{ "apiVersion": "v1", "kind": "Chapter", "metadata": { "generated": "2026-08-22T14:14:13Z", "language": "en", "book": "hidden-words-woh", "chapter": 2 }, "data": { "n": 2, "bookSlug": "hidden-words-woh", "bookCode": "HW-WOH", "refId": "", "title": "The Persian Hidden Words", "translation": {"track":"translation","version":"1.0.0-rc1","sourceText":"Persian Hidden Words (Kalimát-i-Maknúnih, Part II), fully vocalized Ocean of Lights e-text; witness header cites Majmūʿa-yi alwāḥ-i mubāraka (Cairo printing), pp. 373–398","sourceLicense":"Original text Public Domain (Bahá'u'lláh, d. 1892). Machine-readable transcription via oceanoflights.org used as collation witness; English translation original to this project.","sourceUrl":"https://oceanoflights.org/bahaullah-st-013-1-fa/","sourceAccessedVia":"Ocean of Lights e-text (OL), collated verse-by-verse against the Bahá'í World Centre authoritative original-language edition (BWC) on 2026-07-02; see source-fa-2.json collationNotes","verificationStatus":"collated-against-bahai-world-centre-2026-07; English is a first-pass draft translated directly from the Persian, independent of and unaffiliated with the authorised Bahá'í World Centre translations","glossaryVersion":"2.69.0","modelDrafts":["claude-opus-4-8 (translator)"],"reviewer":"approved — 83/84 aphorisms; HWP-77 acrostic lens-ratification (a5b33bf). Zero lens-leakage; glossary v2.0.0 sound.","reviewedAt":"2026-07-03","status":"reviewer-approved","humanRuling":"2026-07-03: standing Bahā-root NEUTRAL ruling extended to HWP-77 letter-by-letter acrostic (bāʾ+hāʾ) per unanimous editor+reviewer recommendation — surface English literal (\"first letter … second letter\"), onomastics in commentary only, no speculative entry. khāk/turāb levelled to \"Dust\"; HWP-71 zamān=\"Time\". Lithograph verification pending (both Parts), not a blocker for RC."}, "segments": [], "lines": [], "paragraphs": [{ "n": 1, "refId": "HWP-prologue", "text": "In the name of the Almighty Speaker." },{ "n": 2, "refId": "HWP-1", "text": "O ye that possess wit and ear! The first tiding of the Friend is this: O spiritual nightingale, take not thine abode save in the rose-bower of inner meanings; and O hoopoe of the Solomon of love, seek no homeland save in the Sheba of the Beloved; and O phoenix of eternity, choose no dwelling-place save upon the Qáf of faithfulness. This is thy station. Wouldst thou wing thy flight with the soul unto the Placeless, then soar, and set thy course toward thine own station freely." },{ "n": 3, "refId": "HWP-2", "text": "O Son of the Spirit! Every bird hath its gaze upon its nest, and every nightingale its aim in the beauty of the rose — save the birds of the hearts of [My] servants, who, content with perishable dust, have strayed far from the abiding nest, and, having turned toward the mires of remoteness, have been deprived of the roses of nearness. What wonder and regret, what sorrow and pity, that for a single ewer[-full] they have passed by the waves of the ocean of the All-Highest Companion, and remained far from the Most Glorious Horizon." },{ "n": 4, "refId": "HWP-3", "text": "O Friend! In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and longing loose not thy hold. Prize the companionship of the righteous, and from fellowship with the wicked withdraw both hand and heart." },{ "n": 5, "refId": "HWP-4", "text": "O Son of Equity! What lover is there who would take his abode anywhere save in the homeland of the beloved, and what seeker who would seek rest without the sought-for? To the true lover, life lieth in reunion and death in separation. Their breasts are void of patience and their hearts hallowed above forbearance; they pass beyond a hundred thousand lives and hasten to the quarter of the Beloved." },{ "n": 6, "refId": "HWP-5", "text": "O Son of Dust! Verily I say: the most heedless of servants is he that wrangleth in words and seeketh to exalt himself above his brother. Say: O brethren! Adorn yourselves with deeds, not with words." },{ "n": 7, "refId": "HWP-6", "text": "O Sons of Earth! Know ye truly: a heart wherein there yet lingereth the least trace of envy shall never enter My everlasting realm of omnipotence, nor breathe the fragrances of holiness from the kingdom of My sanctity." },{ "n": 8, "refId": "HWP-7", "text": "O Son of Love! Between thee and the inaccessible height of nearness and the Lote-Tree of the loftiness of love there lieth but a single step. Take the first step, and with the other tread upon the realm of pre-eternity, and enter the pavilion of everlastingness. Hearken, then, unto that which hath descended from the Pen of glory." },{ "n": 9, "refId": "HWP-8", "text": "O Son of Glory! Be swift in the path of holiness, and set foot upon the heavens of fellowship. Cleanse thy heart with the burnish of the spirit, and set thy course toward the court of \"but for thee.\"" },{ "n": 10, "refId": "HWP-9", "text": "O Fleeting Shadow! Pass beyond the low stages of the abasement of vain fancy, and enter the lofty ascents of the glory of certitude. Open the eye of truth, that thou mayest behold the manifest Beauty and cry: \"Blessed be God, the most excellent of Creators!\"" },{ "n": 11, "refId": "HWP-10", "text": "O Son of Passion! Hearken truly: the perishing eye can never know the abiding Beauty, nor can the dead heart busy itself with aught but the withered rose; for every like seeketh its like and taketh intimacy with its own kind." },{ "n": 12, "refId": "HWP-11", "text": "O Son of Dust! Be blind, that thou mayest behold My beauty; be deaf, that thou mayest hear My sweet melody and voice; be ignorant, that thou mayest partake of My knowledge; be poor, that thou mayest draw an unfailing portion from the ocean of My everlasting riches. Be blind — that is, to the beholding of any beauty save Mine; be deaf — that is, to the hearing of any word save Mine; be ignorant — that is, of all knowledge save Mine; that with pure eye and goodly heart and refined ear thou mayest enter the court of My holiness." },{ "n": 13, "refId": "HWP-12", "text": "O Possessor of Two Eyes! Close the one eye and open the other. Close the one — that is, to the world and to them that dwell therein; and open the other — to the hallowed beauty of the Beloved." },{ "n": 14, "refId": "HWP-13", "text": "O My Sons! I fear lest, having gained no grace from the song of the dove, ye return unto the abode of annihilation; and lest, never having beheld the beauty of the rose, ye go back unto water and clay." },{ "n": 15, "refId": "HWP-14", "text": "O Friends! Forsake not the abiding Beauty for a beauty that must perish, and set not your hearts upon this earthen heap of dust." },{ "n": 16, "refId": "HWP-15", "text": "O Son of the Spirit! A time will come when the nightingale of holiness and inner meaning shall be forbidden to divulge the mysteries of meaning, and all shall be barred from the merciful melody and the glorious call." },{ "n": 17, "refId": "HWP-16", "text": "O Essence of Heedlessness! Alas, a hundred thousand tongues of inner meaning speak in a single tongue, and a hundred thousand hidden meanings are made manifest in a single strain; yet there is no ear to hear, nor heart to grasp a single word." },{ "n": 18, "refId": "HWP-17", "text": "O Comrades! The gates that open upon the Placeless are flung wide, and the country of the Beloved is adorned with the breath of lovers; yet all, save a few, have remained shut out from this spiritual city, and of that few, none was seen with pure heart and sanctified soul save the fewest of the few." },{ "n": 19, "refId": "HWP-18", "text": "O ye that dwell in the highest Paradise! Announce unto them that are assured: In the hallowed space of the nearness of Riḍván a new garden hath appeared, round which circle all the dwellers of the realms on high and the temples of the sublime paradise of eternity. Strive, then, to attain that station, and to seek out the realities of the mysteries of love from its anemones, and to gather all the consummate wisdoms of the Divine Oneness from its abiding fruits. Solaced are the eyes of them that have entered therein and abide in security." },{ "n": 20, "refId": "HWP-19", "text": "O My Friends! Have ye forgotten that true and radiant morn when, in the shade of the tree of companionship planted in the most great paradise, ye were all gathered before Me in that blessed and hallowed space? Three goodly words I spoke, and ye heard them all and were struck senseless; and those words were these: O Friends! Prefer not your own good-pleasure to My good-pleasure, and desire never that which I have not desired for you, and approach Me not with dead hearts defiled with hopes and cravings. Would ye but sanctify your breasts, ye would now call to mind that desert and that space, and My utterance would be made plain unto you all. (In the eighth line of the lines of holiness that are in the fifth Tablet of Paradise, He saith:)" },{ "n": 21, "refId": "HWP-20", "text": "O ye that lie as dead upon the couch of heedlessness! Ages have passed, and ye have brought your precious lives unto their end, yet not one pure breath hath ascended from you unto Our holy court. Ye are sunk in the seas of idolatry, yet ye let the word of the Divine Unity run upon your tongues. Ye have deemed My detested one your beloved, and have taken My enemy for your friend; and upon My earth ye walk in all gladness and joy, heedless that My earth is weary of you and that all things thereon flee from you. Wert thou but to open thine eye a little, thou wouldst reckon a hundred thousand sorrows sweeter than this joy, and wouldst count annihilation better than this life." },{ "n": 22, "refId": "HWP-21", "text": "O Quickened Dust! I am intimate with thee, yet thou art despairing of Me. The sword of rebellion hath hewn down the tree of thy hope. At all times am I near unto thee, yet thou at all times art far from Me. Imperishable glory have I chosen for thee, yet boundless abasement hast thou chosen for thyself. Turn back, then, while yet there is time remaining, and let not the opportunity slip." },{ "n": 23, "refId": "HWP-22", "text": "O Son of Passion! The people of knowledge and insight have striven for years, yet attained not unto reunion with the Lord of Majesty; lifetimes have they run, yet reached not the presence of the Lord of Beauty. Yet thou, without running, hast reached the abode, and without seeking, hast attained the object of thy quest. And after all this rank and station, thou hast remained so veiled by the veil of thine own self that thine eye fell not upon the beauty of the Friend, nor did thy hand reach the hem of the Beloved. Marvel, then, at this, O ye endued with sight!" },{ "n": 24, "refId": "HWP-23", "text": "O ye that dwell in the city of love! The everlasting candle is encompassed by the winds of mortality, and the beauty of the celestial Youth lieth hidden in murky, tenebrous dust. The King of the kings of love is oppressed at the hands of the subjects of tyranny, and the dove of holiness is held captive in the talons of owls. All that dwell in the Most Glorious Pavilion and the Concourse on high lament and mourn, while ye repose in utter ease upon the earth of heedlessness, and reckon yourselves among the sincere friends. Vain is that which ye imagine!" },{ "n": 25, "refId": "HWP-24", "text": "O ye ignorant ones renowned for learning! Wherefore do ye, in outward seeming, lay claim to shepherding, while inwardly ye have become wolves unto My flock? Ye are like the star before the dawn, which in outward seeming is bright and shining, yet inwardly is the cause of the straying and perdition of the caravans of My city and My land." },{ "n": 26, "refId": "HWP-25", "text": "O thou that art outwardly adorned but inwardly diminished! Thou art like a bitter water, clear to the eye, from which the utmost delicacy and purity appear in outward seeming; yet, should it fall into the hand of the Assayer of the taste of oneness, He would accept not a single drop thereof. Yea, the effulgence of the sun shineth alike upon the dust and the mirror, yet know the difference between them to be as great as from the Two Guardian-stars unto the earth — nay, an infinite difference lieth between." },{ "n": 27, "refId": "HWP-26", "text": "O My Friend in Word! Ponder a while. Hast thou ever heard that friend and stranger could be contained within one heart? Drive out, then, the stranger, that the Beloved may enter His own abode." },{ "n": 28, "refId": "HWP-27", "text": "O Son of Dust! All that is in the heavens and the earth have I ordained for thee, save the human heart, which I have made the seat of the descent of the effulgence of My beauty and glory; yet thou didst yield My home and dwelling unto another than Me, so that, whensoever the manifestation of My holiness sought its own abode, it found a stranger there, and, beholding the alien, it hastened, placeless, unto the sanctuary of the Beloved. Yet, notwithstanding, I veiled thy state and disclosed not the secret, and consented not unto thy shame." },{ "n": 29, "refId": "HWP-28", "text": "O Essence of Passion! Many a dawn have I come from the dayspring of the Placeless unto thine abode, and found thee upon the couch of ease occupied with another than Me; whereupon, like a flash of spiritual lightning, I returned unto the clouds of the glory of sovereignty, and made it not manifest, there in the hidden retreats of My nearness, unto the hosts of holiness." },{ "n": 30, "refId": "HWP-29", "text": "O Son of Bounty! Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the clay of My command, I brought thee forth into the world of dominion, and appointed for thy training every atom of existence and the realities of all created things. Thus, ere thou camest forth from thy mother's womb, I ordained for thee two founts of gleaming milk, appointed eyes to watch over thee, and instilled the love of thee into [men's] hearts. Out of sheer bounty I nurtured thee beneath the shadow of My mercy, and guarded thee by the essence of My grace and lovingkindness. And My purpose in all this was that thou mightest enter Our everlasting realm of omnipotence and become worthy of Our unseen gifts. Yet thou, heedless, when thou didst come to ripeness, didst neglect all My bounties and busy thyself with thine own vain fancy, so that thou didst utterly forget, and, turning from the door of the Friend, didst find thy seat and take up thine abode within the palace of the enemy." },{ "n": 31, "refId": "HWP-30", "text": "O Bondslave of the World! Many a dawn hath the breeze of My lovingkindness passed over thee and found thee slumbering upon the couch of heedlessness; whereupon it wept over thy plight and returned." },{ "n": 32, "refId": "HWP-31", "text": "O Son of Earth! Wouldst thou have Me, seek none but Me; and wouldst thou behold My beauty, close thine eyes to the world; for My will and the will of another can no more be contained within one heart than can water and fire." },{ "n": 33, "refId": "HWP-32", "text": "O thou that art estranged from the One! The candle of thy heart is kindled by the hand of My power; quench it not with the contrary winds of self and passion. The healer of all thine ills is the remembrance of Me; forget it not. Make My love thy treasure, and cherish it as thy very sight and life." },{ "n": 34, "refId": "HWP-33", "text": "O My Brother! Hearken to the delightsome words of My honeyed tongue, and quaff the stream of holiness and inner meaning from My sweet lips. That is: sow the seeds of My divinely-given wisdom in the pure soil of the heart, and water them with the water of certitude, that the hyacinths of My knowledge and wisdom may spring up verdant from the goodly city [of thy heart]." },{ "n": 35, "refId": "HWP-34", "text": "O ye that dwell in My Paradise! With the hand of loving-kindness I have planted in the holy garden of Riḍván the young tree of your love and friendship, and watered it with the gentle showers of My tender mercy; now that it hath drawn near to its fruit-bearing, strive that it may be preserved, and be not consumed in the fire of craving and lust." },{ "n": 36, "refId": "HWP-35", "text": "O My Friends! Put out the lamp of error, and kindle within your hearts the abiding torches of divine guidance; for erelong the assayers of mankind shall, in the sacred presence of the Adored One, accept naught but purest piety, and receive nothing but the deed unsullied." },{ "n": 37, "refId": "HWP-36", "text": "O Son of Dust! The wise are they that speak not until they gain a hearing, even as the cup-bearer proffereth not the cup until he seeth a seeker, and the lover crieth not out from the depths of his soul until he beholdeth the beauty of the beloved. Sow ye, then, the grains of wisdom and knowledge in the goodly soil of the heart, and keep them hidden, that the hyacinths of divine wisdom may spring forth from the heart and not from the mire. (This standeth written and recorded in the first line of the aforementioned Tablet, and lieth hidden within the pavilion of the safekeeping of God.)" },{ "n": 38, "refId": "HWP-37", "text": "O My Servant! Let not the imperishable dominion go from thy hand for a fleeting shower [of gain], and cast not away the sovereignty of Paradise for a lust. This is the Kawthar of life that hath flowed from the wellspring of the Pen of the All-Merciful. Blessed are they that drink!" },{ "n": 39, "refId": "HWP-38", "text": "O Son of the Spirit! Burst thy cage, and, like the Humá-bird of love, soar into the air of holiness. Renounce self, and, with the breath of the All-Merciful, repose in the divine expanse of holiness." },{ "n": 40, "refId": "HWP-39", "text": "O Son of Ashes! Be not content with the ease of a day, and forgo not the imperishable rest that abideth. Barter not the everlasting rose-garden of eternal delight for the perishing ash-pit of dust. Rise from thy prison unto the fair meadows of the soul, and from the cage of contingency wing thy flight to the heart-ravishing Riḍván of the Placeless." },{ "n": 41, "refId": "HWP-40", "text": "O My Servant! Free thyself from the fetters of [worldly] dominion, and release thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more: this very time thou shalt not see again, this moment thou shalt never find anew." },{ "n": 42, "refId": "HWP-41", "text": "O Son of My Handmaid! Couldst thou but behold the everlasting sovereignty, thou wouldst surely, with all thy might, pass beyond this fleeting dominion. Yet in the veiling of the one lie manifold wisdoms, and in the unveiling of the other manifold mysteries, which none but the pure of heart can comprehend." },{ "n": 43, "refId": "HWP-42", "text": "O My Servant! Cleanse thy heart of rancour, and, void of envy, stride into the sacred court of the One." },{ "n": 44, "refId": "HWP-43", "text": "O My Friends! Walk ye in the path of the Friend's good-pleasure, and know that His good-pleasure lieth in the good-pleasure of His creatures. That is: no friend shall enter the house of his friend save with his friend's consent, nor lay hands upon his goods, nor prefer his own will to his friend's, nor in any matter account himself above him. Reflect ye upon this, O ye endued with thought!" },{ "n": 45, "refId": "HWP-44", "text": "O Companion of the Throne! Hear no evil, and see no evil; abase not thyself, neither wail and lament. That is: speak no evil, that thou mayest hear none; and magnify not the faults of others, that thine own faults may not appear great; and desire not the abasement of any soul, that thine own abasement be not laid bare. Live, then, with a pure heart, a stainless mind, a sanctified breast, and an unsullied thought, throughout the days of thy life — which are reckoned less than a fleeting moment — that, freed from this mortal frame, thou mayest wing thy way unto the paradise of inner meanings and take thine abode in the everlasting kingdom." },{ "n": 46, "refId": "HWP-45", "text": "Woe, woe, O ye lovers of carnal desire! Like lightning ye have passed the spiritual Beloved by, and have set your hearts fast upon a satanic fancy. Ye bow down before an idol of imagination and have named it Truth; ye gaze upon a thorn and have called it a rose. Not one free breath hath risen from you, nor hath the breeze of detachment blown from the gardens of your hearts. The loving counsels of the Well-Beloved ye have flung to the winds and effaced from the tablet of your hearts; and, like the beasts of the field, ye graze and take your fill in the meadow of lust and craving." },{ "n": 47, "refId": "HWP-46", "text": "O Brethren of the Path! Wherefore have ye grown heedless of the remembrance of the Loved One, and remained afar from His presence? The very Essence of Beauty is seated upon the throne of majesty within the peerless pavilion, while ye are busied with your own vain contentions. The fragrances of holiness are wafting, and the breezes of bounty are blowing, yet ye are all stricken as with a rheum and remain shut out from them all. Alas for you, and for them that walk in your footsteps and tread in the traces of your feet!" },{ "n": 48, "refId": "HWP-47", "text": "O Sons of Vain Desire! Strip off the garment of vainglory, and cast away the raiment of pride. (In the third line of the lines of holiness that is inscribed by the hidden Pen upon the ruby Tablet, this is [what is set down]:)" },{ "n": 49, "refId": "HWP-48", "text": "O Brethren! Be forbearing one with another, and set not your hearts on the things of this world. Glory not in honour, and be not ashamed of abasement. By My beauty! I have created all from dust, and unto dust will I surely cause them to return." },{ "n": 50, "refId": "HWP-49", "text": "O Sons of Dust! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into perdition and deprive them of the Tree of wealth. Bounty and generosity are of My attributes; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues." },{ "n": 51, "refId": "HWP-50", "text": "O thou Simpleton of Passion! Greed must be forsaken, and one must rest content with contentment; for ever hath the greedy been deprived, and the contented beloved and approved." },{ "n": 52, "refId": "HWP-51", "text": "O Son of My Handmaid! In poverty there should be no disquiet, and in wealth no repose. Every poverty is followed by wealth, and every wealth is followed by ruin; yet poverty in all save God is a mighty bounty — deem it not mean, for at its uttermost the wealth that is in God shall unveil its face. And in this station lieth hidden [the word] \"ye are the poor,\" and the blessed word \"and God is the All-Possessing\" shall, like the true dawn, break forth resplendent, radiant, evident, and manifest from the horizon of the lover's heart, and shall be established upon the throne of wealth and there abide." },{ "n": 53, "refId": "HWP-52", "text": "O Sons of Heedlessness and Passion! Ye have let My enemy into My house and driven My friend from you, for ye have lodged the love of another than Me within your hearts. Hearken to the words of the Friend, and turn toward His paradise. Friends in the world's eyes love one another for their own advantage; but the true Friend hath loved and doth love you for your own sakes — nay, for the sake of your guidance He hath borne afflictions beyond all reckoning. Be not faithless to such a Friend; hasten, rather, unto His street. This is the sun of the word of truth and faithfulness, that hath dawned from the horizon of the finger of the Lord of Names. Open your ears to hearken unto the word of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting." },{ "n": 54, "refId": "HWP-53", "text": "O ye that pride yourselves on perishable riches! Know that wealth is a mighty barrier between the seeker and the sought, between the lover and the beloved. Never shall the rich attain the seat of nearness, nor enter the city of contentment and submission — save a few. Well is it, then, with that rich one whom his riches hinder not from the eternal kingdom, nor deprive of the everlasting dominion. By the Most Great Name! The splendour of such a rich one shall give light to the dwellers of heaven, even as the sun giveth light to the people of the earth." },{ "n": 55, "refId": "HWP-54", "text": "O Ye Rich Ones of the Earth! The poor are My trust among you; guard, then, My trust well, and be not wholly occupied with your own ease." },{ "n": 56, "refId": "HWP-55", "text": "O Son of Passion! Cleanse thyself from the defilement of riches, and with perfect serenity set foot within the heavens of poverty, that from the wellspring of annihilation thou mayest quaff the wine of everlastingness." },{ "n": 57, "refId": "HWP-56", "text": "O My Son! The company of the wicked increaseth grief, while fellowship with the righteous scoureth the rust from the heart. Whoso would commune with God, let him commune with His loved ones; and whoso would hearken to the word of God, let him hearken to the words of His chosen ones." },{ "n": 58, "refId": "HWP-57", "text": "Beware, O Son of Dust! Consort not with the wicked, and seek not their fellowship; for the company of the wicked turneth the light of the soul into the fire of perdition." },{ "n": 59, "refId": "HWP-58", "text": "O Son of My Handmaid! Wouldst thou seek the grace of the Holy Spirit, enter into fellowship with the righteous; for they have drunk the everlasting cup from the hand of the immortal Cup-Bearer, and, like the true dawn, they quicken, illumine, and make radiant the hearts of the dead." },{ "n": 60, "refId": "HWP-59", "text": "O ye Heedless Ones! Think not that the secrets of hearts are hidden; nay, know ye of a certainty that they are inscribed in plain characters and lie open before the [divine] Presence." },{ "n": 61, "refId": "HWP-60", "text": "O Friends! Verily I say, whatsoever ye have hidden within your hearts is unto Us open and manifest as the day; yet the veiling thereof is by reason of Our bounty and grace, and not through any merit of yours." },{ "n": 62, "refId": "HWP-61", "text": "O Son of Man! A dewdrop from the fathomless ocean of My mercy I shed upon the peoples of the world, yet found none turning thereunto; for every one hath turned away from the choice, celestial wine of the Divine Unity unto the foul water of dregs, and, contenting himself with the perishing cup, hath cast away the chalice of abiding beauty. Vile is that wherewith they are content!" },{ "n": 63, "refId": "HWP-62", "text": "O Son of Dust! Close not thine eyes to the matchless wine of the everlasting Beloved, and open them not unto the turbid and perishing wine. Take from the hand of the Cup-Bearer of oneness the cups of abiding life, that thou mayest become all awareness, and mayest hearken to the mystic voice of the hidden Realm of inner meaning. Say: O ye base of nature! Wherefore have ye turned from My holy and abiding wine unto perishing water?" },{ "n": 64, "refId": "HWP-63", "text": "Say: O ye People of the Earth! Know of a certainty that a sudden calamity followeth in your wake, and that a grievous chastisement pursueth you from behind. Deem not that what ye have committed hath been blotted from My sight. By My beauty! All your deeds hath My clear Pen inscribed upon tablets of chrysolite." },{ "n": 65, "refId": "HWP-64", "text": "O ye Oppressors of the Earth! Withdraw your hands from tyranny, for I have vowed not to overlook the injustice of any man. This is My covenant, which I have irrevocably decreed in the Preserved Tablet and sealed with the seal of glory." },{ "n": 66, "refId": "HWP-65", "text": "O ye Transgressors! My long-suffering hath emboldened you, and My patience hath made you heedless, so that ye urge on, in the perilous and deadly ways, the steeds of the fire of self, all recklessly — as though ye had reckoned Me heedless, or accounted Me unaware." },{ "n": 67, "refId": "HWP-66", "text": "O ye Emigrants! The tongue is set apart for My remembrance; defile it not with backbiting. Should the fiery self prevail over you, busy yourselves with the mention of your own faults, and not with the backbiting of My servants; for each of you knoweth his own self better and more truly than the selves of My servants." },{ "n": 68, "refId": "HWP-67", "text": "O Sons of Fancy! Know that when the luminous morn breaketh from the horizon of everlasting holiness, then surely shall the satanic secrets and deeds, wrought in the darkness of night, be laid bare and made manifest before the peoples of the world." },{ "n": 69, "refId": "HWP-68", "text": "O Herb of the Earth! How is it that thou, who wouldst not touch thy garment with a hand made sticky with sugar, dost yet seek My fellowship with a heart defiled by the filth of lust and passion, and dost desire to enter My hallowed realms? Far, far from that which ye desire!" },{ "n": 70, "refId": "HWP-69", "text": "O Sons of Adam! Goodly words and pure and holy deeds ascend unto the heaven of the glory of the Divine Oneness. Strive that your deeds may be cleansed from the dust of hypocrisy and the murkiness of self and passion, and may find favour at the court of glory; for erelong the assayers of mankind shall, in the sacred presence of the Adored One, accept naught but purest piety and receive nothing but the deed unsullied. This is the sun of wisdom and inner meaning that hath shone from the horizon of the mouth of the divine Will. Blessed are they that turn thereunto!" },{ "n": 71, "refId": "HWP-70", "text": "O Son of Joy! How fair is the realm of being, if thou wouldst but enter it! And how goodly is the carpet of everlastingness, if thou wouldst but stride beyond the perishing dominion! And how sweet is the rapture of ecstasy, if thou wouldst but drink the goblet of inner meaning from the hand of the celestial Youth! Shouldst thou attain these stations, thou wouldst be freed from nothingness and annihilation, from tribulation and error." },{ "n": 72, "refId": "HWP-71", "text": "O My Friends! Call ye to mind that covenant ye entered into with Me upon Mount Párán, situate within the blessed precinct of Time, wherein I took to witness the Concourse on high and the companions of the Midian of eternity; yet now I find none faithful unto that covenant. Verily, pride and rebellion have so effaced it from your hearts that no trace thereof remaineth. Yet, knowing this, I have been patient and disclosed it not." },{ "n": 73, "refId": "HWP-72", "text": "O My Servant! Thou art even as a finely tempered sword concealed in a darksome sheath, whereby its worth is hidden from the knowledge of jewellers. Come forth, then, from the sheath of self and passion, that thy worth may be made resplendent and manifest unto all the world." },{ "n": 74, "refId": "HWP-73", "text": "O My Friend! Thou art the sun of the heaven of My holiness; let not the eclipse of the world darken thee. Rend asunder the veil of heedlessness, that from behind the clouds thou mayest come forth unveiled and unconcealed, and mayest adorn all created things with the robe of being." },{ "n": 75, "refId": "HWP-74", "text": "O Sons of Vainglory! For a fleeting sovereignty of a few days ye have forsaken My imperishable realm of omnipotence, and deck yourselves out in trappings of yellow and red, and thereat ye glory. By My beauty! I shall gather all beneath the one-hued tent of dust, and shall wipe out all these diverse hues from among them — save those who take on My own hue, and that is sanctification from all hues." },{ "n": 76, "refId": "HWP-75", "text": "O Sons of Heedlessness! Set not your hearts on a fleeting kingship, nor rejoice therein. Ye are like the heedless bird that singeth in fullest security upon a garden bough, till of a sudden the fowler Death casteth it to the dust, and no more remaineth any trace of its song, its form, or its hue. Take heed, then, O bondslaves of passion!" },{ "n": 77, "refId": "HWP-76", "text": "O Son of My Handmaid! Guidance hath ever been given by words, but now it is given by deeds. That is: all holy deeds must appear from the temple of man; for in words all have their share, but pure and holy deeds are the peculiar treasure of Our loved ones. Strive, then, with heart and soul, to be distinguished, by your deeds, from all mankind. Thus do We counsel you in a holy and shining Tablet." },{ "n": 78, "refId": "HWP-77", "text": "O Son of Equity! In the night season the Beauty of the immortal Being repaired from the emerald height of faithfulness unto the Lote-Tree of the Utmost Boundary, and wept with such a weeping that all the Concourse on high and the cherubim wailed at His lamenting. Whereupon there was inquired the cause of the wailing and lamentation, and He made answer: According to the [divine] command I waited, expectant, upon the height of faithfulness, yet caught not the fragrance of faithfulness from the dwellers of the earth; and when I made to return, lo, I beheld certain holy doves sore afflicted in the talons of the dogs of earth. Thereupon the Maid of heaven hastened forth, unveiled and unscreened, from her mystic mansion, and asked their names; and all were named save one, and when she pressed, the first letter of the name flowed from the tongue, whereupon the dwellers of the celestial chambers rushed forth from their glorious habitations; and when it reached the second letter, they all fell upon the dust. In that moment a voice was heard from the inmost shrine of nearness: \"Thus far and no farther.\" Verily We bear witness unto that which they wrought, and are even now committing." },{ "n": 79, "refId": "HWP-78", "text": "O Son of My Handmaid! Drink from the tongue of the All-Merciful the stream of inner meaning, and behold, from the dayspring of the utterance of the All-Glorious, the unveiled and unconcealed effulgence of the lights of the Sun of exposition. Sow the seeds of My divinely-given wisdom in the pure soil of the heart, and water them with the water of certitude, that the hyacinths of My knowledge and wisdom may spring up verdant from the goodly city [of thy heart]." },{ "n": 80, "refId": "HWP-79", "text": "O Son of Passion! How long wilt thou soar in the realm of carnal desire? Wings have I bestowed on thee, that thou mightest wing thy flight in the air of the holiness of inner meanings, and not in the sphere of satanic fancy. A comb, too, have I graciously given thee, that thou mightest dress My musk-scented tresses, and not lacerate My throat." },{ "n": 81, "refId": "HWP-80", "text": "O My Servants! Ye are the trees of My paradise; ye must needs bring forth goodly and wondrous fruits, that ye yourselves and others may profit therefrom. Wherefore it is incumbent on all to engage in crafts and trades; for this is the means of wealth, O ye endued with understanding. Verily, all affairs hang upon their causes, and the grace of God shall suffice you thereby. Trees that yield no fruit have been, and shall ever be, but fit for the fire." },{ "n": 82, "refId": "HWP-81", "text": "O My Servant! The basest of men are they that bring forth no fruit upon the earth. Such men are verily accounted among the dead — nay, better in the sight of God are the dead than those idle and worthless souls." },{ "n": 83, "refId": "HWP-82", "text": "O My Servant! The best of men are they that earn a livelihood by their calling and spend it upon themselves and their kindred, for the love of God, the Lord of all worlds." },{ "n": 84, "refId": "HWP-epilogue", "text": "The peerless bride of inner meanings, that lay concealed and hidden behind the veils of utterance, hath, through divine grace and heavenly favours, been made manifest and revealed, even as the radiant beam of the Beloved's beauty. I bear witness, O friends, that the bounty is complete, the proof consummate, the demonstration made plain, and the testimony established. It now remaineth to be seen what your own endeavour, in the stages of detachment, will make manifest. Thus is the bounty consummated upon you and upon them that are in the heavens and on the earth. And praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds." } ] }, "links": { "self": "/v1/library/books/hidden-words-woh/chapters/2", "book": "/v1/library/books/hidden-words-woh/", "chapters": "/v1/library/books/hidden-words-woh/chapters/", "library": "/v1/library/", "schema": "/v1/schema/book/" } }