Salutation and praise, blessing and glory rest upon that primal branch of the Divine and Sacred Lote-Tree, grown out, blest, tender, verdant and flourishing from the Twin Holy Trees; the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that doth gleam from out the Twin Surging Seas.
March 3rd, 1896-November 4th, 1957
In a few hours, it will have been exactly 50 years since the Guardian passed away. It is even more special to remember the occasion while serving at the Baha’i World Centre, where one can directly see the physical evidence of the Guardian’s life work. It is hard to believe that just 50 years ago, Shoghi Effendi walked the same streets we are walking today, ate the same food, talked to the same locals (literally, in some cases), sat in the same chair in the Pilgrim House, said prayers at the same spot in the Shrines, talked to the pilgrims and was part of making their experience such a profoundly spiritual one, just as the staff here try to do today.
His spirit lives on among us, in the example he left us of how to live a life dedicated to service, in the copious writings and guidance he left us, which by themselves extend the institution of the Guardianship forward to the end of this dispensation, in the gardens we walk around every day, which serve as an enduring tribute to their creator and as a pattern for future development, in the buildings and monuments we work in and around every day, which are a symbol of the global administrative order laid out in detail and brought into being by him, and on a more personal level, as a worthy figure to heroize (something which is sorely lacking in the world today), along with all the other saintly figures he writes about in his book God Passes By.
From his wife Ruhiyyih Khanum, on his passing: “He was our Guardian, King of the world. We know he was noble because he was our Guardian. We know that God gave him peace in the end. But as I looked at him all I could think of was — how beautiful he is, how beautiful! A celestial beauty seemed to be poured over him and to rest on him and stream from him like a mighty benediction from on high. And the wonderful hands, so like the hands of Baha’u’llah, lay softly by his side; it seemed impossible the life had gone from them — or from that radiant face.“