Here is passage thirteen from the Long Obligatory Prayer. It is said in prostration with one's forehead to the floor.
Praise be unto Thee, O our God, that Thou hast sent down unto us that which draweth us nigh unto Thee, and supplieth us with every good thing sent down by Thee in Thy Books and Thy Scriptures. Protect us, we beseech Thee, O my Lord, from the hosts of idle fancies and vain imaginations. Thou, in truth, art the Mighty, the All-Knowing.
This passage is a clear variation on the offering of praise that was seen a couple of passages before. God out His benificence grants the performer the means to further manifest the divine attributes.
I don't really have anything new to say about this passage besides for this. If anybody wants to throw in their two cents they are more than welcome. Otherwise I think I'm just going to let it be. I'm also at a loss regarding the next passage, the conclusion of the prayer.
I testify, O my God, to that whereunto Thy chosen Ones have testified, and acknowledge that which the inmates of the all-highest Paradise and those who have circled round Thy mighty Throne have acknowledged. The kingdoms of earth and heaven are Thine, O Lord of the worlds!
The final line of this passage and of the prayer is well is a profound affirmation. But I think I've covered everything I'd like to say about it for now already, especially near the end of my post on the twelfth passage. Maybe when I turn this into a more integrated work, I will present one something on Divine Unity and its implications on spirituality.
Other than that, it appears that the "experimental" phase of this project is done. I guess the next step is writing a provisional introduction and conclusion.
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"I testify, O my God, to that whereunto Thy chosen Ones have testified, and acknowledge that which the inmates of the all-highest Paradise and those who have circled round Thy mighty Throne have acknowledged. The kingdoms of earth and heaven are Thine, O Lord of the worlds!"
circling round the throne may be a reference to circling the Kaba on hajj. i am remembering the Shia slogan "every day is ashura, every land is karbala". i think this sentiment is what is coming through here. earth and heaven and all things are God's, so what do we have to be afraid of? alternately, where is there that we should not bow down before God's kingship? remembering also Baha'u'llah in prison and exile, still praying and bowing down wherever he was.
Actually, yeah.....!
There is that reference to the Qiblih. Talking about that would be a great way of finishing off the essay. To have one point that all people face in prayer is an expression of the unity of the human race that comes from submission to God. This also has an interesting conceptual dimension: that the unity of God and the unity of the human race are expressed together in the act of daily prayer, a variation on the theme in the Qur'anic verse, "The Earth is ashine with the light of it's Lord."
yes... so much is made of Unity in the Baha'i Faith, but to hear in-depth consideration of Unity in the light of Baha'i holy texts and Baha'u'llah Himself as a guiding light towards that Unity, and its Manifestation- the Long Obligatory prayer as the Beloved. good luck writing, Greg. will you keep writing here?
It is interesting the pronoun changes from "me" to "us". I don't really know why.
I think it may be that the individual has come to the point in reflecting on his relationship with the Divine that he comes to understand himself as a drop in the ocean.
I also see this in the last line: "The kingdoms of earth and heaven are Thine, O Lord of the worlds!"
I wonder about that last line though, if it is "that whereunto Thy chosen Ones have testified" and "that which the inmates of the all-highest Paradise and those who have circled round Thy mighty Throne have acknowledged." The punctuation leaves me unsure. What do you think?
Also what do you think is the significance of "idle fancies and vain imaginations" in the context of the prayer as a whole?
I didn't quite know what to make of the change from "Praise be Thee, O my God" to "Praise be to Thee, O Our God."
Jalal, I think you're on to something by showing the widening of perspective. Whereas everything prior has been more prior, there does have a more collective feel to the last couple of passages. Have any of you ever seen pictures of the circumambulation of the Kab'ah? It's amazing. It's a sea of thousands of pilgrims all turning around a single point. Except in the case of the final passage this circumambulation is performed at the level of the entire cosmos. This is the image that Baha'u'llah is invoking.
And let's not forget that the Qiblih in the Baha'i Revelation is the Manifestation of God. Nowadays it's stationary in Akka (or is it north of Akka?). But that's only because Baha'u'llah's body doesn't move around much anymore. During his life time, the point of adoration would have moved around with him.
I'm going to try to keep posting stuff. But don't be surprised if I don't introduce much in the way of new ideas. Right now I'm working on the book's introduction I guess I'll post what I wrote last night.
Greg and Jalal- i think the shift is definately on purpose. and you mentioned earlier Greg, that one prays this LOP with the entire world, in many ways. it is about the individual soul, but also all peoples. Unity in realizing that we are all subject to God's will and commands.
"idle fancies and vain imaginations", reminds me of something in Gleanings, where Baha'u'llah cries out against those who would imagine God as being anything but unified and above all. perhaps it's in part a warning against heresy, and against arrogance. the "i'm better than so-and-so because i pray more often etc" stance. the idea of man's smallness also comes through clearly here, as it does in the short obligatory. the two ideas of man's smallness and the unity of all peoples certainly can do alot to kill arrogance.
Typically, idle fancies and vain imaginations is used polemically against those who reject his Revelation on the basis of established theological principles. Generally, it's a warning about the dangers that can come with putting too much faith in the truth-value of particular ideas.
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