Baha'u'llah & the New Era 2006 - J. Esslemont
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Page 62 of  180

Again He says:
Unless the Holy Spirit become intermediary, one cannot attain directly to the bounties of God. Do not overlook the obvious truth, for it is self- evident that a child cannot be instructed without a teacher, and knowledge is one of the bounties of God. The soil is not covered with grass and vegetation without the rain of the cloud; therefore the cloud is the intermediary between the divine bounties and the soil... The light hath a center and if one desire to seek it otherwise than from the center, one can never attain to it... Turn thine attention to the days of Christ; some people imagine that without the Messianic outpourings it was possible to attain to truth, but this very imagination became the cause of the deprivation (62:3)

A man who tries to worship God without turning to His Manifestation is like a man in a dungeon trying through his imagination to revel in the glories of the sunshine (62:5)

Prayer Indispensable and Obligatory
The use of prayer is enjoined upon Baha'is in no uncertain terms. Baha'u'llah says in the Kitab-i-Aqdas: - (62:6)

Recite ye the verses of God every morn and eventide. Whoso faileth to recite them hath not been faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament, and whoso turneth away from these holy verses in this Day is of those who throughout eternity have turned away from God. Fear ye God, O My servants, one and all. Pride not yourselves on much reading of the verses or on a multitude of pious acts by night and day; for were a man to read a single verse with joy and radiance it would be better for him than to read with lassitude all the Holy Books of God, the Help in Peril, the Self- Subsisting. Read ye the sacred verses in such measure that ye be not overcome by languor and despondency. Lay not upon your souls that which will weary them and weigh them down, but rather what will lighten and uplift them, so that they may soar on the wings of the Divine verses towards the Dawning- place of His manifest signs; this will draw you nearer to God, did ye but comprehend (62:8)

'Abdu'l-Baha says to a correspondent: - "O thou spiritual friend! Know thou that prayer is indispensable and obligatory, and man under no pretext whatever is excused therefrom unless he be mentally unsound or an insurmountable obstacle prevent him." (62:8)

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