Baha\'u\'llah - The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys
B >>
Baha\'u\'llah >> The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys
by Baha'u'llah
Edition 1, (November 2, 2005)
BAHA'I TERMS OF USE
You have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any
other information ("Content") available on this Site including printing,
emailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,
transmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the
following:
1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the
Content;
2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change
the font or appearance;
3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.
Although this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely
such that no special permission is required, the Baha'i International
Community retains full copyright protection for all Content included at
this Site under all applicable national and international laws.
For permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content
for any commercial purpose, please contact us
(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).
CONTENTS
Baha'i Terms of Use
The Seven Valleys of Baha'u'llah
The Valley of Search
The Valley of Love
The Valley of Knowledge
The Valley of Unity
The Valley of Contentment
The Valley of Wonderment
The Valley of True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness
The Four Valleys
The Four Valleys
The First Valley
The Second Valley
The Third Valley
The Fourth Valley
THE SEVEN VALLEYS OF BAHA'U'LLAH
_In the Name of God, the Clement, the Merciful._
Praise be to God Who hath made being to come forth from nothingness;
graven upon the tablet of man the secrets of preexistence; taught him from
the mysteries of divine utterance that which he knew not; made him a
Luminous Book unto those who believed and surrendered themselves; caused
him to witness the creation of all things (Kullu Shay') in this black and
ruinous age, and to speak forth from the apex of eternity with a wondrous
voice in the Excellent Temple(1): to the end that every man may testify,
in himself, by himself, in the station of the Manifestation of his Lord,
that verily there is no God save Him, and that every man may thereby win
his way to the summit of realities, until none shall contemplate anything
whatsoever but that he shall see God therein.
And I praise and glorify the first sea which hath branched from the ocean
of the Divine Essence, and the first morn which hath glowed from the
Horizon of Oneness, and the first sun which hath risen in the Heaven of
Eternity, and the first fire which was lit from the Lamp of Preexistence
in the lantern of singleness: He who was Ahmad in the kingdom of the
exalted ones, and Muhammad amongst the concourse of the near ones, and
Mahmud(2) in the realm of the sincere ones. "...by whichsoever (name) ye
will, invoke Him: He hath most excellent names"(3) in the hearts of those
who know. And upon His household and companions be abundant and abiding
and eternal peace!
Further, we have harkened to what the nightingale of knowledge sang on the
boughs of the tree of thy being, and learned what the dove of certitude
cried on the branches of the bower of thy heart. Methinks I verily inhaled
the pure fragrances of the garment of thy love, and attained thy very
meeting from perusing thy letter. And since I noted thy mention of thy
death in God, and thy life through Him, and thy love for the beloved of
God and the Manifestations of His Names and the Dawning-Points of His
Attributes--I therefore reveal unto thee sacred and resplendent tokens from
the planes of glory, to attract thee into the court of holiness and
nearness and beauty, and draw thee to a station wherein thou shalt see
nothing in creation save the Face of thy Beloved One, the Honored, and
behold all created things only as in the day wherein none hath a mention.
Of this hath the nightingale of oneness sung in the garden of
Ghawthiyyih.(4) He saith: "And there shall appear upon the tablet of thine
heart a writing of the subtle mysteries of 'Fear God and God will give you
knowledge';(5) and the bird of thy soul shall recall the holy sanctuaries
of preexistence and soar on the wings of longing in the heaven of 'walk
the beaten paths of thy Lord',(6) and gather the fruits of communion in
the gardens of 'Then feed on every kind of fruit.'"(7)
By My life, O friend, wert thou to taste of these fruits, from the green
garden of these blossoms which grow in the lands of knowledge, beside the
orient lights of the Essence in the mirrors of names and
attributes--yearning would seize the reins of patience and reserve from out
thy hand, and make thy soul to shake with the flashing light, and draw
thee from the earthly homeland to the first, heavenly abode in the Center
of Realities, and lift thee to a plane wherein thou wouldst soar in the
air even as thou walkest upon the earth, and move over the water as thou
runnest on the land. Wherefore, may it rejoice Me, and thee, and whosoever
mounteth into the heaven of knowledge, and whose heart is refreshed by
this, that the wind of certitude hath blown over the garden of his being,
from the Sheba of the All-Merciful.
Peace be upon him who followeth the Right Path!
And further: The stages that mark the wayfarer's journey from the abode of
dust to the heavenly homeland are said to be seven. Some have called these
Seven Valleys, and others, Seven Cities. And they say that until the
wayfarer taketh leave of self, and traverseth these stages, he shall never
reach to the ocean of nearness and union, nor drink of the peerless wine.
The first is
The Valley of Search
The steed of this Valley is patience; without patience the wayfarer on
this journey will reach nowhere and attain no goal. Nor should he ever be
downhearted; if he strive for a hundred thousand years and yet fail to
behold the beauty of the Friend, he should not falter. For those who seek
the Ka'bih(8) of "for Us" rejoice in the tidings: "In Our ways will We
guide them."(9) In their search, they have stoutly girded up the loins of
service, and seek at every moment to journey from the plane of
heedlessness into the realm of being. No bond shall hold them back, and no
counsel shall deter them.
It is incumbent on these servants that they cleanse the heart--which is the
wellspring of divine treasures--from every marking, and that they turn away
from imitation, which is following the traces of their forefathers and
sires, and shut the door of friendliness and enmity upon all the people of
the earth.
In this journey the seeker reacheth a stage wherein he seeth all created
things wandering distracted in search of the Friend. How many a Jacob will
he see, hunting after his Joseph; he will behold many a lover, hasting to
seek the Beloved, he will witness a world of desiring ones searching after
the One Desired. At every moment he findeth a weighty matter, in every
hour he becometh aware of a mystery; for he hath taken his heart away from
both worlds, and set out for the Ka'bih(10) of the Beloved. At every step,
aid from the Invisible Realm will attend him and the heat of his search
will grow.
One must judge of search by the standard of the Majnun of Love.(11) It is
related that one day they came upon Majnun sifting the dust, and his tears
flowing down. They said, "What doest thou?" He said, "I seek for Layli."
They cried, "Alas for thee! Layli is of pure spirit, and thou seekest her
in the dust!" He said, "I seek her everywhere; haply somewhere I shall
find her."
Yea, although to the wise it be shameful to seek the Lord of Lords in the
dust, yet this betokeneth intense ardor in searching. "Whoso seeketh out a
thing with zeal shall find it."(12)
The true seeker hunteth naught but the object of his quest, and the lover
hath no desire save union with his beloved. Nor shall the seeker reach his
goal unless he sacrifice all things. That is, whatever he hath seen, and
heard, and understood, all must he set at naught, that he may enter the
realm of the spirit, which is the City of God. Labor is needed, if we are
to seek Him; ardor is needed, if we are to drink of the honey of reunion
with Him; and if we taste of this cup, we shall cast away the world.
On this journey the traveler abideth in every land and dwelleth in every
region. In every face, he seeketh the beauty of the Friend; in every
country he looketh for the Beloved. He joineth every company, and seeketh
fellowship with every soul, that haply in some mind he may uncover the
secret of the Friend, or in some face he may behold the beauty of the
Loved One.
And if, by the help of God, he findeth on this journey a trace of the
traceless Friend, and inhaleth the fragrance of the long-lost Joseph from
the heavenly messenger,(13) he shall straightway step into
The Valley of Love
and be dissolved in the fire of love. In this city the heaven of ecstasy
is upraised and the world-illuming sun of yearning shineth, and the fire
of love is ablaze; and when the fire of love is ablaze, it burneth to
ashes the harvest of reason.
Now is the traveler unaware of himself, and of aught besides himself. He
seeth neither ignorance nor knowledge, neither doubt nor certitude; he
knoweth not the morn of guidance from the night of error. He fleeth both
from unbelief and faith, and deadly poison is a balm to him. Wherefore
Attar(14) saith:
For the infidel, error--for the faithful, faith;
For Attar's heart, an atom of Thy pain.
The steed of this Valley is pain; and if there be no pain this journey
will never end. In this station the lover hath no thought save the
Beloved, and seeketh no refuge save the Friend. At every moment he
offereth a hundred lives in the path of the Loved One, at every step he
throweth a thousand heads at the feet of the Beloved.
O My Brother! Until thou enter the Egypt of love, thou shalt never come to
the Joseph of the Beauty of the Friend; and until, like Jacob, thou
forsake thine outward eyes, thou shalt never open the eye of thine inward
being; and until thou burn with the fire of love, thou shalt never commune
with the Lover of Longing.
A lover feareth nothing and no harm can come nigh him: Thou seest him
chill in the fire and dry in the sea.
A lover is he who is chill in hell fire;
A knower is he who is dry in the sea.(15)
Love accepteth no existence and wisheth no life: He seeth life in death,
and in shame seeketh glory. To merit the madness of love, man must abound
in sanity; to merit the bonds of the Friend, he must be full of spirit.
Blessed the neck that is caught in His noose, happy the head that falleth
on the dust in the pathway of His love. Wherefore, O friend, give up thy
self that thou mayest find the Peerless One, pass by this mortal earth
that thou mayest seek a home in the nest of heaven. Be as naught, if thou
wouldst kindle the fire of being and be fit for the pathway of love.
Love seizeth not upon a living soul,
The falcon preyeth not on a dead mouse.(16)
Love setteth a world aflame at every turn, and he wasteth every land where
he carrieth his banner. Being hath no existence in his kingdom; the wise
wield no command within his realm. The leviathan of love swalloweth the
master of reason and destroyeth the lord of knowledge. He drinketh the
seven seas, but his heart's thirst is still unquenched, and he saith, "Is
there yet any more?"(17) He shunneth himself and draweth away from all on
earth.
Love's a stranger to earth and heaven too;
In him are lunacies seventy-and-two.(18)
He hath bound a myriad victims in his fetters, wounded a myriad wise men
with his arrow. Know that every redness in the world is from his anger,
and every paleness in men's cheeks is from his poison. He yieldeth no
remedy but death, he walketh not save in the valley of the shadow; yet
sweeter than honey is his venom on the lover's lips, and fairer his
destruction in the seeker's eyes than a hundred thousand lives.
Wherefore must the veils of the satanic self be burned away at the fire of
love, that the spirit may be purified and cleansed and thus may know the
station of the Lord of the Worlds.
Kindle the fire of love and burn away all things,
Then set thy foot into the land of the lovers.(19)
And if, confirmed by the Creator, the lover escapes from the claws of the
eagle of love, he will enter
The Valley of Knowledge
and come out of doubt into certitude, and turn from the darkness of
illusion to the guiding light of the fear of God. His inner eyes will open
and he will privily converse with his Beloved; he will set ajar the gate
of truth and piety, and shut the doors of vain imaginings. He in this
station is content with the decree of God, and seeth war as peace, and
findeth in death the secrets of everlasting life. With inward and outward
eyes he witnesseth the mysteries of resurrection in the realms of creation
and the souls of men, and with a pure heart apprehendeth the divine wisdom
in the endless Manifestations of God. In the ocean he findeth a drop, in a
drop he beholdeth the secrets of the sea.
Split the atom's heart, and lo!
Within it thou wilt find a sun.(20)
The wayfarer in this Valley seeth in the fashionings of the True One
nothing save clear providence, and at every moment saith: "No defect canst
thou see in the creation of the God of Mercy: Repeat the gaze: Seest thou
a single flaw?"(21) He beholdeth justice in injustice, and in justice,
grace. In ignorance he findeth many a knowledge hidden, and in knowledge a
myriad wisdoms manifest. He breaketh the cage of the body and the
passions, and consorteth with the people of the immortal realm. He
mounteth on the ladders of inner truth and hasteneth to the heaven of
inner significance. He rideth in the ark of "we shall show them our signs
in the regions and in themselves,"(22) and journeyeth over the sea of
"until it become plain to them that (this Book) is the truth."(23) And if
he meeteth with injustice he shall have patience, and if he cometh upon
wrath he shall manifest love.
There was once a lover who had sighed for long years in separation from
his beloved, and wasted in the fire of remoteness. From the rule of love,
his heart was empty of patience, and his body weary of his spirit; he
reckoned life without her as a mockery, and time consumed him away. How
many a day he found no rest in longing for her; how many a night the pain
of her kept him from sleep; his body was worn to a sigh, his heart's wound
had turned him to a cry of sorrow. He had given a thousand lives for one
taste of the cup of her presence, but it availed him not. The doctors knew
no cure for him, and companions avoided his company; yea, physicians have
no medicine for one sick of love, unless the favor of the beloved one
deliver him.
At last, the tree of his longing yielded the fruit of despair, and the
fire of his hope fell to ashes. Then one night he could live no more, and
he went out of his house and made for the marketplace. On a sudden, a
watchman followed after him. He broke into a run, with the watchman
following; then other watchmen came together, and barred every passage to
the weary one. And the wretched one cried from his heart, and ran here and
there, and moaned to himself: "Surely this watchman is Izra'il, my angel
of death, following so fast upon me; or he is a tyrant of men, seeking to
harm me." His feet carried him on, the one bleeding with the arrow of
love, and his heart lamented. Then he came to a garden wall, and with
untold pain he scaled it, for it proved very high; and forgetting his
life, he threw himself down to the garden.
And there he beheld his beloved with a lamp in her hand, searching for a
ring she had lost. When the heart-surrendered lover looked on his
ravishing love, he drew a great breath and raised up his hands in prayer,
crying: "O God! Give Thou glory to the watchman, and riches and long life.
For the watchman was Gabriel, guiding this poor one; or he was Israfil,
bringing life to this wretched one!"
Indeed, his words were true, for he had found many a secret justice in
this seeming tyranny of the watchman, and seen how many a mercy lay hid
behind the veil. Out of wrath, the guard had led him who was athirst in
love's desert to the sea of his loved one, and lit up the dark night of
absence with the light of reunion. He had driven one who was afar, into
the garden of nearness, had guided an ailing soul to the heart's
physician.
Now if the lover could have looked ahead, he would have blessed the
watchman at the start, and prayed on his behalf, and he would have seen
that tyranny as justice; but since the end was veiled to him, he moaned
and made his plaint in the beginning. Yet those who journey in the garden
land of knowledge, because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in
war and friendliness in anger.
Such is the state of the wayfarers in this Valley; but the people of the
Valleys above this see the end and the beginning as one; nay, they see
neither beginning nor end, and witness neither "first" nor "last."(24) Nay
rather, the denizens of the undying city, who dwell in the green garden
land, see not even "neither first nor last"; they fly from all that is
first, and repulse all that is last. For these have passed over the worlds
of names, and fled beyond the worlds of attributes as swift as lightning.
Thus is it said: "Absolute Unity excludeth all attributes."(25) And they
have made their dwelling-place in the shadow of the Essence.
Wherefore, relevant to this, Khajih 'Abdu'llah(26)--may God the Most High
sanctify his beloved spirit--hath made a subtle point and spoken an
eloquent word as to the meaning of "Guide Thou us on the straight
path,"(27) which is: "Show us the right way, that is, honor us with the
love of Thine Essence, that we may be freed from turning toward ourselves
and toward all else save Thee, and may become wholly Thine, and know only
Thee, and see only Thee, and think of none save Thee."
Nay, these even mount above this station, wherefore it is said:
Love is a veil betwixt the lover and the loved one;
More than this I am not permitted to tell.(28)
At this hour the morn of knowledge hath arisen and the lamps of wayfaring
and wandering are quenched.(29)
Veiled from this was Moses
Though all strength and light;
Then thou who hast no wings at all,
Attempt not flight.(30)
If thou be a man of communion and prayer, soar up on the wings of
assistance from Holy Souls, that thou mayest behold the mysteries of the
Friend and attain to the lights of the Beloved, "Verily, we are from God
and to Him shall we return."(31)
After passing through the Valley of knowledge, which is the last plane of
limitation, the wayfarer cometh to
The Valley of Unity
and drinketh from the cup of the Absolute, and gazeth on the
Manifestations of Oneness. In this station he pierceth the veils of
plurality, fleeth from the worlds of the flesh, and ascendeth into the
heaven of singleness. With the ear of God he heareth, with the eye of God
he beholdeth the mysteries of divine creation. He steppeth into the
sanctuary of the Friend, and shareth as an intimate the pavilion of the
Loved One. He stretcheth out the hand of truth from the sleeve of the
Absolute; he revealeth the secrets of power. He seeth in himself neither
name nor fame nor rank, but findeth his own praise in praising God. He
beholdeth in his own name the name of God; to him, "all songs are from the
King,"(32) and every melody from Him. He sitteth on the throne of "Say,
all is from God,"(33) and taketh his rest on the carpet of "There is no
power or might but in God."(34) He looketh on all things with the eye of
oneness, and seeth the brilliant rays of the divine sun shining from the
dawning-point of Essence alike on all created things, and the lights of
singleness reflected over all creation.
It is clear to thine Eminence that all the variations which the wayfarer
in the stages of his journey beholdeth in the realms of being, proceed
from his own vision. We shall give an example of this, that its meaning
may become fully clear: Consider the visible sun; although it shineth with
one radiance upon all things, and at the behest of the King of
Manifestation bestoweth light on all creation, yet in each place it
becometh manifest and sheddeth its bounty according to the potentialities
of that place. For instance, in a mirror it reflecteth its own disk and
shape, and this is due to the sensitivity of the mirror; in a crystal it
maketh fire to appear, and in other things it showeth only the effect of
its shining, but not its full disk. And yet, through that effect, by the
command of the Creator, it traineth each thing according to the quality of
that thing, as thou observest.
In like manner, colors become visible in every object according to the
nature of that object. For instance, in a yellow globe, the rays shine
yellow; in a white the rays are white; and in a red, the red rays are
manifest. Then these variations are from the object, not from the shining
light. And if a place be shut away from the light, as by walls or a roof,
it will be entirely bereft of the splendor of the light, nor will the sun
shine thereon.
Thus it is that certain invalid souls have confined the lands of knowledge
within the wall of self and passion, and clouded them with ignorance and
blindness, and have been veiled from the light of the mystic sun and the
mysteries of the Eternal Beloved; they have strayed afar from the jewelled
wisdom of the lucid Faith of the Lord of Messengers, have been shut out of
the sanctuary of the All-Beauteous One, and banished from the Ka'bih(35)
of splendor. Such is the worth of the people of this age!
And if a nightingale(36) soar upward from the clay of self and dwell in
the rose bower of the heart, and in Arabian melodies and sweet Iranian
songs recount the mysteries of God--a single word of which quickeneth to
fresh, new life the bodies of the dead, and bestoweth the Holy Spirit upon
the moldering bones of this existence--thou wilt behold a thousand claws of
envy, a myriad beaks of rancor hunting after Him and with all their power
intent upon His death.
Yea, to the beetle a sweet fragrance seemeth foul, and to the man sick of
a rheum a pleasant perfume is as naught. Wherefore, it hath been said for
the guidance of the ignorant:
Cleanse thou the rheum from out thine head
And breathe the breath of God instead.(37)
In sum, the differences in objects have now been made plain. Thus when the
wayfarer gazeth only upon the place of appearance--that is, when he seeth
only the many-colored globes--he beholdeth yellow and red and white; hence
it is that conflict hath prevailed among the creatures, and a darksome
dust from limited souls hath hid the world. And some do gaze upon the
effulgence of the light; and some have drunk of the wine of oneness and
these see nothing but the sun itself.
Thus, for that they move on these three differing planes, the
understanding and the words of the wayfarers have differed; and hence the
sign of conflict doth continually appear on earth. For some there are who
dwell upon the plane of oneness and speak of that world, and some inhabit
the realms of limitation, and some the grades of self, while others are
completely veiled. Thus do the ignorant people of the day, who have no
portion of the radiance of Divine Beauty, make certain claims, and in
every age and cycle inflict on the people of the sea of oneness what they
themselves deserve. "Should God punish men for their perverse doings, He
would not leave on earth a moving thing! But to an appointed term doth He
respite them...."(38)
O My Brother! A pure heart is as a mirror; cleanse it with the burnish of
love and severance from all save God, that the true sun may shine within
it and the eternal morning dawn. Then wilt thou clearly see the meaning of
"Neither doth My earth nor My heaven contain Me, but the heart of My
faithful servant containeth Me."(39) And thou wilt take up thy life in
thine hand, and with infinite longing cast it before the new Beloved One.
Whensoever the light of Manifestation of the King of Oneness settleth upon
the throne of the heart and soul, His shining becometh visible in every
limb and member. At that time the mystery of the famed tradition gleameth
out of the darkness: "A servant is drawn unto Me in prayer until I answer
him; and when I have answered him, I become the ear wherewith he
heareth...." For thus the Master of the house hath appeared within His
home, and all the pillars of the dwelling are ashine with His light. And
the action and effect of the light are from the Light-Giver; so it is that
all move through Him and arise by His will. And this is that spring
whereof the near ones drink, as it is said: "A fount whereof the near unto
God shall drink...."(40)
However, let none construe these utterances to be anthropomorphism, nor
see in them the descent of the worlds of God into the grades of the
creatures; nor should they lead thine Eminence to such assumptions. For
God is, in His Essence, holy above ascent and descent, entrance and exit;
He hath through all eternity been free of the attributes of human
creatures, and ever will remain so. No man hath ever known Him; no soul
hath ever found the pathway to His Being. Every mystic knower hath
wandered far astray in the valley of the knowledge of Him; every saint
hath lost his way in seeking to comprehend His Essence. Sanctified is He
above the understanding of the wise; exalted is He above the knowledge of
the knowing! The way is barred and to seek it is impiety; His proof is His
signs; His being is His evidence.(41)