Gleanings — §687
Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 687 of 729.
Source (Arabic)
ای عباد نيست در اين قلب مگر تجلّيات انوار صبح بقا و تکلم نمينمايد مگر بر حق خالص از پروردگار شما پس متابعت نفس ننمائيد و عهد اللّه را مشکنيد و نقض ميثاق مکنيد باستقامت تمام بدل و قلب و زبان باو توجه نمائيد و نباشيد از بيخردان دنيا نمايشی است بی حقيقت و نيستی است بصورت هستی آراسته دل باو مبنديد و از پروردگار خود مگسليد و مباشيد از غفلت کنندگان براستی ميگويم که مثل دنيا مثل سرابيست که بصورت آب نمايد و صاحبان عطش در طلبش جهد بليغ نمايند و چون باو رسند بی بهره و بی نصيب مانند و يا صورت معشوقی که از جان و روح عاری مانده و عاشق چون بدو رسد لا يسمن و لا يغنی مشاهده نمايد و جز تعب زياد و حسرت حاصلی نيابد
Shoghi Effendi Translation
O My servants! There shineth nothing else in Mine heart except the unfading light of the Morn of Divine guidance, and out of My mouth proceedeth naught but the essence of truth, which the Lord your God hath revealed. Follow not, therefore, your earthly desires, and violate not the Covenant of God, nor break your pledge to Him. With firm determination, with the whole affection of your heart, and with the full force of your words, turn ye unto Him, and walk not in the ways of the foolish. The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot “fatten nor appease his hunger.”
Translation Notes
زياد
literal: increase; excess; more; additional; to increase; to grow; to be added
