Contentment: The Antidote of All Pain

For those people who are joining us right now in our study, I will do another quick summary in order to review what is going on in our study of Bahá'u'lláh's mystical work, The Seven Valleys. Thus far, we have detached ourselves of all our previous bias, our ideas of love, our accomplishments and knowledge and from the earth. Not that any of these steps are easy, or even feasible at times, but at this point, each Valley becomes more and more challenging to endure.

Before we begin, I would like to bring out a quote I used from Nabil's Narrative, The Dawn Breakers.
Unfamiliar names in this passage include Quddús, one of the Báb's first eighteen disciples called the Letters of the Living (much like the Apostles of Jesus the Christ). Mullá Ṣádiq was a Bábí-a follower of the Báb. Ḥusayn Khán was the governor of the province of Fárs and not a friend of the Bábí Faith.

Quddús and Mullá Ṣádiq were teaching the Bábí Faith when Ḥusayn Khán came and arrested the two of them. He "reviled and cursed him [Mullá Ṣádiq specifically], ordered his attendants to strip him of his garments and to scourge him with a thousand lashes. He then commanded that the beards of both Quddús and Mullá Ṣádiq should be burned, their noses be pierced, that through this incision a cord should be passed, and with this halter they should be led through the streets of the city. 'It will be an object lesson to the people of Shíráz,' Ḥusayn Khán declared, 'who will know what the penalty of heresy will be...'"

"An eye-witness of this revolting episode, an unbeliever residing in Shíráz, related to me the following: “I was present when Mullá Ṣádiq was being scourged. I watched his persecutors each in turn apply the lash to his bleeding shoulders, and continue the strokes until he became exhausted. No one believed that Mullá Ṣádiq, so advanced in age and so frail in body, could possibly survive fifty such savage strokes. We marvelled at his fortitude when we found that, although the number of the strokes of the scourge he had received had already exceeded nine hundred, his face still retained its original serenity and calm. A smile was upon his face, as he held his hand before his mouth. He seemed utterly indifferent to the blows that were being showered upon him. When he was being expelled from the city, I succeeded in approaching him, and asked him why he held his hand before his mouth. I expressed surprise at the smile upon his countenance. He emphatically replied: ‘The first seven strokes were severely painful; to the rest I seemed to have grown indifferent. I was wondering whether the strokes that followed were being actually applied to my own body. A feeling of joyous exultation had invaded my soul. I was trying to repress my feelings and to restrain my laughter. I can now realise how the almighty Deliverer is able, in the twinkling of an eye, to turn pain into ease, and sorrow into gladness. Immensely exalted is His power above and beyond the idle fancy of His mortal creatures.’”

What is the reason for me to account this story? In a way, it relates directly back to the fifth Valley, the Valley of Contentment. Here, the wayfarer detaches himself finally of all things of the world, including himself. He, in fact, is detached from suffering and finds no pain or sadness within himself. Everything is because of God and for the sake of God. The suffering is temporary and if done with the spirit of absolute detachment, "God will compensate each one out of His abundance."

From the Valley of Unity, they wayfarer has detached himself from the world. But from the current Valley, he realizes that he has something far greater. He resides in the Kingdom of God, and there is no greater fountain for contentment than this knowledge. However, there is a catch-22. The only way to understand this Valley and the secrets laden within, one must experience it for himself.

But the recounting of Mullá Ṣádiq gives us a glimpse of the power which is latent within the Valley. A man at such an age receives fifty lashes. Just ten of these lashes would make an able bodied person fall to the dust, but this feeble man received fifty. However, due to his steadfastness and detachment, God does compensate out of His abundance and he relieves Mullá Ṣádiq out of his suffering.

Many stories such as these may be found throughout the Dawn Breakers and other histories of religions. If you have any, please share them!

After the Valley of Contentment, the wayfarer moves to the next realm-the Valley of Wonderment.