Teaching the Cause of God

Teaching the Cause of God

Manifold gifts and bounties have been showered on mankind through God's latest Revelation-the Revelation of Bahà'u'llàh. One of these many gifts is the gift of teaching His Cause. "Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Baha, "says Bahà'u'llàh," for God hath prescribed unto everyone the duty of proclaiming His message, and regarded it as the most meritorious of all deeds "every Bahá'í in this wonderful age has been bestowed upon with unique opportunity namely to teach the Cause of God ! Indeed it is a priceless favour that man has been allowed to teach God's own Cause in this age.

However, to undertake such a great responsibility as teaching the Cause of God, requires some prerequisites, which have been laid down in the Holy writings. The first and the most important of these requisites is living the life in accordance with Bahá'ís teachings. Bahà'u'llàh in one of His tablets states "God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of teaching His Cause. Who so ariseth to discharge this duty, must needs, are he proclaimed His message, adorn himself with the ornament of an upright and praise worthy character, so that his words may attract the hearts of such as are receptive to his call" Living the Life for a Bahá'í teacher is so important that Bahà'u'llàh emphatically declares "With-out that he can never hope to influence His hearses".

Beloved guardian, Shoghi Effendi has left no room whatsoever for short circuiting or finding an alternative to this vital prerequisite of teaching living the life, when he says, "One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this Sacred Cause, namely the extent to which ones own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahà'u'llàh".

Another important injunction which must be followed to teach the Cause is to possess the love of Bahà'u'llàh. He says, "Observe my Commandments for the love of My Beauty". If we would teach His Cause of his love. It is but natural that the Divine assistance will be given to us, otherwise God's assistance will not reach us and without it we can do nothing. Thus if a believer who has love for Bahà'u'llàh in his heart arises with purity of motive to teach the Cause, this action in itself will undoubtedly enable him to attract Divine help.

In our teaching work, we must allow the power of Bahà'u'llàh to work for us. We must remember that our primary purpose in teaching is not to increase our numbers but rather to bring a soul to its God. For this we take to them the transforming power of Bahà'u'llàh and nothing of ourselves. If we would try to depend upon our knowledge then the power of Bahà'u'llàh connote teach us. It is therefore of utmost necessity that before leaving our homes for teaching the Cause of God, We must pray to God and beseech His precious blessings and assistance.

'Abdu'l-Bahá pointing out towards the manifold Spiritual qualifications of a good teacher writes. "The Intention of the teacher must be pure, his thought at peace, his resolution firm, his magnanimity exalted and the love of God a shining torch". Should he become such, 'He says," his sanctified breath will affect the rock ; otherwise there will be no result whatsoever".

The importance of teaching the Cause4 is so vital that 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes ; "If the work of delivering the message he neglected, the assistance shall be entirely cut off, for it is impossible that the friends of God can receive assistance unless they be engaged in delivering the massage. "Let us, then, dear friends, make use of this precious opportunity and teach the Cause of God. The act of teaching, though in Itself a great bounty from God, more than anything else, evokes the Good pleasure of God.

We must not wait any longer to teach the Cause. Who knows when the doors will be closed and we will be devoid of this unique opportunity. Moreover, Beloved guardian has very clearly stated. "WHEN VICTORY ARRIVED EVERY ONE WILL PROCLAIM HIMSELF TO BE A BELIEVER" at that time our efforts to teach will not be so valuable. The time to teach is now-this very moment. Let us then parry and go in to the field to teach the Cause of God !