sun-rise are weak and only gradually build up to their mid-day intensity otherwise they would cause great damage to all living things, so Bahá'u'lláh states that it would be injurious for a Manifestation of God to give a more advanced message than the one that he does in fact deliver.²⁹ The message that each of these prophet-founders of the world religions gives is in accordance with humanity's ability to receive it.

All that I have revealed unto thee with the tongue of power, and have written for thee with the pen of might, hath been in accordance with thy capacity and understanding, not with My state and the melody of My voice. (Bahá'u'lláh)³⁰

Bahá'u'lláh's own claim is that he is a Manifestation of God in the line of succession of the Prophet-Founders of the world religions. Bahá'u'lláh's mission is to take humanity on to the next stage of its development. The social and spiritual teachings that Bahá'u'lláh has brought are the teachings which, Bahá'u'lláh states, will unite the world and bring about the fulfilment of the prophecies to be found in all of the religions of the world about a great day when there will be a golden age for humanity. Bahá'ís claim, therefore, that Bahá'u'lláh is the figure anticipated in the scriptures of all the religions of the world. He is the Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace foretold in the Hebrew Bible and expected by the Jews, the return of Christ in the glory of the Father awaited by Christians, the Great Announcement about which the Muslims are told in the Qur'an, the Shah Bahram of the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Kalki Avatar foretold in the Hindu scriptures, and the Maitreya Buddha that the Buddhists are awaiting.

In view of the teaching described above of the progressive revelation of truth through the successive Manifestations, Bahá'u'lláh does not regard himself as the final Manifestation of God. In due course, conditions will change again and a new divine message will become necessary. Bahá'u'lláh has written, however, that this will not occur for at least one thousand years.

Bahá'ís regard the Bahá'í Faith as an independent religion, alongside the other world religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Conversion to the Bahá'í Faith is not, however, similar to conversion to some other religions. When one converts from Christianity to Buddhism, for example, one rejects entirely the view-point that one is leaving behind and adopts a new viewpoint. Since the doctrines of the two religions appear to be contradictory, it is a question of adopting either one or the other. The same does not occur with conversion to the Bahá'í Faith, however. To become a Bahá'í does not entail an automatic rejection of one's previous religion. This is for several reasons:

1. In view of the Bahá'í teaching that the prophet-founders of all of the world religions are the re-appearance in the world of the same reality, conversion to the Bahá'í Faith involves no rejection of the founder of one's previous religion.
2. From the Bahá'í viewpoint, to become a Bahá'í means that one has been faithful to the message of the founders of these religions in following their promise about the coming of a future saviour, a promise that Bahá'ís believe has been fulfilled by Bahá'u'lláh.
3. Humanity has over thousands of years developed numerous different viewpoints on religious questions; a multitude of diverse pathways to spirituality, many spiritual insights developed by the mystics and seers of the various religions. The Bahá'í Faith does not seek to reject or replace this rich religious heritage of humanity; rather it seeks to preserve it, stripped of any divisive potential, within an overall framework of unity. Indeed, more than preserving this rich heritage, the Bahá'í Faith would seek to make this heritage available globally, so that the best of every religion and culture can contribute to humanity's overall progress.

The Goal of Human Life (Salvation)

The goal of human life is described in various ways in the Bahá'í scriptures. As we have discussed elsewhere, one way of expressing it is to say that our lives are an opportunity to fulfill our potential in being examples of the divine virtues and attributes. In order to do this, however, one must follow the teachings of one of the divine educators. Therefore Bahá'u'lláh states, as the opening verse of his major book, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (the Most Holy Book), that the first duty for human beings is to recognize this divine educator, and the second is to follow his laws and teachings:

The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Day Spring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good . . . It behoveth every one who reacheth this most sublime station . . . to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other.³¹

If we are faithful to these two injunctions, then we will be following a path that involves a daily effort to develop spiritual qualities; an effort that is assisted by spiritual discipline, such as prayer. For human beings no other path can bring true happiness or lasting contentment.

Wert thou to speed through the immensity of space and traverse the expanse of heaven, yet thou wouldst find no rest save in submission to Our command and humbleness before Our Face. (Bahá'u'lláh)³²

This effort to develop spiritual qualities should not be seen as trying to become something different to what we already are. Rather it should be seen as releasing the divine potential that is already present in each person--for all human beings have the image of God engraved upon them.

According to the words of the Old Testament God has said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." This indicates that man is of the image and likeness of God--that is to say, the perfections of God, the divine virtues, are reflected or revealed in the human reality. (`Abdu'l-Bahá)³³

Such spiritual processes are difficult to describe in words. There are, therefore, many metaphors and images used for this process in the Bahá'í scriptures. One is that of burnishing a mirror so that the divine sun shines in it with full glory.³⁴ Another image is that of a divine light within the human being.

Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favour upon thee. (Bahá'u'lláh)³⁵

The site within the human being of these spiritual qualities is described as the human heart. Unfortunately, it is too often also the site of love for the things of this world.

All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory; yet thou didst give My home and dwelling to another than Me; and whenever the manifestation of My holiness sought His own abode, a stranger found He there, and, homeless, hastened unto the sanctuary of the Beloved. Notwithstanding I have concealed thy secret and desired not thy shame. (Bahá'u'lláh)³⁶

Thus human beings can either be turned towards the material world and have their hearts set on the appeasement of their animal nature--the state of being in sin as it is called in Christian terminology--or they can turn their hearts towards God and try to develop their spiritual nature. According to the Bahá'í scriptures, Satan or the Devil is a symbol for the animal side of human nature. It is this animal side that constantly tempts us and keeps us from fulfilling our spiritual potential.

The divine potential within can, however, only be brought out if we have the will to proceed along the path mapped out by Bahá'u'lláh.

All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition.³⁷

We must aim to cleanse the human heart so that the Divine nature can manifest itself within us.

Hast thou ever heard that friend and foe should abide in one heart? Cast out then the stranger, that the Friend may enter His home. (Bahá'u'lláh)³⁸

This is a process of sacrificing our earthly attachments in order to acquire spiritual characteristics. (see Detachment). 'Abdu'l-Bahá likens it to placing an iron in the fire.

Man must become severed from the human world . . . the nether world become as non-existent and the Kingdom become manifest. He must become like unto the iron thrown within the furnace of fire. The qualities of iron, such as blackness, coldness and solidity which belong to the earth disappear and vanish while the characteristics of fire, such as redness, glowing and heat, which belong to the Kingdom become apparent and visible. Therefore, iron hath sacrificed its qualities and grades to the fire, acquiring the virtues of that element.³⁹

Once the heart is cleansed in this way then the human being can turn towards the light at all times and under all circumstances.

In this station he pierceth the veils of plurality, fleeth from the worlds of the flesh, and ascendeth into the heaven of singleness. With the ear of God he heareth, with the eye of God he beholdeth the mysteries of divine creation . . . He seeth in himself neither name nor fame nor rank, but findeth his own praise in praising God . . . He looketh on all things with the eye of oneness, and seeth the brilliant rays of the divine sun shining from the dawning-point of Essence alike on all created things, and the lights of singleness reflected over all creation. (Bahá'u'lláh)⁴⁰

And if a person should succeed in achieving this state and of seeing with the eye of oneness, then the signs of the divine nature within will begin to show themselves. For that nature is within the individual but "hidden under the veilings of sense and the conditions of this earth, even as a candle within a lantern of iron, and only when the lantern is removed doth the light of the candle shine out."⁴¹ And when that divine nature within begins to show itself the person is transformed into a new entity.

Whensoever the light of Manifestation of the King of Oneness settleth upon the throne of the heart and soul, His shining becometh visible in every limb and member . . . For thus the Master of the house hath appeared within His home, and all the pillars of the dwelling are ashine with His light. And the action and effect of the light are from the Light-Giver; so it is that all move through Him and arise by His will. (Bahá'u'lláh)⁴²

It is here that the human being reaches that contentment and inner peace for which we all long.

Pleasant is the realm of being, wert thou to attain thereto; glorious is the domain of eternity, shouldst thou pass beyond the world of mortality; sweet is the holy ecstasy if thou drinkest of the mystic chalice from the hands of the celestial Youth. Shouldst thou attain this station, thou wouldst be freed from destruction and death, from toil and sin. (Bahá'u'lláh)⁴³

 

In this spiritual world, everything is seen anew and the individual is lost in wonderment. Here the mystical traveller

. . . is tossed in the oceans of grandeur, and at every moment his wonder groweth. Now he seeth the shape of wealth as poverty itself, and the essence of freedom as sheer impotence . . . At every moment he beholdeth a wondrous world, a new creation, and goeth from astonishment to astonishment, and is lost in awe at the works of the Lord of Oneness. (Bahá'u'lláh)⁴⁴

The result is to achieve a station where the self of the individual vanishes completely allowing the divine nature which it is concealing to shine out brightly. This is the station of true poverty and absolute nothingness.

This station is the dying from self and the living in God, the being poor in self and rich in the Desired One. Poverty as here referred to signifieth being poor in the things of the created world, rich in the things of God's world. For when the true lover and devoted friend reacheth to the presence of the Beloved, the sparkling beauty of the Loved One and the fire of the lover's heart will kindle a blaze and burn away all veils and wrappings. Yea, all he hath, from heart to skin, will be set aflame, so that nothing will remain save the Friend. (Bahá'u'lláh)⁴⁵