Many people sleep.

 

212. Many people sleep: Many people are asleep to the word of God when God’s manifestations appear in the world of man. And, a great number of people slumber when it comes to the word of God completely unaware of the true spiritual nature of the word of God and its deeper hidden truths and meanings.  Christianity: 2 Corinthians 4:3 “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:” The people of God try to educate the unaware and open their eyes to God’s message, but most of the people just slumber on. Romans 13:11 “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Yet most of the people are remaining lost in a fog of slumber. Romans 13:12 “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” And still the people see not.  Judaism: Isaiah 56:10 “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.” Proverbs 6:9 “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?” Proverbs 6:10 “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.”  Christianity: 1 Corinthians 11:30 “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:20 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.” 1 Corinthians 15:51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,” 1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6 “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” 1 Thessalonians 5:7 “For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8 “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thessalonians 5:10 “Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” 2 Peter 34 “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “Notwithstanding, they are still oblivious of this truth, and in the sleep of heedlessness, are pursuing the vanities of the world, and are occupied with thoughts of vain and earthly leadership.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 227)

 BABI RELIGION: “When you consider past events in the light of The Lord you will see his light appear before your face and before your eyes. Truth is too clear to be covered by veils and the road too open to be hidden by obstructions and faith by obscure meanings. Those who have erred, have followed their lusts and are now among the slumbering and sleeping; they awake, run, and are not to be found. Blessed is he who finds knowledge, and being uneasy penetrates as others of the redeemed servants of God…”

(Moojan Momen, The Babi and Baha’i Religions 1844-1944, p. 217)

 ISLAM: 18. “Thou wouldst have deemed them awake, whilst they were asleep, Such (being their state), We raised them up (from sleep) that they might question.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  18)

Islam: “Allah’s (God‘s) Apostle….. recites His Book when it dawns. He showed us the guidance, after we were blind. We believe that whatever he says will come true. While the pagans were deeply asleep.”

(Islam, Hadith, Bukhari Vol 2, Book 21, # 254)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: 42. “Here the fiendish Bushyasta, the long-handed, rushes from the region of the north, from the regions of the north, speaking thus, lying thus: ‘Sleep on, O men! Sleep on, O sinners! Sleep on and live in sin.”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta Fragments)

 Zoroastrianism: “Hear the best with your ears, and discern by pure mind. Choose the ought, man by man (every man), for his own self. Before the great trial comes, wake up to this my counsel.” ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 87)

 HINDUISM: “Religion is not his who sleeps away an idle mind;” “Him who is dead (spiritually dead) he wakes not from his slumber.”

((Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 4) Vedas, Rig Veda – Book 1))

 Hinduism: “As people who do not know the country, walk again and again over a gold treasure that has been hidden somewhere in the earth and do not discover it, thus do all these creatures day after day go into the Brahma-world (they are merged in Brahman, while asleep), and yet do not discover it, because they are carried away by untruth (they do not come to themselves, i.e. they do not discover the true Self in Brahman, dwelling in the heart).”

(Hindu, Upanishads vol. 1, Khandogya-Upanishad Part 4)

 BUDDHISM: 2. “Careful amidst the careless, amongst the sleeping wide-awake, the intelligent man leaves them all behind, like a race-horse does a mere hack.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

 Buddhism: 2. “If a person is awake, aware, mindful, pure, considerate, self-restrained, and lives according to duty, that person’s glory will increase. By awakening, by awareness, by restraint and control, the wise may make for oneself an island which no flood can overwhelm.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (tr. J. Richards))

 Buddhism: “People under delusion are as if asleep; they do not understand; their minds naturally turn toward evil and, as a rule, they practice evil.” (Buddha, Sixth Patriarch)

 Buddhism: “By making use of skillful means and expedients, are intended to awaken in all beings a true perception of the Dharma.” (Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra)

 SABEANISM: “Do not slumber and sleep, and forget not what your lord commanded you.” “Those who listen to the speech of the Life (Haiyi, God) Will be greatly increased, Will be enriched and will not lack.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 88, Instruction of Adam)

Sabeanism: “Every…. man who is righteous and believing, (arise) from sleep… He hymned, and the ‘uthras with Him hymn And the Light-rays answer His voice. And it rouseth sleepers and maketh them rise up From their sleep. He said to them ‘Arise, ye sleepers who lie there, Rise up, ye stumblers who have stumbled, Arise, worship and praise the Great Life And praise His Counterpart, that is the image of the Life Which shineth forth and is expressed In sublime light.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 1 and 114)

Sabeanism: “Great First Life (God)! Pity, forgive, awake and have compassion upon this my soul,” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 410)

 BABI RELIGION: “This mortal life is sure to perish; its pleasures are bound to fade away and ere long ye shall return unto God, distressed with pangs of remorse, for presently ye shall be roused from your slumber, and ye shall soon find yourselves in the presence of God and will be asked of your doings.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 161)

BAHA’I FAITH: 62. “O SON OF MAN! Many a day hath passed over thee whilst thou hast busied thyself with thy fancies and idle imaginings. How long art thou to slumber on thy bed? Lift up thy head from slumber, for the Sun hath risen to the zenith, haply it may shine upon thee with the light of beauty.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

 BABI RELIGION: “With my last breath, I pray that the Almighty may wipe away the stain of your guilt and enable you to awaken from the sleep of heedlessness.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 448)

BAHA’I FAITH: “We enjoin the servants of God and His handmaidens to be pure and to fear God, that they may shake off the slumber of their corrupt desires, and turn toward God, the Maker of the heavens and of the earth.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 23)

 BABI RELIGION: “When God sent forth His Prophet Muhammad, on that day the termination of the prophetic cycle was foreordained in the knowledge of God. Yea, that promise hath indeed come true and the decree of God hath been accomplished as He hath ordained. Assuredly we are today living in the Days of God. These are the glorious days on the like of which the sun hath never risen in the past. These are the days which the people in bygone times eagerly expected. What hath then befallen you that ye are fast asleep? These are the days wherein God hath caused the Day-Star of Truth to shine resplendent. What hath then caused you to keep your silence? These are the appointed days which ye have been yearningly awaiting in the past — the days of the advent of divine justice. Render ye thanks unto God, O ye concourse of believers.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 161)

BAHA’I FAITH: “Shake off, O heedless ones, the slumber of negligence, that ye may behold the radiance which His glory hath spread through the world. How foolish are those who murmur against the premature birth of His light. O ye who are idly blind! Whether too soon or too late, the evidences of His effulgent glory are now actually manifest. It behoveth you to ascertain whether or not such a light hath appeared.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 102)