INTRODUCTION
The
seven members of the LSA of Lucknow, all of whom must be receiving
their reward in the ABHA Kingdom, are calling, not only the Bahá’ís of
India, but the Bahá’ís of the world to follow their example in giving
preminence to the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and sever
their ties with the sans-Guardian organization, join the true Faith
i.e., the Orthodox Bahá’í Faith, and assist the third Guardian, beloved
Joel B. Marangella, to establish the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
In
this period of strife, India is privileged to be a light to the world,
the Torch-bearer of a message of universal brotherhood. Indian culture
possesses the capacity for rejuvenation, and can without loss of
continuity bring about a spiritual change. Indian people, though
somewhat slow-going have the strength and vitality of youth, and so have
preserved their basic human instinct for love of the truth. Their
instinct reacts infallibly to the impact of realities. They are capable
of effecting changes, not by imposition nor by intimidation, but by the
process of education, a spiritual refining.
How many of us are
aware that the Local Spiritual Assembly of Lucknow, upon the passing of
Shoghi Efendi in 1957, stood up valiantly for this very basic human
instinct of LOVE FOR THE TRUTH, and faithfully demonstrated its fidelity
to the Will And Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in refusing to conform to
the dictates of ten Persian Hands of Cause who conspired to make the
Religion of Bahá’u’lláh conform to their own whims and wishes? These
Persian Hands of the Cause were bent upon exploitation of the Sacred
Name in following a policy of imposition and intimidation.
It is
a well known fact that when men follow a policy of secret collusion, of
which these Persian Hands were guilty at the very first conclave of
Hands, held in ‘Akká following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, they cut
themselves off from the truth and they become deluded by ignorance, and
develop satanic perversity or egotism that proclaims itself absolute
both in knowledge and power. The LSA of Lucknow, undeterred by this
policy of intimidation, passed a resolution in the presence of seven
members of the Assembly on November 9th, 1957, resolving that “the
activities of this L.S.A. be suspended till the appointment of the next
Guardian of the Faith.”
This
afternoon [12 February 1959] there was a meeting of the seven of us
Custodian Hands of the Cause now here in the Holy Land at which there
was a discussion of many things — details of the comings and goings of
pilgrims all of routine work, and a letter from the Local Assembly of
Lucknow, India, was laid upon the table without remark, someone saying
that it was a local problem — a matter that should be referred not to
the Hands but to the National Assembly of India.
Seeing the
letter, as it lay there on the table, I glanced at it and was astonished
indeed at its contents. It was a record of the action of that local
Assembly in which seven of the nine members had united to dissolve that
local body until such time as the Guardianship be renewed and
functioning again — this letter (this copy of which was addressed to the
hands in the Holy Land, dated 18 November 1958) was being sent to the
Indian National Assembly in New Delhi. This was indeed a most remarkable
statement (in six short paragraphs and all on one sheet of paper) of
the reasons why these friends cannot accept the present condition of the
Cause without a Guardian, so the only thing that they could do was to
dissolve their Assembly until they could again function as a Local
Assembly of the Administration as given in the Will and established by
the first Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi.
Therein I found
an epitome of the main and vital points that I have urged the Hands to
consider and about which they, as an overwhelming majority, will so far
do nothing. These men of Lucknow who wrote that letter are indeed clear
thinkers, as are those of the German National Assembly. It is a masterly
piece of statement, most extreme in its expression (it could not be
more extreme) but with a foundation as firm as the foundation of the
Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá …it gave me more hope
than any of the other objections so far received by the Custodian Hands —
objections to the action of the Hands in their tacit scrapping of the
Guardianship that is of a divine nature and of their putting up in its
place, the present human organization…
Resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the Assembly (L.S.A. LUCKNOW) on November 9th,1957
REGISTERED SOCIETY NO. 141 NOVEMBER 18, 1958
(U.P. INDIA) RAFFANIAN
L.S.A. (LUCKNOW) HAIFA, ISRAEL
Where
as by a resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the
Assembly on November 9th,1957, it was resolved that “the activities of
this L.S.A. be suspended til the appointment of the next Guardian of the
Faith” and the same was intimated to the N.S.A., New Delhi, and whereas
it comes under the purview of the Supreme Council, so therefore it
behooves this assembly to place the following arguments without
prejudice, before the aforementioned Supreme Council through Raffanian,
Haifa (Israel):
1. Man’s nature is two-fold; he is spirit and body and therefore, at once, a citizen of this world and of the Heavenly City.
2.
The State of Guardianship is the supermost thing upon Earth, for the
Guardians are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s
throne, but even by God Himself they are called Gods. That which
concerns the mystery of The Guardian’s power is not lawful to be
disputed, for, that is to wade into the weakness of Gods, and to take
away the mystical reverence that belongs unto the temporal presence of
them that sit in the Throne of God.
3. The Guardian ought to
have no equal in his realm because this would nullify the rule that an
equal cannot have authority over his equals. Still less ought he to have
a superior or anyone more powerful than he, for he would then be below
his own deputies and it is impossible that inferiors should be equal to
the Supreme.
4. The Supremacy of the Guardian in spiritual
matters is absolute under God. Substantially He is the “AKDAS” in the
sense that he can neither be removed nor held responsible and has
ultimate authority over the rest of the hierarchy, which his deputies
have not. The Guardian has full power to create Hands of the Cause and
can do so without any of the customary forms of election.
5. The
unique power possessed by The Guardian alone, is, therefore a “Divine
Right”. It confers a peculiar superiority, a power of revision and
supervision over all other forms of authority whether ecclesiastical or
secular. In substance the Guardian alone is the head of the entire legal
system, not, indeed, as a universal executive but as a court of final
authority which functions not in absentia but by presence. It is evident
that it is impossible to invest the community or even the Hands of the
Cause, with the supreme authority which is the Divine prerogative of the
Guardian.
6. The present system is but conciliary and the
concilliarists have set against it the ideal of a harmony of powers
cooperating by free and mutual consent. Such an argument is fought with
the implication that God had changed the mode of imposing His Divine
Right according to the wishes of the few. Such a democratic conception
is vitally opposed to the Spirit of the Faith. The concilliarist theory
strands curiously balanced between past and present. Wherever authority
stands upon the exploitation of a sacred name, intimidation has to be
adopted as policy on considerations.
L.S.A. Lucknow in animated suspense till the consecration of the Guardian on His vacant throne.
51 Sundarbagh,
Lucknow U.P. (India)
Copied from the original letter by C.M.R.
“Gupta” was the name of the writer of Lucknow, India.
The Orthodox Bahá’í Faith 