The ascension of Bahá'u'lláh

Asia and I went to the most holy spot on earth for a couple of days in the end of may. Not for no reason. The most holy spot is the Haifa-Acca area in Israel and we went for the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh. His earthly remains are laid to rest near Acca, in what is known to Bahá'ís as in Bahji and this is the direction Baha'ís turn to for their prayers.

It was a special blession to attend the ceremony on the ascension a second time after last years experience and I am very grateful for this possibility.

The ceremony itself begins at 3am with prayers in different languages (Arabic, English, Persian) for about an hour, followed by the reading of the Tablet of Visitation and the circuambulation of the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh.

It is a moving and very spiritual occasion for me, even more so in Bahji itself. Around 10pm I went to the room of Bahá'u'llah in His mansion and prayed. The mansion is my favourite place to be I must admit and at that hour it was very quiet. It was just after most of the visitors had left and right before all the pilgrims were let inside. I loved the peace and quiet.

For me the 29 May is more special than any other day. It is weird, one might say. I should have picked a day such as May 23 with the Declaration of the Báb as the Messenger of God or November 12 with the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh. What shall I say? It was not a conscious decision.

I get very emotional on that day and i feel closer to Bahá'u'lláh than on any other day. Even more so for the past two years, when I was blessed to set my foot into the room of His passing and the treshold of His resting place.

My first commemoration of the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh I experienced in Potsdam, with Fariba. Our community gathered at her place around 11pm and we would read and tell stories until 3am, when also we read prayers and said the Tablet of Visitation. Of course it was entirely different to my experience in the Holy Land, but it opened my heart even more for the beauty His message.

To be with your community, to spend time together in those precious hours until dawn and to read, learn, share and pray together in hours so full of spiritual energy is extremely special. This is something I was not able to do in Israel of course, as my beloved community stayed in Poland. But I had Asia with me :-)

And we got to know some wonderful Brazilian Bahá'ís.
Asia and I literally speak not a single word of Portuguese and only one of them spoke a little English, so it was one of those heart-communications, where you fully connect.
It was lovely learning about them, their lives, their communities and to see and feel this perfect harmony possible between hearts connected through God. We had never met before and who knows, if we will ever meet again, but when saying Good-Bye on our last day in Haifa all of us had tears in our eyes.

But I believe in the saying: You always meet twice in life ... :-)