Baha'i Temple New Delhi

A few spiritual poems by a local Baha'i

poems.doc

Shrine of the Bab (forerunner of Baha'u'llah)

in Haifa Israel

Introduction

The Ipswich Baha'i community has been established for over forty years in Ipswich. We hold regular local meetings within Ipswich and a list of events is available from the contact details below.

Contact Details

27 Ruland Gate, London, SW7 1PD

Tel 020 75842566

nsa@bahai.org.uk

The Baha'i Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), is regarded by Baha'is as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.

The central theme of Baha'u'llah's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God, Baha'u'llah said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.

One of the purposes of the Baha'i Faith is to help make this possible. A world-wide community of some five million Baha'is, representative of most of the nations, races and cultures on earth, is working to give Baha'u'llah's teachings practical effect. Their experience will be a source of encouragement to all who share their vision of humanity as one global family and the earth as one homeland.

Baha'u'llah taught that there is one God whose successive revelations of His will to humanity have been the chief civilizing force in history. The agents of this process have been the Divine Messengers whom people have seen chiefly as the founders of separate religious systems but whose common purpose has been to bring the human race to spiritual and moral maturity.

Humanity is now coming of age. It is this that makes possible the unification of the human family and the building of a peaceful, global society. Among the principles which the Baha'i Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are:

·        the abandonment of all forms of prejudice

·        assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men

·        recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth

·        the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth

·        the realization of universal education

·        the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth

·        the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations

·        recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge

The Teachings of Baha'u'llah

Baha'u'llah presents a vision of life that insists upon a fundamental redefinition of all human relationships--among human beings themselves, between human beings and the natural world, between the individual and society, and between the members of society and its institutions. Each of these relationships must be reassessed in light of humanity's evolving understanding of God's will and purpose. New laws and concepts are enunciated by Baha'u'llah so that human consciousness can be freed from patterns of response set by tradition, and the foundations of a global civilization can be erected. "A new life", Baha'u'llah declares, "is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth."

A more detailed introduction is provided in the following document.

thebahai.doc

Links to Baha'i  Web Sites

www.bahai.org

Material Copyright  2003{Robert Ghanea-Hercock}