Message from LSA of Lucknow (India) in 1957
Message from LSA of Lucknow (India) in 1957 to Bahai's of the World
Reproduced by National Bahai Council of Orthodox Bahais of India
by guest blogger
Hand of the Cause of God Y.H. Taylor
In this period of strife, India is privileged to be a light to the world, the torch-bearer of a message of universal brotherhood. Indian culture possesses the capacity for rejuvenation, and can without loss of continuity bring about a spiritual change. Indian people, though somewhat slow-going, have the strength and vitality of youth, and so have preserved their basic human instinct for love of the truth. Their instinct reacts infallibly to the impact of realities. They are capable of effecting changes, not by imposition nor by intimidation, but by the process of education, a spiritual refining.
How many of us are aware that the Local Spiritual Assembly of Lucknow, upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, stood up valiantly for this very basic human instinct of LOVE FOR THE TRUTH, and faithfully demonstrated its fidelity to the Will And Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in refusing to conform to the dictates of the violating Hands of Cause who conspired to make the religion of Bahá’u’lláh conform to their own whims and wishes? These violating Hands of the Cause were bent upon exploitation of the Sacred Name in following a policy of imposition and intimidation.
It is a well known fact that when men follow a policy of secret collusion, of which these Hands were guilty at the very first conclave of Hands, held in ‘Akká following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, they cut themselves off from the truth and they become deluded by ignorance, and developed satanic perversity or egotism that proclaims itself absolute both in knowledge and power. The LSA of Lucknow, undeterred by this policy of intimidation, passed a resolution in the presence of seven members of the Assembly on November 9th, 1957, resolving that "the activities of this L.S.A. be suspended till the appointment of the next Guardian of the Faith."
Y.H. Taylor
___________________________________________________________________________________
The letter written by the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Lucknow in 1957:
Resolution passed in the presence of seven members of
the Assembly (L.S.A. LUCKNOW)
on November 9th,1957
REGISTERED SOCIETY NO. 141 NOVEMBER 18, 1958
(U.P.INDIA) RAFFANIAN
L.S.A. (LUCKNOW) HAIFA, ISRAEL
Where as by a resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the Assembly on November 9th, 1957, it was resolved that "the activities of this L.S.A. be suspended til the appointment of the next Guardian of the Faith" and the same was intimated to the N.S.A., New Delhi, and whereas it comes under the purview of the Supreme Council, so therefore it behooves this assembly to place the following arguments without prejudice, before the aforementioned Supreme Council through Raffanian, Haifa (Israel):
1. Man’s nature is two-fold; he is spirit and body and therefore, at once, a citizen of this world and of the Heavenly City.
2. The State of Guardianship is the supermost thing upon Earth, for the Guardians are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God Himself they are called Gods. That which concerns the mystery of The Guardian’s power is not lawful to be disputed, for, that is to wade into the weakness of Gods, and to take away the mystical reverence that belongs unto the temporal presence of them that sit in the Throne of God.
3. The Guardian ought to have no equal in his realm because this would nullify the rule that an equal cannot have authority over his equals. Still less ought he to have a superior or anyone more powerful than he, for he would then be below his own deputies and it is impossible that inferiors should be equal to the Supreme.
4. The Supremacy of the Guardian in spiritual matters is absolute under God. Substantially He is the "AKDAS" in the sense that he can neither be removed nor held responsible and has ultimate authority over the rest of the hierarchy, which his deputies have not. The Guardian has full power to create Hands of the Cause and can do so without any of the customary forms of election.
5. The unique power possessed by The Guardian alone, is, therefore a "Divine Right". It confers a peculiar superiority, a power of revision and supervision over all other forms of authority whether ecclesiastical or secular. In substance the Guardian alone is the head of the entire legal system, not, indeed, as a universal executive but as a court of final authority which functions not in absentia but by presence. It is evident that it is impossible to invest the community or even the Hands of the Cause, with the supreme authority which is the Divine prerogative of the Guardian.
6. The present system is but conciliary and the concilliarists have set against it the ideal of a harmony of powers cooperating by free and mutual consent. Such an argument is fought with the implication that God had changed the mode of imposing His Divine Right according to the wishes of the few. Such a democratic conception is vitally opposed to the Spirit of the Faith. The concilliarist theory strands curiously balanced between past and present. Wherever authority stands upon the exploitation of a sacred name, intimidation has to be adopted as policy on considerations.
L.S.A. Lucknow in animated suspense til the consecration of the Guardian on His vacant throne.
51 Sundarbagh,
Lucknow
Comments