Chapter 26
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Conflicting commentary on the Tablet of the Holy Mariner.
In passage 1, Shoghi
Effendi states, regarding the Tablet of the Holy Mariner, "Its main
significance lies in the fact that in it Bahá'u'lláh clearly
foreshadows the grave happenings, which eventually led to the defection
of Subhi-Azal, and to the schism which the latter thought to create
within the ranks of the faithful." The Tablet of the Holy Mariner is an important tablet revealed by Baha'u'llah. It has the
distinction of being included in a widely used prayer book, and is a
tablet Abdu'l-Baha has told Baha'is to study, stating it refers to
future events: "Study the Tablet of the Holy Mariner that ye may know
the truth, and consider that the Blessed Beauty hath fully foretold future events.
Let them who perceive, take warning!" There are many important themes
in the tablet. Logically, the most important are the references
to the Manifestations of God, God's Chosen Ones,
the two classes of Prophets, about whom it's said in the Kitab-i-Iqan, "none mightier than they hath come to
exist in the world of being. This truth all recognize, and bear witness
thereto". The first Manifestation referred to is the "maid of heaven",
Baha'u'llah, the pre-existent
Independent Prophet. The other Manifestations referred to in the latter
part of the tablet, using similar symbolic language, are the "handmaidens" (the pre-existent
Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah), one of whom is summoned to
appear on earth by Baha'u'llah, as indicated in passages #2.
1)
1609. The Tablet of the Holy Mariner
"The Tablet of the Holy Mariner was revealed by Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad.
The Holy Mariner is a reference to Bahá'u'lláh Himself, and the Ark
mentioned in that Tablet is the Ark of His Cause."
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 8, 1936)
"Concerning the Tablet of the Holy Mariner, it is one of the most
significant Tablets revealed by Bahá'u'lláh during the last days of His
stay in Baghdad, and His arrival in Adrianople. Its main significance
lies in the fact that in it Bahá'u'lláh clearly foreshadows the grave
happenings, which eventually led to the defection of Subhi-Azal, and to
the schism which the latter thought to create within the ranks of the
faithful."
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, August 10, 1934)
-- Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 483
2)
Thereupon she [the maid of heaven, Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet] summoned unto herself one maiden from her handmaidens [the pre-existent Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah],
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And commanded her: "Descend into space [appear on earth] from the mansions of eternity,...
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon the countenance of the favored damsel beamed above the celestial chambers even as the light that shineth from the face of the Youth above His mortal temple;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then descended with such an adorning as to illumine the heavens and all that is therein.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner.
... For ages and centuries they settled and dwelt in that pleasant and
spiritual station, in that divine and holy rose garden, with perfect
joy and happiness.
Then the gales of divine tests and the winds of lordly temptation blew
from the Sheba of the everlasting Cause. They became distracted by the
beauty of the wine server and grew heedless of the immortal
countenance, to the extent that they imagined the shadow to be the sun
and phantoms to be light. They set out for the ladders of the greatest
name so that they might scale those heavens and arrive at that seat and
place. When they rose toward it, the divine assayers [Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah] descended
upon them with the sacred touchstone, by the irresistible decree of the
lord. When these emissaries did not perceive the scent [fragrance] of the spiritual
youth, they forbade entry to all.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner (from the Persian). A provisional translation by Juan Cole.
Since Thou hast purposed, O my God, to cause all created things to
enter into the tabernacle of Thy transcendent grace and favor, and to
waft over the entire creation the fragrances of the raiment of Thy
glorious unity, and to look upon all things with the eyes of Thy bounty
and Thy oneness, I beseech Thee, therefore, by Thy love, which Thou
hast made to be the mainspring of the revelations of Thine eternal
holiness, and the flame that gloweth within the hearts of such of Thy
creatures as yearn towards Thee, to create, this very moment, for those
of Thy people who are wholly devoted to Thee, and for such of Thy loved
ones as love Thee, out of the essence of Thy bounty and Thy generosity,
and from the inmost spirit of Thy grace and Thy glory, Thy Paradise of
transcendent holiness, and to exalt it above everything except Thee,
and to sanctify it from aught else save Thyself. Create, moreover,
within it, O my God, out of the lights shed by Thy throne, handmaidens [Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah]
who will intone the melodies of Thy wondrous and most sweet invention,
that they may magnify Thy name with such words as have not been heard
by any of Thy creatures, be they the inmates of Thy heaven or the
dwellers of Thine earth, nor been comprehended by any of Thy people.
Unlock, then, the gates of this Paradise to the faces of Thy loved
ones, that haply they may enter them in Thy name, and by the power of
Thy sovereignty, that thereby the sovereign bounties vouchsafed by Thee
unto Thy chosen ones [Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah]
and the transcendent gifts granted unto Thy trusted ones be perfected,
that they may extol Thy virtues with such melodies as none can either
intone or describe, and that none of Thy people may conceive the design
of appearing in the guise of any of Thy chosen ones,
or of emulating the example of Thy loved ones, and that none may fail
to discern between Thy friends and Thine enemies, or to distinguish
them that are devoted to Thee from such as stubbornly oppose Thee.
Potent art Thou to do what Thou willest, and powerful and supreme art
Thou over all things.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 326-327
More references on God's Chosen Ones, which includes the handmaidens and the Holy Imams.
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