The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest
of the world's independent religions. Its founder,
Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), is regarded
by Bahá'ís as the most recent in the
line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond
recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha,
Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.
The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's
message is that humanity is one single race and that
the day has come for its unification in one global
society. God, Bahá'u'lláh said, has
set in motion historical forces that are breaking
down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and
nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal
civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples
of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness
and to assist the processes of unification.
One of the purposes of the Bahá'í Faith
is to help make this possible. A worldwide community
of some five million Bahá'ís, representative
of most of the nations, races and cultures on earth,
is working to give Bahá'u'lláh's teachings
practical effect. Their experience will be a source
of encouragement to all who share their vision of
humanity as one global family and the earth as one
homeland.
Since its inauguration in December 1986, the Bahá'í
House of Worship in New Delhi, India has drawn several
million tourists, thus making it the most visited
edifice in the world. You will be surprised to know
that numbers of tourists visiting Taj Mahal surpasses
those of the visitors to the Eiffel Tower and even
the Taj Mahal. The maximum number of visitors the
Temple has received in a single day has been 150,000.
They have come regardless of the broiling summer heat
of Delhi which rises above 40°C during the months
of June to September, and have braced the chill and
cold rains that Delhi experiences during winter. These
visitors have admired the beautiful lotus form of
the Temple, and have been fascinated by the teachings
of the Bahá'í Faith impressed by its
tenets of the oneness of God, oneness of religions
and oneness of mankind |