Today is the last day of the fast, the day of loftiness in the month of loftiness. Through the fast, we strive to become detached from this world and from our lower nature, and to approach the heavenly horizon and the spiritual realm. Our loftiness then, and the acceptance of our fast, is wholly dependent on the state of our spirit and on the acceptance of God. Abstinence from physical food for a period has affected our bodies by demonstrating to them that our higher natures are, in fact, in charge of our being. This process is a very profound one, the full significance of which we may never learn, but we get a glimpse by reading about the innumerable blessings this period is endowed with.
Every hour of these days, Baha’u’llah says, has been endowed with a special virtue, and a portion of this virtue has been assigned to every soul. He refers to fasting as the sun, and obligatory prayer the moon in the heaven of religion, and one may think of the effect that the sun has on life on this planet. How numerous the rays of the sun during the day, how endowed with power to generate heat, to enable plants to grow and life to thrive and prosper. These rays can be regarded as the virtues with which these days are endowed, the spiritual illumination they provide, the life of the soul they cultivate, the transformative power they exert on our inner beings and true reality. They banish the darkness of self that clouds our hearts, they clean the dross on our mirrors and uncover the beauty of God that exists within our souls. Their brightness is so dazzling that we can’t really appreciate them, not until their time has passed and darkness has set in again, our eyes have become adjusted and we finally realize what we are missing. But never worry, obligatory prayer is here to illumine the way and keep us on the right path till the next dawn, only 346 days away.
As the fast finishes and the year finishes, we prepare ourselves for the commencement of a new year, a new cycle on this earth. Spring is here, and with it a renewal of the physical world. All the storms and hail, the icy winds and snow, the thunder and lightning of the past season are gone, but they leave us with a wonderful gift of nature renewed. The trees which lost their leaves are now waking up, growing little green shoots on every branch. Flowers are budding and blooming. There’s a freshness in the air.
Tomorrow will be Naw-Rúz, a new day indeed. Each day has a significance, a unique spirit that it has been endowed with, so unique that it will never again recur. At the same time, each day is united with every other day, each month with every other month and each year with every other year. Naw-Rúz tomorrow is the return of last year’s Naw-Rúz. But the year has changed. And the world has changed, and each of us have changed. New people have been born into this world. People have passed on to the next. Humanity has become more mature, even though the masses may not recognize it.
Naw-Rúz is the first day of the year. It is special for many reasons, one of them being that it is associated with the greatest name of God, Bahá (glory). It is the day of glory, in the month of glory. It is the greatest day, of the greatest month – no day can be imagined greater than this day, or more glorious. It is the first of days, and the king of days, because it is linked with, has been created for and is dedicated to Bahá.
In the Persian Bayán the Báb attributes special significance to the first month, associates it with Himself and likens it to a sun with all the other months as “mirrors that reflect the radiant lights of that supreme month”. He says God has singled out that month for Him Whom God shall make manifest (Baha’u’llah), and that the first day of that month is the day of Him Whom God shall make manifest. This day is the source and excellence of all days. (see Gate of the Heart p. 328)
And the relation to God doesn’t end there, each year is unique, and each cycle of years is unique. Tomorrow will be the first day of the first month of the year Jád (generosity), in the 9th Váhid of the 1st Kull-i-Shay. It will also be Saturday, the day of Jalál (glory). In every way possible then, we try to link our everyday lives to God so we may never, even for a moment, forget why we are here, what we are doing and where we are going.
May we all strive then, by our actions, during this coming year to fill the world with the Names and Attributes of God. “This is a matchless Day. Matchless must, likewise, be… the deed that aspireth to be acceptable in His sight.” “This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense.” “An act, however infinitesimal, is, when viewed in the mirror of the knowledge of God, mightier than a mountain. Every drop proffered in His path is as the sea in that mirror.” “One single breath exhaled in the love of God and for His service is written down by the Pen of Glory as a princely deed.”
