Now the translation into Burmese and Gujrati have been completed and the latter is even printed and circulated the Guardian feels we should concentrate upon the Hindi and Urdu translations. We should not permit so much unnecessary delay. If one way seems closed or difficult we could try another and strive for the speedy completion of those books. The more we see the crying need of the world for the spiritual teachings of our Faith the more restless we should feel in giving out the Message and improving the means of diffusing the precepts of the Cause.
In his moments of prayers at the Blessed Shrines the Guardian will think of you and ask God to guide and sustain your efforts. He knows fully how difficult it is these days to bring a task to a speedy and successful conclusion, but to a person who is determined and lays his trust in God nothing is impossible.
Teaching Among the Masses in India
[From the Guardian:]
I rejoice to hear of the steps that are being taken for the printing of the Burmese edition of the 'New Era' but deplore the delay in the translation of the book into Hindi and Urdu. The Gujrati copies have already been placed in the library of the Mansion at Bahji, and I long with all my heart to witness these remaining translations in their final and printed form, side by side with the nineteen printed versions which have already been collected and distributed throughout the world. I would urge you to concentrate your energy on this important and essential preliminary to an intensive campaign of teaching among the masses in India. Persevere and rest assured that my prayers will continue to be offered on your behalf.
March 24, 1933
He was very glad to receive the Gujrati translation of Dr. Esslemont's book, and he hopes that through your efforts the Hindi and Urdu translation of it will soon be ready for publication. As you may know, this work has already been translated into 19 different languages and its rendering into 11 others will be soon completed. This is really encouraging.
[From the Guardian:]
I long to hear from you and of the progress of your devoted and incessant activities in the service of our beloved Faith. I am also eager to receive the good news of the completion of the translation and early publication of the Urdu and Hindi versions of the 'New Era'. The utmost effort should be exerted to ensure the consummation of this work which, I feel, must precede an intensive teaching campaign among the masses in India. I am arranging for Mrs. Kehler to visit southern Persia this autumn after which she is expecting to visit India, this winter.
June 8, 1933
Baha'i Magazine
He was particularly glad to learn that some of our Indian friends have encouraged you to start a fortnightly paper on the Cause. The idea is, undoubtedly, most genuine and meets with our Guardian's wholehearted approval. He wishes you, however, not to act hurriedly, to take all the necessary steps which can insure its safety and development. Such projects are not so easy to carry out, especially in these days when the economic crisis is getting so acute. At any rate, if you find that your financial conditions allow you to undertake such an important work, you should persevere in your efforts and try to make your paper an indispensable adjunct to the teaching activities of the friends.
The Guardian hopes that you will be more successful in this, your second attempt. The unexpected death of the 'Baha'i Weekly', he feels, had badly affected the prestige of the Cause. It is hoped that your new fortnightly paper will enable all to appreciate more adequately the divine potency with which it is endowed.
Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler, who has been doing such a fine work in Persia, is planning to leave for India at the beginning of winter. Her presence among you will be certainly appreciated. She is such a wonderful soul, so devoted, so active and so capable. The Guardian hopes that you will make the utmost use of her stay in India.
[From the Guardian:]
Your unswerving loyalty and inflexible resolve to carry on the work you have so nobly initiated are indeed worthy of the highest praise. I will pray for your success and the steady and uninterrupted progress of your activities whenever I lay my head on the sacred Threshold and will supplicate for you all the strength and guidance you need for the prosecution of your task. The friends in India and Burma should bestir themselves and, under the guidance and by the aid of the National Assembly prepare the way for the forthcoming visit of our able and brilliant international teacher Mrs. Kehler. May the Lord sustain and guide them in their endeavours and reward them for their acts of self-sacrifice in His Path.
June 13, 1933
Publication of Baha'u'llah & the New Era
As regards the Urdu translation of Dr. Esslemont's book, Shoghi Effendi wishes you to make all the necessary effort to have it published as soon as possible. He is fully aware of the difficulties that have caused an inevitable delay in the publication of this highly important work, but he feels certain that, through your perseverance and through the kind and invaluable assistance of Prof. Pritam Singh ... the translation will be soon completed and be ready for publication.
The Guardian would like you also to take all the necessary steps for the Hindi translation of this same work. It is hoped that no delay will be caused this time.
[From the Guardian:]
The Serbian and Hungarian versions of "The New Era" have been recently published through the efforts of Martha Root. The Rumanian translation has been undertaken and the Greek version will soon be started. I long to see the Urdu, the Hindi and the Burmese versions in print and circulated among the masses of the Indian people. Persevere and redouble in your efforts.
August 6, 1933
Shoghi Effendi was deeply gratified to learn of the important steps you have taken for the translation and publication of Dr. Esslemont's book into Hindi. He has greatly appreciated the assistance of Dr. Kaushal Kishore, and sincerely trusts that through your combined efforts the work will be soon completed and will be ready for circulation. In a recent communication to the Guardian, our devoted friend Siyyid, Mustafa Rumi, has given the news of the publication of this same book in Burmese. It is hoped that this will serve to encourage our Indian believers to follow his example.
[From the Guardian:]
I am so pleased and grateful to you for your incessant efforts in connexion with the translation and publication of the 'New Era', and I am deeply gratified to learn of the progress already achieved. I will continue to pray for the speedy realization of your hopes, plans and wishes in the service of this glorious Faith.
September 10, 1933
Passing Away of Brilliant Teacher-Mrs. Kehler
The sudden passing of that wholly-consecrated and brilliant teacher and international promoter of the Cause Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler, has plunged Shoghi Effendi into deepest sorrow for in her he has lost not only a valuable co-worker but a dear friend. After more than a year of intense teaching work in Persia, where she was entrusted by the Guardian with the mission of acquainting our Persian brethren with the basic principles of the Administration and of liberating them from the appalling persecutions to which they have been lately subjected, our precious Keith left this world under so tragic circumstances that she was given by the Guardian the title of the first western martyr on Persian soil, and was raised by him to the station of one of the Hands of the Cause. Her deep-rooted and unshakable faith, her unqualified loyalty to the Cause of the Administration and her profound knowledge of the Teachings, all these fully entitle her to occupy such an eminent rank among the faithful.
Our Indian friends, who have been so appreciative of her last visit to them, must have been particularly affected by such an irretrievable loss.
May the memory of her services inspire them to follow in her footsteps, and to tread the path of service as firmly and as successfully as she did.
Twentyfive Printed Versions of Baha'u'llah & the New Era
[From the Guardian:]
I am so eager to receive the news of the completion and publication of the Hindi and Urdu versions of the "New Era", and it will please and encourage you to know that we have already twentyfive different printed versions of this precious book translated into Eastern and Western tongues.
November 26, 1933
Registration of Bombay Assembly
The Guardian was greatly pleased to read the minutes of the last meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma and he wishes me to express his genuine appreciation of the important steps which your Assembly has taken for the further extension and consolidation of the administrative institutions of the Faith in that country. He would be very grateful if you send him regularly the minutes of the meetings of the N.S.A. and he would be only too glad to offer any suggestion or advice which may help its members to better discharge their manifold and delicate functions. He sincerely hopes that your Assembly will meet as regularly and as frequently as possible in order to maintain the efficiency of its functioning and to raise the standard and to widen the scope of its activities.
The important decision of the N.S.A. relative to the registration of the Bombay Assembly as a recognized religious body is, in the Guardian's opinion, a leading step towards the official recognition of the Cause as an independent religious organisation by the Government authorities both in India and Burma. He would strongly urge, however, that the constitution to be adopted should not only be based on that which the New York Assembly has adopted for its own registration but should reproduce it identically without any change whatsoever but with due consideration to all local and geographical differences.
The Guardian wishes also to stress the necessity of completing the Urdu and the Hindi translations of Dr. Esslemont's 'New Era'. He has already, in several communications addressed to Mr. N.R. Vakil, requested him to take all the necessary steps in this direction. May the decision of the N.S.A. on this point hasten and insure the completion of this task to which the Guardian has so repeatedly drawn the attention of the friends.