Meditation

[arthra]

Someone asked what Baha'is think of meditation or if there is any set form of Baha'i meditation...

for Baha'is there is no one system of meditation encouraged or promoted ..

"In a letter to an individual believer, dated February 10, 1972, the Universal House of Justice commented that

"although Bahá’u’lláh has given certain laws for prayer, including the obligatory prayers, He has specified no distinct type of meditation, and each individual is free to follow his own inclination in this regard."

but meditation in itself is encouraged as in

Prayer and meditation are very important factors in deepening the spiritual life of the individual, but with them must go also action and example, as these are the tangible results of the former. Both are essential.

(15 May 1944 in a letter to an individual believer from Shoghi Effendi)

(Compilations, The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 241)

So we do not practise meditation alone without some kind of expression or action.

Meditation is very important, and the Guardian sees no reason why the friends should not be taught to meditate, but they should guard against superstitious or foolish ideas creeping into it.

(19 November 1945 to an individual believer)

(Compilations, The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 241)

 

[arthra]

Excerpt from the Writings of the Bab (Siyyid Ali Muhammad):

"The reason why privacy hath been enjoined in moments of devotion is
this, that thou mayest give thy best attention to the remembrance of
God, that thy heart may at all times be animated with His Spirit, and
not be shut out as by a veil from thy Best Beloved.

Let not thy tongue pay lip service in praise of God while thy heart be not attuned to the exalted summit of Glory, and the Focal Point of communion. Thus if haply thou dost live in the Day of Resurrection, the mirror of thy heart will be set towards Him Who is the Day-Star of Truth; and no sooner will His light shine forth than the splendour thereof shall forthwith be reflected in thy heart. For He is the Source of all goodness, and unto Him revert all things. But if He appeareth while thou hast turned unto thyself in meditation, this shall not profit thee, unless thou shalt mention His Name by words He hath revealed.


For in the forthcoming Revelation it is He Who is the Remembrance of God, whereas the devotions which thou art offering at present have been
prescribed by the point of the Bayan, while He Who will shine resplendent in the Day of Resurrection is the Revelation of the inner reality enshrined in the Point of the Bayan -- a Revelation more potent, immeasurably more potent, than the one which hath preceded it."


~ The Bab: Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 93-94

 

[arthra]

"The one God is My witness! Wert thou to ponder a while, thou wilt recognize that, apart from all these established truths and above-mentioned evidences, the repudiation, cursing, and execration, pronounced by the people of the earth, are in themselves the mightiest proof and the surest testimony of the truth of these heroes of the field of resignation and detachment.

"Whenever thou dost meditate upon the cavils uttered by all the people, be they divines, learned or ignorant, the firmer and the more steadfast wilt thou grow in the Faith. For whatsoever hath come to pass, hath been prophesied by them who are the Mines of divine knowledge, and Recipients of God’s eternal law."

~ Baha'u'llah

Paragraph 267, p. 237