Feast of Perfection

August 15, 2012
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The Baha’i year consists of 19 months of 19 days each. The months are named after the attributes of God. Each Baha’i community holds a Nineteen Day Feast on the first day of each Baha’i month.

The Feast has spiritual, administrative and social functions and is the primary locus of fellowship and community decision-making in each Baha’i locality.

 

Some Reflections for the Feast of Perfection (Kamal in Arabic) – begins at sunset July 31

 

Photo by Shahriar Erfanian

“No created thing shall ever attain its paradise unless it appeareth in its highest prescribed degree of perfection. For instance, this crystal representeth the paradise of the stone whereof its substance is composed. Likewise there are various stages in the paradise for the crystal itself… So long as it was stone it was worthless, but if it attaineth the excellence of ruby—a potentiality which is latent in it—how much a carat will it be worth? Consider likewise every created thing. ”

– The Bab

 

“No created thing shall ever attain its paradise unless it appeareth in its highest prescribed degree of perfection.”

– The Bab

 

“Man is in the highest degree of materiality, and at the beginning of spirituality—that is to say, he is the end of imperfection and the beginning of perfection. He is at the last degree of darkness, and at the beginning of light; that is why it has been said that the condition of man is the end of the night and the beginning of day, meaning that he is the sum of all the degrees of imperfection, and that he possesses the degrees of perfection.”

– ‘Abdu’l-Baha

 

Photo by Sholeh Loehle

“Material civilization is like unto the lamp, while spiritual civilization is the light in that lamp. If the material and spiritual civilization become united, then we will have the light and the lamp together, and the outcome will be perfect. For material civilization is like unto a beautiful body, and spiritual civilization is like unto the spirit of life. If that wondrous spirit of life enters this beautiful body, the body will become a channel for the distribution and development of the perfections of humanity.”  

– ‘Abdu’l-Baha, 14 April 1912. Talk at Church of the Ascension. Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street, New York

 

“In the state of maturity and perfection it appears in the utmost splendor and brilliance. In the same way the seed in the beginning becomes leaves and is the place where the vegetable spirit appears; in the condition of fruit it manifests the same spirit—that is to say, the power of growth appears in the utmost perfection; but what a difference between the condition of the leaves and that of the fruit!”
– ‘Abdu’l Baha
“Souls are like unto mirrors, and the bounty of God is like unto the sun. When the mirrors pass beyond all coloring and attain purity and polish, and are confronted with the sun, they will reflect in full perfection its light and glory. In this condition one should not consider the mirror, but the power of the light of the sun, which hath penetrated the mirror, making it a reflector of the heavenly glory.”
– ‘Abdu’l-Baha

Photo by Chad Mauger

It is clearly evident that while man possesses powers in common with the animal, he is distinguished from the animal by intellectual attainment, spiritual perception, the acquisition of virtues, capacity to receive the bestowals of Divinity, lordly bounty and emanations of heavenly mercy. This is the adornment of man, his honor and sublimity. Humanity must strive toward this supreme station.  
– ‘Abdu’l-Baha
“For they must live and act in accord with the divine advices and exhortations and show forth to each other the power of the perfection of love with infinite accord and unity, so that they may become the embodiment of one existence, the waves of ones sea…”
– ‘Abdul-Baha

“…Make ye a mighty effort, and choose for yourselves a noble goal. Through the power of faith, obey ye the teachings of God, and let all your actions conform to His laws.”

– ‘Abdul-Baha

 

Photo by Ronnie Y. Bindra

“In accordance with the Divine Teachings, the acquisition of sciences and the perfection of arts is considered as acts of worship. If a man engages with all his power in the acquisition of a science or in the perfection of an art, it is as if he has been worshipping God in the churches and temples…What bounty greater than this that science should be considered as an act of worship and art as service to the Kingdom of God.”

– ‘Abdu’l-Baha

 

“The only people who are truly free of the “dross of self” are the Prophets, for to be free of one’s ego is a hall-mark of perfection. We humans are never going to become perfect, for perfection belongs to a realm we are not destined to enter. However, we must constantly mount higher, seek to be more perfect.”
– Shoghi Effendi
“Upon Him that loving and unerring Father had chosen to confer the unique title of “Sirru’llah” (the Mystery of God), a designation so appropriate to One Who, though essentially human and holding a station radically and fundamentally different from that occupied by Baha’u’llah and His Forerunner, could still claim to be the perfect Exemplar of His Faith, to be endowed with super-human knowledge, and to be regarded as the stainless mirror reflecting His light.”
– Shoghi Effendi

 

View photos on the website “Nineteen Months” taken by photographers inspired by reflection on the month of Mercy – nineteenmonths.com is an international collaborative photo blog using spirituality to inspire photographers and in turn, inspire others.