He also feels very strongly, as he has pointed out in the enclosed letter to the Calcutta Assembly, that the Baha’is must be mature and realize that, whether they are conscious of it or not, the intense feelings of hatred, suspicion and jealousy which are flaming up everywhere in India and Pakistan, are tinging the attitudes of the believers themselves. At such a time, seeing this colossal example before them of the very essence of everything we are seeking to purify the world from, the Hindu, Moslem and Zoroastrian Baha’is should determine to show a love for each other and an inner spiritual solidarity so great as to forcibly attract the attention of their countrymen and impress them with the fact that Baha’u’llah’s Message is, indeed, the only remedy for the ills afflicting the great multitudes of the Far East. It would seem, however, from your reports and those of individuals who write him, that the Baha’is are doing the very opposite and enabling outsiders to point the finger at them and say “the very rivalry we are experiencing between various communities, the Baha’is are also experiencing!” How terrible, how tragic, if Baha’is should let such a situation develop, such a betrayal of not only the trust God has placed in their hands but also a betrayal of the glorious victories they themselves won during the past decade!
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 24 October 1947 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to NSA of India; ‘Dawn of a New Day’)
