Cleanse them, then, O my God, from all idle fancies and vain imaginations, that they may inhale the fragrances of sanctity from the robe of Thy Revelation and Thy commandment, that haply they may cease to inflict upon me what will deprive their souls of the fragrances of the manifold tokens of thy mercy, that are wafted in the days of Him Who is the Manifestation of Thyself, and the Day-Spring of Thy Cause, and that they may not perpetrate what will call down Thy wrath and anger. (Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Meditations, pp. 307-308)
In the days when I found it hard to forgive my parents for the abuse perpetrated on me as a child, I liked to use this prayer to pray for them. In this prayer I was asking God to:
- Cleanse them from all idle fancies and vain imaginations
- Help them inhale the fragrances of sanctity from His robe
So that they would cease to inflict upon me what would deprive their souls of the fragrances of the manifold tokens of His mercy and that they would not perpetrate what will call down His wrath and anger. It was a bit self-serving, but I could do it because it was a prayer and I wanted to align my wishes with prayer.
Lately, I’ve been looking at it a little differently. I remember that whenever I point a finger at someone else, there are 3 fingers pointing back at me. I can use this prayer to ask God to cleanse ME of all idle fancies and vain imaginations; and to help ME inhale the fragrances of His unconditional love, so that I can stop feeling guilty for not being the Baha’i I want to be, following all injunctions and laws and actively engaged with the core activities and community building.
Knowing I can pray for myself as well as my oppressors, I am grateful!
What jumped out for you as you read today’s meditation? I’d love it if you would share so we can all expand our knowledge of the Writings!
If you liked this meditation, you might also like my book Overcoming Abuse and Violence
I appreciate your insight here – 3 fingers, asking for them vs yourself, guilt of failing to live up to His vision… very helpful. When we are focused on the wrongs of others (outside ourselves) we neglect to recognize the same or similar exists within ourselves. I am coming to understand more how we are not separate from anyone else – only separate aspects of the same shared consciousness behaving in unaligned ways. I see this prayer from the standpoint of Baha’u’lla praying to God on humanity’s behalf, to help us understand that choosing His (Gods) commandments will result in the perfume (blessings) and mercy (freedom from suffering) instead of His wrath (suffering). I can see how my guilt is an aspect of other’s guilt (regardless of origin) and how as a human consciousness, we will continue to suffer until we all follow Gods Revelation and commandments, as revealed by His chosen messenger BAHA’U’LLA. While we cannot do this for anyone but ourselves, we can set our intention on this being the outcome for everyone, by praying for all of humanity, including ourselves.
Thank you for your share Susan and for provoking my thoughts to examine this prayer in this personal way today.
Wonderful insights, Laura, thank you! Baha’u’llah told us that every word out of His mouth has 70+1 meanings and I LOVE it when my readers help to expand my understanding of a quote.
Hi
This reminded me that sometimes I mistakenly feel bad or guilty when I am doing something good, like praying for my abusers, or myself.
These feelings are the result of being abused in childhood.
They allowed the perpetrater to control, blame and label me as a bad person.
My child self believed this in order to cope with the abuse. The perpetrater used this to stop me from disclosing his identity.
Yes, unfortunately this is all too common, Lynn. I pray that God will let you lay down all these feelings of guilt. This article might help: Healthy and Unhealthy Guilt and Shame
In this prayer, He is directing one’s attention from self to the persecutor. This is height of Detachment, Majesty and Benevolence. This is perhaps a stage beyond forgiveness. It is being really concerned about condition of persecutors’ soul in the next world.
What do you think?
Absolutely right, VM. You might want to check out Praying for Those Who’ve Hurt Us.