Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand | Page 2

"Arohanui"
is used in its more expressive meaning, "enfolding love", or "that love
which binds a community together", or "that love which creates bonds
of mutual trust and loyalty", or "that love which builds and carries
forward culture or civilization".

Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand
Bahá'í publishing trust Suva, Fiji Approved for publication by the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New Zealand Inc. (c)
1982 BAHÁ'Í PUBLISHING TRUST SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS

"You are destined to achieve great things for our beloved Cause and my
constant prayer is that your vision may be clear, your purpose unshaken,
your zeal undiminished, your hopes undimmed. Let not obstacles and
disappointments, which are inevitable, dishearten you and whenever
you are faced with trials recall our Beloved's innumerable sufferings."
From a letter to the first New Zealand Bahá'í dated August 12th, 1926.
The letters in this compilation were written by various secretaries of the
Guardian at his specific direction. Spelling and other inconsistencies
are a reflection of the fact that different secretaries were used. Those
passages actually written by the Guardian himself are printed in italics.
The messages are numbered sequentially for the convenience of the
reader and as an aid to indexing. The numbers appear before the date of
each letter.


PART I LETTERS TO INDIVIDUALS,

BEFORE APRIL 21ST, 1926.
These were written prior to the formation of the first Local Spiritual
Assembly in New Zealand.

(1) June 22nd, 1923
My dear Bahá'í sister,
Your beautiful letter of April 3rd written to the Beloved Guardian of
the Cause of God, our dear Shoghi Effendi, was received.[+E1] He was
much impressed and charmed with the spirit of your letter, which
indicated deep devotion to and absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit
of the Beloved Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
He instructed me with a heart overflowing with love to answer your
letter, conveying to you his high estimation for the beauty of the faith
of the New Zealand friends, and deep appreciation towards the splendid
services of our dear Mr and Mrs Dunn,[+E2] who are so wonderfully
blessed and assisted by the power of the Holy Ghost. He loves you all
and prays for your happiness and spiritual growth.
It is true that your group is now still small, but he assures you that your
group will before long grow larger and larger day by day. It has been
always the case with the growth of every religion. Some pure soul or
souls go to some land and sow the seeds of the heavenly teachings in
the hearts of few who are most pure and so most receptive. The seeds
will germinate and grow in them. The fruits of these seeds appear in the
regeneration of the lives of these primary adherents. These primary
adherents share the bounties they have received with other souls, who
through them obtain new life and light and in turn illumine other
people.
The primary adherents are the stars of great magnitude in every land in
the firmament of the Kingdom of God. They are the chosen people.
They are like candles which, through their sacrificial efforts, are

weeping their lives away in order to give light to the world and
establish the purpose of their Lord and Saviour, which purpose is the
salvation of mankind. His Holiness, Jesus Christ! see how small the
group of His disciples was! No matter how few the number of the
disciples was, yet they through His power illumined the world. Our Era
is similar to that, but through the development of humanity it is greater,
and through the evils of the material civilization and negligence of
mankind our sacrifices must be greater. Divine light must make itself
manifest in our daily life deeds.
In the early days of the appearance of our Saviour, virtue was to save
ourselves. When we are once established in our faith, then virtue is to
save others. The three mottoes of education hold true in our case too.
First grow, then become and then contribute. We have developed; we
have established ourselves, and now it is time to contribute to others.
We have inexhaustible capital. The candles of our spiritual lives
constantly weep away their lives in shedding light to the world, but
they never become exhausted. For there is connection between our lives
and that of Bahá'u'lláh and our beloved 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
It cannot be described how much we long to see our dear New Zealand
brethren and sisters. We hope the day will come when they can come to
us and we to them. Meanwhile, we are praying at the Holy Threshold of
our beloved Master for your success and happiness. We hope you will
pray for us too. The effect of the prayers of the pure hearts is
tremendously great.
Our