Now, that the teaching work is making a steady headway, the friends should be on their guard lest they lose the opportunity they have of spreading the Message in every corner throughout India and Burma.
In this connection, he feels, he must congratulate most warmly the members of the N.S.A. for the valuable steps they have taken for the introduction of the Cause in central and southern India.
[From the Guardian:]
The progress of the teaching activities initiated by your Assembly is highly gratifying. Inflexible determination is required to carry it to a successful conclusion. The methods adopted by the American Baha'i community, the zeal, the initiative, the efficiency, the fidelity with which they are prosecuting their enterprise should be exemplified by individuals and Assemblies in India and Burma. The administrative machinery which the American believers have erected and perfected has already had its counterpart in the institutions you have so nobly reared in recent years. Your teaching campaign, the supreme purpose for which this machinery has been fashioned, should likewise be modelled according to the plan which your sister community has devised and is now developing so strenuously and successfully.
November 7, 1936
Welcome Extended to Mr. Schopflocher
He wishes me now to express in particular to you, and to your distinguished fellow-members in the Indian N.S.A., his most loving appreciation and thanks for the cordial welcome you have extended to our dearly-beloved friend, Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher, during his visit to India and Burma. He is confident that the steps you have taken to render his trip successful will greatly help in giving the Faith a wide and long-needed publicity. The opportunity that has been offered you has been truly splendid, and you certainly deserve to be heartily congratulated for having fully availed yourselves of it. May the Beloved reward you a thousand-fold for your ceaseless and devoted endeavours in His Path.
January 7, 1937
Theosophists
With regard to the Theosophists and their activities; although they obviously try to copy and claim as their own some of the principles of the Cause, yet the Guardian feels that it would be of no advantage to oppose them and to refute their arguments. The best attitude for the friends to adopt in such cases at the present time is to totally disregard and even neglect their opponents. This has invariably been his advice to the friends, whether in the East or in the West.
Baha'i Holidays
Regarding the sale of tea and other refreshments in a cinema under non-Baha'i ownership; those friends who have hired from the owner of the cinema a stall for the sale of such refreshments should make every effort to obtain permission to close on Baha'i holidays. In case, however, the non-Baha'i owner or partner refuses to grant their request their only alternative is to obey.
The case is different with a bread bakery owned by a believer. In this case there can be no excuse whatever why the shop should not be closed during Baha'i holidays, as there are always non-Baha'i bakers from whom the public can buy.
Baha'i Administration
Concerning the LSA's right to suspend one of its members from Assembly membership; the Assembly can, by a majority vote, take such an action, even though the suspension may be for a long period.
As regards your question whether the President of the N.S.A. is entitled to give any ruling during the period of his tenure; the Guardian wishes me to state that no such ruling can be valid unless approved by the other members of the National Assembly. The President has no special legislative capacity, except as a member of the Assembly.
As to the question of removing a believer from the voting list; although every duly constituted local Assembly has the right to take such an action against any individual believer in the community, nevertheless the Guardian feels the advisability for the Local Assemblies to seek the advice and approval of the N.S.A. in this most delicate and vital matter, as it is one fraught with grave and far-reaching responsibilities.
Before closing I wish to express to you, and through you to your fellow-members in the N.S.A., how happy the Guardian feels to learn of the strong preparations your Assembly has made for the holding of the next Annual Convention of the friends in Karachi. He is the more rejoiced that the main item of the discussions will be the problem of teaching. He is fervently praying that the program upon which the delegates and the N.S.A.
will decide will mark the inauguration of an unprecedented teaching campaign throughout India and Burma.
[From the Guardian:]
I am delighted to learn of the work which is being steadily and efficiently accomplished in so many spheres of Baha'i activity throughout India and Burma. My heart is filled with gratitude as I witness the progress you have achieved, the enterprises you have initiated, the method and measures you have adopted, the plans you have conceived and above all the spirit of exemplary loyalty and magnificent devotion that impels you forward in the great mission you are destined to fulfil.
February 28, 1937
Obligatory Prayers
...concerning the three daily obligatory prayers. The friends are free to choose any one of these three prayers, but have to follow the instructions revealed by Baha'u'llah concerning them. The long prayer should be recited once in every 24 hours, and is accompanied by certain physical acts. The short prayer, consisting of one verse, should be recited once a day at noon; while the medium prayer should be said three times a day: in the morning, at noon and in the evening. The believer is entirely free to choose any one of these three prayers for daily use.
While praying it would be better to turn one's thoughts to the Manifestation as He continues, in the other world, to be our means of contact with the Almighty. We can, however, pray directly to God Himself.
April 27, 1937
Progress of Teaching Most Gratifying
The reports of the progress of the teaching work in India and Burma are most gratifying, and all indicate the high measure of devotion and zeal which the friends are putting at the service of this most noble and sacred task. Dr. Ali of Rangoon is specially active working through the press, and has already succeeded in giving a very wide publicity to the Faith in many circles, both native and foreign. He is certainly the most promising teacher we have in Rangoon, and the N.S.A. would do well to encourage him, and to give him every possible assistance with the view of further extending the scope of his teaching activities throughout Burma.
[From the Guardian:]
I am so glad ... of the progress of the teaching work in India and Burma.
I pray that Martha's forthcoming visit to your shores may greatly stimulate the splendid work which has been so nobly initiated and is being so painstakingly continued.
July 12, 1937
National Fund
I wish, in particular, to express his gratification at the success that has attended your annual Convention this year, and at the recommendations and decisions taken by the N.S.A. with the view of intensifying the teaching campaign throughout India and Burma. He would strongly urge your Assembly to maintain the standard of the teaching work, and to appeal to the friends to rise up to the call of the hour, and to be ready to undergo any sacrifice that their sacred task requires.
Above all he wishes through you to reiterate his wish, already expressed in his recent cable to the N.S.A., that the National Fund, which undoubtedly constitutes the bedrock upon which all the activities of the Cause ultimately rest, should receive the continued and whole-hearted support of all the believers. Both the local Assemblies and the individual believers should realize that unless they contribute regularly and generously to that Fund the progress of the Faith in India and Burma will not only be considerably retarded, but will inevitably come to a standstill. There should be a continual flow of funds to the National treasury of the N.S.A., if that body wishes to properly administer the manifold and ever-increasing activities of the Faith. Every Baha'i no matter how poor, must realize what a grave responsibility he has to shoulder in this connection, and should have confidence that his spiritual progress as a believer in the World Order of Baha'u'llah will largely depend upon the measure in which he proves, in deeds, his readiness to support materially the divine institutions of His Faith.
With reference to your question in connection with the observance of Baha'i Holy Days; the Baha'i day begins and ends at sunset. The night preceding a Holy day is therefore included in the day, and consequently work during that period is forbidden.
The Guardian is most delighted to hear of the activities initiated recently by various local Assemblies in India, and wishes you to convey to these dear friends, and particularly to Prof. Abdu'l-Aziz of Hyderabad and the members of his teaching group, the expression of his keenest appreciation of their labours for the spread of the Cause. He would urge them each and all to lend every effort to assist your N.S.A. in its nation-wide teaching endeavours, and is most ardently praying that they may be assisted and guided by the confirmations from on high.