The Recipe for Reciprocity

The Recipe for Reciprocity

"Karma" is the reciprocity of God. Everything we do has consequences, for good or evil. Like the Golden Rule, this principle is found in all the Great Faiths.   It is not hard for believers in God to accept. The law is from the flawless Law-Giver. Like the Golden Rule, this principle is found in all the Great Faiths. It is now clarified by Baha'u'llah, the Lord of the Age.

"The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you." (2 Chron. 15:2)

"Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you." (James :8)

"Remember Me and I will remember you!" (Qur'an 2:52)

"They forgot Allah so He forgot them!" (Qur'an 9:67)

"O SON OF BEING! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant." (Baha’u’llah, Arabic Hidden Words #5)

"If ye believe, to your own behoof will ye believe; and if ye believe not, ye yourselves will suffer." (Baha'u'llah, GWB LXXVI)

'O ye peoples of the earth! Turn yourselves towards Him Who hath turned towards you. He, verily, is the Face of God amongst you, and His Testimony and His Guide unto you. He hath come to you with signs which none can produce.' The voice of the Burning Bush is raised in the midmost heart of the world, and the Holy Spirit calleth aloud among the nations: 'Lo, the Desired One is come with manifest dominion!' (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 48)

"He who dealeth faithlessly with God shall in justice meet with faithlessness himself; he, however, who acteth in accordance with God's bidding shall receive a blessing from the heaven of the bounty of his Lord, the Gracious, the Bestower, the Generous, the Ancient of Days. He, verily, hath willed for you that which is yet beyond your knowledge, but which shall be known to you when, after this fleeting life, your souls soar heavenwards and the trappings of your earthly joys are folded up. Thus admonisheth you He in Whose possession is the Guarded Tablet." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, #97)

"Should anyone intentionally destroy a house by fire, him also shall ye burn; should anyone deliberately take another's life, him also shall ye put to death.
Take ye hold of the precepts of God with all your strength
and power, and abandon the ways of the ignorant.
Should ye condemn the arsonist and the murderer to
life imprisonment, it would be permissible according
to the provisions of the Book. He, verily, hath power to
ordain whatsoever He pleaseth." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, #62)

"The more we make others happy, the greater will be our own happiness." -Shoghi Effendi

With the loyal, Thou dost show Thyself loyal; with the blameless man, Thou dost show Thyself blameless; with the pure, Thou dost show Thyself pure; and with the crooked, Thou dost show Thyself perverse. For Thou dost deliver a humble people; but the haughty eyes Thou dost bring down. Yes, Thou dost light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. (Psalms 18:25-28)

"If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword." (Isaiah 1:19-20)

But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy, and Himself fought against them." (Isaiah 63:10)

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (John 13:34)

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. " (Matthew 25:40)

"If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15) "...your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew 6:8b)

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get." (Matthew 7:1-2) “For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed, when He comes in the Glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)           

"Do to others as you would have them do to you." (Luke 6:31)

"Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you." (James :8)

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Galatians 6:7-8)

 "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?   If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are." (1 Cor. 3:16-17)

Therefore, God gave them up… (Romans 1:18-24)

Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. (2 Thessalonians 1:6 KJV) Since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. (RSV)

Be thou of one face in the path of God. When in company with the infidels, thou art an infidel and with the pious, thou art pious. (Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 42)

"Remember Me and I will remember you!" (Qur'an 2:52)

"They forgot Allah so HE forgot them!" (Qur'an 9:67)

"Those who defame such of the believers as willingly give their alms, and such as can find nothing to give but their exertions, and who mock at them, --God will mock at them, and for them is grievous woe! Ask forgiveness for them or ask not forgiveness for them! if they shouldst ask forgiveness for them seventy times, yet would not God forgive them; that is because they disbelieved in God and His Apostle, for God guides not a people who work abomination." (The Qur'an (E.H. Palmer tr), Sura 9 - Repentance or Immunity)

 "And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves." [Qur'án 59:19] God does not change a people’s lot unless they change what is in their hearts. If God seeks to afflict them with a misfortune, none can ward it off. Besides Him, they have no protector. –Qur’án 13:12

Just as Our Revelations were declared to you and you forgot them, so on this Day you are yourself forgotten. –Qur’án 20:126

"And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves." [Qur'an 59:19]                                                       

"Read your own book, your self is sufficient to give an account against you this day." [Qur'án 17:14]

Be they men or women, the hypocrites are all alike. They enjoin what is evil, forbid what is just, and tighten their fists. They forgot God, so God forgot them. –Qur’an 9:67 Some of the People of the Book wish to mislead you; but they mislead none but themselves, though they may not perceive it. –Qur’án 3:69 Evil shall recoil on those that plot evil. -Qur’án 35:42b

"Allah will not be merciful to those who are not merciful to mankind." Sahih al-Bukhari, Oneness, Uniqueness of Allah (Tawheed) Book 97, Hadith 6

The religious doctors of that age shall be the most wicked of the divines beneath the shadow of heaven. Out of them hath mischief proceeded, and unto them it shall return. -Sixth Shíite Imam, Jafar-i-Sadiq, quoted by Baha’u’llah, in the Kitab-i-Iqan

When the Unseen, the Eternal, the divine Essence, caused the Day-star of Muhammad to rise above the horizon of knowledge, among the cavils which the Jewish divines raised against Him was that after Moses no Prophet should be sent of God. Yea, mention hath been made in the scriptures of a Soul Who must needs be made manifest and Who will advance the Faith, and promote the interests of the people, of Moses, so that the Law of the Mosaic Dispensation may encompass the whole earth. Thus hath the King of eternal glory referred in His Book to the words uttered by those wanderers in the vale of remoteness and error: "'The hand of God,' say the Jews, 'is chained up.' Chained up be their own hands! And for that which they have said, they were accursed. Nay, outstretched are both His hands!" [Qur'án 5:64] "The hand of God is above their hands." [Qur'án 48:10.](Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 135)

In this connection, He Who is the eternal King -- may the souls of all that dwell within the mystic Tabernacle be a sacrifice unto Him -- hath spoken: "He hath known God who hath known himself." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 101)

 “He, verily, will aid everyone that aideth Him, and will remember everyone that remembereth Him. To this beareth witness this Tablet that hath shed the splendor of the loving-kindness of your Lord, the All-Glorious, the All Compelling.” (Baha’u’llah, cited in The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 76) 

We perceive none, however, amongst the people of the earth who, sincerely yearning for the Truth, seeketh the guidance of the divine Manifestations concerning the abstruse matters of his Faith. All are dwellers in the land of oblivion, and all are followers of the people of wickedness and rebellion. God will verily do unto them that which they themselves are doing, and will forget them even as they have ignored His Presence in His day. Such is His decree unto those that have  denied Him, and such will it be unto them that have rejected His signs. (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 254)

“If ye believe, to your own behoof will ye believe; and if ye believe not, ye yourselves will suffer.” (Baha’u’llah, GWB LXXVI)

This is what Baha'u'llah wrote to a nefarious enemy; iit is indicative of the justice of God. "By God! Wert thou to realize what thou hast done, thou wouldst surely weep sore over thyself, and wouldst flee for refuge to God, and wouldst pine away and mourn all the days of thy life, till God will have forgiven thee, for He, verily, is the Most Generous, the All-Bountiful.  Thou wilt, however, persist, till the hour of thy death, in thy heedlessness, inasmuch as thou hast, with all thine heart, thy soul and inmost being, busied thyself with the vanities of the world.  Thou shalt, after thy departure, discover what We have revealed unto thee, and shalt find all thy doings recorded in the Book wherein the works of all them that dwell on earth, be they greater or less than the weight of an atom, are noted down. Heed, therefore, My counsel, and hearken thou, with the hearing of thine heart, unto My speech, and be not careless of My words, nor be of them that reject My truth. Glory not in the things that have been given thee. Set before thine eyes what hath been revealed in the Book of God, the Help in Peril, the All-Glorious: "And when they had forgotten their warnings, We set open to them the gates of all things," even as We did set open to thee and to thy like the gates of this earth and the ornaments thereof. Wait thou, therefore, for what hath been promised in the latter part of this holy verse, for this is a promise from Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Wise -- a promise that will not prove untrue." (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 226)

"If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword." (Isaiah 1:19-20)

"But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number. Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not." "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." (Isaiah 65:11-12 & 24)

"If ye become aware of a sin committed by another, conceal it, that God may conceal your own sin. He, verily, is the Concealer, the Lord of grace abounding. O ye rich ones on earth! If ye encounter one who is poor, treat him not disdainfully. Reflect upon that whereof ye were created. Every one of you was created of a sorry germ." (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 55)

Micha-EL Archangel  is a reality. I think the names for angels started appearing during the exile in Babylon, and in the Book of Daniel. Gabriel personifies the Holy Spirit, an Entity, not a mindless force; and Michael is the Angel of the LORD that spoke from the Burning Bush, according to rabbinic tradition, mentioned again in 1 Thess. 4:16 & Revelation 12:7 as coming at the Advent. In Qur'an 2:98, it says "Whoever is an enemy of Allah, His angels, or His apostles, or of Gabriel or Michael, will surely find that Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers."

"Thou hast arisen to put out the light of this Cause; erelong will thine own fire be quenched, at His behest." (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 102)

"How vast the number of the loved and chosen ones of God who have lamented and moaned by day and by night that haply a sweet and fragrant breeze might blow from the court of His good-pleasure and dispel altogether the loathsome and foul-smelling odours from the world. However, this ultimate goal could not be attained, and men were deprived thereof by virtue of their evil deeds, which brought upon them the retribution of God, in accordance with the basic principles of His divine rule. Ours is the duty to remain patient in these circumstances until relief be forthcoming from God, the Forgiving, the Bountiful." (Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 177)

 “He that loves you, loves God; and whoever opposes you, has opposed God. Whoso befriends you, him will God befriend; and whoso rejects you, him will God reject.” (The Bab to Mulla Husayn, DB, p.94)

"Verily such as ridicule the wondrous, divine Verses revealed through His Remembrance are making themselves the objects of ridicule." (The Báb, SWB 76-77, LXl, Qayyum-ul-Asma)

Whatever reachethMe is ordained to reach Me; and that which hath come unto Me, to him who giveth will it revert. By the One in Whose hand is My soul, he hath cast no one but himself into prison. –The Báb, SWB p, 19

Know ye that God will not, in this day, accept your remembrance of Him, nor your turning towards Him, nor your devotions, nor your vigilance, unless ye be made new in the estimation of this Servant, could ye but perceive it. –Bahá’u’lláh, Summons of the Lord of Hosts

 "And if he feareth not God, God will make him to fear all things; whereas all things fear him who feareth God." (Baha'u'llah, The Four Valleys, p. 58)

…O my God! Humble everyone who desires to humble Him; destroy all His enemies; deny anyone who denies Him and confuse anyone who spurns the truth, resists His orders, endeavors to darken His light and blot His Name! –from the prophetic prayer of an Imam, recited by the Báb in Maku, Translation of the French foot-notes of the Dawn-Breakers, p.35

By Thy glory! Were all the peoples of the earth to join together to harm a single one of the people of Bahá, they would find themselves powerless, for all that they see as harming Thy chosen ones is as light unto them and as fire unto Thine enemies. – Bahá’u’lláh, DOR 8:3

“.... O people of Bahá! The river that is Life indeed hath flowed for your sakes. Quaff ye in My name, despite them that have disbelieved in God, the Lord of Revelation. We have made you to be the hands of Our Cause. Render ye victorious this Wronged One, Who hath been sore-tried in the hands of the workers of iniquity. He, verily, will aid everyone that aideth Him, and will remember everyone that remembereth Him. To this beareth witness this Tablet that hath shed the splendor of the loving-kindness of your Lord, the All-Glorious, the All-Compelling." -Bahá’u’lláh, quoted by the Beloved Guardian in The Advent of Divine Justice

The supreme need of humanity is cooperation and reciprocity. The stronger the ties of fellowship and solidarity amongst men, the greater will be the power of constructiveness and accomplishment in all the planes of human activity. Without cooperation and reciprocal attitude the individual member of human society remains self-centered, uninspired by altruistic purposes, limited and solitary in development like the animal and plant organisms of the lower kingdoms. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 338.

“Regarding reciprocity and cooperation, each member of the body politic should live in the utmost comfort and welfare because each individual member of humanity is a member of the body politic, and if one member is in distress or is afflicted with some disease, all the other members must necessarily suffer. For example, a member of the human organism is the eye. If the eye should be affected, that affliction would affect the whole nervous system. Hence, if a member of the body politic becomes afflicted, in reality, from the standpoint of sympathetic connection, all will share that affliction since this [one afflicted] is a member of the group of members, a part of the whole. Is it possible for one member or part to be in distress and the other members to be at ease? It is impossible! Hence, God has desired that in the body politic of humanity each one shall enjoy perfect welfare and comfort. Although the body politic is one family, yet, because of lack of harmonious relations some members are comfortable and some in direst misery; some members are satisfied and some are hungry; some members are clothed in most costly garments and some families are in need of food and shelter. Why? Because this family lacks the necessary reciprocity and symmetry. This household is not well arranged. This household is not living under a perfect law. All the laws which are legislated do not ensure happiness. They do not provide comfort. Therefore, a law must be given to this family by means of which all the members of this family will enjoy equal well-being and happiness. ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 312)

O SON OF MAN! Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command, accursed wouldst thou be, and to this I bear witness. (Baha’u’llah, AHW # 27)

"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal" (from Battle Hymn of the Republic, by Julia Ward Howe)

GOLDEN RULE

So whatsoever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:12 RSV) Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10: 16 RSV)

And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall receive his reward. (Matthew 10:42)

"Lay not on any soul a load which ye would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for anyone the things ye would not desire for yourselves.This is My best counsel unto you, did ye but observe it." (GWB, LXVI)

O Son of Being! Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not. This is My command unto thee, do thou observe it. (Baha’u’llah, Arabic Hidden Words #29)

…magnify not the faults of others that thine own faults may not appear great; and wish not the abasement of anyone, that thine own abasement be not exposed. (from PHW # 44)

If ye become aware of a sin committed by another, conceal it, that God may conceal your own sin. He, verily, is the Concealer, the Lord of grace abounding. (Baha’u’llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf)

Ye should not have wished for Us that which ye have not wished for yourselves, but rather chosen to act with generosity. (Baha’u’llah, Suriy-i-Muluk)

Be bounteous to others as God hath been bounteous to thee... (Baha'u'llah)

Wish not for others what ye wish not for yourselves… (Kitab-i-Aqdas #148)

"Justice is not limited, it is a universal quality. Its operation must be carried out in all classes, from the highest to the lowest. Justice must be sacred, and the rights of all the people must be considered. Desire for others only that which you desire for yourselves….Each man has been placed in a post of honour, which he must not desert. A humble workman who commits an injustice is as much to blame as a renowned tyrant. Thus we all have our choice between justice and injustice. I hope that each one of you will become just, and direct your thoughts towards the unity of mankind; that you will never harm your neighbours nor speak ill of any one; that you will respect the rights of all men, and be more concerned for the interests of others than for your own.” ('Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 160)

 "This doctrine of universal salvation, opening up vistas of eternal progress, opportunities of gaining the spiritual qualities even after the soul has passed through that mystic corridor of Death into a land the nature and laws and customs of which no man fully knoweth  --this comforting doctrine has by now permeated the religious thought of advanced thinkers in every sect or denomination. And that is well. But as usual the reaction to one extreme has led to the opposite extreme. Those who still, in this age of agnosticism, keep the faith of an eternal life, hold too careless a thought in regard to it. It is assumed that everything will be all right there; that God is merciful and kind and wishes everyone to be happy; that somehow death initiates one into the spiritual life of immortality and the blessed state of the saints. This careless and false assumption is destroying the very essence of the teachings of the Christ, and of every great Founder of Religion." Star of the West)

By God! If ye do well, to your own behoof will ye do well; and if ye deny God and His signs, We in very truth, having God, can well dispense with all creatures and all earthly dominion. -The Báb, SWB 2:2:2, p.53

"Should anyone intentionally destroy a house by fire, him also shall ye burn; should anyone deliberately take another's life, him also shall ye put to death. Take ye hold of the precepts of God with all your strength and power, and abandon the ways of the ignorant. Should ye condemn the arsonist and the murderer to life imprisonment, it would be permissible according to the provisions of the Book. He, verily, hath power to ordain whatsoever He pleaseth." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, #62,  p. 41)

The universe is like a dome; it vibrates to that which you say in it, and answers the same back to you. So also is the law of action. We reap what we sow.