uidance of the inhabitants of the globe, the promulgation of universal
peace and the proclamation of the oneness of the world of humanity! This
is the work! Otherwise like unto other animals and birds one must occupy
himself with the requirements of this physical life, the satisfaction of
which is the highest aspiration of the animal kingdom, and one must stalk
across the earth like unto the quadrupeds.

19 Consider ye! No matter how much man gains wealth, riches and opulence
in this world, he will not become as independent as a cow. For these
fattened cows roam freely over the vast tableland. All the prairies and
meadows are theirs for grazing, and all the springs and rivers are theirs
for drinking! No matter how much they graze, the fields will not be
exhausted! It is evident that they have earned these material bounties
with the utmost facility.

20 Still more ideal than this life is the life of the bird. A bird, on the
summit of a mountain, on the high, waving branches, has built for itself a
nest more beautiful than the palaces of the kings! The air is in the
utmost purity, the water cool and clear as crystal, the panorama charming
and enchanting. In such glorious surroundings, he expends his numbered
days. All the harvests of the plain are his possessions, having earned all
this wealth without the least labor. Hence, no matter how much man may
advance in this world, he shall not attain to the station of this bird!
Thus it becomes evident that in the matters of this world, however much
man may strive and work to the point of death, he will be unable to earn
the abundance, the freedom and the independent life of a small bird. This
proves and establishes the fact that man is not created for the life of
this ephemeral world--nay, rather, is he created for the acquirement of
infinite perfections, for the attainment to the sublimity of the world of
humanity, to be drawn nigh unto the divine threshold, and to sit on the
throne of everlasting sovereignty!

21 Upon you be Baha'u'l-Abha!

Whoever sets out on a teaching journey to any place, let him recite this
prayer day and night during his travels in foreign lands:

O GOD, my God! Thou seest me enraptured and attracted toward Thy glorious
kingdom, enkindled with the fire of Thy love amongst mankind, a herald of
Thy kingdom in these vast and spacious lands, severed from aught else save
Thee, relying on Thee, abandoning rest and comfort, remote from my native
home, a wa