purity

In Bahá'í World Faith, a short passage of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's writings sets out one of His characteristic teachings: the same sun shines on every object, but the mirror that has been polished receives the light, and the mirror that is dusty does not. Spiritual receptivity, the Master insists, is a matter of the inward instrument we have made ourselves.

The opening Hidden Word in Arabic — Bahá'u'lláh's first counsel in the mystical aphorisms revealed in Baghdád — names what He most desires of the human heart: that it be pure, kindly, and radiant, so that an everlasting sovereignty may be conferred upon it.

The fifth Hidden Word in Arabic — Bahá'u'lláh's image of the human heart as His own mansion, and His invitation to sanctify it for His descent.

The opening Hidden Word in Persian — Bahá'u'lláh's foundational description of the human temple as the residence of His remembrance, the place where His mention shall be made.

The seventh Persian Hidden Word — Bahá'u'lláh's testimony that the believer is, in his or her created reality, the day-star of the heavens of God's holiness, and must therefore not allow the dust of the world to dim the light.

Among the Quranic images 'Abdu'l-Bahá would unfold to inquirers was the Verse of Light — the lamp in the glass in the niche — and the careful explanation He would give of how the human heart is at once the niche, the glass, and the lamp's keeper.