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Lotus Temple, New Delhi - the Epitome of Marvel and Magnificence
December 12, 2009 by
THE TRANS-WORLD REVIEWER

The Baha'i Faith's Lotus Temple in New Delhi is a Superb Example of Excellence in Thought and Execution
Recently I had the occasion to visit the marvelous Lotus Temple in Delhi. It is situated at Kalkaji, Nehru Place, at a 13 km distance from Connaught Place. I was accompanied by my friend John and a 15 minutes drive took us there. What struck me was the architectural marvel of the edifice.
Equally striking was the peace and tranquility that the Temple and its landscape were clad in. At the entrance to the Temple compound we were received by the devotee-volunteers whose sincerity and simplicity were endearing. At the Information Centre and Library, we could gather plethora of information through print and electronic media about the Baha'i Faith and its existence across the world.

The design of the Temple really amazed me. This awe-inspiring edifice is the result of 10 years design and project management by the Iranian origin Canadian architect Fariborz Sahba who was assisted by a team of 800 engineers, experts and workers.

This marvelous edifice is constructed with marble, cement, dolomite and sand. It is open to all Faiths and is an ideal place for meditation and obtaining peace and tranquility. This magnificent structure is a very recent architectural marvel of the Baha’i Faith.

The Baha’i Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its Founder, Baha’u’llah (1817-1892) is regarded by its followers as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Mohammad.

The guiding principle of the Baha’i Faith is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. The Faith believes that God has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed and nation and this will in due course give birth to a universal civilization.
The construction of the edifice posed considerable challenges to the engineers. It was difficult to align the double-curved surfaces and their intersections. Also, the closeness of the petals severely restricted workplace. To avoid construction joints, petals were concreted in a continuous operation for about 48 hours. All the steel reinforcing for the shells of the lotus petals was galvanized to avoid rust stains on the white concrete in the prevailing humid conditions.

The structure of the Lotus Temple is conceived in the form of a lotus flower with three ranks of nine petals. The nine reflection pools that surround the edifice add to the look of a lotus flower floating in water. Nine arches support the superstructure of the meditation hall inside where prayers collected from several Faiths are chanted at intermittent sessions.

There is no officiating priest. I was impressed by the self-imposed discipline and decorum everyone observed without any instruction from anyone. Equally notable was the lack of security screening which shows the tolerance of the Faith. Though I was impressed by the Faith and wanted to know more about it and left my contacts with the volunteers, unlike many other Faiths, I was not at all forced in to the Faith.

I experienced some uniqueness in human existence. I found Lotus Temple a place without avarice, aggrandizement, bigotry, jealousy, hatred and suspicion. Over all it was a memorable experience.


Beware, O People of Baha, lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words differ from their deeds… Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions of most men, be they high or low, differ from their conduct. It is through their deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others… Happy is the man that heedeth My counsel.

Baha’u’llah
Gleanings, no. CXXXIX, p. 305

A hopeful future put into action by Tufts students
By Eric Sullivan

Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009
There were certainly a number of great events at Tufts over the past couple of weeks. There were three that didn’t garner much, if any, attention in the Daily, but that nonetheless exemplified the best of what Tufts has to offer.
On Monday, Nov. 9, Leon Rubinstein, a Holocaust survivor and author of “Escape to Freedom,” spoke at Tufts Hillel on the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht, which marked the start of the organized campaign of inhuman brutality that had scarcely been seen before. Hillel and Tufts CAF (Conversations Action Faith Education) worked hand-in-hand over several months to bring Rubinstein to Tufts from his home in Florida so students here would be able to listen to his remarkable story. It was the first time Rubinstein spoke to a college audience, and a full 24 hours before that, the cross-town rival in Cambridge had a chance to hear him speak. It was an understandably moving event for the 80 or so in attendance, who listened attentively to the still vibrant and intensely poignant story of a man who had lived in times and suffered personal losses that many of us could scarcely comprehend. And all of it was made possible because two distinctly diverse student groups worked together in a way that paid tribute to the legacy of the Holocaust.
Then on Friday, Nov. 13, there was a fundraiser in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room for Computers for Careers, a charity that provides impoverished children with the opportunity for a livelihood beyond poverty through information technology. Computers for Careers is a praiseworthy product of the Tufts experience produced by an even more esteemed product of Tufts. Current Fletcher student Constantin Sabet d’Acre started the organization while he was an undergraduate at Tufts a couple years ago. At the event, performances by Tufts’ own BlackOut and the Tufts Garba Team were impressive and the Nepalese food was, of course, delicious. However, the most impressive and most delicious part of the evening (for the soul) was the fact that all of us there knew exactly where all the proceeds were headed and that they would bring to impoverished children the 21st-century skills needed to have a real chance at life.
And finally, on Monday, Nov. 16, there was the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Dinner at the Interfaith Center where students of all faiths gathered together to celebrate Thanksgiving as a diverse community. Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Latter Day Saint, Unitarian, Muslim and Baha’i students, as well as those of no particular faith or creed, came together in a demonstration of unity despite diversity for a common expression of gratitude. This was especially visible when the opportunity arose to perform an act of service by writing short notes or letters to children with terminal illnesses. It was truly a neat sight to behold and akin to observing a garden of great variety in which such diversity creates the beauty and charm of that garden.
And as we approach Thanksgiving, I realize that despite any issues we may have with things here and there at Tufts (including the price of tuition), it is nonetheless a remarkable place with unique opportunities for us to bring into action the world that we want to encounter each day. Tufts fosters a world where the horror of the Holocaust will never be repeated, where children in dire poverty have a real chance at life, and where people of all nations, faiths and creeds live in peace and harmony. This is what most of us hope for, and this is what I saw put into living action the past two weeks at our university.


It is clear and evident, therefore, that the first bestowal of God is the Word, and its discoverer and recipient is the power of understanding. This Word is the foremost instructor in the school of existence and the revealer of Him Who is the Almighty. All that is seen is visible only through the light of its wisdom. All that is manifest is but a token of its knowledge. All names are but its name, and the beginning and end of all matters must needs depend upon it.

Baha'u'llah
The Tabernacle of Unity, p. 3

Baha'i Conference Promotes World Parliament

WRITTEN BY JOE WOLVERTON, II
THURSDAY, 05 NOVEMBER 2009 02:00
On October 24, the Francophone European Association for Baha’i Studies convened its annual conference in Luxembourg. Normally, the minutes of the meetings of such a niche organization would not be newsworthy. This year, however, the group’s agenda was dominated by discussions of the anxiously awaited future of a new world order and a one-world government.
The keynote presentation was delivered by Andreas Bummel, the Chairman of the Committee for a Democratic United Nations, a Berlin-based NGO that, according to its website, seeks "to facilitate a cosmopolitan orientation of society, an improvement of international relations and the establishment of global democracy and global rule of law." Specifically, in order to achieve this goal the Committee advocates the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. Not unexpectedly, one of the most notable supporters of this movement is former United Nations Secretary-General Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali.
In Bummel’s fascist fantasy (and that of many equally delusional globalists), the UN Parliamentary Assembly would be directly elected by all the citizens of the world and would serve as a world governing body with supreme legislative power. In reverential tones, Bummel stressed the “spiritual dimension” of his plans. “The establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly would represent a changed consciousness. For the first time in human history such a body would establish a direct political connection between every human being and the planet,” he gushed.
Other presentations followed Bummel and mimicked its preposterous proposals. One such speech was delivered by Jean-Francis Billion, a council member of the UN’s New York City neighbor, the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy. The predecessor of this conglomerate outfit was founded in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1947 for the purpose of “the establishment of a global federal system of strengthened and democratized global institutions with plenary constitutional power accountable to the citizens of the world and a division of international authority among separate global agencies.” Recently, they have fought for the creation of an International Criminal Court and a standing United Nations Armed Force.
The Baha’i organizers reminded those in attendance that Bahaullah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, predicted a series of joyous and momentous changes in the political, social, and spiritual life of the world. He affirmed that the happy and welcome results of such a revolution would include the formation of a one-world government, the election of a world parliament, a binding world constitution, and an armed global police force.
As citizens of the United States of America, through our elected representatives, we have ordained and established the Constitution of the United States and have enshrined it as the “supreme law of the land” (Article VI). No organization may of its own volition contravene this protection. What we must fear, however, is the deliberate yet surreptitious enervation of the Constitution and the subsequent surrender of our sacred liberties by way of international treaties that according to that same section become the law of the land, as well. Our solemn and nondelegable responsibility is to unwaveringly hold accountable any of our elected representatives that votes to ratify any treaty obligating the United States or any of its several states or citizens thereof to submit to any extra-constitutional authority.

This is the stage which the world is now approaching, the stage of world unity, which, as 'Abdu'l-Bah assures us, will, in this century, be securely established. "The Tongue of Grandeur," Bah'u'llᡡh Himself affirms, "hath ... in the Day of His Manifestation proclaimed: 'It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who loveth the world.'" "Through the power," He adds, "released by these exalted words He hath lent a fresh impulse, and set a new direction, to the birds of men's hearts, and hath obliterated every trace of restriction and limitation from God's Holy Book."

(Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 121)

Banderan becomes gov of Kiwanis Texas-Oklahoma District
www.bccourier.com 2009-10-15
William M. Bishop, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Bandera County, was installed as governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District Kiwanis International on Thursday, Oct. 1. He will serve until 30 September 2010.

Bishop joined Kiwanis in 1990 in Derby, Kansas, where he lived while working for the Boeing Company. He and his wife Ann Gay moved to the Bandera area in 2002 where he joined the Kiwanis Club of Bandera County. He has served as president, secretary, treasurer and director of the club. In addition, he was a lieutenant governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District in 2004-2005.

After arriving in the area, the Bishops quickly became a part of the Bandera community. Bill Bishop served as co-chairman of Celebrate Bandera in 2005 and 2006 and as president of the Bandera Community Foundation in 2007. Ann Gay Bishop recently retired as executive director of the Silver Sage Corral Senior Activity Center. Both he and his wife remain active in the community. Bishop is a retired officer in the United States Air Force.

“Governor Bill” – as he is referred to in the Kiwanis world – noted, “We must all work together to make our community and our world a better place to live. There are several other community service organizations in Bandera and all work for the common good. I am committed to making sure Kiwanis does its share.”

As a Baha’i, he said his favorite Baha’i quotation is “The earth is but one country and mankind its citizen.”

Today nothing but the power of the Word of God which encompasses the realities of things can bring the thoughts, the minds, the hearts and the spirits under the shade of one Tree. He is the potent in all things, the vivifier of souls, the preserver and the controller of the world of mankind. Praise be to God, in this day the light of the Word of God has shone forth upon all regions, and from all sects, communities, nations, tribes, peoples, religions and denominations, souls have gathered under the shadow of the Word of Oneness and have in the most intimate fellowship united and harmonized!

Abdu'l-Baha
Divine Philosophy, p. 184