Grape Juice for the Master

When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to Boston in 1912, many people invited Harry Randall to meet Him, but invariably he said, "No. I do not care to meet him. I know he is a wonderful man, but I do not care to meet him." Finally, someone asked if Harry would at least go and listen to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, which he agreed to do. Harry did go and listen to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's talk and afterwards, one of the friends asked if he would run to the grocery, buy some grape juice and take it to the Master at the Victoria Hotel. Harry did so, purchasing six bottles of grape juice, and took them to the hotel. He gave them to a Persian man who soon returned with a glass of juice on a tray and asked, "You've been so kind as to get this grape juice for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mr. Randall, would you take it in to Him yourself?" This was the last thing Harry wanted to do because he had an "inner warning" not to, but he thought that refusing would be discourteous so he accepted the tray. When he arrived at ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's room, he hoped to just put the tray on a table and escape. At first, it looked as though he might be able to do just that since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was sitting in the center of a large room with His eyes closed. Harry didn't want to disturb the Master, but finally said, "Here is the glass of grape juice." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá opened His eyes and told Harry to put it on the table and that He would have it with His dinner. Harry turned and walked to the door, thinking that he was going to escape when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá suddenly said, "Sit down."

Harry later wrote: It was said in a most commanding manner which invited no argument. Although His eyes were closed again, I sat. I waited. And I waited. I was not used to being kept waiting and I was getting angry clear through. I felt I had almost been trapped, so to speak. Pretty soon it seemed to me that every part of my body had gone to sleep. I had that same prickling all over my body. I had it in my arms and legs and I was feeling very uncomfortable and getting angrier and angrier all the time. The clock ticked the minutes away and I looked over at ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and said to myself: He is gone sound asleep and I have to wait here! I did not know then that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was wide awake and I was sound asleep. The minutes ticked away and finally I said to myself: I have got to sit here. I do not dare go now. I have practically consented by sitting down to stay. Suddenly I thought, here I am in the presence of the tired old man and I cannot remain reposeful for 10 min. What good has my study of all the religions of the world done for me? When I thought this I became quiet and the prickly sensation left me and I was at peace. Well, in about 20 min. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said to me: "You have just been wasting your time listening to the murmur of the leaves that have fallen off the tree of life. If you want life you must become a leaf upon the tree of life . . . Great is the power of the intellect but until it becomes the servant of the heart it is of little avail." He arose and held my hands and looked into my face and stroked me, all in silence for some time. Then He spoke softly in Persian and my mind heard this in English: "Great is the power of the intellect but it is dead without love. It needs the vivifying fragrance of love to make it the servant of God." He then blessed me and said, "Be happy".

Source: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, pp. 174–175. A shorter version appears in Annamarie Honnold, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 136–138.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: transformation).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/transformation