• Browsing: »
  • Home
  • »Translations
  • »“…Strive that, in thy youth, thou mayest achieve and be illumined with a heavenly character and splendors supremely glorious…”

“…Strive that, in thy youth, thou mayest achieve and be illumined with a heavenly character and splendors supremely glorious…”

What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a Tablet by Bahá’u’lláh, the original text of which has been published in Áthár-i-Qalam-i-A‘lá, vol. 6 (2006 ed.), p. 273 (selection no. 188).

The Most Holy, the Most Exalted

O Ghulám!* The gaze of God is directed toward thee from the horizon of this Prison. Strive that, in thy youth, thou mayest achieve and be illumined with a heavenly character and splendors supremely glorious. These are days the like of which hath never been witnessed. Alas, how regrettable that some have clung, in such days as these, to the cord of vain imaginings, and remained deprived of the Lord of humanity! The life of the soul hath consisted in the water of remembrance, and if the human soul be vivified with this subtle and spiritual water, it shall endure perpetually. The lamp of the heart hath ever been the love of God; light it with the oil of remembrance, that by the aid of this oil, the lamp of love may appear in the utmost brilliance and radiance, and this inner light illumine the outward realm. Such is the counsel of God that hath flowed from the Pen of Revelation. Well is it with thee and with every discerning hearer.

Thy father is present before the Throne; rest thou assured and be of the thankful. Convey My greetings to thy mother and thy brother, as well as them that have believed in God, the One, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.

Glory rest upon thee and upon such as have set their faces toward this resplendent Countenance.

=================

* Ghulám can mean “youth,” but it can also be short for a compound first name like Ghulám-‘Alí (literally, “servant of ‘Alí”). Although this Tablet was clearly addressed to a youth since his young age is explicitly mentioned, since I have not been able to find his name, and because I have seen Bahá’u’lláh use ghulám in both of the senses defined here, I have left it untranslated here to err on the side of caution.

A typescript of the original Persian and Arabic text of the Tablet appears below. 

الاقدس‌الاعلی

اى غلام، طرف اللّه از افق سجن به‌تو ناظر جهد نما که در جوانى به‌اخلاق رحمانى و انوار ابهائى فائز و منير شوى. اين ايّامى است که شبه آن مشاهده نشده زهى حسرت از براى نفوسى که در چنين ايّام بحبل اوهام متمسّک شدند و از مالک انام محروم مانده‌اند. حيات جان بماء ذکر رحمن بوده و اگر قلب انسانى از اين ماء لطيف روحانى زنده شود باقى و پاينده خواهد بود. مصباح دل حبّ اللّه بوده او را بدُهْن ذکر بر افروز تا به‌اعانت دهن ذکريّه مصباح حبّيه بکمال نور و ضياء ظاهر شود و از آن نور باطن عالم ظاهر منوّر گردد اين است نصيحت حق که از قلم امر جارى شد. طوبى لک و لکلّ سامع بصير

انّ اباک لدى العرش، ان اطمئن و کن من الشّاکرين. کبّر من قبلی علی وجه امّک و اخيک ثمّ الّذين آمنوا باللّه الفرد العليم الخبير انّما البهاء عليک و علی الّذين اقبلوا الی هذا الوجه المنير.