An Overview of My Pilgrimage

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My pilgrimage…

I’ve written updates along the way, however for most of my pilgrimage all I did was concentrate on my time there and therefore have not really shared the overall experience. For those of you who would like more information I’m putting together this account for you all as well as for myself. Overall, it was the most amazing time of my life, I feel so refreshed, so rejuvenated, so fulfilled, so awakened, so quickened and so excited for what comes next in life. At the moment I’m still looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, however the day in a half that I have been home is bringing me back down to earth quickly. I am really trying to keep that ethereal feeling however it’s not the easiest thing to do. But every morning I awake and say my prayers and ask that I am able to hold on to this feeling. Another thing I must share is that I am so hungry for the history of this faith, having read parts of “God Passes By” and then visiting the places that I was reading about makes me want to read everything I can get my hands onto, thank God there is so much written history for us, I’m excited about diving in.

I’ve already written about my first day, for those of you who have not read it yet look at my blog entry on February 5th entitled “Spirit of God.”

The second day of my pilgrimage we visited the “Shrine of Baha’u’llah.” The opening of my journal entry says “WOW, I feel so free, so happy, so joyous” the visit to the Shrine was amazing, everything I have is enough, I prayed for all my loved ones, I prayed for my family, I prayed for humanity overall and for our country. After leaving the Shrine I went to the Pilgrims Reception Center and ate the most amazing oranges from the Ridvan Garden and fresh avocado’s and “Delicious” tea (it was really cute, on one of the urns of tea had “Delicious Tea” written on it), after feeding my spirit I feed my body and it felt like the physical manifestation of what just took place spiritually. Everything was perfect. That night we had a presentation of the International Teaching Center, the following is an account of some of my pilgrim’s notes:
“Let the breezes of Thy holiness waft upon me,” we come on pilgrimage to “attain the presence of the Beloved,” we must be so happy to have “attained thy call and achieved thy goal.” That when we pray and meditate in these sacred places, its unlike any where on earth, when we pray we are drawn to Him until He answers and that this is the “Seat of God’s thrown.” He has raised His call upon which He has shed His tears. “Verily I have seen the Kingdom of God with its doors wide open” (from a Tablet of Abdu’l-Baha on Pilgrimage). Shoghi Effendi says that “…pilgrimage is to give us renewed vigor, to free our spirits, and give us added determination and relieve the sore laden heart” this is the purpose of pilgrimage. He also said it’s to “cultivate that sense of spirituality that can be achieved through prayer, acquired new vision of their service and that its primary focus is for “prayer and meditation (speaking with our own spirit) that when the light breaks forth, reality is revealed. We should ask “Am I…” and wait for an answer, that mediation is to be followed by action and that this religion is about the spiritualization of the planet. That the first and foremost thing on everyone’s mind should be teaching, this was what the Universal House of Justice wrote in its Ridvan Message of 2007. We were encouraged to read and study the letter of December 27th.

Ever since there were pilgrims who were able to go to meet Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, people have been taking pilgrims notes, these are some of mine however one thing you must understand is that I was taking notes and it is only my understanding, through my lens.

On Day Three we visited the house where the Holy Family lived within the prison city however it was the first home they lived in outside of a prison cell. A very special prayer was revealed in this home called the “Fire Tablet,” this prayer is said to have very special significance and power, it was very special for me to read this prayer in the very room that it was revealed and for the first time I understood it like I never had before. The Fire Tablet is partially about the tests of this world, and any time in the past that I’ve read this prayer I after have experienced great tests, so this is a prayer that I never say, so before I said this prayer in the room where it was revealed I asked to be protected from tests, it was wonderful.

We then went and visited the prison cell where the Holy Family was first imprisoned within this prison city, this prison city was said to be the worst of the day, it was said that when a bird would fly over head it would drop dead from the foulness of the air. Apparently when Baha’u’llah and His family arrived the entire family got violently ill (all except 2), there were also 10 guards and 9 of them got sick too, two of Baha’u’llah’s sons died wrapped in one another’s arms and if I understood the story correctly, Baha’u’llah has written that “never have two brothers entered the next world more united.” It was during this time that Baha’u’llah revealed the Long Healing Prayer and everyone started getting better and no one else died. For me its very interesting to understand these stories and then read these prayers because it gives them new meaning for me.

After the visit to the prison city, a group of us stayed behind and went to lunch in Akka and then toured a Islamic Mosque that Abdu’l-Baha use to go to and pray. The women wrapped cloths over our heads and entered the Mosque and we all prayed, it was really quite nice. After the Mosque I left the group and went to the sea wall and sat outside the prison city where I could see the cell where Baha’u’llah was imprisoned, it was said that pilgrims would walk for us to 6 months to stand outside this same prison cell just to get a glimpse of Baha’u’llah. So there I sat and prayed, I read the Long Healing Prayer for my loved ones (friends and family alike) and listed to the prayers that were on my ipod. It was a glorious day.

One of the stories I’ve already told is about Mirza Mihdi (this story is on the “Spirit of God” blog entry. However today was the day in the prison cell where we saw where he fell through the skylight and landed, it was so moving to stand in the place where the accident happened and pray for him and to him. I believe its important for me to pray to him to assist me in my work and just moments later after praying for him I spoke with a woman from Southern California who is a teacher and she told me that her school is having terrible problems with racism and that she would love for Oneness to come and do some work. I felt as though it was a confirmation from Mirza Mihdi, a kiss from heaven encouraging me to go on with my work. It’s always so wonderful when someone can be used to be the answer of your prayers. The next day I shared with her what my prayer had been and thanked her for being an answer to my prayers and she then turned around and said “no thank you, you were the answer to my prayer.” How wonderful that we could both be used in that way. Shoghi Effendi while speaking on Mirza Mihdi’s life accounts the following “In a highly significant prayer, revealed by Baha’u’llah in memory of His son - a prayer that exalts his death to the rank of those great acts of atonement associated with Abraham’s intended sacrifice of His son, with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn…” It’s amazing to me how religious history comes together to show our oneness and connects us all.

That night we received another talk by the International Teaching Center, here are a few of my pilgrims notes:
• Allow the heart to be influenced
• Detach ourselves from everything back home so that we can focus on what is in our hearts
• Listen to our inner ear so that we know what God wants from us
• Ask what my contribution to the 5 year plan is going to be
• Go home spiritually refreshed and hopefully to join the forefront of activities of the 5 year plan.
One of the stories that was told had to do with a story about Ahmad, who the Tablet of Ahmad was revealed for. Apparently (again if I remember this story correctly) Baha’u’llah left this tablet behind in a city where he was no longer there (I think it was in Turkey) and Ahmad was traveling to see Baha’u’llah, really that was all his heart was yearning for, however when he got to the city to see Baha’u’llah he was gone, but had left this Tablet behind. Ahmad’s greatest desire was to attain the presence of Baha’u’llah, but upon reading this tablet, over and over and over again, he realized that Baha’u’llah was asking him to return home and share His message, even though it would more than likely mean his martyrdom, he knew that this is what he must do. Again knowing this story helps me understand this prayer so much better. He says “…And be thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee…” this has always been one of my favorite prayers and I memorized it years ago, but now its significance is even greater, again another kiss from heaven… Oh how I long to understand so much greater the history of this Cause.

Day Four:
Today was almost as amazing as the spiritual experiences that I had on my first day of pilgrimage. Today we visited the “Mansion of Mazra’ih” and I cannot begin to tell you how amazing this visit was. This house was the first home Baha’u’llah moved to outside of the prison city. “Baha’u’llah loved the beauty and verdure of the country. One day He passed the remark: “I have not gazed on verdure for nine years. The country is the world of the soul, the city is the world of bodies.” I cannot imagine not being able to see the beauty of nature for 9 years, much less the absolute oppression that Baha’u’llah went through for all those years, being in the filth and fowl air of that prison city, before that being imprisoned in the Siyah Chal (where most people never made it out of alive). And here we were visiting the home where he first moved to. I cannot even being to express in words the emotions that I had coming to this spot, it was filled with crisis and victory for me, so much love and beauty on one hand and so much sadness and oppression on the other. I found my spot in His room, laid my forehead to the ground and wept, the entire time I was in this room I wept. Earlier that morning I had a dream of a friend of mine who has always been so injured by the scars of racism, it was an odd dream (first of all I have not seen this individual in years and we have not been that close in many years as well) and one that I did not understand, but when I entered this room and prayed it all came together for me, it was all about the crisis and victory of spiritual destiny. Again when I entered this room I could feel the presence of my Lord, I could feel so much love radiating through my body and when I opened my prayer book all I could do was pray for humanity, I said the Long Healing Prayer for Humanity and the prayer for America specifically. Our spiritual destiny is so great, but is wrapped up in so much oppression, again here there is the crisis and victory of what our history is and what lies in front of us. This room was filled with great joy, but also great pain, pain and morning for the past, but also great beauty for the future. Here is part of my journal entry for this day “I knew I needed to pray for the healing of humanity, specifically racism in America, specifically the African American community (my friend whose name I will keep to myself) was at the front of this prayer and his sufferings and his being the emblem of the sufferings of so many. There is a great connection between the sufferings of the Manifestations and that of the slaves and oppressed people of the world. And I got in touch with my own pain, the pain of the oppressor and the pain of the oppressed (not me, but of my ancestry, I think on both sides). And there was such crisis and victory here, the room was filled with great joy but also great pain, pain and morning for the past but so much beauty for the present and future, part of it depends on where we dwell…” I asked “Baha’u’llah to please show me the path, through your wisdom and guidance help me? And the answer that I got was to go home and clean house, this will clear the way for the future to open you up, then you can go for the gold. There was also a specific person I felt I needed to call and that there would be guidance given there. Really the entire thing was nothing short of phenomenal, I feel so blessed and happy to have been given everything…

Day Five:
This pilgrimage has been so special for me, more fulfilling and more confirming than I could have ever expected or imagined. And the entire time it’s been this really incredible combination of my own personal experience and all of my family and loved ones. Every day of my prayers in the Shrines has included specific people, and each day, each experience has surprised me because I don’t enter the Shrines thinking “oh I need to say this prayer or that prayer for particular people,” but each day I’ve been accompanied. So today was very different, because each day I’ve had so many people with me (not physically, but in my prayers).

Today was the International Archives visit; I was with 9 other pilgrims and our guide, so it was very small and intimate. The International Archives building is being refit because it was not earthquake safe so we were not able to actually visit the archives building but rather a selection of archives materials in the Seat of the Universal House of Justice. Today we had the bounty of seeing pictures and paintings of the Báb and Baha’u’llah, this is the only place that we can see pictures of the Manifestations, so this is a very great bounty and blessing. There was a painting of the Bab, three paintings of Baha’u’llah and a picture of Baha’u’llah. Oh was it incredible, to look into those eyes and for the first time on my pilgrimage I was completely alone, what I mean by this is that even though there were other people in the room, in my prayers and communication with My Lord, none of my loved ones were with me, it was the first time during my entire pilgrimage that I was alone and it was amazing! Here is a small part of my journal entry “…it was only me and Him today… no one else… for me there was not a single person with me, none of my drama and baggage - it was just me and my Lord and oh my was it great, I stared at His face as long as I possibly could to try to soak up everything I possibly could, said every prayer that I know by heart and asked that he help me to be a greater teacher to His Cause….”

After this we also were able to see tablets that Baha’u’llah, the Bab and Abdu’l-Baha revealed in their own pens, we were able to see some of their personal affects and other items that belonged to the Holy Family.

After leaving the Archives display I went to the Monument Gardens and prayed specifically for Delara & Steve, Charla & Pierre and Arya & Chad, I also prayed for assistance with finding a “helpmate” for myself and Kelly, Andra, Kelly, Geneva, Kemi, Dorit, Saba, Amelia and Elham and asked for our healing so that we could have good partners, I let the Most Exalted Leaf know that this is the greatest desire of all our hearts. It was magical and so inspiring…

Day Six:
Today is the first day that we don’t have a schedule of activities; it’s a free day for us to do whatever we want. So today I woke up, got ready and headed out to Akka, I was with a group of friends site seeing and then I left them all to go out and wade in the ocean. I found a beautiful spot at the beach, it was low tide so I could walk out pretty far, I rolled up my pants and went as far as I could, found a spot where I could also see the prison cell windows and prayed, it was so beautiful. I said every prayer in the book for forgiveness and then I counted 40 waves while repeating “God is Most Great,” there is a passage in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf that talks about your sins being forgiven (if God so chooses) for one who does this. It brought me great fulfillment and happiness and joy, oh it was so amazing, I also prayed for my brother. I love the ocean so much and was so happy to be able to be there in the water, it was so blue, so clear, so lovely - again everything was just enough. And came in perfect timing.

I then went and met the rest of my group (whom I had left earlier). One of my friends asked me if I counted my 40 waves and there was a person in the group that just the day before was looking for this passage, he had been praying about it but did not know where to find it and when he overheard us talking about it, he asked me for it and was so excited and said, excuse me I’ll catch up with you all later. The next day we ran into one another and he shared the most beautiful story with me, he told me about how he did not feel he was worthy of going on pilgrimage at this time, how he felt somewhat ashamed but that I was an answer to his prayers, because he had been looking for that passage and thanked me for being the channel for God to deliver that message. You know its really amazing, I remember my friend Joy saying at times that “sometimes its not about you at all, sometimes you are just the answer to someone else’s prayer,” thank you God for allowing me to be that hollow reed.

From Akka we went to Bahji and there I hooked up with Saba again, today we circumambulated the Shrine of Baha’u’llah together and visited it was again very wonderful, we talked about our spiritual journey, I told her about the talk the night before with the Universal House of Justice Member and walked in the beauty of nature, there is something so magical about the Mansion of Bahji, we came to the large blue door which is where Baha’u’llah originally entered the Mansion and sat and visited a while longer. From there I went to pray in the Shrine of Baha’u’llah and this was the first day where I was not overcome with emotion. I enjoyed my time, but nothing stuck out to me. I really prayed and prayed for guidance about my work and I tried to meditate however there was nothing coming to me, actually the message I received that day was to be patient and that the answers would come, however not at this moment. So I felt the need to say the prayers for my friends and family that they had asked me to say, I had about 7 pages of prayers and went through them all, I then read the Long Healing Prayer for everyone in addition to saying their individual prayers. When I left Bahji that night I felt off, we got a shirut driver on the way back who was not kind at all to us and just gave me a negative vibe, I just needed to go home and end this day. It started out wonderfully however the way it was ended was starting to get to me. So I went home, downloaded my pictures which brought me joy and then went to bed.

Day Seven:
Day seven started out a little hard since I had a very important meeting and I did not get the message! Oh man was I stressed out, I received a call at 8:20am from someone saying “did you not get the message?” I was supposed to be at this meeting at 8am and there was not a message left for me at the PRC which is where I was to pick it up. Apparently there was a breakdown in communication and someone forgot to write it out for me. Anyway, I finally got to my meeting at 9:05am and the person who I was meeting with had another meeting starting at 9:30am, so I had to talk very fast, this was a meeting about Oneness and our work. It was such a bounty to be able to even get this meeting, it was such a blessing to receive feedback and he even rescheduled for another time. Leaving the meeting that day I felt as though I was floating on air. The next meeting was scheduled for my birthday and I thought “oh thank you Lord, this is the best birthday gift I could ever receive.” I made my way up to the top of the mountain had a wonderful Cappuccino, took care of some business and then walked down the terraces from the top of the mountain again, the entire time praying and taking pictures. In my ipod, “Our God is an Awesome God” was playing and by the time I got about half way down the mountain I just had to sit down and cry, I was so moved, it was so beautiful, so majestic and so fulfilling, everything was perfect and really the day before in the Shrine of Baha’u’llah I was asking for direction for my work and here today I was receiving such wonderful bounties, our God is an Awesome God and Helen Baylor is so amazing in this song, it says everything, Oh I feel so blessed! Everything is enough, everything is complete, nothing is missing…

I then met up with my pilgrimage group and we went out to the House of Abdu’llah Pasha. This home is very special for a lot of different reasons but most significant to me was we were actually able to be in the room where the first Western Pilgrims were welcomed by Abdu’l-Baha, the Western pilgrims actually named the staircase leading up to this room as “the stairway to heaven.” Shoghi Effendi was born in this home and the Greatest Holy Leaf actually kept hidden the remains of the Báb while in transition. The feelings in this home were incredible, so glorious and so much love.

I feel as though every step of this trip is being guided and I feel as though I am in the palm of God who is directing my every step… I feel so blessed!

Tonight we had the wonderful bounty of having Universal House of Justice member Dr. Peter Khan address us… Here are my pilgrim notes:

That the purpose of the 5 year plan is to facilitate the transformation of the individual which is also the purpose of religion and that it is through this spiritual transformation that we lay the foundation for the progress of humanity and society. He wanted to give us a progress report, these are just some of his thoughts. Answering the question - “And How are we doing?”

He said there are several distinguishing features of bahá’ís around the world:
1. Optimism (a positive outlook towards the future) he believes this is at the top of the list. Most people in the world see gloom when they look around, the spread of terrorism, environmental degradation, the spread of disease, economic disparities, the lack of satisfaction in daily life, the inability to keep healthy families together these mark a few of the things of why people see gloom in the world. Whereas the Bahá’ís know, we have a sense of certainty about us that a good world is coming, that we are totally convinced of this. He talked about in the Peace Statement where it talks about the fact that world peace is not only possible but that it is inevitable. But that we know that we are in a twin process of growth and a declining civilization.
a. Here are some characteristics of Bahá’ís
i. Makes us more energetic
ii. Gives us confidence of creating long term projects
iii. Education and training of children and being of service to humanity
2. Realism (the Bahá’í community combines optimism with realism) he gave the example of the promise of Christ returning in the clouds and that all that are faithful will rise up to join him. Our realism does not come through instantaneous solutions but rather through the extent of our effort.
a. One is the existence of the Bahá’í Administrative Order a divinely ordained vehicle to bring very high ideals into practical reality.
i. Gives rise to unified and coordinated action
ii. Creates a since of community and this is what the world is desperately looking for
It is this administrative order that gives us world mindedness. Its through planning, budgeting and consultation and that we have been trained from the days of the Guardian towards being a process oriented community. That things develop slowly but surly, that we are not deterred by smallness of numbers, this is because the Guardian trained us this way, therefore it’s intrinsic in our realism.
3. Resilience - you can’t keep us down, we just keep coming back, he gave examples about in the early days of our faith 20,000 people were killed right off the bat and many more since then, that still today bahá’ís in different places in the world are still being oppressed, that there were covenant breakers and even there we were never divided.
4. Values - Ours is a very tricky religion, international government, very advanced and a universal government
a. That we are working to develop the value of relationships, artistry, chastity, modesty, a revival of old time values but yet we are so progressive.
b. Now there are also a few things that are very unusual:
i. We see diversity as a strength not a weakness. We actually yearn for it, we know that it is our greatest strength.
ii. That our religion is open for change, most religions are frightened of change, but our religion is absolutely committed to it. The Universal House of Justice has it at its very core which is totally different from the way in which the world is going.
5. The Bahá’í community is distinguished by its courageousness, people are facing themselves everyday and are doing things that they are not always comfortable with
6. Discipline in Bahá’í and Civil Law - a commitment to discipline. He gave examples of how well our elections are run. He talked about an Isreali Official that wanted to come and observe the election of our Universal House of Justice (which is elected every 5 years) and how he got special permission to sit in the back and just observe the process, I don’t think he believed it was possible to. However after getting special permission he came and observed and after he said that it was one of the most remarkable things he has ever seen, and that he would have never believed it had he not seen it with his own eyes.
He then talked about the keys to finding receptive souls who are searching:
1. Serious Prayer, beseeching God to lead you to those who are receptive, you might be tested but be persistent and have faith
2. Circulate, continue to be in movement to come into contact with a greater number of diverse individuals, be out there.

Day Eight:
Today we visited the buildings on the Arc, it was a nice day however I wish I would have skipped that activity and gone to pray at the Shrine of Baha’u’llah one more time! After the visit to the buildings on the Arc, I went and visited the Bahá’í cemetery. That was a very sweet visit, I found Mrs. Furutan’s gave, and said a special prayer for her, Dr. Varqua as Gloria asked me to take him some chocolates and I also visited and prayed for and to Amos Everett Gibson, Magdalene M Carney, Charles Wilcott, Ethen and Jesse Revell, Leroy C Ioas, Horice Holley, Amelia Collins, Mr. Furutan and said a special prayer to Tarazullah Samandari for Elham and Adib Taherzadeh for Marium. I made a special note to research more about the life of Amos Everett Gibson and thought both me and my mother might receive some guidance about this individuals services “Exemplary self-sacrificing promoter Faith achieved brilliant unblemished record constant service founded on rocklike staunchness and deep instable love for teaching work particularly among Indian and black minorities western hemisphere and indigenous peoples Africa. His notable work administrative fields North America crowned final 19 years incalculable contribution development World Center world embracing faith.”

And from the Bahá’í Cemetery I went and said prayers at the resting place of Ruhiyyih Khanum and then we visited the house of Addu’l-Baha in Haifa. We were able to say prayers in the room where he passed away, of that room was so special, the emotion I felt here was so strong, the energy in this home was so full and spirit overwhelming. We also visited the room where the Greatest Holy Leaf lived and also passed away and where Shoghi Effendi would meet some of the Western believers who would come to Haifa on pilgrimage.

It was a wonderful afternoon

Day Nine:
I spent the morning at the Monument Gardens, this was such a gift, it was just me and I wrote out my prayers to each of them. I was able to ask for whatever I needed and am so thankful for this gift. The rest of the day was free, I had a very special lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Shrines praying. The Shrines were closed for two hours and I went to dinner with Saba and Peter and then back to the Shrine of the Bab for the closing ceremony's.

Day Ten:
This was my birthday and it was absolutely perfect! I had to leave Haifa by sun set... On to the next place

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Photos

My Pilgrimage...
A view of the Shrine of Baha'u'llah

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In the gardens at Bahji

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The House of Abbud

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Some of us at the House of Abbud

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The Prison Cell where Baha'u'llah would come to the these two windows so that pilgrims could catch a glimps of their Beloved

My Pilgrimage
The Mosque where Abdu'l-baha would sometimes

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Where Mirza Mihdi came through the skylight

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Our group entering the Mosque

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Mansion of Mazra'ih, the room of Baha'u'llah is in the upper left hand corner

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The Garden at Mazra'ih

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Seat of the Universal House of Justice

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The Monument Gardens

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Where I stood in the shores of Akka

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Me praying in the waves in Akka

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The blue door Baha'u'llah entered through

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Saba and I after circumabulating the Shrine of Baha'u'llah

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My walk down the terraces

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The stairway to heaven...

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Some of my fellow pilgrims

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Some of my fellow pilgrims

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Some of my fellow pilgrims

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My fellow pilgrims

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My fellow pilgrims

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My birthday lunch