Ridvan 2001: Study Guide
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-07-05 - 1 clipping

Next Section

    

                

                    

                

                    

                             From the Pen of our beloved Guardian :

                

                        
                        
                            " To dear friends,At this season of the year when Bahá'ís throughout the world are celebrating the Ridvan festivities and are renewing their determination to work and live under 
                                the banner of Bahá'u'lláh". 
                            - Shoghi Effendi  (Letter dated 30 April 1930)
                            " ... the Ridvan feast, which for all administrative purposes, is the beginning of the Bahá'í year". 
                            - Shoghi Effendi (Latter dated June 05, 1934 -Quoted in Dawn of a New Day, p.49)

                    

                        

                    

                        

                

                    

                             Greatest Holy Leaf writes :

                

                        
                        
                            Greatest Holy Leaf writes: 
                            "The festival of Ridvan is come and the splendor of the light of God is shining from the invisible horizon of His mercy.  The overflowing grace of the Lord of oneness is pouring 
                                down copiously from the unseen world and the glad-tidings of the kingdom are coming in from all countries.  The resplendent morn that betokens the advancement of the Cause of God and heralds exaltation of His 
                                word is dawning an every region."
                            Bahiyyih Khanum- Gleaned from "Bahiyyih Khanum", p.111

                

                    

                    
                        
                          Study Program - Ridvan Message 2001 :

                

                

                        

                                    
                                        To the Bahá'ís of the World

                                        Bahá'ís - The faithful followers of Bahá'u'lláhWorld
                                              -   "Know ye that by "the world" is meant your unawareness of Him Who is your maker ..."  (GWB, p. 276)
                                             -    It also refers to the Bahaí  world

                                
                                    
                                        Dearly loved Friends,

                                        Friends - Traditional greeting of the beloved guardian to the Bahá'ís of the world

                                
                                    
                                        With great joy in our hearts and high expectations

                                        Heart - "what can alone contain Me is the heart of him, that believeth in 
                                            Me and is faithful to My Cause".    --   (GWB p. 186)Expectation
                                             - "We entreat God to graciously aid His servants. What this Wronged One doth expect from everyone is justice and fairness.  Let no one be content with mere hearing; rather doth it behove everyone to ponder that which this Wronged One hath revealed."  
                                                                - Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets, p. 130

                                
                                    
                                        welcome to this Ridvan

                                        Ridvan - " Arise, and proclaim unto the entire creation the tidings that He Who is 
                                            the All-Merciful hath directed His steps towards the Ridvan and entered it". 
                                                                                       (GWB,p.31)

                                

                                        season

                                        21 April - 2 May each yearFor more information read - Gleanings, p. 27-35; God Passes By, p. 153-5 King of Glory, p. 169

                                
                                    
                                        at a change of time, when a new state of mind is evident among us all.  Abroad in our world community there is a heightened awareness of the value of 

                                        Value - To take account of; to heed; to regard as important  or significant

                                
                                    
                                        process,             

                                        Process - Continued forward movement

                                
                                    
                                        the necessity of planning and the virtue of systematic action in fostering         

                                        Plan - Method or scheme of actionsystematic
                                             - Method or orderly procedure; methodical in conduct, performance or habitAction - Process of doingFoster - To sustain and promote, cherish/cultivate/indulge

                                
                                    
                                        growth and in developing the human  resources by which expansion can be

                                        Growth - Stage or state in growingResource
                                             - Means of resort in exigency, expedient, stratagemHuman Resources - "The new Plan revolves around  ...enhancing the vitality of the faith of individual believers, greatly developing the human  resources of  the Cause, ...".  "Training of the friends and their striving, through serious individual study, to acquire knowledge of the Faith, to apply its principles and administer its affairs, are indispensable to  developing the human resources necessary to the progress of the Cause".
                                                                  Ridvan Message, 150B.E.
                                        Expansion - Its past experience demonstrates that focused attention on expansion invariably brings good results. What is required at this stage of the community's development is an accelerating increase in the number of individual enrolments.
                                                                     Ridvan Message, 153B.E

                                
                                    
                                        Sustained

                                        Sustain - To maintain or cause to continue, to endure " ... Send down upon the, O Lord, the concourse of the angels in the heaven and earth and all that is between, to aid Thy servants, to succor and strengthen them, to enable them to achieve success, to sustain them, ....".
                                                        - The Bab, Bahá'í Prayers, p.161  
                                        "If you are to sustain rapid expansion and consolidation in the coming years, it is imperative that far greater numbers of dedicated and 
                                            committed souls arise  ...." .                     -  Ridvan Message, 153B.E  
                                        
                                        The will and determination needed to sustain large - scale expansion and consolidation can be created through a consistent and widespread 
                                            institute programme aimed at exposing growing contingents of believers to the Creative Word, thus enhancing their spiritual capacities to diffuse the light of the Faith and to further the development of 
                                            its institutions.                         Ridvan Message, 153B.E

                                
                                    
                                        and consolidation assured
                                        The coherence of understanding about   common principle  or relationship 

                                        Consolidation - To make solid, to uniteAssure
                                             - To secure, to confirmCoherence - Connection or congruity arising from some

                                

                                        these prerequisites of progress cannot be 

                                        Prerequisite - Something required beforehandProgress
                                             - To move or proceed from point to point

                                
                                    
                                        overvalued,   nor can the importance of perpetuating them through well-ordered

                                        Perpetuate - To give an enduring character or existence Order - Methodical arrangement

                                
                                    
                                        training be overestimated.  And so the arrival of our community at such a moment of consciousness is an occasion of 

                                        Overestimate - Beyond the conventional valueConsciousness
                                             - Awareness, that state of being which is characterized bythought

                                
                                    
                                        significance for us. We are deeply grateful to the Blessed Beauty to be able to recognize 

                                        Blessed Beauty - A title of Bahá'u'lláh Able
                                             - Having sufficient power, to endure, to vouch for Recognize - To acknowledge formally, to admit the fact

                                

                                        and acclaim it at the very beginning of the global enterprise being launched during 

                                        Acclaim - To claim, to call out loudlyGlobal
                                             - Pertaining to the earth in its entiretyEnterprise - A project which involves activity

                                

                                        these festive days.

                                        Festive days - Rejoice with exceeding gladness, O people of Bahá¡, as ye call to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of the Ancient of Days hath spoken, as He departed from His House, proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendors of His name, the All-Merciful. God is Our witness. Were We to reveal the hidden secrets of that Day, all they that dwell on earth and in the heavens would swoon away and die, except such as will be preserved by God, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.                      (GWB,p. 27-35)

                                

                                        The power of will generated by this consciousness characterized the conference 

                                        Will - Determination, motivation, strength of characterConsciousness - Awareness, that state of being which is characterized by thoughtCharacterize
                                             - To mark with distinctive features 

                                
                                    
                                         of the Continental Counselors and the members

                                        Continental Counselors - For more information read:
                                                    See Appendix: Counselors (Page 21)

                            

                

                

Next Section
-- Ridvan 2001: Study Guide (Used by permission of the curator)