http://bahai-library.org/books/apocalypse.html

HE WILL COME WITH CLOUDS:  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so. Amen. -Rev 1:7 Again, 'spiritual' should be associated with the word 'eyes.' Eventually, everyone with spiritual vision will know that the Christ has been re-Manifested. Whether one blames the Jews, or the Romans, or both for the Crucifixion is irrelevant, since the spiritually astute of every nation will become aware. The "wailing" of the nations reflects the sorrow experienced because of their lost opportunity to recognize and obey him. Clouds means troubles and a veil between man and heaven. Because the Manifestation comes in a human body and with human limitations, such things cast doubts in men's minds and act as veils. Clouds can also symbolize Divine mercy, the annulment of counter-productive laws, the abrogation of former Dispensations,  and  the repeal of useless rituals and customs.
"I have come in the shadows of the clouds of glory, and am invested by God with invincible sovereignty." -Baha'u'llah

Jesus sometimes referred to those who have eyes and yet do not see. Baha'u'llah explains that the sincere seeker will be rewarded with a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind. The fact that there will be a delay between his appearance on earth and his eventual acceptance by the peoples of the existing spiritual generation is made clear in Luke and Isaiah. {8} The term 'generation' (Greek 'genea') as used in Luke and elsewhere has among its meanings 'an historic age.' In allegorical usage, a generation is a Day of Creation or a Lord's Day. The word may be modeled after the Hebrew word 'olam,' meaning an 'infinity' or 'world.' ................... * THE APOCALYPSE An Exegesis by Robert F. Riggs December 14, 1988 DISCLAIMER The opinions and interpretations expressed in this book are strictly those of the author, and do not represent official opinions or interpretations of any agency of the Baha'i Administrative Order. FOREWORD The original exegesis of the Apocalypse, written by the author, was reviewed by the Baha'i Universal House of Justice and was approved by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. It was published and copyrighted by Philosophical Library of New York in 1981 under the title THE APOCALYPSE UNSEALED. Since its publication, the publisher has gone out of business and the work is out of print. There have been many requests for copies of THE APOCALYPSE UNSEALED that could not be satisfied. This present work represents an attempt to overcome some of the errors and valid criticisms of the original work and to incorporate new knowledge that the author has acquired over the past fifteen years. It includes several additions and modifications that, in the author's opinion, do not violate the spirit of the original work. However, the present work has not been presented for review to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. The reader is therefore advised to be critical of the opinions and interpretations expressed herein and to reject any that seem at variance with his own beliefs as a Baha'i. The author has made an attempt to point out all significant divergences between the original work and this new work.

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Earlier, outside the Western Canteen here at the Sai
Baba World Center in Puttarparthi, southern India, I was mentioning that the Sai Baba, born here in Puttarparthi 81 years ago and now wheeled about like an invalid [that's when he dares to issue out of his little silver gray electric car which drives right onto the stage of the giant ashram pavillion] was not the only manifestation claiming to be the return of Mohammed, Christ and Buddha ~ there is also Rael, born in France but now in Quebec who claims to be the return of Christ, Moses and Buddha, etc.  ~ and then Master Li Hongchi of the Falun Dafa who claims is the promised Maitreya [that would include Christ as a subset of Buddhism] ~ and, of course, there are the Baha'i Twin Prophets of 1844 and 1863 Declarations.

I am leaving Puttarparthi this evening for the ruins of Hampi which will then bring me closer to Goa and Mumbai. Delhi and Dharamsala where the Dalai Lama group is found are still far to the north and it is much colder there at this time of year.

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It was such a Man as this that freed a great nation from the chains of captivity, made them contented, brought them out from Egypt, and led them to the Holy Land.

This people from the depths of degradation were lifted up to the height of glory. They were captive; they became free. They were the most ignorant of peoples; they became the most wise. As the result of the institutions that Moses gave them, they attained a position which entitled them to honor among all nations, and their fame spread to all lands, to such a degree indeed that among surrounding nations if one wished to praise a man one said, "Surely he is an Israelite." Moses established laws and ordinances; these gave life to the people of Israel, and led them to the highest possible degree of civilization at that period.

To such a development did they attain that the philosophers of Greece would come and acquire knowledge from the learned men of Israel. Such an one was Socrates, who visited Syria, and took from the children of Israel the teachings of the Unity of God and of the immortality of the soul. After his return to Greece, he promulgated these teachings. Later the people of Greece rose in opposition to him, accused him of impiety, arraigned him before the Areopagus, and condemned him to death by poison.

Now, how could a Man Who was a stammerer, Who had been brought up in the house of Pharaoh, Who was known among men as a murderer, Who through fear had for a long time remained in concealment, and Who had become a shepherd, establish so great a Cause, when the wisest philosophers on earth have not displayed one thousandth part of this influence? This is indeed a prodigy.

A Man Who had a stammering tongue, Who could not even converse correctly, succeeded in sustaining this great Cause! If He had not been assisted by divine power, He would never have been able to carry out this great work. These facts are undeniable. Materialist philosophers, Greek thinkers, the great men of Rome became famous in the world, each one of them having specialized in one branch of learning only. Thus Galen and Hippocrates became celebrated in medicine, Aristotle in logic and reasoning, and Plato in ethics and theology. How is it that a shepherd could acquire all of this knowledge? It is beyond doubt that He must have been assisted by an omnipotent power.

Consider also what trials and difficulties arise for people. To prevent an act of cruelty, Moses struck down an Egyptian and afterward became known among men as a murderer, more notably because the man He had killed was of the ruling nation. Then He fled, and it was after that that He was raised to the rank of a Prophet!

In spite of His evil repute, how wonderfully He was guided by a supernatural power in establishing His great institutions and laws!


    -`Abdu'l-Bahá

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With the king's 80th birthday over I was able to go to the National Library here in Bangkok to do research.   

Marxism and Monastic Perspectives  by  Father Louis, O.C.S.O.   Bangkok Dec 10 1968

 

"...the monk is somebody who says, in one way or another, that the claims of the world are fraudulent."

                                                   The Asian Journal p. 329  

Now this, of course, is a dreadful thing to say ~ and especially now that it is being said on TV!  Nonetheless there is something essentially valid in this kind of claim.

I think we should say that there has to be a dialectic between world refusal and world acceptance. The world refusal of the monk is something that looks toward an acceptance of a world that is open to change. In other words, the world refusal of the monk is in view of his desire for change. This puts the monk on the same plane with the Marxist, because the Marxist directs a dialectical critique of social structures toward the end of revolutionary change. The difference between the monk and the Marxist is fundamental insofar as the Marxist view of change is oriented to the change substructures, economic substructures, and the monk is seeking to change man's consciousness.    .../

 

Both Christianity and Buddhism agree that the root of man's problem is that his consciousnes is all fouled up and he does not apprehend reality as it fully and really is; that the moments he looks at something, he begins to interpret it in ways that are prejudiced and predetermined to fit a certain wrong picture of the world, in which he exists as an individual ego in the center of things. This is called by Buddhism 'avidya', or ignorance.

 

                                                                                                                              

 

Mysticism, an immediate, direct, intuitive knowledge of God or of ultimate reality attained through personal religious experience. Wide variations are found in both the form and the intensity of mystical experience. The authenticity of any such experience, however, is not dependent on the form, but solely on the quality of life that follows the experience. The mystical life is characterized by enhanced vitality, productivity, serenity, and joy as the inner and outward aspects harmonize in union with God.

II Non-Christian Mysticism

 

Laozi. Daoism (Taoism) emphasizes the importance of unity with nature and of yielding to the natural flow of the universe. This contrasts greatly with Confucianism, another Chinese philosophy, which focuses on society and ethics. Legends attribute the Daode Jing (Tao-te Ching) (Classic of the Way and Its Power), the fundamental Daoist text, to Laozi, an ancient Chinese philosopher who lived about 500 bc.

Elaborate philosophical theories have been developed in an attempt to explain the phenomena of mysticism. Thus, in Hindu philosophy, and particularly in the metaphysical system known as the Vedanta, the self or atman in man is identified with the supreme self, or Brahman, of the universe. The apparent separateness and individuality of beings and events are held to be an illusion (Sanskrit maya), or convention of thought and feeling. This illusion can be dispelled through the realization of the essential oneness of atman and Brahman. When the religious initiate has overcome the beginningless ignorance (Sanskrit avidya) upon which depends the apparent separability of subject and object, of self and no self, a mystical state of liberation, or moksha, is attained. The Hindu philosophy of Yoga incorporates perhaps the most complete and rigorous discipline ever designed to transcend the sense of personal identity and to clear the way for an experience of union with the divine self. In China, Confucianism is formalistic and antimystical, but Daoism, as expounded by its traditional founder, the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, has a strong mystical emphasis.

The philosophical ideas of the ancient Greeks were predominantly naturalistic and rationalistic, but an element of mysticism found expression in the Orphic and other sacred mysteries. A late Greek movement, Neoplatonism, was based on the philosophy of Plato and also shows the influence of the mystery religions. The Muslim Sufi sect embraces a form of theistic mysticism closely resembling that of the Vedanta. The doctrines of Sufism found their most memorable expression in the symbolic works of the Persian poets Mohammed Shams od-Din, better known as Hafiz, and Jalal al-Din Rumi, and in the writings of the Persian al-Ghazali. Mysticism of the pre-Christian period is evidenced in the writings of the Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher Philo Judaeus.

Christian Mysticism

St. Paul was the first great Christian mystic. The New Testament writings best known for their deeply mystical emphasis are Paul's letters and the Gospel of John. Chri  [report anonymous abuse]  [ accepted]

In the Bahá'í definition, there is a distinction between minor prophets and major Prophets, also referred to as lesser/greater, dependent/independent, follower/universal, and other similar phrases. The major Prophets are referred to as the Manifestations of God, and compared to the sun, which produces its own heat and light. The minor prophets are likened to the moon, which receive their light from the sun.

Moses, for example, is taught as having been a major Prophet and his brother Aaron a minor prophet. Moses spoke on behalf of God, and Aaron spoke on behalf of Moses.(Exodus 4:14-17) Other Jewish prophets came in the shadow of the dispensation of Moses to develop and consolidate the process he set in motion.

In Islam, the station of prophethood (Risalah) is also divided into two categories. The equivalent of major Prophets are known as Messengers of God (Rasul) who bring a major revelation from God. The equivalent of minor prophets are known as prophets of God (Nabi).

The major Prophets whose religions were still practiced in the time of Bahá'u'lláh were listed by him. This does not encompass minor prophets, and no such definite list exists of who is or isn't a minor prophet.

Within scripture, minor prophets can sometimes be indicated by a lower-case "p" while Major Prophets are often indicated by a capital "P".

edit] Other possible divine teachers

Bahá'ís believe that God has always sent Messengers and Prophets whose messages have reached every people. Although Bahá'u'lláh mentioned several figures as Manifestations, this list is meant to imply who are the greater-prophets who still have followers in the world. Therefore Adam, Noah and other figures are still regarded as Manifestations.

edit] Americas

It is implied, though not specifically named, that the American continents have had their share of divine revelations, which somewhat have been lost to time except in oral traditions. Hypothetical affirmation in the Bahá'í texts to various religious faith traditions as among the Native Americans and others exists to the extent that individuals and institutions may accept for their own purposes that various cultural heroes may have been in fact a Manifestation of God. Specific examples include Deganawida, Quetzalcoátl and Viracocha.

A quote exists by 'Abdu'l-Bahá:

However, at the present time, the language of this tablet is not specific enough to warrant a positive ruling from the House of Justice, which writes:

On the advocacy side, on 10 September 1993, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada made a formal submission to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples borne of a genuine respect and appreciation for the authenticity and intrinsic value of native spirituality:

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If you go back to Runningfox's last comments you will find reference to the German, Nietzche. Here is a direct quote from Runningfox's example:

<< Because pity will result in people aiding the pitiful, most people consider it a positive thing.Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche,  however, believed that pity causes an otherwise normal person to feel the suffering  of others; "Pity makes suffering contagious," he says  . He felt that it is important not to make oneself feel superior to the person you are taking pity on. This imbalance could result in retaliation against the help. People value their sense of pride, and pity can negatively affect the situation.>>

I made no claim that Gandhi was equivalent to Baha'u'llah; but I dare say Baha'u'llah is not equivalent to Jesus Christ either. Each great manifests their particular greatness ~ even Gernonimo was great .

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Last month, Gandhi's profile was removed from the Blue Bird Clan Care2 Group. Several people, including a cohost, were likewise mysteriously removed... in preference to topics dealing with such things as saving the grey wolf.

The life Gandhi portrayed had many of the hallmarks of Abdul Baha's. Though Christ-like, Gandhi remained a Hindu who, nonetheless, chose to leave the constraints of fundamentalism for a more central (middle) path that encompassed Sikhs, Moslems, Buddhists, and all other faiths.

Would it be presumptuous to believe that this group would do honour to such incredible manifestations as Gandhi and Martin Luther King?

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Try your best to stay within your assigned boundaries,limits and parameters

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