1. The raw power of God is Divine essence.
Like a prism, it projects light into our human world. God’s revelation is progressive and continuous, and never ceases. We humans long to know God, but that is impossible, so God sends down Manifestations as translators, guides, and role models. The Manifestations of God educate us, teach us love and oneness, and help us sort out our disordered and confused existence.
2. The Manifestations, or Daystars of the Revelation
`The Divine Manifestations are so many different mirrors, because they have a special individuality... It is clear that the reality of Christ is different from that of Moses.' Abdu’l-Baha
Manifestations like Buddha, Jesus and Bahá'u'lláh live as humans but have a supernal nature, reveal sacred mysteries, and are sanctified mirrors of God. Infinite grace flows through them to us; Manifestations bestow spiritual power on anyone who freely believes their teachings.
The Manifestation, or perfect Soul, is like the sun, the source of shining rays that fall on humanity to absorb. Human souls are like the moon, reflecting those rays. They radiate power that can awaken nobility, creativity, unity, and love in humans. The message has always been the importance of rising above earthly limitations, so that a spiritual goal might be possible. The Manifestations urge humankind to find joy in acceptance of hardships, and promised life or death of the spirit will be the result. Every Manifestation comes from one God. When their teachings vary, it is about the time they exist in, not the message they seek to reveal to humanity.
The Manifestations of God possess a `divine universal mind', they know not only the essence of things, but also their attributes, and the will of God.
Each of the Manifestations of God is a part of the process Bahá'u'lláh calls `the chain of successive Revelations' and the teachings they bring are progressive. Bahá'u'lláh writes:`Their Revelation may be likened unto the light of the moon that sheddeth its radiance upon the earth. Though every time it appeareth, it revealeth a fresh measure of its brightness, yet its inherent splendour can never diminish, nor can its light suffer extinction.'
The souls of the Manifestations are eternal. The new Manifestation is not literally the same being as the most recent manifestation (as in Jesus will return again) but the return of God to humanity through intermediaries whose purpose is one.
3. The Holy Spirit
Manifestations are powered by and radiate the Holy Spirit, divine love, and spiritual energy. The Holy Spirit is capable of inspiring human souls, minds, and activities. The source of the Holy Spirit is the Manifestations, the laws it abides by are the divine teachings. The Holy Spirit is the key to accessing spiritual power in your life. All manifestations emit this power.
According to Abdu’l-Baha, the best source of knowledge is the Holy Spirit, which can only be accessed in times of quiet “nothingness.” Out of this nothingness can spring our inner motivation and creativity.
How shall we attain the reality of knowledge? By the breaths and promptings of the Holy Spirit, which is light and knowledge itself. Through it the human mind is quickened and fortified into true conclusions and perfect knowledge. This is conclusive argument showing that all available human criteria are erroneous and defective, but the divine standard of knowledge is infallible … All human standards of judgment are faulty, finite.
`The greatest power of the Holy Spirit exists in the Divine Manifestations of the Truth. Through the power of the Spirit the Heavenly Teaching has been brought into the world of humanity... everlasting life has come to the children of men... the Divine Glory has shone from East to West and... will the divine virtues of humanity become manifest.'
4. What humans can do to become more spiritual and access the power given to us by the Manifestations
We can pray and read the holy writings in order to interact with the Manifestations, and they will lift up our spiritual understanding and allow us to gain higher levels of unity.
We can understand that faith and deeds are intertwined; our heart must be motivated by mystical yearning for a higher power. The essences of detachment (Manifestations) are channels of God’s grace.
We can use their words as inspiration of for cleansing our spirit from the dross of ego.
Baha’i writings focus our attention on our own hearts as the source of deep knowledge. True knowing does not come from our minds, our obligations, our routines, or our fantasies – instead, it comes from our hearts. We can orient our life to the Manifestation to electrify our spiritual side and amplify the volume of the cries of our souls.
The cycle of religions mirrors the four seasons
From long before Adam until today, the religions of God have revived humankind with education and enlightenment, freed the people from the darkness of the world of nature and ushered them into the brightness of the Kingdom of God. As each succeeding religion was revealed, it was committed the happiness of humankind. However, as the centuries passed by, it waned lost power.
These periods of the renewal of religion are like springtime, when the new spiritual era begins; to summertime, when the civilization ushered in by the Manifestation of God has attained its greatest flourishing; to autumn, when its fruits are gathered, but at the same time its decline begins; and to winter, when there is `the death and disappearance of the divine growth and extinction of the light and love of God', whereas only `dogmas and blind imitations' remain. At that time `... again the cycle begins and a new springtime appears'.
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