Reflecting on Purity of Thought and Body

Here is a reflection I reflected this morning.

When the time came for me to declare my belief, I walked to the lip of the Hamilton mountain, drew in my breath, raised my hands on high, and hesitated. A dark thought came over me. How can I call myself a believer when I fart so often? It must be a dozen times a day I perform that undignified act. I went down and lived my life as before for many years. Then I read somewhere that the average person farts an average of eighteen times a day. I felt better. Maybe I should climb up again and declare my faith. So I returned, my hands were raised, my head thrown back and I was about to commit when another thought crossed my mind. How can a person who picks his nose have a claim to holiness? Sadly, I climbed back down.

By this time, though, the Great Google Oracle had been erected in every computer. I asked it if I was the only one to do the dirty like this. No, it told me, I was not. The average person picks their nose an average of four times a day. This did not entirely quiet me, though, for I had to admit that I commit that undignified act more than four times a day. Maybe even more than five times. Still, this study, I suspect, had really found only that the average person _admits_ to picking their nose four times a day. How often they actually do it may be something more like my tally.

I am ashamed to say how often I have climbed that escarpment, thought about a disgusting thing I do regularly and come back down again. Each time I raise my hands, a dark thought comes over me and I trudge back down, my head hung low. Once, I raised my arms and to my surprise I could think of nothing to offend the sensibilities of my Lord. Then I took a whiff. It was right back to square one, googling about the number of offensive bacteria that reside under the average person's arms. O God, purify my thoughts!


"If ye keep not your breath sweet in prayer,
Go, desire a prayer from the Brethren of Purity!"
For this cause spake God to Moses,
At the time he was asking aid in prayer,
`O Moses! desire protection of me
With a mouth that thou hast not sinned withal.'
Moses answered, `I possess not such a mouth.'
God said, `Call upon me with another mouth!
Act so that all thy mouths
By night and by day may be raising prayers.
When thou hast sinned with one mouth,
With thy other mouth cry, "O Allah!"
Or else cleanse thy own mouth,
And make thy spirit alert and quick.
Calling on God is pure, and when purity approaches,
Impurity arises and takes its departure."
(Rumi, Mathnavi, Vol. 3, E.H. Whinfield tr.)


"Blessed is he who keeps firm in the Path and stands for the Cause of thy Merciful Lord -- a firmness like unto the lofty mountains... Verily, I pray God to sanctify thee from the material and thus clothe thee with the garment of holiness and the mantle of purity and send through thee the glad-tidings of thy Lord from the Kingdom of Heaven." (Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha vol. 2, pp. 269-270)


"Obligatory prayer causeth the heart to become attentive to the Divine kingdom. One is alone with God, converseth with Him, and acquireth bounties. Likewise, if one performeth the Obligatory Prayer with his heart in a state of utmost purity, he will obtain the confirmations of the Holy Spirit, and this will entirely obliterate love of self. I hope that thou wilt persevere in the recitation of the Obligatory Prayer, and thus will come to witness the power of entreaty and supplication." (Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting, XI)


Prayer is effective, the Bab says, only according to the amount with which we offer it of four virtues, spirituality, radiance, detachment and purity.

"The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God." (The Bab, Selections, 78; Persian Bayan, VII, 19)


Here is how the "I" becomes a Baha'i:

"One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendour of those eternal principles proclaimed by Baha'u'llah." (Shoghi Effendi, Unfolding Destiny of the British Baha'i Community, 28)