The Whole World is but One Family

First Print l 980á Reprint 1984 Third Edition 1985

PRINTED BY SKYLARK PRINTERS, NEW DELHI-110055 INTRODUCTION I bad the pleasure and privilege of going through Dr. H. M. Munje's Booklet "Vasudhaiva-Kutumbakam" which beautifully demonstrates, on Scriptural authorities, the fact that "the whole world is but one family." It affords an interesting and enlightening reading, and makes its readers realize the depth of religious knowledge of its author. It is interfused with quotations from •Atharva-Ved', Bhagwat Gita', •Yajur-Ved', •Rig-Ved', 'Sam-Ved', etc., and also from the BahA't Holy Writs.

Great unrest is noticeable in the world. Its root cause is the disunity in thoughts and actions of mankind. The main problem of the day is the policy, not of pacification, but of unification, aimed at establishing the lasting peace in the world, and all efforts of the leading luminaries of var,ious nations are directed towards that end. How disunity disturbing the World-Peace is to be eliminated. and eradicated theologians ar J legislators, politicians and diplomats, sr,ciologists and educationists, economists and many other well-wishers of human: fall the World over have given their anxious thoughts to this subject in order to bring about unity and the Sovereign Remedy for establishing World- Peace which actually lies in preaching and demonstrating world unity in thoughts, in words and in deeds.

The said booklet has justifiably made a Valu- able Contribution towards securing world unity and peace by propagating and demonstrating a fellow-feeling and synthetical development of the same in all walks and at all levels of human life based on the fundamental unity of all Faiths. The said booklet also demonstrates the aim and object of the Bah.i'i World Faith emphasising its main points in an actually workable God-given New World Order.

I wish every success to the said booklet as also to the lofty Divine Cause it is dedi- cated to.

Babula) Misra

Advocate, Head of the Law Department, V. S. S. D. College, Kanrur, and General Secre1ary o the Sanatan Dharma Maha Mandal. I

God ij'.flcf~gQcrm ~ ~er: 1 ~"' SJ-srT~ arrm ~ ~: II -m ~ to-t:-~~- "He is called the Ancient, He again be- cometh New today ; ( similarly ) day and night are generated, ( this and that are ) semblances of one another."-Atharva Ved, X, 8-23. God is immeasurably exalted above all imaginable comparisons and likenesses. All the examples and semblances mentioned in the Divine Scriptures are only meant to facili- tate our limited understanding and thus make it capable enough to find out the Will of God on earth and to obey Him voluntarily, unreservedly and lovingly for its own benefit, and not for the benefit of God Who is highly exalted above all benefits and losses. The relation of a craftsman with his handi- work. a painter with his painting, a speaker with his speech, a thinker with his thoughts,

the sun with its rays, and so on, described by the Holy Books is but an example of the re- lation which exists between the Greator and His creation. In fact, He is still Greater than and far far superior to each and all the ex- amples and similes. Howsoever perfect a painting may be it cannot understand the painter. Even if the painter makes his own portrait, it is his like- ness, and not he himself. All the accumulated speeches of the speaker are not the speaker himself. All the thoughts produced by the thinker do not constitute the thinker himself. Rays are but the emanations from the sun and not the sun itself, inasmuch as the rays are ever produced by and, therefore, dependent upon the sun and the sun is not the sum total of rays. Though the Thinker is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent in all His thoughts. yet thoughts are thoughts after all, and not the Thinker Himself Who is the Creator of all His thoughts. There is sharp and inviolable line of demarcation in between the two which is vividly expounded in all the Divine Scriptures.

This discrimination between the thoughts and their Thinker, speech and its Speaker, the creation and its Creator: is very beautifully and unambiguously explained by God in Shri- mad Bhagwat Gita, Discourse XIII, 15 : 16 :

~~ ~1'1114~( :q~" I Wf'l(q I=ti~fq~j'l( i<~ :qifct~ =q~ II ~- ~~~~ f~'! I ~1f'Q c =i!I'crnr 'zi ~fum! 51.rPfl°l~ 11 -iftm t ~-, '(/t ~- "Without and within all beings, Immov- able and also Movable, Unknowable because of His imperceptible Subtlety, extremely near and far away is THAT. "Undivided amid beings and yet existing as if divided, is that to be known as the Supporter of beings ; He devoureth and also doth create.'' -Gita, XIII, 15-16. God alone, in his Own Incomparable Singleness : is, by Himself, the Uncreated Creator of the whole creation, Eternal in the past, Eternal in the future, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Indescribable and Inconceivable by all else except Himself. It is He Who is the Sole Creator of time, space, nature and all that are therein and even beyond. In comparison with Him all else are but nothing. It is here that God is the Real Pre- existence and all else besides Him exist only by His behest throughout alJ eternity-an eternity which is also His creation.

The Man ifestatioo of God Between the Creator and His creation there is a Link called the Manifestation of God Who reveals in every age the Divine Will to the world.

lt ~6'i~ ~ ~: q~q-f~~ I ITT ~ wttwr ~~ ~ ~qfcrq I ' ~- lt ~~CJf~@ ~~«f~: II- -a{qcf { ' cf<{, ~ o-\9-~\9.

"Those who know God in His Manifes- tation through a human being know the One Who dwelleth in the Most Great Abode ; He Who knoweth the One Who dwelleth in the Most Great Abode and Who knoweth the Lord of Generations is the Great Knower of God, those who know Him, following Him, know the Pillar very well.''- Atharva Ved, X, 7-17. rffi◄ f atffRlrcr lt~~crr sr~rqfcfmcfi, ..1 ~ ri ~I~ ~=ftq~q ~= II -ffl cf({, ~ o-\9-\9.

"What is that Pillar with Which the Lord of Generations hath held fast all that is visible ? 0, teach us, what is it exactly like ?" -Atharva Ved, X, 7-7. This Pillar is the Divine Religion with which the Lord of Generations holds all within Its All-Encompassing grasp. This is exquisitely explained in details at length in the same Atharva Ved, X, in its whole 7th Sukta. ( 1) The Glory of the Creator, (2) the attributes of the creation, and (3) The Com- mand of the Creator to His creation, are the Threefold Splendors revealed each time, in His unerring wisdom, by the Manifestation of God in every age in order to instill a new Life, enhance the spiritual growth and cause the people to attain levels higher and higher successively from age to age.

Thus the Manifestation of God is not God in His invisible and unknowable Essence but God in His visible and knowable Glory revealing for every cycle a definite pre- ordained measure of the Infinite Divine Knowledge, after having rendered the same, graspable by and beneficial to mankind.

This way, the Sun of Divinity is reflected in the perfect and sanctified Mirror of the Manifestation illuminating the people as long as they rem a in turned towards this holy Mirror.

God Himself as He is, being invisible and incomprehensible for us, is only known to us in His Manifestation, in which Station, the Unspeakable talks to us Heart to heart, unveils His Beauty Face to face, and actually guides us, provided we earnestly seek His Refuge, step by step in all our affairs and activities. The Divine Sun neither comes down from His infinite heights of unknowable and un- born Self-Existence nor does He become so small as to be contained in the Mirror of the Manifestation, nevertheless, we see the Sun in the Mirror and derive all our benefits from the Sun shining from the Mirror.

If we say, looking towards the sun in the Mirror : "Lo ; here is the Sun," we are not wrong, if the mirror says, "I am not the Sun, he too is right, and, if the Sun Himse)f, as manifest in the Mirror, says through the Mir- ror, "I am the All-Glorious Sun." He. verily, uttereth nothing but the essence of Truth. The Manifestation of God is like a radio- te]evision set. Sometimes we hear the sound of the cabinet and of the particles of mechan- ism contained in the set itself, and sometimes we listen to the sweet melodies of the singer and even actually visualise him who is. in himself, seated far far away from us and even from the set.

It is here that the Divine Radio-Television Set viz, the Manifestation of God, represents a th reef old splendor : ( l) the Voice and the Likeness of God Himself, (2) the Holy Spirit of the Manifestation Himself through whom God is revealed to man, and (3) the physical human body of the Manifestation of God or Ishwari Avatar.

ll~r-f ~Tcf: qus~ll'Ts~f@ ~S3TT~~ lfcfrfTR ,.:,

mcrr I m:~turrofur~r.rlcf)&fitij~ Sl~Tqfcr:SNTlfT °' ft 11-~c:-, c;_~ ~- ij' ff~~ V

"The Lord of Generations, the One greater than Whom none else is begotten, the One clad in the attire of Manifestation, entered, inhabiting the worldly abodes, bes- towing the richest bliss to the people while living among the people, is the Bearer of the threefold splendor He it is Who possesseth sixteen ('Kalas' lit, parts)."-Yajur Ved, VIII, 36.

These "sixteen" are the following ~ ~ ~wllt Sixteen Kalas representing the th reef old splendor of the Lord of the Generations :- 1. Outwardly the Manifestation of God is a man like any one else. He has a body composed of the 5 elements, viz. (1) ~

ear (2) ~ water (3) olftt1 fire ( 4) q1~ air and (5) arTcfTT~heaven or space, with their energies and the power of attraction called ~~cirr Dehatma.

He has (6) STTOTlife which is the po\ver of growth or vegetative spirit called ~~citT Beslzajatma.

He has (7) all fif~ the senses, and He takes (8) 81''$1food for the maintenance of His animal economy called trrocfTcJITPashavatma.

He has (9) lirfui Might or Power to choose right or wrong ; it is this power which is called the human spirit irfi{cflcJIT or o1clITcJIT M anvatma or Adhyatma.

He has ( I 0) ~ Faith in God, Faith in all that God hath revealed through His Manifestation ; this is the spirit of Faith ~it~c'i I Dharmatma.

All the above ten Kalas are the attributes of the creation each in accordance with and proportionate to the different degrees of crea-

tion. All these are possessed by the Mani- festation of God. This is one aspect of the "threefold splendor."

II. Another aspect is the Divine Spirit ~clkJ:ff Devatma or the Holy Spirit qfc1~1cirr Pavitratma respresenting (11) ~ell a New Truth (12) m.:ra greater Knowledge (13) ~ an ( unprecedented Thought (14) cfii:I'a newly revealed Plan of action or deeds and ( 15) ii'f the Holy Utterances or the Divine Command.

III. The third and the greatest of them all is the aspect of God Himself q\Jfwrf Paramatn1a represented by ( 16) ijTJJ Name, and that is al I.

God, verily, is the most manifest of the manifest and yet the most hidden of the hidden.

tSlit'111ri.fu ITT~ in~cfr ~ffl~~ I met ft\11Iii;al ~ir ~l{~~~ 11 CR " ... -dlit~i1c14 mcrr,~ - ~ ~ "The foolish disregard Me when clad I in a human body ; they know naught My sup- reme nature, I am the Great Lord of beings." -Shrimad Bhagwat Gita, lX, 11.

~~- ~Tlf Eti<lcf;ftfir~~ ffl ~qf ~ I ar~á~li «~ <!iaftill~á m~pqfq anfcR~11 -of'lq ( " 't-~ o-~. cf~, "I stretch bow for the howling in order to kill the tyrant and also enemies of the Great God ; I create all happiness for the people, I enter, prevailed in Heaven and earth, clad in the attire of Manifestation."-Atharva Ved, IV, 30-5. lro ~T f~ ct&f(il r~rf~cl'fu +TT\Cf1 { . ~~':fT~'fl;T~ cf~T(i:JJ;r~~ Iiq~ IJ qft~l11TTlf «llj;:rt fcATfiTTlf =q$6fid I'! I

TftTlr«~cflfJJ Tt~it 11 ~'l«{=tflqrf -,..ftli4"ltfc{ iTTffT''t-\9-t;

"From time to time whenever there occurs a downfall of religion.. 0 Bharat (Arjuna), and the rise of irreligion, it is then that I send forth My spirit. "For the protection of those who achieve Me, for the destruction of the wicked-doers, and for firmly establishing the Religion, mani- fest I Myself from age to age," -Gita, IV, 7&8 ~ar ~q" ~)~ ~~i:r i ~f;;, - • r~ ar~ 3fctit ~f~qr~ 1 ~rnf IO ail aar sr+r'eff~ fif~ ~\I, '-2

~~ tctTfrfft:t ij'\iiifii'-qn1 I al"~ irrf( qT~ ~~~ u@ij ~ ~Orn-~~ I ~ fifffl r<~fiR:{({ Gfij' \1 if-ijf rfif rfi\ ~g II - w-sm ~ \11Rftc1 irr-1«, arrncfi1~, ~ i. SJf.Jitfflqr;J-t

"From titne to time whenever Religion is decreased, and the unholy, the irreligious, the haughty people increase, the Lord adop- teth a body different from time to time, removeth, through His infinite bounties, the calamities of the good people, destroyeth the unholy, establisheth Holiness and protecteth the Chain (Bridge) of His Own sacred know- ledge and diffuseth His immaculate Glory in the world. The same is the motive of His Holiness Rama's descent" .-TUlsi Ramayan Bal-Kand, 1st. Sopan, 129. Religion is the greatest support which resuscitates human beings through the instru- mentality of the spiritual life of Faith in God which means Faith in whatsoever God has revealed through His Manifestation, as there is no other way of knowing the Will of God on earth. ~c{T~ ~~riit~l'"d'ITR~cfQf ~ij': q~fflla' I ffl fcf~tirlfo ~~~fit iTI.:li: qv:rrfqtJ~SQii Ill II

sr~qfu~~fu rrisatrcl\~ltJllrfl csf§e{lfet'11Tl@I cr~zrzr)f;r qR~f.=a ~~Tfflf ~;:~ ffiT{~FnR fqfiqI II-~~, .... ~ ~ - ~ c;- ~ t-

"1 Know that Most Great Ruler \Vho like the brilliancy of the Sun, is beyond dark- ness ; having known Him alone is crossed the mortal stage ; no way is known for going but This."

"The Essentially unmanifestab]e moveth within, the Lord of Generations vividly manifesteth Himself repeatedly ; the steadfast behold from all sides the A bode of the Original Cause ; in That abide the worlds of the universe." -Yajur-Ved, XXXI, 18 and 19.

The Manifestation of God is the Meeting Point of God beyond and the man on earth. It is the Manifestation of God Who gives us the Divine Knowledge not only theoreti- cally but also in practice by actually living a Human life exactly in accordance with what He teaches us to do.

The Manifestation of God is thus a Practical Experiment conducted from time to time by God himself in the laboratory of the world in order to give us lessons of His supreme Will.

God wants us to love one another. The Manifestation of God, on one hand, in His Capacity as the sole Mouthpiece of God, commands us to love one another, and, on the other hand, in his capacity as a simple human being, he actually loves us and demonstrates the meaning of love in action and even the way through which we can love one another. So much so, that while actuaUy loving us he is conf rooted with bitter oppo- sitions and surrounded by severe afflictions and tortures which he patient]y bears and thus teaches us yet another lesson of 'Patience and forbearanceá in our lives. God wants us to be rooted in truth. The Manifestation of God, on one hand, pro- claims this Divine Commandment to us, and, on the other, he, in his capacity as a man like us, lives an actual human life of truth- fulness and piety. So that we may not say or be led to think that truthfulness and piety belong only to God, or that they are the utopia, or that it is humanly impossible to live a life of truthfulness and piety at all. Whatever lesson God wants to teach us He makes the Manifestation of God to first put it in action in His own human life as a perfect example and thus prove to mankind beyond doubt that the particular Teaching is humanly possible, and, therefore, each and every human being can do it, provided he or she cares to copy diligently the human life

and the manly aspect of the Manifestation of God. llf.J4f~~fo~~@~~oU' ~: I ~ l«SJirror• ~ m~~~a 11 ;rq-CfMsf@ cficf~~ wl~1fcfrqif I i=l'lii'~cfTtaolf ~ ~cf ~ cfltf furI ~~ ~- i=I'~q rao:I '1fnj;~qoqci 'l'Jr cWI~ a'l~t: qi~~~: II ~~~it wT~J i=I'~f ~ ~'! 1 «cti'{~ ~ EfiffYro1rq~Tfi1.rr: st'1fl: II

- 111or, a:ro ~. ~Sfl ~ ~, ~ ~. ~ ~ olll ~"á

"Whatsoever the Most Great Man doeth, the other people also do. It is He Who setteth forth the Standard, by That the people go. "Neither the least work is there in the three worlds, 0 Partha (lit. son of earth), which should be done by Me, nor is there any unobtained thing which should be ob- tained ; I still occupy Myself in action. "Should I not always occupy Myself, the Unwearied. in action the people all round, 0 Partha, foil ow My path. "Were I not to perform action, these

people would be destroyed ; and, in that case, I would become the author of confusion, and I would slay these generations."-Gita, Ill, 21, 22, 23 and 24. The Manifestation of God is thrown amid unspeakable tests and trials. He is surroun-- ded by countless oppressions and tyrannies. He is left all alone as a man to encounter all these and to face bravely, patiently and with exemplary steadfastness and ultimately to emerge out as a victor proving the triumph of His Teachings which are not utopia but a great practicable Plan and an actually workable Programme for the betterment of mankind. Those who follow Him with unwavering Faith, love, devotion and unswer- ving active obedience are the persons called the re-born fa~ or resurrected or a New Crea- tion after a Pralaya which was the annihilation of the Spiritual Life or Divine Religion in mankind. This way the Spiritual Day and night, Birth and death, Creation and annihilation, Glory and abasement, Light and gloom, Religion and irreligion, come and go forming ages and cycles in the Spiritual World of mankind the resemblance of which is the visible day and night and the turning round of this planet-our earth ball. The Manifestation of God is the Most Great Care and the Incomparable Facility.

provided to us by the Divine Providence out of His sheer and most great compassion on us.

III The Three Existences There are three kinds of Existences : I. The existence of God Himself Who is All Alone abiding in His Own Place which is much Holy above all places and spaces created by Him, above all times, mentions, utterances, signs, descriptions, definitions, heights and depths. He Himself is the only self-existent One and the uncreated Creator of all. It is He Who is birthless, shapeless and peerless, unknowable, incomprehensible and unimaginable. He is the Only pre- existent Cause of all causes. He, thus, is the First and the incomparable kind of Existence. II. The existence of the Manifestation of God is also called the Drawing-Point of the Will of God or the Horizon for the Divine Sun. The Manifestation of God is especially created by God as a Holy Mirror to reflect the Divine Attributes, Glory and Authority

on earth. It is through the Manifestation of God that God reveals His Will, Knowledge, Command, Intention, Mercy, Justice, Wrath, Love, Mysteries, Truth, Splendours, the Divine Method of living pious life, and what not, exactly in accordance with the require- ments and exigencies of mankind age after age. This is how the Manifestation of God is categorised as the second kind of existence. III. The world of creation, consists of creations ranging from (I) mineral, (2) vegetable, (3) animal, and (4) human, to (5) the spirit of Faith. This is the third category of existence. (I) mineral, (2) vegetable, (3) animal and (4) the human body are an ruled by nature, but, the human spirit and the spirit of Faith fall under the jurisdiction of the Divine Law which is above nature. The human spirit which is originally dark is in the third category of existence called the world of creation. The Manifestation of God is the Light which comes from the First and the Only Original Source of all sources-God. In comparison with light the darkness is death. This fact is the essence of truth which each and every human soul 1nust conscientiously know and wilfully recognize. Should the mirror of the spirit of man be cleansed, polished and placed facing the Manifestation of God, it would. no doubt, reflect the rays of the Divine Commandments in practical life and be

illumined thereby. It is at this juncture that we can safely say that the spirit of Faith has actually entered into a human being. To acquire this spirit of Faith is the first and the fore most duty of each and every human being which he or she should voluntarily and painstakingly perform. This is the supreme truth in life which should be independently investigated, thoroughly understood. sincerely acknowledged and translated into actual practical life, as without realizing this truth the human soul remains in perpetual darkness. It is this which has been unequivocally proclaimed by the Upanishada in the form of a prayer :- 31ttcfT irr ~Jill I dffffl irr '7l{)fd•IJ:tll I '}_cq)q~~qqzr II "From truthlessness, 0, lead me to the truth ; From gloom, 0, lead me to Thy Kindly Light ; From mortality, 0, lead me to Immortality." There are two main stages in which the human spirit can move : one, the stage of death controlled by nature, and, the other, the stage of life which is supernatural. In the stage of death there are again three sub- stages : (I) mineral, (2) vegetable, and (3) animal. When the spirit of rnan detaches his heart and mind from these baser stages of

earthly appetite and sensual entanglements, he becomes undefiled and fit for the reception of the spirit of Faith which belongs to the higher stage-the stage of spiritual Life. Our crossing the stage of death and acquiring immortality is only through the kindly Light of Truth which comes from the Manifestation of God on earth. To attain to Him is to have complete Faith in and unreserved obedience to whatsoever Commandments have been re- vealed through the Manifestation of God. Spirit of Faith is a link between the Holy Spirit of the Manifestation of God and the human spirit. The human spirit is like a mirror. The first requisite is to cleanse the mirror from all worldly defilements and polish the same to the extent in which it becomes worthy, so that the rays of the Sun of Truth may be reflec- ted in it. The second requisite is to turn the mirror towards the Sun. This is simply be- cause of the fact that howsoever clean and polished the mirror may be it is in itself the dark substance. It gets Light only through the rays of the Sun of Truth. To turn to- wards the Sun of Truth is to have complete Faith in the Manifestation of God. to learn His Commandments devotedly, practically and unreservedly each time whenever the Manifestation of God appears on earth and estab)ishes the Pillar of His religion in the world.

This is what has been vividly and most emphatically repeated over and over again in each Holy Book by every Manifestation of God in many a nation and during all down the ages. This is the Way. This is the Path. This is called the Religion. This is the Pillar. This is the Will of God on earth. This is the Command of God proclaimed and re-proclaimed. This is the Mercy of the All-Merciful showered in the past and shall be successively showered all through the future for ever and evermore. This is the irrevocable Law of God for mankind. Nothing else, nothing less and nothing be- yond. There is no other go but this :-

Follow The Latest Command ~~~I t!,tdif ~ir: ',:) " ~...,?r'q~q q-q: I ~~)smi:l°~f efa c@Tq~-ifTPl f~cfl!11 a JJrir-:-TT 1lq l=l~T J{~T~1 lft i=Jqf~~ 1 initGf~fuml£. a5Jfu~ fSilllSf{{Jt t I ~ ~J{~f~cl(~lf ilTi:l°cfi.~~UT ~ I 31'~á m {{cf9lcr+-itr+1Tarfll&r1f-i:r. irr ~:q: 11 mcfr,~c;-\'t, ~X, ~~- "Listen thou again to my Supreme, the Most Hidden Word, favourite art thou to Me, and steadfast of heart, I shall, therefore, speak for thy benefit. "Merge thy mind in Me, be My devotee, sacrifice thyself to Me, prostrate thyself to Me, thou shalt surely come upto Me. 1 pledge thee My Truth ; beloved art thou to Me. ''Thoroughly abandoning all religions come thou unto Me alone for shelter ; it is I who will liberate thee from all sins." -Shrimad Bhagwat Gita, XVIII, 64, 65 & 66. We do not speak here in terms of this religion or that religion. According to God the Religion is man's strict obedience and unconditional surrender to whatsoever is revealed by and through His Manifestation each time to the world. God's Will is not to be questioned. Because His Will is All- Merciful. He loves us much more than what we can ever hope to love ourselves. We, in our ignorance and spiritual darkness, do not appreciate what is good for us and cannot give up what is not good for us. By Faith in the Manifestation of God we get spiritual Light. By that Light we are enabled to gain the spiritual Knowledge. The knowledge of Truth gladdens our hearts and thus strengthens us to do as we know. Once we are stirred up to righteous deeds in exact obedience to the revealed Will of God our

lives develop by leaps and bounds in com- plete harmony with the Divine life as practically demonstrated by the Manifestation of God in His human life. This condition is called the Kingdom of God on earth or Sat Yug-the Golden Age of Truth-which is first established in the hearts and minds of the individuals, and then gradually, as and how the number of such Kingdom-holder-humans, the bearers of Sat-Yug, increase, the world, shall become a new world, a better world, a Glorious World, a ''BHAHI WORLD.''

'3«•~ m{ff ?J~~'01 .0 ~fcr?JITTf, -:> --

ffir R+IT~{ 11 - «rirck,'3'~TRcfi: ~ J ~ - ~ - ~ ~ • ~ - ~ J~ \ c; ~. "0 Exalted Fire ! 0 Thou Merged in B HA H ( Glory) ! Rise Thou regularly shining out brilliantly Thine Own progres- sively blazing Light ; make the world particu- larly and especially BH AHi and never-getting- old"-Sam Ved, Uttararchika, VJ, 2-2-12-1-3/1385. A Manifestation of God is All-Glorious and is God turned towards us in His Kindly Light. But, we get this Light only when we turn towards Him, and not when we turn our backs against Him. When we face the Manifestation of God it is our Day and when

we are in deep slun1ber spiritually it is as if we have turned our backs against Him, this is our night of the soul. Whenever the number of these night-souls is increased in abundance the spiritual darkness is prevalent in the world, such an age is called the Kali Yug or the Period of Gloom or strife. The whole spiritual life-process is basically reversed in that period, and hence, calamities, clashes, afflictions, tyrannies and even the Wrath of God come upon the people. It is at such a critical hour of distress that the Pitier of the downtrodden, the Patita- Pavan, the Liberator of the sinners, makes Hi1nself manifest in this wor)d through the instrumentality of a Perfect Hun1an being, and once again the Day of God dawns on earth for Good. But, alas, the persons of haughty, fastidious, obstinate, vehement, lethargic, retrogressive, aggressive, and such evil tendencies disobey the newly revealed Commandments of God in every age, refuse to partake of fresh Mercy of God, and thus, spontaneously invite their own annihilation. It is this which has been symbolically des- cribed by Atharva Ved, X 8-23, when it said that :- "He is called the Ancient, He again be- cometh New Today ; (similarly), day and

night are generated, (this and that are) semblances of one another."-Atharva Ved, X, 8-23.

V Divine Arrangement of Human Affairs The Most Ancient, the Essentially Pre- Existent aspect of God, while still remaining hidden in His Own invisible, unknowable and unattainable Entity, makes His other aspect of Manifestation to appear before men as a man, so that men may not be afraid of Him, they can love Him intimately, discuss with Him their problems and thus give Him a chance to arrange the affairs of their lives and establish a peacefully working order on earth. This is the sole purpose of the Manifestation of God in this world age after age. In every age the same ancient Sun of Truth generates and gives out new rays of Teachings, Laws and Commandments, as He is the Un-Exhausting Creator. He is never fatigued like human morta]s. At the same time His sole Unchanging Law of Love Jives permanently ever-new and ever-green everywhere. No changes and chances of the ages and nations and no revo- lutions of conditions, howsoever drastic they

may happen to be, can even hope to frustrate this ever-advancing universal Law of Love. In fact, it is for the protection and prog- ress of this fundamental Law of Love that a set of subsidiary laws suitable to every parti- cular age is framed by God in His inscrutable wisdom and revealed through His Own Manifestation of Love to Mankind. According to this Law of Love, God loves Himself as also God loves His creation ; we the creatures should also therefore, love God and at the same time love one another among ourselves. This is what has always been taught to us right from the time of Rig Ved, the Most Ancient-Known and still extant Command of God on earth :-

~1i~~ ~ cfG:~ «err~f~ ~ffflll 1 ~ ~ li'TT~ tf5;jfTiflrJT'3"CIT~a' 11 ij"irr.,)- ~= ij'fqft,: «irAl ij'ij lil t=frr:~ ~qf:flli I " «lff'lḥ-1'"~ḥ-lf~ err~Fcrtn "l'"~zter:ijJ.t r;:t.:r ~ir , ijJi Ii-fl cf arrc[fu: ij'JfFfT ~lilf.:r er:I ~;rll~ cf) irr11"ll'iTsr:~ij'~«fa11 Sf{•cf~lcfl=g '9, amtfi t:;, JI~ ~ 0 1 3fo c;, qo 'it/~, a.ro ~ 0 -~ ~€.~Iii~«lc1TT~. ~ am " "Like the enlightened ones of the past who used to acquire their share in unity, live ye all in harmony with one another, consort in loving sweetness with all, be one in thought and in knowledge." "Let mind-protecting Divine Command- ment be equal to all, let there be equal co- mingling of ye all, let aJJ their minds be as one mind, their attentions be in one accord. I command ye all to be equal under One Holy Command, I bring ye up all alike offering Myself as a sacrifice." "Be united in your purpose, let your hearts be as one heart, minds of all as one mind, so that your affairs may be co-operatively well-organised."- Rig Ved, Khand 7, Ashtak VIII, Mandal IO, 8-49/3, 10-191, verses 2nd 3rd and 4th.

The Love-Seed Grows The Law of Love is the fundamental law of all religions whenever and wherever they have been revealed. As it is an ever- living Law of God, it has got the power of growth which makes it ever progressive non- stop. Any cessation thereof would mean death.

In pre--historic ages individual human beings lived isolated one from another. At that time every individual's love of his or her own-self kept all the limbs of his or her phy- sical body in perfect unity and living health. That was the sphere of love in action in those days of the infancy of man- kind ; and that was the limit of under- standing of the individual human beings at that time. Even at that time each human being incessantly felt himself and herself deficient in and by himself and herself. It is only God Who is perfect in Himself and by Himself, and nothing else. What was deficient in man is deposited in woman and what was lacking in her was created by God in man. This made man and woman inter- dependent, and hence, an irrepressible urge of a wider unity-the love of man and woman -was an established fact. This love, with all its resultant factors and paraphernalia, just as the institution and chastity of marriage, honesty with one another, proper care and rearing up of the children, children's obedience to their parents, respect to elder brothers and sisters, parents' duty of compassion towards children, sweet relations between families-in--law, etc. etc. was taught by the Manifestations of God which is still found recorded in the ancient Holy Scriptures intact. Even how to take bath, how to sit and eat, how to sleep, how to talk and many other points were taught in the anci- ent Divine Books of Laws. This was the chan- geable aspect of the Religion of God, as it pertained to the worldly affairs of man which always advanced along with the changing conditions of mankind. The unchangeable aspect was the knowledge that there is a God, and that God is One, Unknowable, Indivisible, Non-Multiple, Pre-Existent, Ever- lasting Creator of the whole creation; that from Him we have all come and unto Him shall we all return, that He, out of His Love and compassion, sends on earth His Manifestation from age to age with His sole Authority to Whom we must all bow down in utter and loving submissiveness ; as His Divine Autho- rity is Absolute and unchallengeable, and that obedient devotees shall be generously rewar- ded by God and upon the deniers of His Manifestation in every age shall con1e the wrath of God and they will be severely chastised for their disobedience. This was coupled with a few prescnpt1ons for prayers, fasting and such other ceremonies suitable to the then capacities and circum- stances of the people meant for the spiritual upliftment of individual human souls. Under this Divine Code of laws remained humanity for a time developing itself gra- dually to the levels beyond the confines of familihood. As separate individuals, different families also found each one in itself defi- cient and in want of resources possessed by other families.

At human souls, without Divine Guidance, are dark in themselves, they started grab- bing other's properties for making up their own deficiencies, and tortured and butchered others who stubbornly refused to part with their possessions. There were feudal-fights and family clashes which destroyed morales in the human beings, and mankind wandered a\vay from the Divine Path of Love-the fundamental Law of Religion. This necessitated (I) on one hand the re-establishment of love, the Essence of Religion, and (2) on the other, the extension of the sphere of action for the Law of Love, from familihood to the City-State merging within itself all the families forming one solid unit. Such Laws were revealed by the then Manifestation of God as could create a perfect shell in which humanity could safely evolve to higher levels of life, both in the earthly and the Spiritual realms. Again, the life-force of Love rushed forth and the boundaries of City-State were over- thrown. That was, in fact, a heading forward towards a still wider unity. But, alas, the discarding of the divinely prescribed spiritual virtues by human mortals became the cause of warfare and miseries. Once again, the Law of Love re-asserted itself through the Mani- festation of God Who gave a larger set of Laws which could effectively establish nation-building on one hand, and the individual purification of human souls on the other.

All this was till yesterday. Today a still wider condition is existing. Mankind as a whole is not at all living in a national age. VII This Global Age The whole human race, knowingly or un- knowingly, is living at present in a global age, though collectively yet not lovingly. Hence, the very foundation of the Religion of God is destroyed in the human life and soul as a whole. We say that we believe in some religion or the other, but, what we actually mean by the word religion is diametrically opposed to the Religion of God. God never wanted us to believe in this religion or that religion and haughtily hate others. God never wanted us to break His Divine Religion into hundreds and thousand-s of sects, sub-sects and petty- sub-sects with the followers of each small group thinking themself to be the only sup- reme people on earth and all other as demo- niacal. God never wanted us to divide our- selves in countless water-tight compartments. God never wanted us to turn our prayers to the darkened horizons. to utterly neglect the broad foundation of God's sacred Laws, to grow unmindful of the Merits and Virtues of His Holy Religion and regard only certain cus- toms, conventions, ceremonies, rituals, dogmas,

signs, symbols, murmur of a few verses, etc. etc., to be our supreme attainments of the glorious pinnacle of spiritual prosperity. God never wanted us to fall down from the Universal Law of Love to the nethermost depths of pride and prejudice, hatred and vainglory, heedlessness and easy-going, grabbing and looting, warfare and bloodshed. In fact, God never wanted us to do anything of what we are doing today. Should we have our inner eyes opened we would surely behold our pitiable and lamentable spiritual downfall to the extreme in the minutest analysis of each and all our thoughts, words and deeds.

This insight was granted by God to many a blessed Saints and Divine Seers of the past who fore saw thousands of years ago the actual conditions of this age and recorded the same by way of prophecies in their Books of predic- tions. They are innumerable. We read them. We know them. We even realise that these prophecies are proved to be word-by-word true, and, yet, alas, a myriad times alas, that we do not open our spiritual eyes, we do not try in the least to radically change our ways and views, and thus better our conditions by paying sincere attention to the latest Revelation of the Will of God on earth. We would not recount all the scriptural and other countless prophecies and predictions

over here. Only a few will suffice as our eye- openers.

VIII Sbri Ramchandraji's Prophecies There is a bird's-eye view of Ka/i-Yug (the Strife-Age) Shown more than five thou- sand years ago by Shri Ramchandraj i, Himself the Manifestation of God, to, and after hav- ing been described by Kag Bbushundi to Garuda as recorded in Uttar Kand of the Holy Ramayana as follows :- "Listen to the treasury of Knowledge, 0 Knower of God ! I am telling you something about the affairs of the Kali-Yug (the Age of quarrel, the strife-period, the Iron-Age) as visioned by me. "The sins of Kali-Yug have swallowed all religions, all the Sacred Books are concealed. The hypocrite imposters have promulgated a number of creeds which they themselves had invented out of their own vain imaginings. "The people had all fallen a prey to delu- sions and all pious deeds had been swallowed up by greed and evil passions. "The right course for every individual is that which one takes a fancy to ; a man of erudition is he who plays the braggart.

"Whoever launches spurious undertakings and is given over to hypocrisy, him does every one call a saint.

"He alone is clever who robs another of his wealth ; he who puts up false appearances is an ardent follower of estab1ished usage.

"He who is given to lying and is expert at joking is spoken of as a man of piety in the Kali-Age. "He who is a reprobate and has lazily abandoned the path of the Vedas is a person called the possessor of divine knowledge and the renouncer of the world in the Kali- Yug. "He whose nails are Jong and locks of matted hair spread undressed is renowned as a devoted ascetic at the time of Kali. ''They who are of maleficent conduct and causers of harms to others are held in great esteem and glorified. "The babblers and liars at heart, in deeds and words are eulogised as great orators in the Kali-Age. "Men are infatuated and dominated by women, 0 Gosai. and, to the feminine tune, dance and trot like monkeys controlled by their trainers.

"People are given over to sensuality, greed and irascibility and are hostile to God, His devotees, Divine knowledge and Saints. "The disciple and the preceptor severally resemble a deaf and a blind, the one would not listen, while the other cannot see. '' A spiritual guide who robs his disciple of money but fails to rid him of his sorrow is cast into the nethermost hell-fire. "Parents calJ their children and teach them such religion as may fill their belly. Men and women talk much and high- sounding about the Divine Knowledge and yet in their greed for a worthless shell, they would kill the righteous and even their own spiritual guides. "The person who doth not see any differ- ence between him and God is considered as the possessor of knowledge, this is the charac- teristic condition and practise of the quarrel- some age, Kali-yug, foreseen by me.

"Doomed themselves, such people bring ruin even to those rare souls who tread the path of truth.

"Each and every person who poluteth the Vedas by dints of logic is condemned for each

one of his logics, to a bell for ages and cycles together.

''All persons foJlow the courses of conduct at the dictates of their own vain imaginings ; the endless variety of wrong-doings find no words horrible enough to cover the atrocities.

"There are illegitimate admixtures every- where ; and the people, infringing the Sacred Laws, divide against themselves.

"They perpetrate sins and reap fear, dis- ease, grief, separation and desolation.

"Overcome by delusion and selfish motives, the people walk not in the path of devotion to God consistent with the accumulated discrimi- nations pointed out by the well-experienced persons whose hearts are detached from the world-a path which has the approval of the Vedas-and fabricate countless ways and diverse creeds of their own.

"Overwhelming wealth is accumulated in the abodes of the detached sages, the prosti- tutes have snatched away the wealth as also the health and strength. "The detached bachelors, sages and ascetics are enormously wealthy, whereas the married and earning people are poor ! 0 God !

What an unspeakably astonishing is this fact taking place in the Kali Yug !

"Sons obey their parents only till they do not bring mates in their homes.

"As soon as a man starts loving his wife's family, his own parents and family appear be- fore him as his enemies. "Kings and rulers have become slaves to their sins, having fined and tyrannised their subjects increasingly every day.

"Monied people, though churl and wretch- ed, are honoured as nobles.

"The sign of the re-born (Brahmin) is the so-called sacred thread he wears and of the ascetic his nakedness. "The multitude of poets is increased, and no generous one to reward them ; they are exaggerating to the extent unheard of in the world. so much so that not a single poet is counted as a strictly-metred one in virtues and piety. "There are famines again and again, the poor people starve and die. "Listen, 0 Khagesh ! There are duplicity, perversity, deceits, obstinacies, haughtiness, hatred, heterodoxy, heresy, hypocrisy, flattery,

concupiscence, infatuation, arrogance, beating, drunkenness, etc. etc., prevailing all through- out the world.

''People have adopted, with unholy motiv- es, muttering of Holy Verses, penance, offer- ing of sacrifice, fasting, alms-giving ; Divine Bounties are not showered on earth ; seeds sown do not yield food.

''The foolish wish for happiness and do not attach themselves to Religion. Small- mindedness, stony heartedness, and un- hum bleness (no-softness) prevail.

''People are afflicted with diseases and maladies. No proper feeding. Pride and antagonism for nothing.

"None finds his own faults, nor is there any cool-headedness. High and low caste people, all are begging.

"Jealousy, sword-like words, covetousness overflow equally in all those who go astray.

"Alms-giving is due to pride. there is no trace of mercy at all. Readings are full of materialism.

"Men and women everywhere are their own body-feeders, Slanderers of others are spread throughout the world."

IX Markandeya Rishi's Predictions Yudhishthir, five thousand years back, asked questions regarding Kali Yuga, and Markandeya Risbi replied as recorded in "Maha-Bharata" :- " At the end of Kali Yug there shall be great revolutions in the society ... people will begin to doubt the life after death, lrreligion will be rampant ... All will malign each other in order to praise them- selves. Religion will be vanquished by irre- ligion, truth by falsehood, kings by slaves and men by women. Pious people will be short- lived and miserable, and the impious will be longlived and wealthy, Religion will be annihilated and sins will prevail all over. "Talkativeness will be considered as the sign of culture. "People will not respect their oral promises and their oaths. Greedy, cruel and bandit-like kings will grab the wealth, properties and women of their subjects. Extremes of cold, heat, mist, wind, rain, hunger, thirst, plagues, dissensions and worries will cause great human suffering ... Monied people will be considered of good clan and breed, virtuous and noble. They alone will be highly respected. Poverty will be consi-

dered as a sign of impiety. Earning members of the families will be so overtaxed that they would amass wealth by deceitful means. A little wealth will swell people's heads with pride and boasting ; ... "Brute-force will be considered as the only criterion for justice and religion.

"Brother will be dishonest to his brother. No one will befriend another. None will do good even to his friend without the expectation of money. Friendship will be maintained only for pastime. Husband will recognise his wife to be his only friend ... Crows will increase and crow the whole time .. .In order to earn their livelihood men will travel round the world. The whole earth will be trodden by all castes and classes of people ... Merchants will be greedy and will deceive their customers ... Travellers not finding food, water and refuge will sleep on public thoroughfares.

"Learned priests will hide the Truth. No one would be able to understand the correct meaning of the Scriptures. The vain-glorious priests, having forsaken righteousness, mis- interpret the Holy Scriptures. Talkativeness will be considered a sign of learning. The priest will, in the name of religion, entrap the people. "The whole world will be full of evil-

thiLkers ... Many evil-thinkers will become kings and rulers. They will fleece the people through falsehood, dishonesty, in- justice and tyrannical Jaws. Ultimately they will fight with each other and they will at- tempt to destroy one another. At such a time as this there will be cataclysmic world wars, universal conflagrations and world calamities." Beloved brothers and sisters ! The signs of the present age show us well the fast appro- aching end of the age of gloom and strife. After every gloom there is a light. As an un- failing law of nature the day must foil ow the night. The Divine Religion must be re- established and the whole human race collec- tively must find rest and upliftment, love and spiritual Unity. To-day we are facing global problems, and, hence we must have global solutions, a planet- wide plan for peace and progress, a smooth working order encompassing the whole earth- ball. No smaller unities or narrower outlook can in any way solve any of our complex pro- blems burning throughout the whole world. ''~ ~~cfiir' "The whole world is but one f amity" is the Divine Dictum we all must conscientiously recognize, unhesitatingly profess and unflinchingly put into practice in all walks of our daily life right from now on. The Divine Call of the Law of Love today is universal and nothing less.

The March of Love Continues The undivided and unselfish Spiritual Love, marching from victory to victory age after age from isolated individuals to family- units, from family units to city-states, from city states to nation building, and from nation- building to international-units, has, for the first time in the annals of human life on this planet, pressed forward in its full bloom to the whoJe world penetrating each and every corner and embracing all the departments of human activities in this century. To-day we have to form this whole world as one soJid unit. Might be, our next step, after a thousand years or so, would bring about an inter• global unity, a still wider range for the functioning of the Holy Law of Spiri- tual Love. The only right method of re-establishing and spreading genuine and mutual love in the hearts is the peaceful, loving, dynamic, spiritual Renaissance of mankind as a whole. Unless and until this is effected no permanent world-peace, no true happiness, no real spiri- tual, mental and material progress is going to come. This is simply because of the fact, that the roots of the evil tree of all our present- day problems have gone deep into the very hearts and minds and souls of the people all

throughout the world with its manifold re- mifications in our religious, economic, social and political life. This evil tree of problems must be thoroughly uprooted in order to establish a living universal peace having a completely warless world, a smoothly running economic world order, an undivided planet-wide human society, and the spiritual and religious unity of mankind as a whole, all sprung up from the innermost consciousness of the funda- mental Universal Unity of the Religion of God. This is the only radical cure of all our diseases and maladies in this global age. Without this, all other patching up work, here and there, whether local, national or even international, is doomed to fail. Sooner or later we aJI must of a necessity realize this supreme fact of the day we live in. The sooner the better. Let us do our duty conscientiously before it is too late, so that we may not have to repent after losing the Blessed opportunity offered by the Divine will of God on earth in this age for us.

God Heals The World This is the call of God in this age : "That which the Lord hath ordained as

the Sovereign Remedy and Mightiest Instru- ment for the healing of all the world is the Union of all its people in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a Skill- ed, an All-powerful and Inspired Physician. This, verily, is the Truth, and all else naught but error. ••o friends ! It behoveth you to refresh and revive your souls through the gracious favours which in this Divine, this soul-stirring spring time are being showered upon you. The Day Star of his Great Glory hath shed its radiance upon you, and the clouds of His Limitless Grace have overshadowed you. How high the reward of him that hath not deprived himself of so Great a Bounty, nor failed to recognize The Beauty of his Best-Beloved in This, His New Artire Watch over yourselves, for the evil one is lying in wait ready to entrap you. Gird up yourse1ves against his wicked devices, and, led by the Light of the Name of the All Seeing God, make your escape from the darkness that surroundeth you. Let your vision be world- embracing, rather than confined to your own self. The evil one is he that hindereth the rise and obstructeth the spiritual progress of the chi]dren of men. "Through each and every one of these Verses which the Pen of the most High hath revealed, the doors of Love and Unity have

been unlocked and flung open to the face of men ...

"Consort with the followers of all reli- gions in a spirit of friendliness and fellow- ship ... "It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who loveth the world. "Mankind in its entirety must firmly ad- here to whatsoever hath been revealed and vouchsafed unto it. Then and only then will it attain unto true liberty. The whole earth is illuminated with the resplendent Glory of God's Revelation. "Be ye as the fingers of one hand, the members of one body.

"Consider the Mercy of God and His Gifts. He enjoineth upon you that which sha11 profit you, though He Himself can weJl dispense with all creatures. Your evil doings can never harm us, neither can your good works profit us. We summon you who11y for the sake of God. To this every man of under- standing and insight will testify ...

"He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His Heart the desire of behold- ing the entire human race as one soul and one body.

"The Great Being Saith : 0 ye children of men ! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and his Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity. This is The Straight Path, the Fixed and Immovable Foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this Foundation, the changes and chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor will the revolution of countless centuries under- mine its structure. Our hope is that the world's religious leaders and the rulers thereof will unitedly arise for the reformation of this age and the rehabilitation of its for- tunes. Be pure, 0 people of God, be pure ; be righteous, be righteous" XII The Prerequisites of World Peace "The Great Being wishing to reveal the pre-requisites of the peace and tranquillity of the world and the advancement of its people, hath written : the time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, and all embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participat- ing in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of

the world's Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the great powers should resolve for the sake of the tranqui- llity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully re- conciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should uni- tedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their terri- tories. This will ensure the peace and compo- sure of every people, government and nation. We fain would hope that the kings and rulers of the earth, the mirrors of the gracious and Almighty Name of God, may attain unto this station, and shield mankind from the onslaught of tyranny. "The day is approaching when all the peoples of the world wil1 have adopted one universa1 language and one common script. When this is achieved, to whatsoever city a man may journey, it shall be as if he were entering his own home. These things are obligatory and absolutely essential. It is in- cumbent upon every man of insight and under- standing to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action. That one indeed is a man who, today. dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith : Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best

interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. J n another passage He hath proclaimed : It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. "Lay not aside the fear of God, 0 kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. "Walk ye in the fear of God, and be ye of them that lead a godly life. Rest not on your power, your armies and treasures. Put your whole trust and confidence in God, Who hath created you, and seek ye His Help in alJ your affairs. "Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, that ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk not in the ways of the treacherous. "The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed are suffered to pass unheeded. "That the divers communions of the earth, and the manifold systems of religious belief, should never be allowed to foster the feelings

of animosity among men, is, in this Day, of the essence of the Faith of God and His Religion. These principles and laws, these firmly-established and mighty systems, have proceeded from one Source, and are the rays of one Light. That they differ one from another is to be attributed to the varying requirements of the ages in which they were promulgated. "0 inhabitants of the world ! Of one tree are ye all the fruits and of one bough the leaves. "0 people ! The Day, promised unto you in all the Scriptures, is now come. "Glory be to Him Who, through the power of truth, hath sent down the Manifes- tation of His Own Self and entrusted Him with His Message unto all mankind.

XIII

The Promised One is Come "Behold, He is now come. Wherefore are ye downcast and dejected ? Why re- main despondent when the Pure and Hidden One hath appeared unveiled an1ongst you ? He Who is both the Beginning and the End, He Who is both Stillness and Motion, is now manifest before your eyes. Behold how, in this Day, the Beginning is reflected in the end,

how out of stillness motion hath been engen- dered. This motion hath been generated by the potent energies which the Words of the Almighty have released throughout the entire creation. "Acknowledge the exalted character of the Name of the Lord, your God, Who hath come unto you in the greatness of His Glory. He, verily, is the All-Knowing, the All-Posse- ssing, the Supreme Protector. "Verily, I say, this is the Day in which mankind can behold the Face, and hear the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath been raised, and the Light of His count- enance hath been lifted up upbn men. It be- hoveth every man to blot out the trace of every idle word from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the Proofs of His Mission, and the tokens of His Glory. "Great indeed is this Day! The allusions made to it in all the sacred Scriptures as the Day of God attest its greatness. The soul of every Prophet of God, of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted for this wondrous Day. All the divers kindreds of the earth have, likewise, yearned to attain it." -"Gleanings from the Writings of Baha,u'llah, Vll" Baba 'u' llib (Jit. "The Glory of God''). Right from the time of the Holy Vedas the most ancient Divine Scriptures still ex: tant in the world, we have been taught to pray to God beseeching him thus :- SIT~'{ ,=~=u: I dt«fctgq (Vll. 11irftqt4 ~ I

~ lfR:Sl~ct41CJ. ~ (~), ~áX-\~-~ o, II 5f{•q~, atfT ~ ~,ttcr<f, \ ('~). c;-t ~-'t- to, arf<fifi~ u~, '"\~, ~inft. "0 Thou the Protector of all ! the Giver of life to all r the Remover of difficulties ! the Ordainer of perfect working Order ! "0, cause us to receive that most great All-Subduing GLORY OF GOD Who, en- lightening our intelligence and deeds, inspireth progress."-Rig Ved, III, 3-3-5-62-10; Sam Ved, IV, 3-8-13-4-10, Verse 1462; &c. This Holy Verse is called the Gayatri Mantra, and is considered to be the Ved-Mata, the Mother of the Vedas. This was among the first glimmerings of the sacred knowledge of God on earth, still preserved intact by His Supreme Mercy for our guidance to the "GLORY OF GOD'' even upto this day. This GLORY OF GOD was actually visualised by Arjuna through the Divine Eye f464'1~ granted to him by Shri Krishna when He showed His extensive Universal Form ft.<1e.fcl~q(!Xf which was then hidden in Him.

ffif: « mqqr fcftSc?.1 ~uirr ~Gflr: 1 fu°(t{T~ iicf~fi.RmlS@ SIUIQ.1 II iftar- ~ ~ -~ ". ''Then, he, Dhananjaya (Arjuna), over- whelmed with astonishment, his hair up- standing in ecstasy, bowed down his head to the God, and with joined palms spake." -Gita, XI. 14. a"~f~~ +fT«@qTITT:Sfc(Cj@fqtiufl l1 Gf1R«1-Rf. if@T ~ ~-~ 0 "With splendours having filled the whole World Thine Blazing BHAH, 0 Vishnu, (the Omnipresent God), doth glow intensely." -Gita, XI, 30 Wt~~~ llcf~e-if~~tlcf T I Fefer ~ m: «E:~f)m m~~~ ~wrr1: 11

-,;ft rftaT, ' ' - ' ~ • ''Were thousand suns to rise and shine out together at a time in the sky, it would then perhaps be like that of the BRAH of that Most Great Spirit."-Gita XI, 12. lf'IT ~ijf cf~~~: ij"iis{fhllfll~T slcrffi I fflfTocflfiirf(wTcficiTI:T fqQi@ cltf'I,aqfufqGcCefu if@r ',-~t; "As rivers with many floods of waters rush impetuously facing towards the ocean,

so also these, Thine heroes in the world of men, enter into Thine intensely blazing mouths."- Gita, XI, 28. It is upto us now to show our spiritual heroism and be inseparably united once for all in the Universal Ocean of the BAHA'f WORLD FAITH revealed over a century ago in the midmost heart of the globe and study deeply and wholly the Baha'i New World Order which is 'divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, humanitarian in its principles, broad in its outlook, scientific in its methods and dynamic in the influence it exerts on the hearts and minds of the people.' There is no problem in the world at pre- sent which the Divinely-Inspired and detailed Teachings of the Baha'f World Faith do not thoroughly solve indeed. It has revealed ( 1) a Divine Polity for the firm establishment of permanent world peace without war, (2) a smoothly working world economy, (3) a peace- ful and loving social order, and (4) a religious world unity without pride and prejudice ; all these under "One Universal Cause, one Common Faith." Doubtlessly, the greatest and the only disease of the world at present is disunity, and, therefore, the Sovereign Remedy is nothing but world unity-unity in thoughts, unity in words and unity in deeds of man- kind as a whole.

XIV

The Unerring Prescription "The All-Knowing physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He per- ceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in his unerring wisdom, the remedy." -Baba 'u' llah

Some of the ingredients of the unfailing remedy for the betterment of the entire human race on the surf ace of the earth in this age are as follows :- 1. Universal unity of mankind as a whole in thoughts, words and deeds. 2. Absolute independence to each indi- vidual in investigating the Truth for himself or herself. 3. Fundamental unity of all religions forming one undivided world-wide organic unity. 4. Religion must be potent enough to establish actual world unity in each and every department of human life. 5. Religion must be potent enough to enhance and utilize science for the betterment of mankind. There must be an universal

control of science for the benefit of the whole world.

6. Men and women, the two wings of the bird which is mankind, must always progress and soar heavenwards with the same impulse having equal opportunities and equitable privileges and duties.

7. All sorts of prejudices and hatreds must be forgotten and all barriers between man and man must be removed once for all.

8. Universal peace must be established on the sure foundation of spiritual humanism and the political machinery must be univer-- sally spiritualized as a whole.

9. Spiritual solution of all the economic problems of the world. A world plan for (a) agricultural upliftment, (b) industrial justice, (c) laws pertaining to taxation, and (d) to in- heritance, were divinely revealed a century ago offering an infallible economic justice for the unification of mankind as a whole.

10. Education must be compulsory, uni-- versal and ever-progressive.

11. One universal language and script, auxiliary to the mother tongue of every one,

must be compulsorily taught to each and every boy and girl on the surf ace of the earth in order to remove all misunderstandings and foster a genuine feeling of the universal human unity, spiritual, mental and material. 12. One Universal House of Justice, exercising a th reef old authority-legislative, executive and judicial-supreme and binding in all respects, must be firmly established to maintain peace, Jove, unity, justice, happiness and advancement of humanity at large.

xv The Seed Returns in Fruit The Baba'{ World Faith has been presented to-day by the Almighty Himself as the fulfilment and completion of all the ancient Faiths, no matter in whatever land or age they may have been revealed. Thus the Baha'f Faith bears to all past Holy Dispensations exactly the same relation as the fruit bears to the flowers, the branches, the trunk, the roots, the seed, nay, rather, the whole tree. The Baha'i World Faith is the Fruit containing in itself the most Ancient Living Seed. It is nothing but the Fruit for which the seed was sown and it is nothing but the Fruit that the Seed returns in a fresh and new Life. In this sense, the Baha'1 World is a New Creation of

God, the Most-Great and the Glorious Creator, Who is the Most Ancient Pre- Existence, and Who again becomes New Today through The Universal Manifestation of ''THE GLORY OF GOD."

BAHA't HISTORY On May 23, 1844, a radiant youth of Persia, known as the Bab proclaimed His mission of heralding the coming of a Mighty Educator who would quicken the souls, illumine the minds, unify the consciences and remould the customs of mankind. After six years of heroic steadfastness and ardent teaching, in July 9, 1850, the Bab became victim of fanatical persecution and was publiciy martyred at Tabriz, Iran. Upon this preparation, the foundation of the Cause was laid by Baha'u'llah (Glory of God), whose universal principles of personal and social regeneration were revealed under conditions of cruel oppression unequalled in the annals of religion. As the desperate forces of reaction gathered against Him, Baha'u'llah and His little band of faithful followers were imprisoned in Tihran, stripped of their property and rights, exiled to Baghdad, to Constantinople, to Adrianople, and at last, as the supreme infliction, in 1868 confined for life in the desolate barracks of 'A kka, Turkish penal colony. Baha'u'llah passed away in 1892. From then until His own ascension in 1921, 'A bdu'l-Baha, the eldest son of Baha'u'llah served the Cause as its appointed leader and interpreter, and through His unique devotion, purity of life, tireless effort and unfailing wisdom, the message, slowly but surely, penetrated to all parts of the world. 'Abdu'l-Baha, through His Will and Testament, appointed His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith and the authorized interpreter of the word of God. He organised the Administrative order of Baha'u'llah- whose supreme body, the Universal House of Justice is today guiding the affairs of the Baha'i Faith.

DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN

"The Baha'i Faith has been attempting all these years to underline the unity of religions and not over- stress the differences. I hope it will continue to do that work."

"I have been for long an admirer of the Baha 'f Faith, as it does not lay emphasis on the outer dogmas but stresses the inward conviction."

SHRIG.V.MAVLANKAR

"It has given me a new approach and a new light about the occasional coming of Prophets. Indeed it seems inevitable that Prophets must come in this world as Humanity progresses if civilisation and culture have to continue their progress on the basis of human evolution. This conception of the coming of a Prophet from time to time to put humanity on a firmer basis by a new outlook on religion and new social conditions is identical with the concept of the Hindu philosophy as expounded in the Bhagwad Gita. In fact it would be wrong to call it even the Hindu philosophy. It is properly named as the "Philosophy of the Human Life," (Manava Dharam Shastra). The Lord had told Arjun that "whenever there is any decline in the observance of Dharma, I come again on earth to re- establish it." What else is this but an assurance that the Prophets appear from time to time as the con- ditions and needs of the Society change ? .. The conception of "One God and One Humanity" is the need of the day for progress of humanity and world peace. I am happy that the Bah6'i Faith is making world-wide endeavour in the desired direction and I am sure that it wHI achieve success in the end."

SADHU T. L. VASWANI

"The nations today, are passing through a new Dark Age, dark forces threaten civilization, even Asia is turning away from her precious heritage of the ages and trampling upon the ancient wisdom of her seers and sages.

India herself-the world's hope-is invaded by chaotic forces. But there are groups in India and Europe, there are groups in America, groups in different parts of the world that still dream of a new world order, a new world-wide brotherhood of East & West, a new fellowship of religions and races, a new a waken- ing of women all over the world, a new world peace. In this dream of Rishis and Prophets is the heart of Baha'i Faith, in this dream of the seers and poets is the promise and potency of Baha'u'llah's revelation to our age."

SHRI A. RAMASW AMI MUDALIAR

"You are the fruits of one tree and )eaves of one branch," says the Prophet. Again and again I have come across such sayings which have forcibly reminded me of the teachings of the Vedas. "Whenever virtue subsides and vice triumphs, then I am reborn to redeem mankind," says the Divine in the Gita. The Baha'i Faith remarkably speaks not of one Prophet for all time, but of a succession of Prophets as Divine Dispensation sees the need for them. ... In fact the Bah.1'1 Faith gives us the great and precious message of unity in religion. The Bahfil's do not form a sect by themselves. Rather through the teachings of their prophet, they try to illumine the eternal verities of every religion and to quicken the noble impulses of the true followers of every religion with the spirit of catholicity and fraternalism. How much the world needs such a spirit today.

Perhaps the Baha'i Faith is destined to be. and may prove the greatest single force in achieving that Godly consecrated consummation."

MRS. SAROJINI NAIDU "The founder of the Baha'i Faith is undoubtedly one of the Great Seers of the modern age. The gospel that he enunciated and the programme that he enjoined upon his followers are singularly like a prophecy of the ideal and dreams that inspire the heart of youth with the quest for a brave new world built upon equity and fellowship of peace. In the midst of all the tragic horror of hate and bloodshed that surround us today. His message to humanity does indeed fulfil the meaning of His name and carries the Glory of God into the darkness."

PROF. BENOY KUMAR SARKAR "For over a quarter of a century-since my American days-I have been under the conviction that the Baha'i Movement serves to expand the intellectual or moral personality of every individual that comes into contact with it. The movement has set in motion some of those currents of thought and work which lead to the silent but effective conversion of men and women to humaner and world embracing principle of daily conduct because of these creative forces in the social domain the Bah:1'1 movement is to be appreciated as one of the profoundest emancipators of mankind from the tradition of rare ch'avinism and ethno-religious bigotry."

iv ..The Revelation proclaimt•d by Baha'u'llah. His follower.; believe, is Divine in Origin, all-embracing in scope, broad in ils outlook. ,cientific in its methods, humaniurian in its principle, and dynamic m the influence ii enrts on the hearts and minds of men." ..God's purpose is none other than to u,her in, in ways He alone an bring about, and the full significance of which He alone can rathom, lhe great, the Golden Age of a long~ivided, a long-affiicted humanity. Its present sute, indeed even its immediate future, is dark, distressingly dark. Its disunt future, however, is radiant. gloriously radiant - \O radiant that no eye an visualize it." ..It is towards this goal-the goal of a New World Order, Divine in origin. all embracing in scope, equiuble in principle, challenging in its feature\ - I hat a harassed humanity mu,t ,1rive." - Shoghi Effendi.