34th Chapter
If the Tao is followed (floods the world) and our will aligns with divine will;
Then Tao will sustain our will.
Everything relies on Tao, and what we want to create won’t be denied.
Because everything is provided by Tao, we won’t claim the credit.
We love to provide and nourish each other, but we don’t have ownership.
If a man has no desire for himself and likes to do things to benefit others, then we say he achieves a small success.
If a man’s service attracts people to come to him, but he gives ownership to Tao and prefers to be a servant instead of a master,
then we can say he achieves a big success.
When a sage achieves big success, he remains lowly and does not think about his achievement,
Therefore, he is capable of accomplishing even more great things.

Implications from the Holy Books

This reed is a Perfect Man Who is likened to a reed, and the manner of its likeness is this: when the interior of a reed is empty and free from all matter, it will produce beautiful melodies; and as the sound and melodies do not come from the reed, but from the flute player who blows upon it, so the sanctified heart of that blessed Being is free and emptied from all save God, pure and exempt from the attachments of all human conditions, and is the companion of the Divine Spirit. Whatever He utters is not from Himself, but from the real flute player, and it is a divine inspiration. That is why He is likened to a reed; and that reed is like a rod — that is to say, it is the helper of every impotent one, and the support of human beings. It is the rod of the Divine Shepherd by which He guards His flock and leads them about the pastures of the Kingdom. ── ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 45

…… God is almighty, but His greatness cannot be brought within the grasp of human limitation. We cannot limit God to a boundary. ……God is the Ancient, the Almighty; His attributes are infinite. He is God because His light, His sovereignty, is infinite. If He can be limited to human ideas, He is not God. ……How could an almighty sovereignty, a Divinity so wondrous, be brought within the limitations of faulty human minds even as to terms and definition? ── Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace 8/17/1912

He (God), verily, is from everlasting. No peer or partner has been, or can ever be, joined with Him. No name can be compared with His Name. No pen can portray His nature, neither can any tongue depict His glory. He will, forever, remain immeasurably exalted above anyone except Himself. ── Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 78

Go Back to the List of Chapters