The Baha'i Studies Listserv At 09:33 PM 7/23/2010, It was written: > WHY? > >lo mismo pregunto yo :)
I think that reading the quote in the context of the adjoining text makes it a little more clear. I've copied that below this. On the whole, though, I think that the best way to honor the Guardian is to allow him what he desired in this regard. It strikes me as similar to when `Abdu'l-Baha insisted that His birthday not be celebrated. Had the decision been left up to the Guardian, perhaps he would have permitted it. It is out of respect for `Abdu'l-Baha that we don't celebrate His birthday, as that is His way of honoring the Bab. We commemorate the Ascension of `Abdu'l-Baha because that was the wish of Shoghi Effendi. Had `Abdu'l-Baha been asked He might have forbidden that as well. I suppose we will never know. I do wonder whether someday the Day of the Covenant and the Ascension of `Abdu'l-Baha might be combined. Perhaps it is only Baha'i lore that I was infected with somewhere along the line (I can't find anything of the sort written anywhere), but at some time it seems I had heard a rumor that `Abdu'l-Baha chose the Day of the Covenant as a Holy Day because it was as far from either May 23rd or May 29th as one could get. If there was such a reason for the choice of the Day of the Covenant, it doesn't work, though. November 26th isn't six months from May 23rd. It is a little closer to being six months from May 29th. But, the day that is closest to being six months from the Ascension of Baha'u'llah is November 28th - the Ascension of `Abdu'l-Baha. In years when there is a leap day between November and May (like 2011 to 2012) the time between the two dates is exact - 183 days between May 29, 2011 and Nov. 28th, 2011, and 183 days between Nov. 28th, 2011 and May 29th, 2012. In other years it's 183 and 182 days between those dates. Or, maybe it's just another curious coincidence. John B. ------------------ Dearly-beloved friends! Exalted as is the position and vital as is the function of the institution of the Guardianship in the Administrative Order of Bahá'u'lláh, and staggering as must be the weight of responsibility which it carries, its importance must, whatever be the language of the Will, be in no wise over-emphasized. The Guardian of the Faith must not under any circumstances, and whatever his merits or his achievements, be exalted to the rank that will make him a co-sharer with 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the unique position which the Center of the Covenant occupies -- much less to the station exclusively ordained for the Manifestation of God. So grave a departure from the established tenets of our Faith is nothing short of open blasphemy. As I have already stated, in the course of my references to 'Abdu'l-Bahá's station, however great the gulf that separates Him from the Author of a Divine Revelation it can never measure with the distance that stands between Him Who is the Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant and the Guardians who are its chosen ministers. There is a far, far greater distance separating the Guardian from the Center of the Covenant than there is between the Center of the Covenant and its Author. No Guardian of the Faith, I feel it my solemn duty to place on record, can ever claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh or the stainless mirror that reflects His light. Though overshadowed by the unfailing, the unerring protection of Bahá'u'lláh and of the Báb, and however much he may share with 'Abdu'l-Bahá the right and obligation to interpret the Bahá'í teachings, he remains essentially human and cannot, if he wishes to remain faithful to his trust, arrogate to himself, under any pretense whatsoever, the rights, the privileges and prerogatives which Bahá'u'lláh has chosen to confer upon His Son. In the light of this truth to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to address him as lord and master, to designate him as his holiness, to seek his benediction, to celebrate his birthday, or to commemorate any event associated with his life would be tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are enshrined within our beloved Faith. The fact that the Guardian has been specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the implications of the utterances of Bahá'u'lláh and of 'Abdu'l-Bahá does not necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with those Whose words he is called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and different in nature. To the integrity of this cardinal principle of our Faith the words, the deeds of its present and future Guardians must abundantly testify. By their conduct and example they must needs establish its truth upon an unassailable foundation and transmit to future generations unimpeachable evidences of its reality. For my own part to hesitate in recognizing so vital a truth or to vacillate in proclaiming so firm a conviction must constitute a shameless betrayal of the confidence reposed in me by 'Abdu'l-Bahá and an unpardonable usurpation of the authority with which He Himself has been invested. (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, pp. 150-152) __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-515644-274...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu