SELECT 
QUOTATIONS ON 
PRAYER


Recite ye the verses of God every 
morning and evening. Whoso reciteth 
them not hath truly failed to fulfil his 
pledge to the Covenant of God and His 
Testament…
— Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p.73


O thou spiritual friend! Thou hast asked 
the wisdom of prayer. Know thou that 
prayer is indispensable and obligatory, 
and man under no pretext whatsoever is 
excused from performing the prayer 
unless he be mentally unsound, or an 
insurmountable obstacle prevent him. 
The wisdom of prayer is this: That it 
causeth a connection between the servant 
and the True One, because in that state 
man with all heart and soul turneth his 
face towards His Highness the Almighty, 
seeking His association and desiring His 
love and compassion. The greatest 
happiness for a lover is to converse with 
his beloved, and the greatest gift for a 
seeker is to become familiar with the 
object of his longing; that is why with 
every soul who is attracted to the 
Kingdom of God, his greatest hope is to 
find an opportunity to entreat and 
supplicate before his Beloved, appeal for 
His mercy and grace and be immersed in 
the ocean of His utterance, goodness and 
generosity.   Besides all this, prayer and 
fasting is the cause of awakening and 
mindfulness and conducive to protection 
and preservation from tests.... 
— 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í World Faith, 
p. 367-8


Man must live in a state of prayer. The 
most blessed condition is the condition of 
prayer and supplication.  Prayer is 
conversation with God. The greatest 
attainment or the sweetest state is none 
other than conversation with God. It 
creates spirituality, creates mindfulness 
and celestial feelings, begets new 
attractions of the Kingdom and engenders 
the susceptibilities of higher 
intelligence…What is prayer? It is 
conversation with God. While man prays 
he sees himself in the presence of God. If 
he concentrates his attention he will 
surely at the time of prayer realize that he 
is conversing with God. 
— 'Abdu'l-Bahá quoted in Wisdom of 
the Master, p. 46


Prayer need not be in words, but in 
thought and attitude. But if this love and 
this desire are lacking it is useless to try 
to force them.  Words without love mean 
nothing. If a person talks to you as an 
unpleasant duty with no love or pleasure 
in his meeting with you, do you wish to 
converse with him? Efforts should first be 
made to make attachment to God.
— 'Abdu'l-Bahá quoted in Wisdom of 
the Master, p. 48


The state of prayer is the best of 
conditions, for man is then associating 
with God. Prayer verily bestoweth life, 
particularly when offered in private and 
at times, such as midnight, when freed 
from daily cares. 
— 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the 
Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 201-2




QUESTION: Should Prayer take the 
form of action?

'Abdu'l-Bahá ANSWERS —"Yes: In the 
Bahá'í Cause arts, sciences and all crafts 
are (counted as) worship. The man who 
makes a piece of notepaper to the best of 
his ability, conscientiously, concentrating 
all his forces on perfecting it, is giving 
praise to God. Briefly, all effort and 
exertion put forth by man from the 
fullness of his heart is worship, if it is 
prompted by the highest motives and the 
will to do service to humanity. This is 
worship: to serve mankind and to 
minister to the needs of the people. 
Service is prayer. A physician ministering 
to the sick, gently, tenderly, free from 
prejudice and believing in the solidarity 
of the human race, he is giving praise."
— 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 176-7


"The universal crisis affecting mankind 
is, therefore, essentially spiritual in its 
causes. The spirit of the age, taken on the 
whole, is irreligious. Man's outlook on 
life is too crude and materialistic to 
enable him to elevate himself into the 
higher realms of the spirit. 

It is this condition, so sadly morbid, into 
which society has fallen, that religion 
seeks to improve and transform. For the 
core of religious faith is that mystic 
feeling which unites Man with God. This 
state of spiritual communion can be 
brought about and maintained by means 
of meditation and prayer. And this is the 
reason why Bahá'u'lláh has so much 
stressed the importance of worship. It is 
not sufficient for a believer merely to 
accept and observe the teachings. He 
should, in addition, cultivate the sense of 
spirituality which he can acquire chiefly 
by means of prayer. The Bahá'í Faith, 
like all other Divine Religions, is thus 
fundamentally mystic in character. Its 
chief goal is the development of the 
individual and society, through the 
acquisition of spiritual virtues and 
powers. It is the soul of man which has 
first to be fed. And this spiritual 
nourishment prayer can best provide. 

Laws and institutions, as viewed by 
Bahá'u'lláh, can become really effective 
only when our inner spiritual life has 
been perfected and transformed. 
Otherwise religion will degenerate into a 
mere organization, and becomes a dead 
thing. The believers, particularly the 
young ones, should therefore fully realize 
the necessity of praying. For prayer is 
absolutely indispensable to their inner 
spiritual development, and this, as 
already stated, is the very foundation and 
purpose of the religion of God." 
— Directives from the Guardian, p. 86-
87


The true worshiper, while praying, should 
endeavor not so much to ask God to 
fulfill his wishes and desires, but rather to 
adjust these and make them conform to 
the Divine Will. Only through such an 
attitude can one derive that feeling of 
inner peace and contentment which the 
power of prayer alone can confer.  
— On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, quoted 
in Bahá'u'lláh's Teachings on Spiritual 
Reality, p. 50 



SELECT 
QUOTATIONS ON
MEDITATION


Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting 
period, which involves complete 
abstention from food and drink from 
sunrise till sunset, is life, and to refresh 
and reinvigorate the spiritual forces 
...essentially a period of meditation and 
prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during 
which the believer must strive to make 
the necessary readjustments in his inner 
life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the 
spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its 
significance and purpose are, latent in his 
soul. Its significance and purpose are, 
therefore, fundamentally spiritual in 
character. 
— Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 176


…the meditation referred to in the words 
"One hour's reflection is preferable to 
seventy years of pious worship" must 
needs be observed…
— Kitáb-i-Iqán, p. 238


Bahá'u'lláh says there is a sign (from 
God) in every phenomenon: the sign of 
the intellect is contemplation and the sign 
of contemplation is silence, because it is 
impossible for a man to do two things at 
one time—he cannot both speak and 
meditate. 

It is an axiomatic fact that while you 
meditate you are speaking with your own 
spirit. In that state of mind you put 
certain questions to your spirit and the 
spirit answers: the light breaks forth and 
the reality is revealed. 

You cannot apply the name 'man' to any 
being void of this faculty of meditation; 
without it he would be a mere animal, 
lower than the beasts. 

Through the faculty of meditation man 
attains to eternal life; through it he 
receives the breath of the Holy Spirit—
the bestowal of the Spirit is given in 
reflection and meditation. 

The spirit of man is itself informed and 
strengthened during meditation; through 
it affairs of which man knew nothing are 
unfolded before his view. Through it he 
receives Divine inspiration, through it he 
receives heavenly food. 

Meditation is the key for opening the 
doors of mysteries. In that state man 
abstracts himself: in that state man 
withdraws himself from all outside 
objects; in that subjective mood he is 
immersed in the ocean of spiritual life 
and can unfold the secrets of things-in-
themselves. To illustrate this, think of 
man as endowed with two kinds of sight; 
when the power of insight is being used 
the outward power of vision does not see. 

This faculty of meditation frees man from 
the animal nature, discerns the reality of 
things, puts man in touch with God. 

This faculty brings forth from the 
invisible plane the sciences and arts. 
Through the meditative faculty inventions 
are made possible, colossal undertakings 
are carried out; through it governments 
can run smoothly. Through this faculty 
man enters into the very Kingdom of 
God… 
— 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 174 – 
76





"Through meditation doors of deeper 
knowledge and inspiration may be 
opened. Naturally, if one meditates as a 
Bahá'í he is connected with the 
Source...Meditation is very important, 
and the Guardian sees no reason why the 
friends should not be taught to meditate, 
but they should guard against 
superstitions or foolish ideas creeping 
into it." 
— Directives from the Guardian, p. 47


"People today indeed do tend to be very 
superficial in their thinking, and it would 
seem as if the educational systems in use 
are sorely lacking in ability to produce a 
mature mind in a person who has reached 
supposedly adult life! All the outside 
influences that surround the individual 
seem to have an intensely distracting 
effect, and it is a hard job to get the 
average person to do any deep thinking or 
even a little meditation on the problems 
facing him and the world at large. 
Over and over again Bahá'u'lláh cried 
out against the heedlessness of humanity, 
and warns of the fate such an attitude 
must lead to. Did we not know what God 
plans to, and will do, with the world in 
the future, we should certainly be as 
hopeless as many of the best thinkers of 
our generation have become." 
— Directives from the Guardian, p. 21-
22


"As to meditation: This also is a field in 
which the individual is free. There are no 
set forms of meditation prescribed in the 
teachings, no plan as such, for inner 
development. The friends are urged—nay 
enjoined—to pray, and they also should 
meditate, but the manner of doing the 
latter is left entirely to the individual." 
— Directives from the Guardian, p. 35


"The inspiration received through 
meditation is of a nature that one cannot 
measure or determine. God can inspire 
into our minds things that we had no 
previous knowledge of, if He desires to 
do so. We cannot clearly distinguish 
between personal desire and guidance, 
but if the way opens, when we have 
sought guidance, then we may presume 
God is helping us." 
— Directives from the Guardian, p. 77-
78



Other Words of Wisdom…

And an old priest said, "Speak to us of 
Religion." 
And he said: 
Have I spoken this day of aught else? 
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection, 
And that which is neither deed nor 
reflection, but a wonder and a surprise 
ever springing in the soul, even while the 
hands hew the stone or tend the loom? 
Who can separate his faith from his 
actions, or his belief from his 
occupations? 
Who can spread his hours before him, 
saying, "This for God and this for myself; 
This for my soul, and this other for my 
body?" 
All your hours are wings that beat 
through space from self to self. 
He who wears his morality but as his 
best garment were better naked. 
The wind and the sun will tear no holes 
in his skin. 
And he who defines his conduct by 
ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage. 
The freest song comes not through bars 
and wires. 
And he to whom worshipping is a 
window, to open but also to shut, has not 
yet visited the house of his soul whose 
windows are from dawn to dawn. 
Your daily life is your temple and your 
religion. 
Whenever you enter into it take with you 
your all. 
Take the plough and the forge and the 
mallet and the lute, 
The things you have fashioned in 
necessity or for delight. 
For in revery you cannot rise above your 
achievements nor fall lower than your 
failures. 
And take with you all men: 
For in adoration you cannot fly higher 
than their hopes nor humble yourself 
lower than their despair. 
And if you would know God be not 
therefore a solver of riddles. 
Rather look about you and you shall see 
Him playing with your children. 
And look into space; you shall see Him 
walking in the cloud, outstretching His 
arms in the lightning and descending in 
rain. 
You shall see Him smiling in flowers, 
then rising and waving His hands in 
trees.  
 
— Khalil Gibran, The Prophet