Paragraph 211

O my brother! A divine Mine only can yield the gems of divine knowledge, and the fragrance of the mystic Flower can be inhaled only in the ideal Garden, and the lilies of ancient wisdom can blossom nowhere except in the city of a stainless heart. “In a rich soil, its plants spring forth abundantly by permission of its Lord, and in that soil which is bad, they spring forth but scantily.”

A couple more paragraphs about the Qur'an, and the need for understanding it well, before leading us to the qualities of the true seeker. Then He will begin His defense of the Bab, starting with references from the Qur'an itself.

Note how He begins this paragraph with "O my brother!" Once again, Baha'u'llah is making this very personal. So much of what Baha'u'llah talks about is unity, and by warmly embracing the uncle as a brother, He is demonstrating an aspect of this unity. He is saying, in a very simple way, that they are part of one family. This is so consistent with His message, and it seems to be carried into every part of the Revelation. It shows a coherency between what His message is, and how He conveys it.

He then continues with "A divine Mine can only yield the gems of divine knowledge..." What a fascinating phrase. Think about it. If the Manifestation, or the Book they have given us, is the "Mine", what does that actually tell us?

It means that we have go in and explore it. The gems are not just there for the taking. They are not sitting on the surface, clear and evident for us to see. Going into a mine, searching for gemstones, is a dirty and uncomfortable thing. And it's not easy. Imagine walking into a dark tunnel, light strapped to your helmet, which you are wearing so you don't conk your head and knock yourself out. Then, in the midst of this dark tunnel, you have to find something the size of your fingernail on a wall of rock. Of course, when you find one, you probably find a few, after all, gems are usually found together in a seam. But then you have to exert all that energy to smash the rocks and release the raw gemstones.

Once you do that, congratulations, you have a rock.

Now you have to smash and chip and scrape away the matrix to expose the gem. Again, this is not an easy process. It takes time and skill, and a lot of energy. And then, once all that is finished? Congratulations, you still have a rock.

Now it's time to polish it. This is where it is necessary to know the different types of gemstones, for if you polish a diamond like an opal, you will never see the potential beauty of the sparkling diamond. However, if you try to polish an opal like a diamond, it will shatter.

And once it's polished? Now you have a prettier rock.

Time to make the setting.

You get the idea.

Having a mine, even a divine one, is just the beginning of a very long and labour intensive process. Of course, without the mine, you can't even begin the process, for it all starts with the mine.

The mystic Flower, though, is found in the garden. Oh, and not just any garden, but the ideal Garden. And while this particular flower is capitalized, it is certainly not the only flower found there, otherwise it would be a pretty poor garden.

In fact, we are reminded of a detail from paragraph 31 where He is referencing a number of aspects of trees, but then at the end mentions the myrtles, a little flower. Specifically, He talks about "the trees of divine unity, the fruits of His oneness, the leaves of detachment, the blossoms of knowledge and certitude, and the myrtles of wisdom and utterance". When we considered why this would be the case, it occurred to us that trees do not grow on their own. They are part of an ecosystem that includes the flowers growing by its base, on the floor of the forest.

Similarly, this mystic Flower, by growing in a garden, must have other flowers growing around it. This would be like the Manifestation being surrounded by all the Apostles, Saints, and sages. There is only one Manifestation, but there are many of the others.

We could go on and talk about Eden, and Paradise, and Ridvan, and all sorts of metaphors associated with all that, but don't want to go on too long with this.

There is another question, though. Why lilies?

As we saw with the myrtles back in paragraph 31, He does not name these things randomly. So, what is it about lilies that make them appropriate here?

Historically, the lily is associated with purity, rebirth, and divinity. It was said to have sprung from Hera's milk in Greek myth, and in Christian symbology refers to the Virgin Mary. Both of these revolve around the birth motif.

If we are looking at using the Qur'an to help us discover the truth of the Bab, then this reference to "ancient wisdom" giving birth to that which is new makes even more sense.

Finally, this quote from the Qur'an just reinforces all of what He has said and implied in these previous paragraphs.

If you want to learn divine knowledge, you have to go to the divine Mine, presumably the Book of God. If you want to inhale the fragrance of the mystic Flower, you have to go to the ideal Garden. And if you want the lilies of ancient wisdom to blossom in your heart, then it has to be stainless. In just a couple of paragraphs He will begin to explain how to help your heart become stainless.