Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand Part 18

The Guardian fully realizes that the process of splitting up large communities into smaller ones, each existing within its own civil units, has been difficult for the Australian friends. What they do not seem to fully appreciate is that this has been done in Canada and the United States as well, and is only in order to organize the a.s.semblies on a logical basis, and one with a firmer legal foundation. The fact that this may create more a.s.semblies in the end, and that it sometimes breaks up existing ones, is only incidental; the important point is to consolidate the communities on a sound basis, i.e. every a.s.sembly within the limits of the Munic.i.p.ality its members reside in.

As Mrs Axford requested Mrs Thomas to write about her Baha'i life there is every reason to respect her wishes. This in no way precludes the New Zealand Community from writing about her services and life and keeping this record in the National archives. The Guardian feels the Auckland a.s.sembly should be consulted, as her, (Mrs Axford's), home community, by Mrs Thomas. He hopes this In Memoriam article, about so dear and tireless a servant of the Faith, will produce a spirit of love and co-operation amongst all concerned.

The gift by Miss Perks of an additional piece of land to the Yerrinbool School is deeply appreciated. It enriches the endowments already held by your a.s.sembly. Please thank Miss Perks, on behalf of the Guardian, for this generous contribution, to the inst.i.tutions of the Faith in Australia, and tell her he does not feel any name should be given the property other that of Yerrinbool School, of which it will form a part, and that she will always be remembered as the donor of it.

The acquisition of the site for the New Zealand Summer School was a great step forward in the progress of the Faith there, and he was very pleased about it. He was also delighted to hear of the formation of the Devonport a.s.sembly, and he hopes next year there will be still more.

I would also like to answer here a question raised in Mrs Bolton's letter of March 8: the Guardian feels that no annual fixed pilgrimage should be made to the grave of Father Dunn. The friends will naturally always want to go there, when and how they like, but it must not become a ceremony, otherwise it will cont.i.tute a precedent for similar things in the future.

It is premature, and will weaken the national and local work, for delegates to be elected by State elections rather than by a.s.semblies.

There is no question involved about believers losing their voting rights: all the time believers are gaining and losing their voting rights by becoming members of communities with a.s.semblies or moving out into places where they are isolated believers. The friends should not dwell on these minor details, but concentrate on teaching the Cause and exemplifying the Baha'i life. Voting is a purely administrative detail, but teaching and serving are vital spiritual obligations. Regarding the change of the By-Laws: the Guardian considers the letter he wrote you about this subject is final. He is considerably surprised by the fact that of all the National Bodies in the Baha'i World, operating under these By-Laws, it is only the a.s.sembly of Australia and New Zealand, evidently acting under pressure from their legal committee, that constantly raises the question of changing them. This he considers is going too far, and is not necessary. He holds very bright hopes for the future of your work, and urges you, and through you all the believers, to concentrate on your glorious teaching tasks and forge ahead to win new victories for the beloved Faith.

With Baha'i love, R. Rabbani.

P.S. Your letter of June 9 has been received, and the Guardian deeply appreciates the contribution you sent. Please find receipt enclosed. The map you forwarded will be published in the next volume of "Baha'i World"

as the progress it shows will be of great interest to all readers.

[From the Guardian:]

Dear and valued co-workers:

The remarkable progress achieved by the Baha'i communities in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania in promoting the Plan, designed to further the interests of the Faith in the Antipodes, is most encouraging, and will, when consummated, mark the opening of a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Faith in that continent. The varied and welcome evidences of the steady extension in the range of the manifold activities of these communities, the multiplication of Baha'i inst.i.tutions and their rapid consolidation, are particularly gratifying and merit the highest praise.

The territories in which these communities conduct their meritorious, strenuous and highly promising activities with such diligence, resolution, fidelity and devotion, are admittedly vast and const.i.tute a direct challenge to those who are called upon to diffuse the light of the Faith, and lay an una.s.sailable foundation for its rising administrative Order, throughout the length and breadth of these territories.

The Plan, now operating with increasing momentum in that far-off continent, is designed to enable its prosecutors to lay the first foundations of the structure which the members of these communities must rear in the years to come. As these primary pillars of a divinely ordained steadily evolving, spiritually propelled order are successively erected and sufficiently consolidated, and the agencies designed for the launching of a systematic campaign aiming at the future proclamation of the Faith to the ma.s.ses inhabiting these far-flung territories multiply, a simultaneous effort should be exerted, and measures should be carefully devised, by the national elected representatives of these same communities, for the launching of the initial enterprises destined to carry the Message of the Faith, beyond the confines of these territories, to the Islands of the Pacific, lying in their immediate neighbourhood.

For whatever may be the nature of the future successive crusades which the American and Canadian Baha'i communities, may, under the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'l-Baha, launch in the course of the opening decades of the second Baha'i century, and however extensive the range of their operations, and no matter how far-reaching the future campaigns which the Baha'i community, centered in the heart of the British Isles, may undertake throughout the widely-scattered dependencies of the British Crown, the responsibility devolving upon the National elected representatives of the Baha'is of the Australasian continent for the introduction of the Faith and its initial establishment in the Islands of the Pacific, linking them, on the one hand, with their sister communities in the American continents and on the other hand, with the communities in South-Eastern Asia, remains clear and inescapable.

As the various Baha'i national communities, labouring directly as well as indirectly, under the impulse of a Divine Plan, broaden and consolidate the base of their operations in their respective homelands, and acquire the potentialities that will empower them to lend, in an ever-increasing measure, their share, and partic.i.p.ate in the world-wide propagation of the Faith, the Australian and New Zealand believers must, for their part, contribute worthily to the overseas teaching activities and accomplishments of these communities. Already the Baha'i community in the Great Republic of the West, the vanguard of the irresistibly marching army of Baha'u'llah, has launched its twin crusades in Latin America and the continent of Europe. Its collaborator in the execution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, the Canadian Baha'i community is busily engaged in establis.h.i.+ng the Faith beyond the Canadian mainland and further north in the vast territory of Greenland. The Persian and Iraqi Baha'i communities are, moreover, a.s.siduously labouring in the adjacent territories of the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, while their sister-communities in the sub-continent of India are pus.h.i.+ng the frontiers of the Faith as far as Ceylon in the South and Siam and Indonesia to the North and Southeast of that subcontinent. More recently the members of the British Baha'i community, having brought to a successful conclusion their first historic Plan, are devising the necessary measures for the launching of a teaching enterprise in the heart of Africa, supplementing the work already accomplished by the Egyptian Baha'i community in that continent.

Shortly, and at its appointed time, yet another national community, already established in the heart of the European continent, will, as soon as the present obstacles are removed, and its internal activities are sufficiently consolidated, embark on a campaign, beyond the borders of its homeland, that will carry the light of the Faith to the adjoining Balkan territories, the Baltic states and, across the eastern frontiers of Europe, into Asia.

In this stupendous and laudable collective enterprise, world-wide in its range, divinely propelled, world-redemptive in its purpose, in which National Baha'i communities, already sufficiently consolidated from within, are partic.i.p.ating, each in accordance with the provisions of its own specific plan and const.i.tuting, in its proportions and potentialities, the mightiest spiritual crusade launched since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith,-in such an enterprise the Baha'i communities of Australia and New Zealand can neither afford to remain inactive or play a negligible part. The situation they occupy, the unnumbered virgin territories lying in their neighbourhood, the vitality and adventurous spirit the members of these communities have so strikingly manifested-all demand that they arise, as soon as the process of internal consolidation is sufficiently advanced, to play their part in this world-encompa.s.sing crusade now unfolding itself in, and const.i.tuting the brightest feature of, the opening years of the second Baha'i century.

With this glorious vision before them, a.s.sured that a full measure of Divine guidance and sustenance will be vouchsafed to them when they embark on the second stage of their collective activities, let them concentrate, in the years immediately ahead, on the tasks that require their earnest and undivided attention. The prosecution of the Plan, in all its aspects, is their primary obligation. Whatever contributes to the broadening and reinforcement of the Administrative Base, designed to guide, coordinate and extend the ramifications of their future enterprises overseas, should be unhesitatingly welcomed and carried out at the present hour and during the opening phase of their collective unified endeavour in the service of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.

May they seize every opportunity that presents itself, surmount every obstacle that may confront them in the future, and pave the way for a befitting inauguration of the subsequent phase of their historic and rapidly unfolding mission.

Shoghi.

LETTER OF 11 SEPTEMBER, 1950

11 September, 1950

Dear Baha'i Sister:

Under separate cover the Guardian is mailing to you two enlargements of the finished Arcade of the Bab's Shrine. These are a gift from him to the N.S.A. and believers, and he would like you to have them circulated as widely as possible, for the friends to see them, and them hang them in the National Headquarters.

Please cable receipt of these photos, so he will know they reached you safely.

Also please inform the friends in the News Letter that copies of one of these views may be purchased through the American N.S.A., to whom he has sent the original film.

With loving greetings, R. Rabbani.

LETTER OF NOV. 14, 1950

Nov. 14, 1950

Dear Baha'i Sister:

I am replying to your letter of September 21 apart from other N.S.A.

correspondence, as the beloved Guardian wishes to a.s.sure the a.s.sembly that the contribution for the Shrine of the Bab has been received. (A receipt is herewith enclosed.)

He was very touched by the exemplary sense of duty and devotion to the interests of the Faith which this sum represents. Please, on his behalf, thank all the donors to the Yerrinbool Dormitory Fund for their prompt response to his appeal regarding the Holy Shrine.

Already the contract for the stone-work of the Octagon has been placed in Italy, and he hopes soon the preliminary arrangements locally can be made for continuing the work.

With loving Baha'i greetings to all the a.s.sembly members from the Guardian,

Yours in His Service, R. Rabbani.

[From the Guardian:]

a.s.suring you of my deepfelt and abiding appreciation of the contribution of the Australian and New Zealand believers for so great and historic an enterprise, and of my loving and ardent prayers for their spiritual advancement and the steady expansion and consolidation of the great and historic work in which they are so devotedly engaged.

Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi.

LETTER OF JAN. 21, -51

Haifa, Israel, Jan. 21, -51

National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand;

The beloved Guardian has instructed me to acknowledge on his behalf the Nov. issue of your Baha'i News. He is well pleased with it and commends you.