From Bahaikipedia
"Prayer," says 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "is conversation with God." In order that God may make known His mind and will to human beings, He must speak to us in a language which we can understand, and this He does through the guidance of the Manifestations of God. While the Manifestations are alive They speak face to face with man and convey to them the Message of God, and after Their death Their message continues to reach people's minds through their recorded sayings and writings. But this is not the only way in which God can commune with and inspire those whose hearts are seeking after truth, wherever they are, and whatever their native race or tongue. By this language the Manifestation continues to hold converse with the faithful after His departure from the material world.
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We should speak in the language of heaven -- in the language of the spirit -- for there is a language of the spirit and heart. It is as different from our language as our own language is different from that of the animals, who express themselves only by cries and sounds. It is the language of the spirit which speaks to God. When, in prayer, we are freed from all outward things and turn to God, then it is as if in our hearts we hear the voice of God. Without words we speak, we communicate, we converse with God and hear the answer. ... All of us, when we attain to a truly spiritual condition, can hear the Voice of God. |
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- Abdu'l-Bahá [1]
[edit] A Devotional Attitude
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We must strive to attain to that condition by being separated from all things and from the people of the world and by turning to God alone. It will take some effort on the part of man to attain to that condition, but he must work for it, strive for it. We can attain to it by thinking and caring less for material things and more for the spiritual. The further we go from the one, the nearer we are to the other. The choice is ours. Our spiritual perception, our inward sight must be opened, so that we can see the signs and traces of God's spirit in everything. Everything can reflect to us the light of the Spirit. |
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- Abdu'l-Bahá [2]
[edit] The Language of Love
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If one friend loves another, is it not natural that he should wish to say so? Though he knows that that friend is aware of his love, does he still not wish to tell him of it? It is true that God knows the wishes of all hearts; but the impulse to pray is a natural one, springing from man's love to God.
... Prayer need not be in words, but rather in thought and action. But if this love and this desire are lacking, it is useless to try to force them. Words without love mean nothing. If a person talks to you as an unpleasant duty, finding neither love nor enjoyment in the meeting, do you wish to converse with him?
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- Abdu'l-Bahá [3]
[edit] Indispensable and Obligatory
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Recite ye the verses of God every morn and eventide. Whoso faileth to recite them hath not been faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament, and whoso turneth away from these holy verses in this Day is of those who throughout eternity have turned away from God. Fear ye God, O My servants, one and all. Pride not yourselves on much reading of the verses or on a multitude of pious acts by night and day; for were a man to read a single verse with joy and radiance it would be better for him than to read with lassitude all the Holy Books of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Read ye the sacred verses in such measure that ye be not overcome by languor and despondency. Lay not upon your souls that which will weary them and weigh them down, but rather what will lighten and uplift them, so that they may soar on the wings of the Divine verses towards the Dawning-place of His manifest signs; this will draw you nearer to God, did ye but comprehend. |
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- Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitab-i-Aqdas
[edit] Congregational Prayer
The prayers which Bahá'u'lláh has ordained as a daily obligation for Bahá'ís are to be said privately. Only in the case of the prayer for the dead has Bahá'u'lláh ordained congregational prayer, and the only requirement is that the believer who reads it aloud, and all others present, should stand.
- Read more here
[edit] References
- ↑ From a talk reported by Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg
- ↑ From a talk reported by Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg.
- ↑ From an article in Fortnightly Review, Jul.-Dec. 1911, p. 784 by Miss E. S. Stevens.
[edit] Sorting
