Note 22

22. Upon completing your prostrations, seat yourselves cross-legged # 14

The Arabic expression "&haykalu't-tawhid", translated here as "cross-legged", means the "posture of unity". It has traditionally signified a cross-legged position.

23. Say: God hath made My hidden love the key to the

Treasure # 15

There is a well-known Islamic tradition concerning God and His creation: +P175

I was a Hidden Treasure. I wished to be made known, and thus I called creation into being in order that I might be known.

References and allusions to this tradition are found throughout the &Baha'i Writings. For example, in one of His prayers, &Baha'u'llah reveals:

Lauded be Thy name, O Lord my God! I testify that

Thou wast a hidden Treasure wrapped within Thine immemorial Being and an impenetrable Mystery enshrined in

Thine own Essence. Wishing to reveal Thyself, Thou didst call into being the Greater and the Lesser Worlds, and didst choose

Man above all Thy creatures, and didst make Him a sign of both of these worlds, O Thou Who art our Lord, the Most

Compassionate!

Thou didst raise Him up to occupy Thy throne before all the people of Thy creation. Thou didst enable Him to unravel

Thy mysteries, and to shine with the lights of Thine inspiration and Thy Revelation, and to manifest Thy names and

Thine attributes. Through Him Thou didst adorn the preamble of the book of Thy creation, O Thou Who art the Ruler of the universe Thou hast fashioned! (Prayers and Meditations by &Baha'u'llah, XXXVIII) Likewise, in the Hidden Words, He states:

O Son of Man! I loved thy creation, hence I created thee.

Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life. &Abdu'l-Baha, in His commentary on the above-cited tradition, wrote:

O wayfarer in the path of the Beloved! Know thou that the main purpose of this holy tradition is to make mention of the stages of

God's concealment and manifestation within the Embodiments of

Truth, They who are the Dawning-places of His All-Glorious

Being. For example, before the flame of the undying Fire is lit and manifest, it existeth by itself within itself in the hidden +P176 identity of the universal Manifestations, and this is the stage of the "Hidden Treasure". And when the blessed Tree is kindled by itself within itself, and that Divine Fire burneth by its essence within its essence, this is the stage of "I wished to be made known". And when it shineth forth from the Horizon of the universe with infinite Divine Names and Attributes upon the contingent and placeless worlds, this constituteth the emergence of a new and wondrous creation which correspondeth to the stage of

"Thus I called creation into being". And when the sanctified souls rend asunder the veils of all earthly attachments and worldly conditions, and hasten to the stage of gazing on the beauty of the Divine Presence and are honoured by recognizing the Manifestation and are able to witness the splendour of God's

Most Great Sign in their hearts, then will the purpose of creation, which is the knowledge of Him Who is the Eternal

Truth, become manifest.