Divine Praise and Prayers: Selections from “Days of Remembrance,” writings of Lord Bahá’u’lláh (vegetarian) for Bahá’i Holy Days, Part 1 of 2

Celebrating the Birth of The Venerated Enlightened Master Bahá’u’lláh (vegetarian) with gratitude, love, and praise. It is an honor to present selections from “Days of Remembrance,” by Lord Bahá’u’lláh (vegetarian), “Riḍván,” with a series of deep prayers and praises to the Most Illuminous, GOD Almighty. The “Riḍván” is a joyous 12-day festival commemorating the Lord Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration of His Divine mission in the Riḍván garden in Baghdad in 1863.

HE is the Manifest, the Hidden, the All-Glorious, the All-Knowing, the Ever-Forbearing.

“O Lord my GOD! Whensoever I attempt to unloose my tongue to extol the wondrous expressions of Thy transcendent oneness, or to open my lips to disclose the mystic gems of Thine incomparable handiwork by which Thou have inspired me, I am compelled to recognize that all things sing Thy praise and glorify Thy remembrance— a remembrance which has so pervaded the Heavens and the Earth that all things proclaim, in their very being, the wondrous testimonies of Thine exalted praise and bear witness to the marvellous tokens of Thy transcendent unity. For which reason am I ashamed, as are all who mention Thee, to approach the exalted heights of Thy remembrance, and am powerless, as are all who extol Thee, to ascend unto the lofty summits of Thy praise. Glorified, immeasurably glorified, are Thou! […]

Having acknowledged, O my GOD, with my soul, my tongue, mine essence, and with mine inner and outer being, all my trespasses, whose like mortal eyes have never beheld nor human minds conceived, I implore Thee to pardon me and Thy loved ones for whatsoever we have failed to observe of Thy laws and ordinances. Attire us then with the robe of forgiveness, O my GOD, in this Day whereon Thou have assumed the throne of Thy grace and bounty invested with the full glory of Thy names and attributes; the Day whereon the Sun of Thy beauty has dawned above the horizon of Thy grandeur, and the signs of Thy glorious sovereignty have been vouchsafed from the treasury of Thy grace; the Day whereon the sweet savors of reunion have wafted over all who are in Thy Heaven and on Thine Earth, and the hidden Word has shone forth from the repository of Thy protection and power. […]

Thou have caused the radiance to surpass the splendor of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars, and to transcend the brightness of every lofty and glorious, every shining and brilliant light. […]”