This is a story, which illustrates the greatest lesson of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, and one of the most significant spiritual fundamentals of our Faith. It is entitled: “The very life of all deeds.” It is a story that is told by one of the early Zoroastrian believers. He tells his story like this:

I had a sister who was about two years younger than myself and who became paralyzed in both of her legs sometime after she married. Her husband was another Zoroastrian and he looked after her with great sympathy and kindness. I never spoke to my sister directly about the Bahá’í Faith but I spoke to her husband about it. Her husband eventually became a believer in the year 1909. When I wanted to go on pilgrimage to the presence of Abdu’l-Bahá, I went to say goodbye to my sister and my brother-in-law. At that time my sister had prepared three meters of a very cheap, brown sort of material that she herself had woven. She had wrapped this three meters of cheap textile in a small package which she gave to me to present to Abdu’l-Bahá. Just to make her happy I took it with me. When in India on the way to the Holy land, some of the other pilgrims joined me there and among those pilgrims there was a very wealthy woman who had wrapped her present in another very beautiful and expensive package. Before she wrapped it she actually showed it to me and it consisted of a very good quality suit - a full suit with a jacket, trousers and a gold watch, a gold chain and gold buttons all over. I thought to myself how I could possibly give that cheap present of my sister’s into the presence of Abdu’l-Bahá? And when we attained His presence on the first day, everyone put their presents on the table in the house of Abdu’l-Bahá. On that first day I actually didn’t take the present because I thought that it was just so worthless and I didn’t know if my sister was a believer or not. All the rest of the presents were given to His presence. Abdu’l-Bahá left the presents unopened. After addressing some kind words to everyone, He started talking about Bahá’í deeds and virtues and how a Bahá’í should have purity of motive and how a Bahá’í should have trustworthiness, truthfulness and uprightness in everything. I felt as though Abdu’l-Bahá was addressing me in person. That night I prayed and reflected on these words of Abdu’l-Bahá about truthfulness and trustworthiness. The next day I decided to take my sister’s gift to His presence because I thought that it was unrighteous and untrustworthy of me not to have taken it to Him already. And so I took my sister’s package and left it on the table. All the presents were still on the table untouched and unopened. This time there was a poor Arab man who came into the presence of Abdu’l-Bahá. Abdu’l-Bahá immediately gave that expensive package from the wealthy lady to the Arab man without even opening it or setting His eyes on it. Then, after a short talk, He opened my sister’s parcel, took the three meters of the cheap textile - the material that my sister had offered. He gave it to the servant of the house and said to him, ‘Please make me a cloak out of this textile.’ A few days later Abdu’l-Bahá put that new cloak on and when I saw that, I started to cry. I became so happy that the humble present of my sister’s had been acceptable in the sight of Abdu’l-Bahá. I told Abdu’l-Bahá the story of my sister. The ocean of Divine mercy started to surge and He revealed the following Tablet in her honour. The Tablet is translated like this:

“To the Handmaiden of God, Shireen Bahram, the sister of the pilgrim.

He is God. Oh handmaiden of God! Be happy, be happy that you have been released from this mortal world and have sought the companionship of the Concourse of High and are engaged in communion at the Threshold of God. A hundred thousand ladies of this world have been deprived of this grace, while you have become close to that Threshold. You are the one who is associating with the birds of the Kingdom of Abhá. You have found the secret of the spiritual realm and you have discovered the path to the heavenly realm. May your soul be ever joyous and happy.
Abdu’l-Bahá Abbas”

From the contents of this Tablet, I realized that my sister was in fact a believer and that soon she would say farewell to this mortal realm. As soon as I returned home from my pilgrimage, I went to see her. She was alone and I asked her “Are you a Bahá’í?”. She said yes. I asked her “who actually taught you about the Faith?”. She said “when you used to come to speak to my husband about the Bahá’í Faith and say some prayers, I was listening to you from my own room. I realized that these were the words of God and became a believer, but didn’t dare tell anyone about it”. She said that God obviously knew the secrets of her heart. I said to her “now that you are a believer you must be very happy because soon you will obviously be released from all the sufferings of this earthly life” and I read the Tablet for her three times. She put it on her eyes and kissed that Tablet and then she gave it back to me, so that I could keep the original and then send it to the World Center some years later.

I realized that only a pure deed and pure motive is acceptable at the Threshold of God.


Purity of motive

Say: The very life of all deeds is My good pleasure, and all things depend upon Mine acceptance.
(The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, parag 36)

Since Thou hast adorned them, O my Lord, with the ornament of the fast prescribed by Thee, do Thou adorn them also with the ornament of Thine acceptance, through Thy grace and bountiful favor. For the doings of men are all dependent upon Thy good-pleasure, and are conditioned by Thy behest. Shouldst Thou regard him who hath broken the fast as one who hath observed it, such a man would be reckoned among them who from eternity had been keeping the fast. And shouldst Thou decree that he who hath observed the fast hath broken it, that person would be numbered with such as have caused the Robe of Thy Revelation to be stained with dust, and been far removed from the crystal waters of this living Fountain.
(Prayers and Meditations, pages 67-68)

“O son of spirit! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.”
(The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Arabic no.1)

In these passages Bahá’u’lláh confirms that only pure deeds and pure motives are acceptable when He says: “The very life of all deeds is My Good Pleasure and all things depend upon Mine acceptance. Read ye the Tablets so that ye may know what hath been purposed in the Books of God, the all Glorious, the Ever Bounteous.” In the Tablet of Naw Ruz, He says that there there are those who have apparently kept the fast, and in His sight it is as though they have not fasted at all and it is as though they have broken the Covenant of God and His laws. And there are those who haven’t kept the Fast but in His Sight it is as though they have been fasting from eternity to eternity, as though they have never broken the fast.

Everything depends on the purity of motive with which we perform a deed and everything depends ultimately on His acceptance, on His good pleasure, and this is what we should beg for, and pray for every day and every minute of our lives.