In the stench and chains of the Síyáh-Chál, Bahá’u’lláh felt something flow from the crown of His head over His breast like a torrent hurled from a mountain top, and His tongue recited what no one could bear to hear. Revelation is described from the inside here, as a voice above the head, a Maiden suspended in the air, a wind that will not let the leaf lie still. Alongside stands ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s explanation of what is received: the Holy Spirit is the outpouring grace and perfections of God, related to the Manifestation as rays to the sun, so that Jesus is the Christ precisely because those perfections shine in Him, and souls draw grace from that light rather than from a personality. Mark’s scene of the heavens opening and the Spirit descending like a dove at the Jordan [1] offers a Christian image to set beside these, each keeping its own claims. Bahá’u’lláh names revelation the gift on which every other gift depends, and the real test of having received it is the virtues it awakens. The inquiry leads onward to the Manifestation as mediator and as pen, to the Holy Spirit itself, and to the modes and manner of revelation.
During the days I lay in the prison of Tihran, though the galling weight of the chains and the stench-filled air allowed Me but little sleep, still in those infrequent moments of slumber I felt as if something flowed from the crown of My head over My breast, even as a mighty torrent that precipitateth itself upon the earth from the summit of a lofty mountain. Every limb of My body would, as a result, be set afire. At such moments My tongue recited what no man could bear to hear.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Lawh-i-Ibn-i-Dhi'b (Epistle to the Son of the Wolf), 1308 ? [1891], to Muhammad Taqi Isfahani (son of the Wolf) -- BH00005)
02
Every time I hold my peace, and cease to extol Thy wondrous virtues, Thy Spirit impelleth me to cry out before all who are in Thy heaven and on Thy earth; and every time I am still, the breaths wafted from the right hand of Thy will and purpose pass over me, and stir me up, and I find myself to be as a leaf which lieth at the mercy of the winds of Thy decree, and is carried away whithersoever Thou dost permit or command it.
From my pen floweth only the summons which Thine own exalted pen hath voiced, and my tongue uttereth naught save what the Most Great Spirit hath itself proclaimed in the kingdom of Thine eternity. I am stirred by nothing else except the winds of Thy will, and breathe no word except the words which, by Thy leave and Thine inspiration, I am led to pronounce.
Proclaim, then, that which the Most Great Spirit will inspire thee to utter in the service of the Cause of thy Lord, that thou mayest stir up the souls of all men and incline their hearts unto this most blessed and all-glorious Court.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1290 [1873] or earlier, to Mulla Muhammad Zarandi (Nabil-i-Azam) -- BH00846)
05
That which is preeminent above all other gifts, is incorruptible in nature, and pertaineth to God Himself, is the gift of Divine Revelation. Every bounty conferred by the Creator upon man, be it material or spiritual, is subservient unto this. … He hath, indeed, partaken of this highest gift of God who hath recognized His Manifestation in this Day.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1299 ? [1881-1882], to Nimatullah -- BH03960)
06
Question: What is meant by the Holy Spirit?
Answer: By the Holy Spirit is meant the outpouring grace of God and the effulgent rays that emanate from His Manifestation. Thus Christ was the focal centre of the rays of the Sun of Truth, and from this mighty centre--the reality of Christ--the grace of God shone upon the other mirrors which were the realities of the Apostles.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 25, The Holy Spirit, 1904 ca. -- AB01290)
07
Answer: The sanctified realities of the Manifestations of God have two spiritual stations: One is that of the state of divine manifestation, which can be compared to the orb of the sun, and the other is that of radiance and revelation, which may be likened to the divine light and perfections--the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is the manifold grace and perfections of God, and these divine perfections are even as the rays and heat of the sun. … If the perfections of God were not revealed and manifested in Jesus, He would not be Christ. He is a Manifestation of God precisely because the divine perfections are revealed in Him. The Prophets of God are Manifestations, and the divine perfections--that is, the Holy Spirit--are that which is manifested in Them.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 31, Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, 1904 ca. -- AB01521)
08
The third station is that of divine grace, the revelation of the beauty of the Ancient of Days and the effulgence of the lights of the ever-living and omnipotent Lord. The individual realities of the holy Manifestations cannot be separated from divine grace and revelation any more than the corporeal mass of the sun can be separated from its light.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 39, The Human and the Divine Station of the Manifestations, 1904-Jul ca. -- AB00477)
09
The third station is that of divine manifestation and heavenly splendour, which is the Word of God, the everlasting Grace, and the Holy Spirit. This station has neither beginning nor end; for firstness and lastness pertain to the contingent world and not to the world of God.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 38, The Three Stations of the Divine Manifestations, 1904 ca. -- AB00345)
10
Christ is the focal centre of the Holy Spirit; He is born of the Holy Spirit; He has been raised up by the Holy Spirit; He descends from the Holy Spirit--that is, His Reality does not proceed from the lineage of Adam but is born of the Holy Spirit.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 29, Sin and Atonement, 1904 ca. -- AB00096)
11
Great God! When the stream of utterance reached this stage, We beheld, and lo! the sweet savors of God were being wafted from the dayspring of Revelation, and the morning breeze was blowing out of the Sheba of the Eternal. Its tidings rejoiced anew the heart, and imparted immeasurable gladness to the soul.
… And to Jesus, Son of Mary, We gave manifest signs, and We strengthened Him with the Holy Spirit."
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude), 1278 ca. [1861-1862], to Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad, great uncle of the Bab (Khal-i-Akbar) -- BH00002)
12
The Christ is the central point of the Holy Spirit; he was born of the Holy Spirit; he was raised up of the Holy Spirit...
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1910-Jan-01 -- ABU3098)
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13
The Holy Spirit it is which, through the mediation of the Prophets of God, teaches spiritual virtues to man and enables him to attain Eternal Life.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1911-Oct-31 in Paris -- ABU0773)
14
It has therefore been made evident that the spirit of Christ was a celestial bounty which descended from heaven, and that whosoever receives the outpourings of this spirit--that is, embraces its heavenly teachings--will attain everlasting life.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 21, The Bread and the Wine, 1904 ca. -- AB00329)
15
While engulfed in tribulations I heard a most wondrous, a most sweet voice, calling above My head. Turning My face, I beheld a Maiden -- the embodiment of the remembrance of the name of My Lord -- suspended in the air before Me. So rejoiced was she in her very soul that her countenance shone with the ornament of the good pleasure of God, and her cheeks glowed with the brightness of the All-Merciful. Betwixt earth and heaven she was raising a call which captivated the hearts and minds of men. She was imparting to both My inward and outer being tidings which rejoiced My soul, and the souls of God's honoured servants.
Pointing with her finger unto My head, she addressed all who are in heaven and all who are on earth, saying: By God! This is the Best-Beloved of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not. This is the Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you, could ye but understand. This is the Mystery of God and His Treasure, the Cause of God and His glory unto all who are in the kingdoms of Revelation and of creation, if ye be of them that perceive. This is He Whose Presence is the ardent desire of the denizens of the Realm of eternity, and of them that dwell within the Tabernacle of glory, and yet from His Beauty do ye turn aside.
O people of the Bayan! If ye aid Him not, God will assuredly assist Him with the powers of earth and heaven, and sustain Him with the hosts of the unseen through His command "Be", and it is! The day is approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up a race of men the nature of which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting. He shall purify them from the defilement of idle fancies and corrupt desires, shall lift them up to the heights of holiness, and shall cause them to manifest the signs of His sovereignty and might upon earth. Thus hath it been ordained by God, the All-Glorious, the All-Loving.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Suriy-i-Haykal (Surih of the Temple) -- BH00007)
16
Say to the Maiden of Paradise: Come forth from the chambers of holiness, then array thyself in the silk of eternity as thou pleaseth, and in the shimmering green silk in My Most Glorious Name.
Rather, add unto it at all times from the garments of eternity in the heaven of creation, that the ornament of God may be manifest through thee in all things besides Him, and thy Lord's grace be perfected unto all worlds.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Suriy-i-Bayan, to Shaykh (Muhammad brother of Ahmad) -- BH00144)
17
O people of earth! By the True God, I am indeed a Maiden of Paradise whom Glory hath birthed in a palace of moist and moving ruby. By God, I have seen nothing in that Most Great Paradise but that it spoke of the Remembrance in praise of this Arabian Youth. … When He uttereth the Greatest Name, Paradise trembleth with longing for His presence, and when He glorifieth God, Paradise becometh still as snow upon the summit of a frozen mountain.
(The Báb, Qayyumu'l-Asma' (Commentary on the Surah of Joseph), 1260-05 [1844-May] -- BB00002)
18
O ye beloved of God! O ye children of His Kingdom! Verily, verily, the new heaven and the new earth are come. The holy City, new Jerusalem, hath come down from on high in the form of a maid of heaven, veiled, beauteous, and unique, and prepared for reunion with her lovers on earth.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1896-Jul-16, to Baha'is of the United States -- AB03051)
19
Yet they have pronounced death upon Me. By this the Maiden of Heaven hath lamented, the Mount of Sinai hath cried out, and the Faithful Spirit hath wept. They have deprived themselves of the outpourings of these days by following every ignorant remote one. They have cast the ocean of knowledge behind their backs, turning to the ignorant ones who claim knowledge without any proof from God, the Lord of all worlds.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1301-01-19 [1883-Nov-20], to Muhammad Husayn Khan Ba'i Bahai et al -- BH00234)
20
O my ill-wishers! The Daystar of eternal Guidance beareth me witness: Had it been in my power, I would have, under no circumstances, consented to distinguish myself amongst men, for the Name I bear utterly disdaineth to associate itself with this generation whose tongues are sullied and whose hearts are false. And whenever I chose to hold my peace and be still, lo, the voice of the Holy Ghost, standing on my right hand, aroused me, and the Supreme Spirit appeared before my face, and Gabriel overshadowed me, and the Spirit of Glory stirred within my bosom, bidding me arise and break my silence.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Lawh-i-Sarraj, to Ali Muhammad Sarraj -- BH00006)
21
The purport of our words is that the reality of Christ was a clear mirror wherein the Sun of Truth--that is, the divine Essence--appeared and shone forth with infinite perfections and attributes. It is not that the Sun, which is the Essence of the Divinity, was ever divided or multiplied, for it remains one, but it became manifest in the mirror. That is why Christ said, "The Father is in the Son," meaning that that Sun is manifest and visible in this mirror.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 27, The Trinity, 1904 ca. -- AB00713)
22
The Holy Spirit is given only to the Prophets; the people can only possess the rays of the Holy Spirit. Those who believe in God have four qualities - growth, sense, intellect, and spiritual or divine life.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in Dec. 1900 -- ABU0960)
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23
...at so critical an hour and under such appalling circumstances the 'Most Great Spirit', as designated by Himself, and symbolized in the Zoroastrian, the Mosaic, the Christian, and Muhammadan Dispensations by the Sacred Fire, the Burning Bush, the Dove and the Angel Gabriel respectively, descended upon, and revealed itself, personated by a 'Maiden', to the agonized soul of Baha'u'llah.
GPB.101
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24
The Breathings of the Divine Spirit awoke Him, and bade Him arise and proclaim His Revelation.
...and aided Thee through the potency of the Holy Spirit that Thou mightest, as the peerless Mouthpiece of God, proclaim unto men the commandments of God which lie enshrined within the divine Spirit.
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26
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
John 1:51
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27
As to your question concerning the Holy Spirit and its relationship to Baha'u'llah; the Holy Spirit may well be compared to the rays of the sun, and Baha'u'llah to a perfect mirror reflecting these rays which radiate from the sun. Briefly stated the comparison is this: God is the sun; the Holy Spirit is the rays of the sun; and Baha'u'llah is the mirror reflecting the rays of the sun.
(23 Jul. 1936 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in BSB6:4-7:2, pp.112-113)
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28
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.
The Prophets of God are the Mediators of God. All the Prophets and Messengers have come from One Holy Spirit and bear the Message of God, fitted to the age in which they appear. The One Light is in them and they are One with each other. But the Eternal does not become phenomenal; neither can the phenomenal become Eternal.