Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand Part 1

Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand.

by Shoghi Effendi.

"AROHANUI"

The word "Arohanui" is a Maori word and, as with many Polynesian words, there is no direct translation into English. The literal meaning is "big love", or "much love" or "great love". And, like most words in most languages, it has several meanings. In naming this book, "Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand", "Arohanui" is used in its more expressive meaning, "enfolding love", or "that love which binds a community together", or "that love which creates bonds of mutual trust and loyalty", or "that love which builds and carries forward culture or civilization".

Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand

Baha'i publishing trust Suva, Fiji Approved for publication by the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of New Zealand Inc.

(c) 1982 BAHa'i PUBLISHING TRUST SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS

"You are destined to achieve great things for our beloved Cause and my constant prayer is that your vision may be clear, your purpose unshaken, your zeal undiminished, your hopes undimmed. Let not obstacles and disappointments, which are inevitable, dishearten you and whenever you are faced with trials recall our Beloved's innumerable sufferings."

From a letter to the first New Zealand Baha'i dated August 12th, 1926.

The letters in this compilation were written by various secretaries of the Guardian at his specific direction. Spelling and other inconsistencies are a reflection of the fact that different secretaries were used. Those pa.s.sages actually written by the Guardian himself are printed in italics.

The messages are numbered sequentially for the convenience of the reader and as an aid to indexing. The numbers appear before the date of each letter.

PART I LETTERS TO INDIVIDUALS, BEFORE APRIL 21ST, 1926.

These were written prior to the formation of the first Local Spiritual a.s.sembly in New Zealand.

(1) June 22nd, 1923

My dear Baha'i sister,

Your beautiful letter of April 3rd written to the Beloved Guardian of the Cause of G.o.d, our dear Shoghi Effendi, was received.[+E1] He was much impressed and charmed with the spirit of your letter, which indicated deep devotion to and absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit of the Beloved Master, 'Abdu'l-Baha.

He instructed me with a heart overflowing with love to answer your letter, conveying to you his high estimation for the beauty of the faith of the New Zealand friends, and deep appreciation towards the splendid services of our dear Mr and Mrs Dunn,[+E2] who are so wonderfully blessed and a.s.sisted by the power of the Holy Ghost. He loves you all and prays for your happiness and spiritual growth.

It is true that your group is now still small, but he a.s.sures you that your group will before long grow larger and larger day by day. It has been always the case with the growth of every religion. Some pure soul or souls go to some land and sow the seeds of the heavenly teachings in the hearts of few who are most pure and so most receptive. The seeds will germinate and grow in them. The fruits of these seeds appear in the regeneration of the lives of these primary adherents. These primary adherents share the bounties they have received with other souls, who through them obtain new life and light and in turn illumine other people.

The primary adherents are the stars of great magnitude in every land in the firmament of the Kingdom of G.o.d. They are the chosen people. They are like candles which, through their sacrificial efforts, are weeping their lives away in order to give light to the world and establish the purpose of their Lord and Saviour, which purpose is the salvation of mankind. His Holiness, Jesus Christ! see how small the group of His disciples was! No matter how few the number of the disciples was, yet they through His power illumined the world. Our Era is similar to that, but through the development of humanity it is greater, and through the evils of the material civilization and negligence of mankind our sacrifices must be greater. Divine light must make itself manifest in our daily life deeds.

In the early days of the appearance of our Saviour, virtue was to save ourselves. When we are once established in our faith, then virtue is to save others. The three mottoes of education hold true in our case too.

First grow, then become and then contribute. We have developed; we have established ourselves, and now it is time to contribute to others. We have inexhaustible capital. The candles of our spiritual lives constantly weep away their lives in shedding light to the world, but they never become exhausted. For there is connection between our lives and that of Baha'u'llah and our beloved 'Abdu'l-Baha.

It cannot be described how much we long to see our dear New Zealand brethren and sisters. We hope the day will come when they can come to us and we to them. Meanwhile, we are praying at the Holy Threshold of our beloved Master for your success and happiness. We hope you will pray for us too. The effect of the prayers of the pure hearts is tremendously great.

Our dear Shoghi Effendi wants you not to look at your own capacity, but at the power of the Holy Ghost of G.o.d. He sends you all his loving greeting and tender affection.

With warm wishes and Baha'i love, I remain,

Your humble brother in His love, Azizullah S. Bahadur

(2) May 8th, 1925

Allah-u-abha

Dear Baha'i Sister,

Shoghi Effendi was very pleased to receive this morning your letter of 28th April, but we were very sorry to hear you have been ill and hope your health will soon be completely restored.[+E3] It was nice that you saw Shoghi's sister and Soheil's brother in London.

I forget whether I gave you the address of Mr and Mrs King, c/o Messrs Hayman and King, 202 Old Christchurch Rd. Bournemouth. They are very kind-hearted Baha'is and will be delighted to see any of you if you call.

Both of them work in the business and you are most likely to see them if you call there. They live above the shop.

I gave you Sister Challis's address at West Moors (Ferndown Lodge). You can get there by 'bus from Bournemouth Sq. or Lansdowne, which will drop you right at Sister Challis's door (She keeps a nursing home) or you can go by train from West Bournemouth to West Moors station which is within 5 minutes' walk of Ferndown Lodge. I hope you will be able to see her.

As I write, the Greatest Holy Leaf is on a visit to the Shrine of the Master. It is over a year, I think, since she has been able to visit the shrine and until now she has not seen the new Gardens, in the laying out of which Shoghi Effendi has taken such a deep interest. The Gardens are looking lovely now and it is easy to imagine how delighted she will be.

One day during the feast of Ridvan she and the Holy Mother were able to visit Bahji and the Garden of Ridvan.

I have quite recovered from my pleurisy now and am steadily regaining my strength.

Shoghi Effendi is still tired. I hope he will soon be able to take a rest.

All the friends here join in loving greetings and best wishes to yourself, your son and daughter, Miss Stevenson and Effie Baker.[+E4] With warmest greetings.

Your brother in the service of the Beloved, J. E. Esslemont

[From the Guardian:]

_My dear precious sister in 'Abdu'l-Baha:_

_I was so glad to hear from you directly and learn of your improved health and meeting with the English Baha'is. I need not a.s.sure you of my ardent prayers for your happiness, good health and continued success in the service of the Cause. I hope and pray you will be enabled by the guiding spirit of the Master not only to stimulate the interest of your friends and relations in this Cause but to make of some of them earnest and whole-hearted believers and supporters of the Faith._