Festival of Ridvan: Festival of Paradise, The Baha'i Ridvan  

By A K MERCHANT  

Festival of Ridvan: Festival of Paradise, The Baha'i Ridvan  

Ridvan is a garden chosen by Baha'u'llah for announcing his divine mission. The Festival of Ridvan is celebrated over 12 days from April 21 to May 2. The first, ninth and twelfth days are consecrated for special worship and service.

The Baha'is believe that the events in the Garden of Ridvan are of tremendous significance for the regeneration of humankind. So the festival is celebrated with great joy and fellowship. Baha'u'llah wrote of the spot: "This is the Paradise , the rustling of whose leaves proclaims: O ye that inhabit the heavens and the earth! There hath appeared what hath never previously appeared. He Who, from everlasting, had concealed His face from the sight of creation is now come."

Since 1863 the teachings proclaimed by Baha'u'llah have spread the world over.

Baha'u'llah called upon world leaders and the people to realise that a new era had dawned, similar to the promised golden age recorded in the sacred scriptures and traditions of all peoples. The basic principle of this new age He proclaimed to be the oneness of humankind, a principle that "implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced... It calls for no less than the reconstruction and demilitarisation of the whole civilised world..."

During the Festival of Ridvan the Baha'is rededicate their efforts to restore Dharma to its pristine glory and fulfil the aspirations of the peoples of all faiths to transform today's dangerous world into a prosperous, peaceful one.

The time has come, Baha'u'llah said, when humanity has both the capacity and the opportu- nity to see the entire panorama of its spiritual and material development as a single process, "...this is the Day in which mankind can behold the Face, and hear the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath been raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon men. It behoves every man to blot out the trace of every idle word from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the proofs of His Mission, and the tokens of His glory."

Baha'is uphold the Divine origin of the great world religions and believe Baha'u'llah to be the Promised One. He restores to a scientific age belief in the Divine, while revealing the indestructible unity of religion and science. His message they believe to be from that one Creator Who gave the Ten Commandments, the Christian Gospel, the Qur'an, Who spoke through Krishna, Zoroaster, the Buddha and others to guide humanity to carry forward an ever-advancing civilisation.

On order of the Ottoman authorities, Baha'u'llah proceeded from Baghdad first to Istanbul, then to Adrianople and finally to the Turkish penal colony of Acre. During this period of banishment, torture and deprivation Baha'u'llah penned his Revelation.

Baha'u'llah writes in the Revelation: "There can be no doubt whatever that all the peoples of the world derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God... The earth is but one country and humankind its citizens." As the peoples of the world embrace the spiritual authority inherent in the divine guidance for this age, Baha'u'llah said, they will find in themselves a moral empowerment which human effort alone has proven incapable of generating. "A new race of men" will emerge as the result of this relationship, and the work of building a global civilisation will begin.

(The writer is director, Baha'i office of external affairs and inter-faith activities.)

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See also: Festival of Ridvan, Indian Festivals, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)