New Delhi, India, 16 January 2015 - This morning
His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave a talk on Peace and Compassion and
attended a prayer gathering at the Baha'i House of Worship in Baharpur,
commonly known as the Lotus Temple. The Baha'i Faith was founded by
Bahá'u'lláh more than a century ago in Iran teaching the oneness of God,
the oneness of the human family, and the oneness of religion.
The Lotus Temple, venue for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's talk in New Delhi, India on January 16, 2015. |
His Holiness was warmly received by Ms. Nazneen
Rowhani, the General Secretary of Baha'i Faith in India and Ambassador
Ashok Sajjanhar, Secretary of the National Foundation for Communal
Harmony (NFCH).
Ms. Rowhani introduced His Holiness to an audience that included
students from 14 different schools in Delhi, diplomats, school
principals, and other guests as the light that beckons unity of all
spiritual traditions.
"I usually don't like formality,” His Holiness began, “because we are
all the same mentally, emotionally and physically. All of us have
problems, physical and mental. No one is without problems. However,
education enables us to view our problems from a wider perspective so we
can deal with them.”
Looking at the many school children in the audience, His Holiness said,
"You are very important to humanity’s future. You are the generation of the twenty-first century. In you lies the hope of creating a better future for the world. It will fall to you to solve the problems created by my generation in the twentieth century."
His Holiness explained that the immense violence of the twentieth century arose largely due to short-sighted, narrow-minded thinking, when people only considered the narrow interests of their own group rather than those of humanity as a whole. He urged the younger generation:
“Concern yourselves more with the needs of others, with the needs of all humanity, and you'll have peace of mind. Selfishness creates a distance between us and other people, leading to suspicion and mistrust, ultimately resulting in loneliness. Think of others' well-being and you’ll be happy.
"Young brothers and sisters, think more broad-mindedly. Warm-heartedness and compassion are conducive to our physical and mental well-being, while anger, hatred, and fear are not. This is why some scientists today talk about warm-heartedness ensuring a 'healthy mind and a healthy body'.
"Because the existing education system is oriented towards materialistic goals we need to pay special attention to inner values such as tolerance, forgiveness, love and compassion. If we are to present these in a way that appeals to everyone we need to cultivate secular ethics. This is an approach followed in India for more than a thousand years, but which remains relevant today. India’s deep-seated tradition of ahimsa or non-violence is reflected in this age-old respect for all religious traditions and even the views of those who have no faith.”
Among questions from the audience His Holiness was asked how to cope with the threat of terrorism. He responded that many of the problems we face today are symptoms of our past mistakes. Resorting to the use of force, however decisive it may seem to be in the short run, is out of date, because violence only leads to more violence. Instead, whenever we face problems amongst ourselves, we should solve them through dialogue not force.
"You are very important to humanity’s future. You are the generation of the twenty-first century. In you lies the hope of creating a better future for the world. It will fall to you to solve the problems created by my generation in the twentieth century."
His Holiness explained that the immense violence of the twentieth century arose largely due to short-sighted, narrow-minded thinking, when people only considered the narrow interests of their own group rather than those of humanity as a whole. He urged the younger generation:
“Concern yourselves more with the needs of others, with the needs of all humanity, and you'll have peace of mind. Selfishness creates a distance between us and other people, leading to suspicion and mistrust, ultimately resulting in loneliness. Think of others' well-being and you’ll be happy.
"Young brothers and sisters, think more broad-mindedly. Warm-heartedness and compassion are conducive to our physical and mental well-being, while anger, hatred, and fear are not. This is why some scientists today talk about warm-heartedness ensuring a 'healthy mind and a healthy body'.
"Because the existing education system is oriented towards materialistic goals we need to pay special attention to inner values such as tolerance, forgiveness, love and compassion. If we are to present these in a way that appeals to everyone we need to cultivate secular ethics. This is an approach followed in India for more than a thousand years, but which remains relevant today. India’s deep-seated tradition of ahimsa or non-violence is reflected in this age-old respect for all religious traditions and even the views of those who have no faith.”
Among questions from the audience His Holiness was asked how to cope with the threat of terrorism. He responded that many of the problems we face today are symptoms of our past mistakes. Resorting to the use of force, however decisive it may seem to be in the short run, is out of date, because violence only leads to more violence. Instead, whenever we face problems amongst ourselves, we should solve them through dialogue not force.
Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist, Christian and Baha'i prayers were recited in a
number of languages including English, Hindi, Arabic and Sanskrit during
a gathering His Holiness attended in the actual Lotus Temple after his
talk.
by oreydc November 11, 2014 at 23:58
by reptibianisa November 12, 2014 at 03:32
The Universal House of Justice does not have the authority to interpret Baha’i Scripture, that is to say what the Baha’i Scriptures mean, so in my view, the way to read this statement is that this understanding underlies their policy”. The UHJ is an infallible source of guidance in their decisions and they do have the authority NOT YOU! Your outrageous claim contained above proves you are a covenant breaker, plain and simple.
by Dr. J November 12, 2014 at 05:47
by justabahai November 12, 2014 at 21:21
Bahá’ís may have differing views, and we are even taught that “The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 87). In this light finding a differing opinion looks like a promising ingredient to make a further step in our own understanding about which we have been told in one of those letters written on behalf of the Guardian (August 25th 1926) that “The more we read the Writings, the more truths we can find in them, the more we will see that our previous notions were erroneous.”
For sure, no individual has any right to declare anybody covenant breaker, no matter how much their opinion goes against our own best understanding. This is presumptios, it is no contribution to unity and it is no step towards better understanding either.
by Marcel November 25, 2014 at 00:31
Thanks for your thoughts. I’ve spent most of my day today thinking about this subject, and though our conclusions differ, Im grateful to you for inspiring me to think, research and verbalize my thoughts on this matter.
With respect, Liv.
by huldra November 28, 2014 at 05:44
by justabahai December 17, 2014 at 03:37
by huldra January 9, 2015 at 20:41
I quote:
“I wish to call your attention to certain things in “Principles of Bahá’í Administration” which has just reached the Guardian; although the material is good, he feels that the complete lack of quotation marks is very misleading. His own words, the words of his various secretaries, even the Words of Bahá’u’lláh Himself, are all lumped together as one text.
This is not only not reverent in the case of Bahá’u’lláh’s Words, but misleading. Although the secretaries of the Guardian convey his thoughts and instructions and these messages are authoritative, their words are in no sense the same as his, their style certainly not the same, and their authority less, for they use their own terms and not his exact words in conveying his messages. [emphasis added]
He feels that in any future edition this fault should be remedied, any quotations from Bahá’u’lláh or the Master plainly attributed to them, and the words of the Guardian clearly differentiated from those of his secretaries.”
Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, The Unfolding Destiny of the British Baha’i Community, p. 260
What this doesn’t tell us, is whether the ‘authority’ of the letters by secretaries is an extension of the Guardian’s executive authority as head of the Faith — meaning, “it must be obeyed by the addresse” or of the Guardian’s authority as authorised interpreter of the writings, meaning “they become part of the sacred text.” What we can say is there is nothing explicit to indicate that a letter by a secretary can share in the Guardian’s unique role as authorised interpreter.
There is also nothing explicit to say that the Guardian’s secretaries do **not** share the authority of interpretation. However the phrase “their authority less” seems to suggest this, because an executive authority can be greater or less, direct or indirect, can apply to a local or individual situation or to all Bahai communities, but when the Guardian interprets scripture that interpretation becomes part of the scripture concerned.
Stating that they have a lesser authority does not mean that anyone would not “give them real weight in making decisions of our actions” and I certainly take these letters seriously myself, but for me they are not Bahai Scripture and so for the following letter: “the Bahai Teachings, when carefully studied imply that such current conceptions like birth control, if not necessarily wrong and immoral in principle, have nevertheless to be discarded as constituting a real danger to the very foundations of our social life.” (October 14, 1935)
It is not an issue if most Bahais clearly do use some form of birth control. And they must or otherwise most Bahai families would have ten or more children in them.
I would consider it hypocritical to pick and choose, saying, oh that letter must be obeyed and that other letter not. So to bring us back to the topic of the blog above it is only in letters written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi where there is any mention of homosexuality. For me, this is no justification for Bahai communities to treat gays or lesbians any differently than any other individual. If the Universal House of Justice instructs Bahai communities to treat gays and lesbians differently, that is another matter. Then it is a policy of the Universal House of Justice, but this blog is about what is in Bahai Scripture, which means texts that cannot be changed.
I am of the view that Shoghi Effendi was very wise in assigning a lower and separate status to these letters so that the Bahais do not end up telling other Bahais, you must do this (not use birth control) when it is not a Bahai teaching.
If any individual wishes to treat these letters as if the advice applies to him or her, then of course, they are free to. I then add, but please be consistent and treat all these letters in this manner. Do just pick some letters and say, this is a Bahai Teaching. Instead I would say, go to Bahai Scripture for the Bahai Teachings.
by justabahai January 16, 2015 at 22:29
“The Research Department at the Bahá’í World Centre has confirmed that the Guardian’s manuscript notes for the Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, which includes in the list of prohibitions the word “homosexuality”, are in his own handwriting in English.”
http://bahai-library.com/?file=uhj_homosexuality_uganda
Since he himself wrote this, not a secretary or anyone else, the prohibition is authoritative, and the Universal House of Justice can’t change it.
The case is closed for this servant. What do you think, Sonja?
by servant December 5, 2014 at 03:45
by justabahai December 17, 2014 at 03:33
In the Kitabi Aqdas it is written — (1)Ye are forbidden sodomy (2)We shirk from shame, from the mention of boys. By boys H Bahaullah was referring to the use of teenage boys for purposes of sexual pleasure by dominant older males, a practice common to Ottoman Turkey 100 years ago
Id be curious at what the truth is. From my understanding the social laws of Kitabi Aqdas are there to be used as guidelines for future use. From my understanding H Bahaullah, as with all moral teachers, prescribes sex within marriage — ye are not allowed more than 2 wives — and same sex marriage was unknown 100 years ago.
by boredrefugee@yahoo.com December 5, 2014 at 21:29
by justabahai December 17, 2014 at 03:29
Furthermore, although you do not mention the “2010 policy” of regarding prejudice and disdain towards homosexuals as much as some of your other blog posts, this servant would like to humbly refer you to a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice and dated November 23rd, 1995:
“To regard homosexuals with prejudice and disdain would be entirely against the spirit of Bahá’í Teachings. The doors are open for all of humanity to enter the Cause of God, irrespective of their present circumstances; this invitation applies to homosexuals as well as to any others who are engaged in practices contrary to the Bahá’í Teachings.”
http://bahai-library.com/uhj_homosexual_practices
Perhaps this quotation does not change your view that there has been a policy change regarding homosexuality. This servant simply wishes, for the sake of truth, to show that the attitude towards prejudice and disdain with regard to homosexuals is not as recent as 2010.
Have a wonderful day. Peace.
by servant December 8, 2014 at 22:13
By new policy I am referring to the new policy of the U.H.J. where in reference to same sex marriage Bahai communities are asked not to take sides. I agree that the U.H.J. has been referring to Baha’u’llah’s words about standing up for the rights of all for decades.
by justabahai December 11, 2014 at 01:59
Thank you for your dedication to finding truth. :)
by servant December 14, 2014 at 19:35
I can give you three concrete examples of this. In 1996 the NSA of the UK addressed a London SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) with a formal statment arguing against equal rights for gays and lesbians. I refer to this here: https://justabahai.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/a-conversation/#nsauk
In 2007 the name of the Bahai community was associated with an anti-gay coalition. I wrote a blog summarizing what this was here. https://justabahai.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/getting-better/
To date the USA+Canadian NSA approved Bahá’í Network on Aids, Sexuality, Addictions, and Abuse (BNASAA) associate homosexuality with something negative. See https://justabahai.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/getting-better/#bnassa
So the change in policy by 2010 letter is a change in asking the Bahai community not to take sides on same sex marriage whereas earlier policy implied that homosexuality was not to be tolerated and therefore any community might assume this meant being against same sex marriage.
by justabahai December 17, 2014 at 03:26