ational Assemblies.

While this threefold objective is being assiduously pursued, the process
of the multiplication of local Assemblies, of groups and isolated centres
must be maintained, nay accelerated, for upon it will depend the early
formation of independent National Spiritual Assemblies in India, Pakistan,
Burma, Ceylon and South-East Asia.

The responsibilities devolving upon your Assembly in the course of the
opening stage of the Plan are enormous, sacred and pressing. All Baha'i
communities participating in this glorious enterprise must bend every
effort, and sacrifice to the utmost of their power to ensure the
unqualified success of the great work that lies immediately ahead.

There is no time to lose. The newly launched Plan demands a vigilance, an
expenditure of effort and resources on a scale unprecedented in Indian
Baha'i history. Baha'i communities in East and West, embarked on a similar
Crusade, are vying with one another and with your Assembly in the
world-wide field of Baha'i pioneering. The glory of the prizes to be won,
the benefits that will accrue to all participants are unimaginable.

I direct my appeal to your Assembly and, through its members, to all
communities participating in this unprecedented enterprise, to arise to
this great and unique occasion that now presents itself, at this critical
hour in the fortunes of mankind and at so significant a stage in the
evolution of the Faith, and to resolve, with inflexible determination, to
consummate, at the appointed time, this fate-laden enterprise on which all
our hearts are set and upon which the immediate destinies of the Cause of
Baha'u'llah so largely depend.

In my hours of prayer and meditation in the holy Shrines I will supplicate
on behalf of your Assembly, as well as on behalf of the communities you
represent, that Divine Guidance may direct your steps, that God's
sustaining grace may aid you to overcome every obstacle, that His strength
may be poured out upon you, that His providence and love may enfold you,
and that the inspiration of the Dawn-breakers, who proclaimed the birth of
His Cause, may carry you to ultimate and total victory.

June 21, 1953

The Most Important Thing is to Serve

The most important thing we know from the Teachings is to serve. In
carrying out the Plans of God we are strengthened, blessed and purified;
we attract the loving attention of Baha'u'llah; our efforts are confirmed;
and we are enabled th