Here is a fascinating insight about the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Baha,
which Juliet
Thompson, heard from Valíyu’lláh Varqa, a member of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s entourage
during His visit to America in 1912. The following is an entry from her diary:
The next morning, Thursday, though I [Juliet Thompson] went
unusually early to the Master, He had already left the house. But Lua,
Valíyu’lláh Khán [son of the great Baha’i poet and martyr, Varqa], and I had a
wonderful morning. Valíyu’lláh told us so many things.
“My father,” he said, “spent much time with the Blessed
Beauty. The Blessed Beauty Himself taught him.
“One time when my father was in His room, Bahá’u’lláh rose
and strode back and forth till the very walls seemed to shake. And He told my
father that once in an age the Mighty God sent a Soul to earth endowed with the
power of the Great Ether, and that such a Soul had all power and was able to do
anything. ‘Even this walk of Mine’ said Bahá’u’lláh, ‘has an effect in the
world.’
“Then He said that His Holiness Jesus Christ had also come
with the power of the Great Ether, but the haughty priesthood of His day
thought of Him as a poor, unlettered youth and believed that if they should
crucify Him, His Teachings would soon be forgotten. Therefore they did crucify
Him. But because His Holiness Jesus possessed the power of the Great Ether, He
could not remain underground. This ethereal power rose and conquered the whole
earth. ‘And now,’ the Blessed Beauty said, ‘look to the Master, for this same
Power is His.’
“Bahá’u’lláh,” added Valíyu’lláh Khán, “taught my father
much about Áqá. Áqá (the Master, you
know) is one of the titles of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Greatest Branch is another,
and the Greatest Mystery of God another. By all these we call Him in Persian.
The Blessed Perfection, Bahá’u’lláh, revealed the Station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to my
father. And my father wrote many poems to the Master, though the Master would
scold him and say: ‘You must not write such things to Me.’ But the heart of my
father could not keep quiet. This is one
poem he wrote:
‘O Dawning-Point of the Beauty of God,
I know Thee!
Though Thou shroudest Thyself in a thousand veils,
I know Thee!
Though Thou shouldst assume the tatters of a beggar, still
would
I know Thee!’
- Juliet Thompson (‘Diary of Juliet Thompson’)