Question: Was Baha’u’llah a spiritually perfect (sinless) human being? If so, why are there prayers in which he confesses that he has sinned, trespassed against God, has a heart that is prone to evil and needs God’s forgiveness?
By Daniel Pschaida | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
The Bahá’í Writings describe the nature of the Manifestation of God — such as Moses, Jesus, Muhammad or Bahá’u’lláh — as a perfectly polished mirror, constantly turned to the Sun, that reflects all of God’s perfections. Other human beings have to strive to polish the mirror of our hearts and turn to God. The Manifestations of God, by the way God created them, do this naturally, constantly, completely.
Prayers by Bahá’u’lláh that uses such language as you ask about, seems to be for two reasons:
- Bahá’u’lláh is not writing prayers primarily for himself but all of humanity. We are calling God, beseeching God to forgive us and assist us to grow and improve. Hence, we say in the Long Obligatory Prayer, written by Bahá’u’lláh: “O God, my God! My back is bowed by the burden of my sins, and my heedlessness hath destroyed me. Whenever I ponder my evil doings and Thy benevolence, my heart melteth within me, and my blood boileth in my veins. By Thy Beauty, O Thou the Desire of the world! I blush to lift up my face to Thee, and my longing hands are ashamed to stretch forth toward the heaven of Thy bounty.”
As a comparison, this is similar to Jesus saying from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” quoting Psalm 22. It is not that Jesus actually believes God has abandoned him, even in this tremendous state of torture. Jesus is speaking on behalf of all human beings, whenever we are immersed in utter agony, calling out to God for mercy and comfort.
- In my understanding, Bahá’u’lláh also seems to write some prayers in his own voice as the Vehicle of God’s Revelation. In this state, while to the world, he is our very glimpse of the effulgent splendors of God’s resplendent glory, for him standing before God, he is but a creation and as-nothing before God’s awesome grandeur.
We read Bahá’u’lláh say: “Know verily that whenever this Youth turneth His eyes towards His own self, he findeth it the most insignificant of all creation. When He contemplates, however, the bright effulgences He hath been empowered to manifest, lo, that self is transfigured before Him into a sovereign Potency permeating the essence of all things visible and invisible.”
Hence, Bahá’u’lláh, standing before God, we read: “I find myself to be altogether nothing when face to face with the manifold revelations of Thy names, how much less when confronted with the effulgent splendors of the light of Thine own Self. O miserable me! Were I to attempt merely to describe Thee, such an attempt would itself be an evidence of my impiety, and would attest my heedlessness in the face of the clear and resplendent tokens of Thy oneness. Who else except Thee can claim to be worthy of any notice in the face of Thine own revelation…”
As a comparison, this is similar to Jesus saying “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matt 19:17). Jesus, before God himself, the Absolute, is as utter nothingness and depravity, even while Jesus is, for us, the quintessence of goodness itself.
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