The
Fifth Seal
The Fifth Seal in The
Greatest Sign is the Seal of Universalism, The Baha’i Faith
The
first four seals in The Greatest Sign relate to the spiritual
realization and progress. The first seal (
)
is meditation and awakening of the spiritual forces. The
second (
)
is the creation of the Communities of Light based on God, an
environment in which we can grow physically, mentally, and
spiritually. The third (
)
is not being self-centered, but to sacrifice. And the fourth,
(
)
is surrendering and submission. These are all the spiritual
aspects of the human.
The fifth seal (
)
is universalism. Universalism is not really a spiritual
achievement but it is a spiritual understanding, actually it is more
an intellectual understanding than anything else, that God is
everything. Of course, when you become close to submission to
God in the fourth seal, you are one with God. If God is always
doing work through you, really who is there? It is God.
You no longer exist.
***
So,
from a view of spiritual understanding there is nothing new added to
what the first four truths brought to humanity. However, from
the practical point of view or from the psychological level to
establish world unity, many progressive ideas were given. Only
by accepting the universe as the only home, nation, and country, can
a man overcome being narrow-minded by relating the self to a
specific group or land. Only then can he destroy the very
disease of the mind, which is a feeling of belonging to one part
rather than feeling that the only home is the entire universe.
***
Bab
gave many practical suggestions about how to create a universal
environment and to establish worldwide justice. Some of
these are: acceptance of one language as an international language
along with the mother tongue; each community must have a House of
Justice, each nation must have a National House of Justice, and an
International House of Justice should be established with members
selected from the National or Secondary Houses of Justice; and
humans must make a systematic effort to wipe out all those
prejudices that cause division.
***
Also,
by becoming a universalist and understanding that this whole
universe is made up of nothing else but unit consciousnesses and the
three gunas (Souls and the creative force) then a man will not only
love God and His awesome creation but every part and parcel of it.
With this again a man does not look to another man as a flesh being
or different from himself, but as a Soul which does not belong to
any race or group. Not only will people become respectful
Souls in different levels of consciousness but also the whole
universe will be seen from the same perspective, different Souls in
different levels of consciousness.
***
The
greatest contribution of this fifth truth can be expressed in one
sentence from Baha’u’llah’s teaching: If religion separates
mankind by causing disunity, IT IS NOT EXPRESSING THE SPIRIT OF
GOD.
***
The
only “ism” is universalism. Any other “ism” is from
narrowness.
***
The
question might be asked, then, what about the other “isms?”
The answer is that the other “isms” are each a part of a greater
truth. That truth is that Paravipras, who are the true leaders
and concerned about the welfare of all in the universe, should lead
humanity to the highest prosperity. However, as long as people
have not become universalists and are separated by countries,
dogmatic religions, psychological barriers, etc., politicians and
others will exploit them in the name of a nation, religion, race,
group, etc. The only way to the highest happiness and
prosperity is to understand The Plan of creation, become a
universalist (shattering the narrowness of the mind), and follow the
Will of the Father.
***
Actually
the first four religions in The Greatest Sign had lost that
universal point of view. Look at Hinduism, “Anyone who is not
a Hindu is no good.” Judaism, “We are the chosen people, no
one else is good.” Christianity, “We are the only way, any
other way is bad.” Islam, “We are the last one, so we are the
best.”
So that was
another sign that one more seal had to be revealed to humanity.
That is when the fifth seal was revealed as the universal point of
view, “All the religions of the world basically say the same thing,
the truth.” That is true. Basically, if you pick up the
Koran, if you pick up the Bible
(New Testament, Old Testament), the Bhagavad-Gita,
the Upanishads, many people say they say the same thing.
They say that
you have to meditate, you have to contemplate, you have to pray, you
have to do some rituals, go at least one hour and a half a week to
church, or go to your Synagogue, or go to the Mosque, or go the
Temple and sacrifice and give from yourself. You have to be
family-oriented and community-oriented. You have to sacrifice
in your life for your community, etc. You have to surrender
and submit to God. Basically they are saying the same thing.
Of course, the emphasis in each of them is greater on one aspect of
the spiritual path. However, all of them also touch a little
bit of the other truth, that every religion is the same.
Therefore, we
can see that Baha’i also was sent by God. The Baha’is
emphasis, as we said previously, is completely in universalism, the
unity of all religions, the unity of humanity, the unity of God, the
unity of the Spirit of God.
So that emphasis
was necessary to complement the other steps of the Eternal Divine
Path.
***
However,
if you read the Baha’i teaching, the very focus is that all
religions come from the same God, and they all basically have the
same truth. That is why the Baha’is felt that they had all the
answers, because they were open to all the religions. And they
said that basically they are all the same.
But as we see in
The Greatest Sign, they are not the same. Each Prophet
had a definite message, definitely a different message that is
emphasized. Of course, all of them reveal the same truth, but
each of them have a very strong emphasis on one of those truths.
So in a sense
the Baha’is preach a universal view of religion, but not
completely.
They do not have the Eternal Divine Path and
The Greatest Sign.
