O FRIEND!
In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold. Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly.
Bahá’u’lláh
ای دوست
در روضۀ قلب جز گلِ عشق مکار و از ذیلِ بلبلِ حبّ و شوق دست مدار مصاحبتِ ابرار را غنیمت دان و از مرافقتِ اشرار دست و دل هر دو بردار
حضرت بهاءالله
In a letter written on his behalf (Lights of Guidance, no. 1633), Shoghi Effendi referred to The Hidden Words as “jewel-like thoughts cast out of the mind of the Manifestation of God to admonish and counsel men.” In an earlier letter (Unfolding Destiny, pp. 429–30), he noted that they were “dictated by Bahá’u’lláh to His secretary [Mírzá Áqá Ján] as He strolled on the banks of the river in Baghdád,” and that, according to ʻAbdu’l-Bahá Himself, they were revealed in 1274 A.H. (1857–58).
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