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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)
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