Ali and Violette Nakhjavani Talk

September 10th, Saturday 7-10pm
Notes of Martin Braithwaite

See pictures

DISCLAIMER

(These notes were personally recorded and not authenticated by the speakers and therefore mistakes should be anticipated. A few statements are made in quotation marks simply for ease of reading and not for unquestioned accuracy.)

INTRODUCTION

Few honours can be greater than receiving the visit of a member, past or present, of the Universal House of Justice. Mr. Ali Nakhjavani, whose service as a member of this beloved institution spans 40 years back to its creation in 1963, has taken advantage of his recent retirement to travel, meeting Bahá'ís throughout the world and giving inspirational talks.


MR. ALI NAKHJAVANI TALK

His unquestioned love for the Canadian Bahá'í community led him and his wife, Violette Nakhjavani, author and long-time companion of 'Amatu'l-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khanum, to meet with us in Ottawa. Mr. Nakhjavani began his talk by mentioning that his continuing travels and talks are in loving memory of Ruhiyyih Khanum and his own brother Jamal.

Living in France the Nakhjavani’s purposely come to Canada since it is recognized with several special distinctions. As he commented, Canada is the only country in the Western Hemisphere with a shrine (in Montreal) We are co-heirs of the Tablets of the Divine Plan – the letters that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote around 1917 that are the veritable charter for the spiritual conquest of the world. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had a particularly high outlook for Canada in the future both materially and spirutally. Another point of distinction is that during the 10 Year Crusade it was Canada where the Guardian wanted generals for the army of life/light. Informally, Mr. Nakhjavani noted that Canadian pioneers are ‘exceptional.’

Looking forward, he reminded us what the House of Justice had mentioned in their last Ridván Message, that the next 5 Year Plan will be even more ambitious and expressed his personal hopes that Canada would be an example for the world.

Looking further ahead, 2012 will be the 100th anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to North America. 2017 will be the 200th anniversary of Bahá’u’lláh’s birth (The 100th was during the World War so all ‘Abdu’l-Bahá could do was pen Tablets of the Divine Plan) Two short years later will follow, in 1819, the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of the Báb, and in 2021 the 100th Anniversary of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the inception of the Formative Age of our Faith

The Twin Processes – Integration and Disintegration

Integration: What we do, a positive and constructive force
Disintegration: What happens to the outside world, negative and disruptive force

He mentioned that the Guardian said that the highest point of Bahá'í Exploits and the lowest point in humanities degradation will ‘coincide.’

French Portion
Here he spoke in French, so these notes were taken by Catherine Jones.

Stages of the Bahá'í Faith
 

1. Obscurity
2. Repression
3. Emancipation
4. Recognition
5. State Religion
6. Bahá'í State
7. Bahá'í Commonwealth

Stages 5-7 do not exist yet, but will occur in the future. The Bahá'í state is the natural state after it becomes a state religion. Regarding the future Bahá'í commonwealth, it will emerge once several countries have adopted the Faith as their state religion. Stages 1-4 are part of the Minor Plan while 5-7 are part of the Major Plan of God.

The Bahá'í Faith, Mr. Nakhjavani firmly asserts, is not a club but a religion. This means that we have a partner: serious, important, and powerful. He guides us, protects us, and gives us bounties. When we teach the Faith to others and perform acts of service in the community with an attitude of detachment, we become a magnet for these bounties.

Purity, detachment and pure intentions are magnets. If we are egotistical, proud, jealous, we repel these bounties. The devil is the insistent self. It can only be controlled by prayer and the sacrifices we make though service.  (Martin'sQuest Exclusive: To read more about this topic see 6-day conference notes he gave on the subject!)


VIOLETTE NAKHJAVANI’S TALK

Violette began by saying that in 7 weeks they had attended 6 summer schools in Europe. She noticed that in Ireland they paid deference to George Townshend and in Scotland it was John Esselmont. In Canada, we generally look to May Maxwell, the (Spiritual) Mother of Canada. It is said that Ruhiyyih Khanum became the wife of the Guardian because she was the daughter of May Maxwell.

Mary Maxwell was very interested in religion when she was younger – even reading the Koran, which was exceedingly rare for a non-Muslim. She would learn about the Bahá’í Faith from Lua Getsinger and go on to ebulliently support it. After returning from her first pilgrimage in Akka/Haifa, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá noted that “when she arrived she was worldly but now she was heavenly!”

She was instructed to stay and teach the Faith in Paris. Initial difficulties in the teaching field were surmounted with the instructive counsel to “pray, turn your heart to Me, and I will help you.” By 1899, in 18 short months, 30 Bahá’ís had enrolled in the Faith whereupon the Master sent foremost Bahá'í scholar Mirza Abu’l-Fadl and a translator to confirm these new believers.

After a letter was written to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá informing him that the family would be leaving Paris the daughter received a one line response, “Don’t leave Paris.” Upon remonstration ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote back, “You can leave for one day.”

Mary Maxwell consequently remained in Paris when one day Dreyfus Barney an agnostic from Jewish background inquired at the home and later, after becoming the first French Bahá'í, went on to do most of the French translations.

On another occasion, a woman brought a small, skinny man to the home. Thomas Breakwell, as Mary Maxwell described him, had veils over his burning eyes. He asked many piercing, philosophical questions but at no time was the Bahá'í Faith even mentioned. That night he walked around Paris reflecting on the previous night when he heard a voice say, “Christ has returned.” Returning at dawn to the home (“dawn being the time when spiritual blessings are distributed,” according ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as quoted in Pilgrim’s notes) he asked if he was insane to which he heard the reply, ‘no, you’ve just become sane.’ The third day he wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá “My Lord, I believe, forgive me. Thy servant, Thomas Breakwell” (Read more: http://bahai-library.com/essays/breakwell.html) May was excited about this but before she could even get word to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá she received a message from him saying just, “You may now leave Paris.”

At this time there was a man that wanted to marry Mary Maxwell whereupon she asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who said yes if she would not let it interfere with her service to the Faith. One time on pilgrimage, the newly declared Mr. Maxwell made an interesting statement to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He said that Christians pray to Christ, Mary Maxwell prays to you, but I pray directly to God. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá then asked him where he felt God was, to which he answered ‘Everywhere.’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá then went on to say, in what would become a spiritual turning point for Mr. Maxwell, “Everywhere? Everywhere is nowhere. A savage who prays to sticks is closer to God than you if you pray to God everywhere. You are in fact praying to your own imagination.”

The passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá caused the heavily devoted Mary Maxwell to become sick with nerves. During a pilgrimage in 1923 to visit Shoghi Effendi, the new head of the Faith, he seemingly read her concerns, and consolingly admonished her saying at the dinner table, ‘the thoughts you are thinking are not true,’ letting her know that she had not lost the Master – uprooting these painfully debilitating thoughts.

Presciently, Shoghi Effendi took a strong interest in the rearing of Mary Maxwell’s daughter, Ruhiyyih Khanum, who had a strong and independent personality. Violette shared a story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá trying to pick up the 3 year old Ruhiyyih to kiss her, when she slapped him in the face and ran away. Her mom asserted that she was naughty, only to be corrected by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who commented that she was ‘the essence of sweetness.’ He then chased the toddler around the room and completed his intention.

Mary Maxwell was always encouraged to raise her loosely, which led her to sleep in most days affecting her schooling and requiring the aid of several tutors. Despite this spotty education she was very well read and knowledgeable about many subjects. She married Shoghi Effendi while on pilgrimage in 1937. Her life necessarily changed after this as she had to adapt to the oriental household and customs of the land. “Man is the most adaptable creature – once you make up your mind to change.”

Dignified and womanly, Ruhiyyih Khanum did not take to the ‘soft life.’ She enjoyed challenges; while in Africa for example she would drive during the tumultuous stretches and let Violette drive when the road evened out. Her writing of “The Priceless Pearl,” about her husband Shoghi Effendi will stand out as one of the greatest contributions to the friends for the next 1000 years.


IN CLOSING

The packed audience responded enthusiastically to both talks and were appreciative of the efforts that the Nakhjavani’s made to speak with us today. We look forward to putting the shared wisdom into action in the field of teaching, and letting the story of the Maxwell’s reinvigorate our conviction to sacrifice in the path of service.

 

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